Indeed, but the Noctura will run quieter than the H80 due to the need of bolting a high CFM based fan to the radiator at the fan outlet, so I'd lean strongly in that direction myself.



I don't see the point in doing the first half of that. The 3930 is decent bang per buck with the ability to put a nice gentle but effective overclock on it, where as I still can't work out the point of the 3820 chip! Performance wise you might as well just go for the IB 3770 and save yourself a few hundred dollars on the associated parts.

Simples....You buy the 3820 at half the cost of the 3930 with the plan to upgrade to the 3930 or IB-E processor in the future. Then, when you buy the 3930 (or IB-E) you will have only spent 1.5 times the amount so you saved...uh...wait, just get the 3770K.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

$199

TOTAL $1660. That's been one of my issues with building a PC of my own, the addition of Windows always eats up the savings. Though, it seems like a better deal than it did in Vista days. I will check into such an endeavor... thanks!

I wasn't planning on it, but it is within the realm of possibility. I usually avoid such things finding the time and headache to be more than it's worth, but I do have a number of IT pals who would probably be eager to help in exchange for getting to beta test our next collectible card game.

You have a MicroCenter in your general area (Santa Clara). Ask your IT pals about the great deals there. For example, the 3930k is $499.

Since you're building a system, you can use the OEM version of Win 7, for $99.

You could save another $20-30 by using the Seasonic 560 Watt 80 Plus Gold. Yes, it has a fan, but a very good one. And the fan doesn't spin up under 300 watt load. Essentially silent, until loaded. Similar to some KVR members...

Personally, I don't think that the (socket) 2011 motherboards are worth the premium for almost all music applications. I think that the sweet price/performance point right now is with the (socket) 1155 i5 Ivy Bridge processors. Quad core and 77 watt, that will be cool and quiet. With a simple fanless video card, or just use motherboard video, a high quality cooler, and the seasonic 460 you will have an (almost) fanless system.

I found that spending some extra money on the cooling system is very much worth the effort. I suspect that with a 77 watt cpu that we will see some passive cooler options soon.

I think that for a music machine that you will find it hard to get a prebuilt system that will come with just the right components. In fact, most come with the wrong things, e.g. a nicer than necessary video card but not the noiseless kind.

Ah, I didn't know you could legally use an OEM copy unless it came on a commercially built PC. Thanks for that tip.

I don't mind spending a little extra to get great components, in fact I'd rather do that.

One other question... (sorry for the ignorance, I'm mostly a Mac guy who's never dealt with these things) I remember back in the day that a huge issue with building your own PC was dealing with drivers. Is this still the case or have the folks at Microsoft smoothed that out?

AFAIK, it's not a problem, at least I haven't had a problem with it in years. In fact, I've had more problems with a lack of Mac drivers for third party peripherals than with Windows.

Also, last I checked, the OEM version is meant to go with the computer that you build, so, yes, you can use it, but, you can't re-install it on a different computer without some shenanigans.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-w indows_install/windows-7-oem-limitations/edae7850-d3d1-4701- 8f64-6105ac9d2020

buy an Intel motherboard! driver problem solved..
USB 3.0 can require a special driver..
no more buying video cards or using special SATA drivers.. everything is smooth sailing in Win 7 x64..

If you need a lot of memory the IB3770 is still hampered by the 1155 memory limitations. Even at the price you posted, the 3930K costs more per core than the 3820. It (the 3820) also has slightly more cache (than the IB 3770).

Seems this is the MOBO looking good right now.

Windows7 64 bit OEM version is only $99 = $1560

Here is a good build on the intel 1155 socket $1200 , that 2011 socket is still kinda pricey $$$$ right now . http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?Wish ListNumber=16385872

20 bucks more gets you a newer chipset a better bios setup and people are loving this board.

I'd agree that the 2011 chips are overkill for most unless you need the extra memory support. I would however shoot for the i7 3770 rather than a lower i5 as you get you'll spend 50% more but see 60% more performance so you'll get slightly more bang for your buck. If your just multitracking and mixing then the lower end chip will do, but if your piling on the effects and building sounds in the box, seeing how the software always seems to grow in requirements over the life cycle of the machine. I feel that the sweet spot is with the more powerful chip and the bonus is those are 77w too!

Also most of the IB boards now support triple monitor support from the motherboard, so you don't require a graphics card unless you really want to play some games on it too.



Yeah, vastly improved and the chances are you can get everything up and running with just a clean win7 install and the driver disk. Still more than worthwhile updating with the latest drivers from the manufactures site mind for each device, as later drivers tend to smooth out bugs but overall things are a lot easier than they used to be.