- Joined
- Jul 3, 2014
- Messages
- 44
- Motherboard
- Supermicro X8DAL-I
- CPU
- Dual X5675
- Graphics
- GTX 960
- Mobile Phone
Components
Supermicro X8DAL-I Sever Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DCJZRA/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182192
2x Intel Xeon 6-core X5675 Processors
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007O7T0EE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117254
Samsung Registered DDR3 1333 ECC Memory M393B1K70CH0-CH9 (3x8 GB)
EBay Link
Cooler Master Hyper T4 - CPU Cooler
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BSKY1M4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103182
Syba USB 3.0 External 2-port, 19 pin Header Etron EJ188 Chipset PCI-e Card SY-PEX20140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124122
http://www.amazon.com/Internal-PCI-Express-Profile-Bracket-SY-PEX20140/dp/B009LIPFEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1428938703&sr=1-1&keywords=SY-PEX20140
Cooler Master Storm Stryker - White Full Tower Case with Handle
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119260&cm_re=storm_stryker-_-11-119-260-_-Product
http://www.amazon.com/CM-Storm-Stryker-Computer-SGC-5000W-KWN1/dp/B008O2HOI2
Already Owned
PNY GeForce GT 610 2 BB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GEFORCE-610-Video-Card/dp/B00KNBCFFO
Plextor PX-L890SA LightScribe 24x Super-Multi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QFFJHYE/
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W19MO/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249
Thermaltake TR2 RX-850 850W Power Supply W0319RU
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QXDQB0/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153106
Avid Pro Tools|HD Native + HD I/O 16x16 Analog
Sweetwater Link
Comments
I run a professional recording studio in the Southeast. We needed a new rig to run Pro Tools HD and the goal was raw horsepower without overclocking so we could be as stable as possible. I Did not bother with the on-board audio. Keep in mind Safari does not play nice with the Avid Core Audio/HD driver. This is a known issue on real macs as well. This install is for Mavericks. I have tried Yosemite and it installs with no problems, but getting system audio through the Avid Core Audio driver in Yosemite is hit or miss. Seems like some apps work and most do not. By the way, buy the ram listed or one on the motherboard's approved list. I've seen too many posts about incompatible ram.
Installation Notes
BIOS Settings
As always turn SATA to AHCI mode and turn off VT-d. Performance under load was better in Pro Tools if I turned off the C states.
Boot Flags
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>"1920x1080x32"</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 darkwake=0</string>
The default partition flag is not necessary but convenient for me.
DSDT
Not using one
Multibeast Settings
Benchmarks
Other Install Notes
Install worked without problems with both CPUs installed. Speedstep works. Do not need to null the apple power management kext because these CPUs were used in Mac Pros. ECC shows enabled and the ECC kext is running. I did notice a strange kernel panic related to the patched ethernet kext. It only happened a few times but was not a consistent thing. I got around it by placing the appleintele1000e.kext from the Unibeast drive in the boot drive' Extra folder and adding the -f kernel flag. By doing this I haven't messed with the one in S/L/E. You might notice the USB 3.0 card under new parts yet it is discontinued. We found it locally (new) in a mom and pop store. When I made the Multicast screenshot we did not have that card but the GenericUSBXHCI.kext will work. The pictures below show an EVGA GTX 560. We have replaced that with a PNY GT 610 because of the Nvidia 500 cards will cause freezes in Mavericks. The 610 may not be a powerful card but is working great so far. Pro Tools seems to only use 50% of the GPU at most under load. No plans for a more powerful GPU at this time.
Notes Specific To Pro Tools:
Even though it works, I turned off Speedstep and manually set the multiplier to max (23) because it performed better. The frequency was dropping even under load from Pro Tools. When running Windows Avid reccomends turning speedstep off and turns out it was better for this too. To do this I turned off all C State reporting in the BIOS and removed the Generate C & P States boot flags.
Mavericks vs Yosemite for Pro Tools
Pro Tools runs equally well on both. My only real issue with Yosemite is that the Avid Core Audio driver will not play system audio. Pulling up Pro Tools every time to play audio is a pain so I'll stick to Mavericks. The Syba USB 3.0 card is great for getting our backups finished up quicker but the mounting is hit or miss in Yosemite. However, drives mount just fine in Mavericks. Below you can see the temperatures during an offline bounce. This session has 48 audio tracks and submixes for each group of instruments. Not every insert is in use but it does contain some very CPU intensive plugins like Slate Digital's VCC and VTM on all audio tracks, FG-X, and Izotope Ozone 5's limiter as well with the IRC III setting.
This computer is so stable it isn't funny. Previously, we were using an Asus P9X79 Pro and Intel 3630k OCed to 4.5 GHz. The speed is similar, but this build does not crash or freeze. If I forgot to mention some info you need please let me know.
