Archive for December, 2009

Dec
29
2009

Building an New CG Workstation. Part 3

Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe, Version 2

Asus P6T Deluxe, Version 2 in box

Asus P6T Deluxe, Version 2 in box

The motherboard is usually the easiest component for me to choose for a new build because I’ve been using Asus boards for all but one of my builds and not only are they great performers, but they last and last if you take care of them. So when I read the Andandtech.com X58 motherboard roundup and discovered that the Asus P6T Deluxe won their Gold Editor’s Award I was all set to order. However, NewEgg (which had the best price and is very reliable) customer comments on the mobo made me think twice as the RMA (return merchandise) percentage for the board was at 15% and many of the recent Dec comments indicated there were a lot of bad boards being shipped (or damaged in transit).

This led me to about 3 weeks of study for alternative motherboards which in retrospect was worth the time spent because I discovered a lot about other competing boards and the companies that make them. Gigabyte and EVGA were the leading contenders and both make great boards. EVGA in particular is the only American mobo manufacturer which I found intriguing. Their customer service had very high ratings and the forums were excellent. Both the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 and the EVGA X58 SLI are superb boards. In fact, if you run Asus board at stock speed (2.66 Ghz) there is literally no difference between it and the other two boards. However, when you start overclocking, the Asus P6T Deluxe really shows it’s superiority in not only the ease of using the BIOS, but in how simple Asus has made overclocking this board using their TurboV windows-based application.  And there is plenty of clearance around the CPU for the large Megahalems heat-sink which I’ll be using.  The organization of the motherboard appealed to me as well. The main Sata ports weren’t going to be blocked by the huge ATI FirePro 8750 card which I’ll be using and the power efficiency of the board is perfect for this graphics card. Asus also has very good customer service and a decent warranty (3 years parts & labor) and they update their bios pretty regularly.

The version 2 part of the Asus P6T Deluxe board relates to the newest SAS hard-drives which have no moving parts (solid state and beau coup expensive). There were some problems with the first version of the board with the SAS controller, so they just removed it on version 2.

After almost buying the EVGA board, I ended up going for Asus P6T Deluxe and decided not to worry about the higher return rate. Some of that is just poor preparation by the computer builders and other factors like installation mistakes (not being grounded, etc). I’ve had faith in Asus and every board I’ve ordered from newegg has been good. Asus packages their products well (see pix) so there shouldn’t be a problem in shipping. If by some chance this board is a clinker, well, NewEgg has a very good return policy and I’ll just get another. Fingers crossed.

RAM Memory: Crucial 3-2GB DDR3 Ballistix PC3-12800 CL8, 1.65V TRACER GREEN W/XMP

Crucial DDR3 1600 6GB

Crucial DDR3 1600 6GB

Every build I’ve ever done has been with Mushkin memory. This Denver based company makes top notch RAM that performs perfectly over years and years. And their customer support is the best of any company I’ve ever dealt with. So why did I go with Crucial memory? Partly due to the Xbitlabs.com Triple-Channel Memory Round-Up article, but also because I simply got tired of looking for particular memory kits at the Mushkin site and finding them either discontinued or unavailable. Granted this was December, but I’ve never had that problem with Mushkin, but the Xbit article explained that the XMP profile which is part of the Crucial memory kit makes configuring RAM in an overclocked system much easier. Mushkin came in a close third in the article, but couldn’t find that memory brand at their site.

Further research on Crucial memory indicated that are a highly regarded memory company that uses quality Micron chips for their enthusiast brands like this one. And although Corsair memory seemed to be the preferred brand for the Asus P6T Deluxe mobo,  it was very hard to find the Corsair Dominator memory at reasonable prices. Moreover, the Crucial Ballistix series has low clearance  with it’s aluminum head-spreaders (no blocking a large heatsink like the Megahalems) and it has an unusual green LED that lights up on the top of the sticks to indicate it’s relative activity.

I liked these sticks and found ordering them at the Crucial site to easy. They arrived in 2 days and were well packed.

See the pretty lights as the RAM does it's thing

See the pretty lights as the RAM does it's thing

One oddity: the 3 stick kit I ordered is exactly as listed at the Xbit site (BL3Kit25664TG1508) which were listed as running at 1600, but when I received the sticks they had the exact same part number, but were listed as running at 12600, but I might be mis-reading the details. Re-reading the Xbit article it is clear this is the RAM kit they are reviewing, so it should work fine in my system.  Crucial has a nice compatibility checker at their site which gives you a nice overview of which Crucial memory types would work with the Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard.  Nice touch.

Sorry Mushkin.

Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower TX 750W

Thermaltake ToughPower XT 750W

Thermaltake ToughPower XT 750W

As with the RAM memory, Corsair was the PSU of choice for X58 mobo systems using the i7 920 CPU, but the 750 watt versions were all sold out at the major internet PC parts sites, so I went looking for another PSU with high ratings and a decent price. JohnnyGuru.com is THE site for power supply reviews. The tech folks at this site literally tear every PSU apart to make sure they are put together correctly as well as running well as a power supply. The author of the Thermaltake TP XT 750W review was Jeremy Schrag and after reading his thorough (and funny) review I had no doubt that the Thermaltake PSU was the one for me.

I was particularly concerned about power for the FirePro graphics card, but after double-checking at the ATI site and working out the power demands (plenty of sites to figure your power needs) for my new system, the requirements were well under 750watts and the Thermaltake has plenty of connectors for graphics cards. Plus, it’s a modular unit so I’ll only use the power cords I need. And best of all it’s on sale at NewEgg with a rebate.

Heatsink for CPU: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B

Prolimatech Meghalems Rev B Heatsink

Prolimatech Meghalems Rev B Heatsink

Since I’ll be over-clocking the CPU, I’ll definitely need something better than the stock heatsink that comes with the i7 920 CPU. There are many excellent brands to choose from (Noctua and Thermalright), but it was the heat sink with the Star Trek sounding title that won me over. While other brands had slightly better cooling results, I was very impressed with how easy it was to install this heat sink.  Youtube had some excellent install/review vids in this heatsink that finally sold me on it. Price was good and it was in supply at most of the online sellers. The only caveat was that it didn’t come with a fan, so I ended up losing the money I saved on this heatsink since I had to buy two recommended fans (one to pull the other to push the air through the heatsink fins). Fortunately, FrozenCPU.com had a nice deal on the unit and I’ve always heard good things about this company, so I went ahead and ordered the Megahalems heatsink, two Yate-Loon 120mm fans and an extra applicator of Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (for the CPU). Everything came within the week, nicely packed and now sitting on my kitchen table ready to be installed.

Of course, I’m hoping that this heatsink install will be a lot easier than the last one I did which turned out to be an hour and half of hell.  I think I made the right choice though.

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit OEM

OEM package Windows 7 Professional

OEM package Windows 7 Professional

I’ve followed the release of Windows 7, read reviews and checked the Cinema 4D and Mach Studio Pro sites and all of them say that Windows 7 64 bit is the way to go for a CG workstation. I had an opportunity to work with Windows 7 in my new Sony laptop and liked it very much. Although I was annoyed that Microsoft made it impossible to update Windows XP unless you re-install  (you have to re-install everything as the only real “upgrade” is through Vista), I liked the reviews and had nary a problem with my laptop. Seems they got this operating system right. And I definitely needed to upgrade to a 64 bit system since it allows you to have a huge amount of RAM which is very tasty for CG workstations like mine. I’ll start out with 6Gb DDR3, but will probably upgrade to 12Gb DDR3 in the spring.

My new CG workstation waiting to be assembled.

My new CG workstation waiting to be assembled.

So there you have it. All of the parts which took me about a month to research and choose. The main thing to keep in mind when you choose your PC parts is that they all work together (check the manufacturer’s website) and that the company you buy the parts from has a good RMA policy. I’ve been lucky in all of my builds and have never had to return a part, but there is always a first time.

I haven’t listed a hard-drive purchase or a CD rom purchase because I’ll be pulling these item from my current system. FYI, I use a 500gb Windows Black for my system drive and a Lite-On Blu Ray drive for my DVD/CD rom. I will be buying a large 1.5 Tb drive for storage once the sales start rolling in at Fry’s.

I recommend keeping a notebook which contains all of your receipts and notes on every part you’ve purchased (along with dates, etc). This will make it much easier for you in the future if you have to get this info for reference or returns. I also use the notebook to record any notes on the system build and to record the process of putting the system together. These kinds of details seem superfluous at first, but later when you need to troubleshoot a problem that might come up, your notes will come in handy.

Next Up: Assembling the Parts, or putting your new system together one piece at a time!

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Dec
22
2009

Building a New CG Workstation. Part 2

Before I move on to the PC Case and Case mod for the new workstation build, I want to add a bit to my previous post about choosing the CPU/Socket for your build. Another source of info that I forgot to mention is an excellent magazine called MaximumPC, which I read every month. They have a nice blend of tech/game related information and reviews that provide a lot of help in choosing a computer and/or components to buy for a new build. The recent November issue has a nice piece on Windows 7 that convinced me to build my new computer using this new Microsoft operating system (in 64 bits). A short article by Gordon Mah Ung, senior editor, reminded me that most people can build a new computer without jumping up to the X58 platform and save a lot of money at the same time. Prices for a P55 rig or one built on the i5, LGA 1166 set up would probably run at least $300 cheaper than the system I’m building here. Gordon’s contention is that he won’t be upgrading his CPU until 2011 when prices are much cheaper. However, for my purposes (CG work) I’ll be upgrading to the 6 core i9 “Gulftown” cpu in the middle of next year (if it isn’t delayed).

