a perfect DS rig for an audiophile/gamerPost Date: 2010-02-11 |
Post Reply 
|
| Author | |
Wattles93 
Newbie 
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
 Quote Reply
 Topic: a perfect DS rig for an audiophile/gamerPosted: 11 Feb 2010 at 2:09pm |
|
Hi all,
I just want to find out what is the best possible configuration for my need. I am an audio engineer/programmer (can be a big-time audiophile) as well as occasional gamer. I need a perfect Desktop PC that can compile and execute audio programs, contains absolutely best of the best sound card for my audio engineering projects and can play some of great games. I usually enjoy play with Flight Simulator. FSX is my main game to play. I don't mind trying out other games. As for the monitor, I am seriously considering the Dell 30" UltraSharp 2008WFP because of its screen size for my need as well as wide variety of ports such as S-video for my DVD player. The max resolution for this 30" monitor is 2560x1600. So, I am looking at 2x ATI 5870 for my DS rig. Is this a good video card set up? Do I need to add another video card? Another thing, I am curious... Is Dell CompleteCare Accidental Service worth it if I just buy a new Dell monitor, nothing else? Moreover, I am not really a big fan of ATI because of my past problems with their video cards. I very much prefer the Nvidia. But, it seems that ATI is the best right now. However, I have read somewhere that fermi will come out around the end of this month. So, I would rather to wait until the latest release from nvidia. For now, I just want to find out the best possible configuration for my need. So, I know what to configure when it comes to the time when I can include the best nvidia cards for my monitor. Besides the monitor, my budget for the just the desktop PC is $6,000. I need the perfect PC that I can enjoy using for the next 5 years without needing to upgrade. So, I am still figuring out the best possible configuration for this budget. Here is my possible configuration for my perfect DS rig: Ticket Number: 382682 Chassis Model: Cooler Master HAF 932 (Black OPS Edition) Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core) Motherboard: EVGA X58 Classified 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire) System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (256GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: CMFSSD-256GBG2D) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Western Digital (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 22x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 2x CrossFire Dual (ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (Includes Front I/O) (PCI-Express Slot Based) Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Dual SLI/CrossFire Video Cards H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive) Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue) Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Requires Air Cooling Upgrade) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: Memory Fan Kit Only (Does not include memory overclocking service) Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based) Virus Protection: McAfee Internet Security (Includes: AntiVirus, FireWall and AntiSpyware) Office: Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student (Word Excel PowerPoint OneNote) Benchmarking: - No Thanks Install/Test Game: FREE: Please include a free copy of a hot-selling game Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: APC 1500VA Uninterruptible Backup Surge Conditioner (Recommended) Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large) Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: 5 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty (Highly Recommended) Is this configuration suitable for my needs? Also, I really need a very quiet computer especially for my sound projects. I really don't need all of those unnecessary noises generated by the computer fans/hardware. So, that is why I am strongly considering the liquid cooling system for my rig. When looking at the chassis, I very much prefer the HAF932 over the hailstorm... I am curious... is HAF932 the good chassis that is big enough to handle the liquid cooling system? If so, how can I change that front light/fan from red to blue? I really want the interior lighting/pipe to be all blue, nothing else... Thanks a lot for your help... I really appreciate it |
|
 |
|
|
DST4ME
DS ELITE 
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Feb 2010 at 3:19pm |
|
wow man lot of stuff.
1. yes you can change teh haf front fan, you can do it yourself or ask DS to change the fron red led 230mm fan with this Blue LED 230mm Case Fan - OEM Package you have to request that specifically otherwise you will endup with a loud 140mm blue led instead. 2. hailstorm will be more quiet then teh haf, I a big fan of both but for lc on cpu/gpu hailstorm has more room. 3. sound, just because you go LC it does not mean you will be quiet, LC uses fans on rads, the fans here are loud a bit, if you want quiet fan, order quiet fans for the LC system and ask DS to use that, this will cost extra but if you want quiet then you want quiet. 4. make sure you get the newer 30" dell, I believe its an ips also. 5. at 2560 x 1600 for most games you want 2 x 5870, but you are right the fermi is coming out in a month or so, give or take. 6. fsx does not support sli as far as I know. 7. I always get the warranty with my parts, but just the basic one that covers me if the parts fail, not the accidental stuff, but thats just me, it has paid off tho. 8. sound card, make sure you find a sound card that is compatible with win7 your build looks good drop mcafee and go with ESET Smart Security, it has a 30 day full free trial, try it first then buy a license after 30 days, much better/faster/ligher av/firewall. your microsoft office can be gotten from newegg for cheaper if I'm not mistaken. you would benefit from a 4.0GHz cpu speed instead of 3.7GHz right? with that budget and seeing how you are a power user and the fact that fsx loves cpu speed, I would go with stage 2 oc for you, but its upto you. |
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Feb 2010 at 6:42pm |
|
Thanks for your help..
