Music Studio Build - GA-Z68XP-UD3 - i7-2600K

[heddhunter]

heddhunter Music Production Build - Core i7-2600k - GA-Z68XP-UD3 - 8GB RAM - Intel HD3000

Components

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0054OWTQU/

Intel Core i7-2600K Processor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBUXSA/

Corsair 8 GB Vengeance Blue Low Profile 1600mhz PC3-12800 240-pin Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit 8 Dual Channel Kit - CML8GX3M2A1600C9B
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058J1Q7O/

Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VFJ9MK/

Apple OS X Lion @ Mac App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-lion/id444303913?mt=12


Already Owned

Antec Sonata P180 Case
(discontinued)

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power
(discontinued)

Apple Aluminum Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005DLDTAE/

Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 Optical Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005UOGH2G/

HP LP2465 24" LCD monitor
(discontinued)

OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-Inch Performance Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q81CKY/

Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2882+DSP
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SVKP2M/

Evolution UC-33e USB MIDI interface
(discontinued)

Various 3.5" SATA drives


Comments:

The primary use for this machine is as a music studio computer. I wanted to run Logic and Ableton Live on it. Speed, stability and silence were paramount. I chose the motherboard because of the integrated graphics and firewire.

Despite reading on these forums that the Gigabyte's on-board firewire isn't reliable, I have had zero problems so far. Maybe it's because the Mobile IO has an independent power supply? It is possible to run it bus-powered but I chose not to just in case. I installed the MobileIO driver from the Metric Halo website and it worked perfectly.

The biggest problem I had with the build was with a cheap HDMI<->DVI video cable. It simply would not show a picture on my monitor at all. Fortunately I was able to borrow a better quality one. But of course before that I spent a sweaty hour thinking I had blown the CPU or the RAM or the mobo when installing. (I need to get a case speaker so I can hear the diagnostic beeps! The Antec case doesn't come with one.)

The motherboard shipped with BIOS F8. I flashed it to F10. MultiBeast installation was straightforward using the UserDSDT and the DSDT from the tonymacx86 DSDT Database. If you plan on using the integrated graphics, make sure to set the Frame Buffer Size to the max in the BIOS before installing, and select the Mac Mini system definition in MultiBeast.

I am not using wifi or Bluetooth. Straight up old school wired network, keyboard, mouse.

Sleep does not work. The machine will not wake up. Not a concern for me.

 

[jester969]

Check over this for sleep.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1165

 

[amoretam]

hey brother how is it working for you in protools??
no problems with integrated graphics?
no problem onboard firewire?

please tell me of any uncommon step you did for your system to work with PT's.

Thanks

 

[Stork]

Please add your MultiBeast configuration (screen snapshot) to your original post. This will help us determine your sleep problem and other issues that you might have. TIA.

 

[heddhunter]

hey brother how is it working for you in protools??
no problems with integrated graphics?
no problem onboard firewire?

please tell me of any uncommon step you did for your system to work with PT's.

Thanks

I don't use ProTools, sorry. I use Logic and Ableton and they work fine, same as they do on my MacBook. (Which is to say, Logic is still buggy, but it's not any more buggy than it is on a real Mac!) Integrated graphics have been totally fine, with the occasional weird line of graphic glitch in Safari. Onboard firewire works fine with the MobileIO interface.

 

[Stork]

This has been my experience with Integrated Graphics using GarageBand. The GA Z68X series of motherborads have also good on-board Firewire, too. Zorro (my Z68X / i7 system) does everything I want it to do w/o complaining. I'm spoiled. (Of course, my P55M systems do, too.)

 

[indre]

Dear Heddhunter,


i read your build:


i'm very interesting because i'm thinking to build also a Hack and buy a Metric Halo Lio 8.
My question is you don't have problem with the internal FireWire?
I'm thinking to buy an external FireWire too:
Siig FireWire 800 Card NN-E3812-S3


Thank you for any comment and help.


Sorry for my bad English.


regards,


waldemaR