Supermicro X8DAL-I Sever Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DCJZRA/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182192
2x Intel Xeon 6-core X5675 Processors
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007O7T0EE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117254
Samsung Registered DDR3 1333 ECC Memory M393B1K70CH0-CH9 (3x8 GB)
EBay Link
Cooler Master Hyper T4 - CPU Cooler
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BSKY1M4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103182
Syba USB 3.0 External 2-port, 19 pin Header Etron EJ188 Chipset PCI-e Card SY-PEX20140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124122
http://www.amazon.com/Internal-PCI-Express-Profile-Bracket-SY-PEX20140/dp/B009LIPFEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1428938703&sr=1-1&keywords=SY-PEX20140
Cooler Master Storm Stryker - White Full Tower Case with Handle
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119260&cm_re=storm_stryker-_-11-119-260-_-Product
http://www.amazon.com/CM-Storm-Stryker-Computer-SGC-5000W-KWN1/dp/B008O2HOI2
Already Owned
PNY GeForce GT 610 2 BB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GEFORCE-610-Video-Card/dp/B00KNBCFFO
Plextor PX-L890SA LightScribe 24x Super-Multi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QFFJHYE/
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W19MO/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249
Thermaltake TR2 RX-850 850W Power Supply W0319RU
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QXDQB0/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153106
Avid Pro Tools|HD Native + HD I/O 16x16 Analog
Sweetwater Link
Comments
I run a professional recording studio in the Southeast. We needed a new rig to run Pro Tools HD and the goal was raw horsepower without overclocking so we could be as stable as possible. I Did not bother with the on-board audio. Keep in mind Safari does not play nice with the Avid Core Audio/HD driver. This is a known issue on real macs as well. This install is for Mavericks. I have tried Yosemite and it installs with no problems, but getting system audio through the Avid Core Audio driver in Yosemite is hit or miss. Seems like some apps work and most do not. By the way, buy the ram listed or one on the motherboard's approved list. I've seen too many posts about incompatible ram.
Installation Notes
BIOS Settings
As always turn SATA to AHCI mode and turn off VT-d. Performance under load was better in Pro Tools if I turned off the C states.
Boot Flags
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>"1920x1080x32"</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 darkwake=0</string>
The default partition flag is not necessary but convenient for me.
DSDT
Not using one
Multibeast Settings
Benchmarks
Other Install Notes
Install worked without problems with both CPUs installed. Speedstep works. Do not need to null the apple power management kext because these CPUs were used in Mac Pros. ECC shows enabled and the ECC kext is running. I did notice a strange kernel panic related to the patched ethernet kext. It only happened a few times but was not a consistent thing. I got around it by placing the appleintele1000e.kext from the Unibeast drive in the boot drive' Extra folder and adding the -f kernel flag. By doing this I haven't messed with the one in S/L/E. You might notice the USB 3.0 card under new parts yet it is discontinued. We found it locally (new) in a mom and pop store. When I made the Multicast screenshot we did not have that card but the GenericUSBXHCI.kext will work. The pictures below show an EVGA GTX 560. We have replaced that with a PNY GT 610 because of the Nvidia 500 cards will cause freezes in Mavericks. The 610 may not be a powerful card but is working great so far. Pro Tools seems to only use 50% of the GPU at most under load. No plans for a more powerful GPU at this time.
Notes Specific To Pro Tools:
Even though it works, I turned off Speedstep and manually set the multiplier to max (23) because it performed better. The frequency was dropping even under load from Pro Tools. When running Windows Avid reccomends turning speedstep off and turns out it was better for this too. To do this I turned off all C State reporting in the BIOS and removed the Generate C & P States boot flags.
Mavericks vs Yosemite for Pro Tools
Pro Tools runs equally well on both. My only real issue with Yosemite is that the Avid Core Audio driver will not play system audio. Pulling up Pro Tools every time to play audio is a pain so I'll stick to Mavericks. The Syba USB 3.0 card is great for getting our backups finished up quicker but the mounting is hit or miss in Yosemite. However, drives mount just fine in Mavericks. Below you can see the temperatures during an offline bounce. This session has 48 audio tracks and submixes for each group of instruments. Not every insert is in use but it does contain some very CPU intensive plugins like Slate Digital's VCC and VTM on all audio tracks, FG-X, and Izotope Ozone 5's limiter as well with the IRC III setting.
This computer is so stable it isn't funny. Previously, we were using an Asus P9X79 Pro and Intel 3630k OCed to 4.5 GHz. The speed is similar, but this build does not crash or freeze. If I forgot to mention some info you need please let me know.