Yes, I am a big-time power user. Proud of it. I really love having a very fast and powerful machine... I would really love to go for the stage 2 oc with 4 ghz with LC in the system. By the way, is LC covering the chipsets worth it? or is it better with just the CPU and video cards?... I will definitely order for the quiet fans for the LC system. By the way, I am curious.. is Air-cooled as good as the LC? Is it really that quiet? As for the chassis, you are correct that hailstorm has more room for LC... However, I still like the look of HAF932.. I like having those USB ports and other ports on the top front part of the box. Also, I love seeing the colorful lights on the bottom half of the front side of the box.. It seems that hailstorm does not have that kind of feature that HAF932 has. It looks rather to be simplistic and vanilla... I really like the look of the HAF932, but I'm willing to go for Hailstorm if needed. Is there any way that I can make Hailstorm to look like the HAF932? As for the sound card, I just looked up on the microsoft website, and it says that Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion is compatible with Windows 7 64-bit... I am happy to know about that. I hope that DS guys will test this sound card to make sure it works before shipping my dream machine to my place.. Will drop both the Mcafee and MS office... and will do as you recommended.. |
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Feb 2010 at 9:16pm |
|
Another thing...
I've been going through pictures of the DS computers in the review section. I was looking at pictures of HAF932 and Hailstorm... I am really starting to grow to love the Hailstorm. It really looks so awesome...
 I have a question about the Hailstorm. Is there anyway to add the USB ports in the front side of the Hailstorm? It's something like those ports that you see on the top of front side of the HAF932 tower.
I have been thinking about putting the tower on the right side of my rectangular desk and my dell 30" monitor on the left side of the desk. I will be sitting in the middle of the desk with my eyes on the monitor on the left side when I'm typing or moving the mouse. I am wondering... Will the lighting coming out of the internal area that glows through the "window" of the tower interfere my ability to see the monitor? Is the light really that bright that bothers my eyes? or, is it better to hide it under the desk instead of placing on the desk???
|
|
|
|
|
DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 at 1:29am |
|
well let me see, I see the hailstorm is finally growing on you, the hailstorm is a better case then haf, it has things that haf does not have, more room, 4 hotswap bays for both 2.5" and 3.5" drives, its more solid, and I tell you all of this as a big haf fan, but for LC on cpu/gpu and less sound hailstorm is the way to go.
I think you are a bit confused about the hailstorm, in the top front it has a little door that open to reveal the usb and other ports: 
if the lights bother you, they have switch to turn them off. don't go with fan control to make the rad fans go lower for less sound, lower fans means lower cooling (higher temps) on the rads, so make sure you order better fans. air cool is great for stage 1 oc but not stage 2. other then that Noctua is a great cooler, but keep in mind, most of your noise will come from gpu's fans when under load. |
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 at 1:55am |
|
Ah... I get it. Thanks for the picture! It helps to know that I can put a USB flash drive in there! It's great to know that there's a switch to turn off the light inside the PC... I'm sold on DS hailstorm! 
I just saw from the list that chipset can be added to be cooled by the liquid cooling system. Is chipset really that hot that needs to be cooled? Am I better off just put LC on CPU and gpu fans, not the chipset?
|
|
|
|
|
DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 at 1:58am |
|
not sure what you mean, haf does not have a window, there is an led fan in the front that blows air thru the HDDs and that is what you see, the haf fans don't have a light switch.
LC on cpu/gpu, chipset is not needed. the new lc system has a reservoir that is a see thru I believe. Edited by DST4ME - 12 Feb 2010 at 1:59am |
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 at 2:10am |
|
Here's my latest configuration. So, it looks so perfect... I think I'm going to postpone my purchase until I see the new nvidia fermi... I am hoping that it will be reliable and workable for years to come...
