Build a dedicated Audio PC

[Fran]

Motherboard arrived today, so now its just the CPU which is with DPD in the UK. I'd say it will land here mon or tues...... roll on the build.


RE: the thermal paste - I've never used it on CPUs before (never built a PC before). But I have used it lots and lots on other builds. The story is that the thermal paste doesn't have any great thermal transfer characteristics, but it is miles better than air. So where there are imperfect surfaces (ie not a perfectly mated mirror polish) it is used as a flexible filler. So while you don't want it squished out all over the chip, you do want enough to fill and voids between the chip and cooler. BTW, the standard is that the paste shouldn't be conductive, but artic silver (and maybe some others) definitely are so getting them on the pins would be a bad thing I'd say.


Fran

[nige2000]

Motherboard arrived today, so now its just the CPU which is with DPD in the UK. I'd say it will land here mon or tues...... roll on the build.


RE: the thermal paste - I've never used it on CPUs before (never built a PC before). But I have used it lots and lots on other builds. The story is that the thermal paste doesn't have any great thermal transfer characteristics, but it is miles better than air. So where there are imperfect surfaces (ie not a perfectly mated mirror polish) it is used as a flexible filler. So while you don't want it squished out all over the chip, you do want enough to fill and voids between the chip and cooler. BTW, the standard is that the paste shouldn't be conductive, but artic silver (and maybe some others) definitely are so getting them on the pins would be a bad thing I'd say.


Fran

your right fran i should have stated that my excessive use of thermal paste was due to the streacom passive heatsink and it unusual system it has 4 copper bars which must be sandwiched between two plates and then to the cpu their was loads of voids/ air pockets. then these copper pipes had to be clamped to the side of the case, thermal paste out again!!

three tubes of paste for one cpu, usually a dot about the size of a grain of rice or a bit less is more the sufficient as the surfaces are usually well finished.

[tony]

Off the radar on this thread for awhile. Great progress very interesting to hear how impressed Ken was with single i3 pc. When the builds are ready for comparison it will be interesting to see how it all compares. I haven't done any of the tests above as posted before US not working for me so I really can't participate at this moment in time.

Good to see Fran you are a first timer on the pc assembly line as I am as well. I haven't got anything yet and will do as Fran advises and hold off until we see what develops. You all know my preference and probable route but might end up swayed by John and Nigel's results.

[Fran]

Lads,


would it be worth organising a meet up again in a week or 2 to compare all the builds? I'd be happy to host it if you would be interested....



Fran

[tony]

Lads,


would it be worth organising a meet up again in a week or 2 to compare all the builds? I'd be happy to host it if you would be interested....



Fran

Hope it is next week rather than then the week after as I wont be available. Happy to facilitate also if required.

[Sligolad]

Count me in Fran...should be an interesting exercise!

[Claus]

I have to confess that I lost control and ordered the MiniPC.de NUC along with some Corsair RAM and a Plextor msata. Hardware in the post but NUC is not shipped yet. Otherwise I could have brought it along... I would like to take part anyhow, if nothing else, to learn from the masters... ;)

[nige2000]

old build new case


Fran
definitely in for a pc comparison otherwise we wont know if were going in the right direction. i should have two pc's silent and match fit

Claus
i see self restraint isn't a strong point of yours, think we all suffer a bit with impulse.

[Sligolad]

Interesting post from JPlay forum related to the pitfalls of building a dedicated audio PC, confirmation as suspected that some Ethernet controllers do not like Ultrastream....a bit of a PITA for anyone who bought an audio PC from Quiet PC for JPlay.

http://jplay.eu/forum/jplay/jplay-5.1-u ... ed/#p11935

[jkeny]

That certainly is interesting, Pearse. I wonder does it also effect Jplay in standalone, single PC mode? I seem to remember that Jplay uses the network card in some way even in standalone mode. Does anybody know more about this?

BTW, in that post on Jplay forum he mentions Largedrive or some such - what is this variable & where is it found - it's not in the register variables that I see. Has Jplay release moved on & I missed the new version?

Tonight, in between productions builds of my devices, I took some audio breaks & did a bit of experimenting. I think I'm more confused than before :) I changed the Bitstream form native to 32, as you suggested. It allowed me to go from about 200 US down to 120 (this is still on my netbook, btw). However, when I changed the buffer from Directlink to any other value, I get no sound. Odd, as the prompt suggests " if you experience drop outs or no sound, increase the buffer"