PC Case: Coolermaster HAF 932

HAF 932 just out of the box

HAF 932 just out of the box

Choosing a case is a lot of fun because there are so many good ones out there at very reasonable prices. One good thing about building a system at the end of the year is that you often have several component “round up” reviews on major tech sites that go into detail on what the best specific computer components are for that year. In my previous system build, I chose the Antec P182 because it had terrific reviews and was at a very reasonable price. That case held me in good stead for several years, but I was ready to try something new this year. mdotStrange’s choice of the CoolerMaster Cosmos case for his big daddy system got me to looking at CoolerMaster cases which previously I thought were mostly for entry level builds.

I had a good browse of the cases on sale at Fry’s and discovered that the CoolerMaster HAF 922 and 932 were awfully well designed. I also liked the Zalman GS1000 which looked very stylish and functional. I toyed briefly with the idea of getting a Lian-Li case, but the high prices drove me away from these beautiful cases. After doing some research and reading reviews at sites like PCStats.com, I was liking the HAF cases even more. I usually buy a full ATX cases because my hands are large and I have a hard time maneuvering inside a small case. Plus, larger cases often are cooler cases if you design the fans and airflow correctly. Since the HAF 932 was a large case (and is it ever weighing in at 30 lbs), I focused on learning as much as I could before I committed to buy.

Browsing through youtube, I discovered an excellent vid by TJHarlow who apparently does case modding for a living. His 5 part video of repainting the interior of the case to a flat black sold me on the case for my build. And although I wasn’t going to re-rivet the case like TJ does (too much work), I did want to follow his lead and re-paint the case using his method as it would be a fun thing to learn and I like the way the case looks with a black interior instead of the light gray factory color.

After purchasing 2 cans of gray primer, 2 cans of flat black and 2 cans of clear coat along with masking tape, I set about disassembling the case and masking it for painting. Everything went fine until I had to remove the special CoolerMaster finger-press button retainers for the CD rom drives. TJ mentioned that “considerable force” was required to remove them.  It was hell removing these things and I broke one of them in the process. The retainers work just fine, but they weren’t really designed to be removed and when you finally get one off the springs and plastic gears inside fly all over the place forcing me to crawl around the kitchen with a flashlight trying to find tiny parts. Fortunately, I’ll only used at most 3 drives, so I wasn’t in too much of a problem. I was worried about putting them back on though. We’ll see how that works out once everything is painted.

The little buggers where hard to remove

These little buggers were hard to remove

Another small snag came when I discovered that the two large fans at the top of the case and on the side required an Allen wrench to remove the screws instead of the standard Phillips-head. And no Allen wrench was provided with the parts that came with the case. CoolerMaster dropped the ball here, I think. Fortunately, a full set of Allen wrenches cost about $6, so it wasn’t really an issue. But why not provide the right size wrench with the rest of the parts? Strange.

Found a nice spot outside the bookstore where I work to paint the case and a few extra parts. Wish I would have spent a little more care in masking the parts that I didn’t want painted. I got the outside window, but forgot to mask the other side which let to a few splatters of gray paint on the plastic window. Dumb thing to do on my part. But after several hours (be sure to use a mask and try to work outside as the fumes can be pretty toxic), I had the three coats on and let it dry overnight.

HAF 932 with first primer coat

First primer coat of gray is done. Note masking.

After bringing the case home and doing some simple touch ups (be sure to do your work when there’s lots of light, I waited till the late afternoon and my light was not good), I cleaned the case off with a clean rag and set about trying to fix the gray splatters on the side panel window. Alcohol seemed to do the job (also cleaned up stray masking tape residue), but for some reason I decided to try the stronger solvent Acetone, completely forgetting that the see through window is plastic. Well, one swipe and I realized that Acetone breaks down plastic (Yikes!) and it left a smeary blur where I wiped. Another dumb mistake. I finished the job with the Alcohol, but was left with a slight blur on one corner of the window. Not a problem for me, but if I was building this system for money I’d be sunk.