Ticket Number: 383428
Chassis Model: Digital Storm HailStorm (Black OPS Edition)
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core) Motherboard: EVGA X58 Classified 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire) System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (256GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: CMFSSD-256GBG2D) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Western Digital (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 22x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: Blu-Ray Writer/Reader (Burn Blu-Ray discs and play them) Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 2x CrossFire Dual (ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (Includes Front I/O) (PCI-Express Slot Based) Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Dual SLI/CrossFire Video Cards H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive) Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue) Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock the processor between 4.0GHz to 4.2GHz (Requires H20 Cooling Upgrade) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: Memory Fan Kit Only (Does not include memory overclocking service) Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Benchmarking: - No Thanks Install/Test Game: FREE: Please include a free copy of a hot-selling game Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: APC 1500VA Uninterruptible Backup Surge Conditioner (Recommended) Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large) Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: 5 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty (Highly Recommended) |
|
|
|
|
DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 12 Feb 2010 at 9:41pm |
|
you know what, if you can do the chipset too since we are going with classic and stage 2 oc, its not needed but it would be nice to have, other then that, you got a solid beast there no doubt
and I think the 5 year warranty is a great idea. Edited by DST4ME - 12 Feb 2010 at 9:41pm |
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 13 Feb 2010 at 12:15pm |
|
Thanks a lot for your help!
I'm going to add the chipset to the stage 6 cooling system. I'm pretty flexible with my budget.. $6k is just a guidance point. I truly want to really enjoy having the absolute best of the best machine!
 I'm so looking forward to this absolute beast!
|
|
|
|
|
DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 13 Feb 2010 at 11:58pm |
|
don't forget to post pics
|
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 14 Feb 2010 at 12:40pm |
|
sure, I will definitely post pictures of my loving machine that I am going to caress, nurture and giving all of my love to. I'll do anything to make sure it stays alive for many years to come. I'll keep my eyes on the liquid level of the LC system and will change the liquid every 3 year...
I'm going to include pictures of each peripheral component (keyboard, razer mouse, axiom loudspeakers, sennheiser microphone, HP color laserjet printer and dell 30" monitor) that will be sitting on my desk waiting for their loving and tenderly mother to feed them... I will hear them screaming "WAAAAAAAAA!" like a baby and craving deeply for that giant machine!
  Then, I'll then buy that machine from DS so those peripherals will have their "mother" right there to give all of her love to them! I will take detailed pictures of my machine for you guys to look at! It'll be in the review section. I'll give all of my comments how it is doing... And how satisfied I am with this machine as a big-time power user who can't get enough of the power of the machine!
  |
|
|
|
|
DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 15 Feb 2010 at 12:35am |
you can say that again 
|
|
|
|
|
Wattles93
Newbie
Joined: 11 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 18 Feb 2010 at 4:57pm |
|
Just another question that came to my mind...
I am wondering... If I want to buy a sound card that is not listed in DS's configuration list, can I have DS to order a sound card that I want and let them add it to my rig when they are actually building and testing my rig? or Can I send my sound card to DS and let them add it to my rig before testing it? Otherwise, would it be the best way for me to just order the PC with the integrated mobo audio and then order for the sound card from a different vendor and then install it myself? Will it be difficult to install the sound card with the liquid cooling system installed? Actually, I'm thinking about using the M-Audio Audiophile 192 sound card instead of the Creative Titanium Fatal1ty Championcard as listed in DS's configuration list... Since M-audio sound card is not listed in DS's order configuration, I just want to know what's the best way to set up the sound card/system in my ideal DS rig... |
|
|
|
|
philiporphillip
Groupie 
Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 335 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 18 Feb 2010 at 5:12pm |
|
1. i'm pretty sure a sound card will not effect your DS pc's stress testing going wrong, so you can just install the M-Audio Audiophile 192 when your system arrives with ease.
2. you can send it to DS to install it for you, but that would delay shipping.
SCMiiW (Someone Correct Me if i'm Wrong). Edited by philiporphillip - 18 Feb 2010 at 5:15pm |
|
|
Digital Storm
haf 922 i7-920 oc'd @ 3.6 ghz (1.28v) evga x58 le edition sli cooler master v8 6 gb ddr3 1600 mhz mushkin evga nvidia geforce gtx 295 co-op edition 1000w corsair hx |
|
|
|
|
Post Reply
|
| Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You can vote in polls in this forum |
About Digital Storm
Contact Information
Facility Tour
Financing
Buy Now, Pay Later
Downloads
GSA Schedule
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
Request Help
Call: 1-866-817-8676
(Hours 9AM-5PM PST)
Topic Options