Blurry Side Window

Don't use Acetone on plastic parts folks

I managed to get the case re-assembled, however I wish I had diagrammed some of the parts a bit better. The direction the fans are facing make a difference in the airflow and I didn’t write the positions of the fans down, but quick search on youtube got be back on track. Also, the HAF installation guide pretty much laid everything out except for the fans. Got it all back together fine with the exception of the button retainers which were hell to put back on. Finally, I had to use a flat head screw driver to apply enough force to get the retainers to fit. Even then one of them exploded on me and it was back to crawling around on the flow trying to find tiny parts with a flashlight. Big mistake removing these things from the case, should have left them all on and simply masked them well with tape. Plus, even when I got them back on several retainers wouldn’t work properly, so I had to remove them and fix the interior gears. Finally, after several hours I managed to get all but two to work correctly. CoolerMaster does have a parts store, so I ordered two more retainers (cheap) to replace in a couple weeks. But, man, what a pain. I’d definitely advise against removing these unless you really have a lot of patience and good tools handy. Be very careful that they don’t fly out of your hands as the small springs are nearly impossible to find on the floor.

But, the paint job sure looks nice and I’m glad I took the time to do it. My partner Lisa is going to paint a nice zombie on the side of the case while I’m assembling the rest of the system. So this will be my Zombie build for 2009. With the red fan in front, should be perfect!

Paint Job finished. Case looks nice!

Paint Job finished. Case looks nice!

Next up: The motherboard and RAM memory.

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Dec
20
2009

Building a New CG Workstation. Part 1

Finally, I’ve caught up with almost all of my post-Expo work and can relax a bit. As part of a personal and professional project (I’ll be writing a 2 part article for Renderosity.com in Jan), I’m constructing a new Zombie Workstation (my title) for Machinima and traditional 3D work. I’ll be building it around Cinema 4D and Mach Studio Pro, a new real-time software company I’m reviewing. Of course, I’ll have several Adobe products (Audition, After Effects, etc) and Game SDK’s (Half Life 2, Dragon Age, Moviestorm, Second Life, etc) in the system as well. I plan on using this system only as a workstation for CG and video editing. My partner, Lisa Morton, gave me a nice Sony VAIO laptop for Xmas and I’ll be using it for my day to day emails, forums and surfing.

Cinema 4D

Shot of C4D interface

Shot of C4D interface

I’ll also be documenting my new system build both here at my personal site (in detail) and with more general posts at renderosity.com.

Basically, building your own computer is something just about anyone who is familiar with computers can do. If you can create machinima, you can build your own system. While it might seem daunting, it’s really not once you understand the basic hardware structure of most PC’s (MACS are another thing entirely).

The process of building a computer consists of four parts:

1. Research and shopping/buying
2. Preparing for the build
3. Assembly
4. Post-build testing & Problem solving

Mach Studio Pro

Mach Studio Pro Interface

Mach Studio Pro lighting Interface

Research and Shopping

Researching any new system build is often the most enjoyable part of creating a new computer. Not only do you find lots of interesting information on computer technology, but you learn a lot in the process.  Most of you already know that computer tech is advancing faster than most of us can keep up with. And high end components are often too expensive for machinima mortals like me. Still, reading about new tech is exciting to me and I enjoy comparing components and weighing the merits of various motherboards and RAM. There are also some wonderful tech sites out there with very helpful forums

This is the 6th computer I’ve built for myself and all of them have cost about $1000 to $1200 to build, although I didn’t set that budget when I started out. Most of the components I buy are slightly older, which makes them a bit cheaper since they are older technology. This isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds since popular and effective hardware has a longer life than components not as well designed or constructed. And even though a particular company might be selling a “bells and whistles” new version of their product, if you look at sales records/reviews you’ll find they make a lot of their money on their older and cheaper hardware. So, buying year-old hardware is a good way to go for system builders because it’s cheaper and you’ll find a lot of practical information (and possible problems) from users on the net (youtube is excellent for this). The trick is to buy so that you have room to upgrade, which isn’t always an easy thing to do when you are combining computer parts.

The primary task when you start research is to decide what you are using the computer for. Sounds simple, but you have to put a lot of thought into answering this question because it will determine practically everything you buy. Once you figure this out, you can buy complimentary components which should go together well in the Assembly stage.

I chose to build a workstation for CG and Machinima. A workstation usually is a computer who has a very specific function and is not used for every day kinds of things like email or typing blog posts like this one.  My workstation, will be built around using Cinema 4D, Mach Studio Pro and machinima tools like Moviestorm, Second Life and the Torque Game engine.  I’ll also be doing some DV editing for live action documentary work. Mach Studio Pro is a new, real-time software that allows you to edit the lighting, cameras and materials for your CG project. Since it’s real-time you there is no need for expensive render farms, but you do need a fast Graphics card which is why they bundle the ATI FirePro 8750 with the software.

On the other hand, I’ll be using Cinema 4D for the actual content creation (and to support my Machinima work) so I’ll need a fast quad-core CPU for rendering.  After research at Cinema 4D sites (great one at c4dcafe.com) and reading through the Mach Studio Pro forums and FAQ’s, the best CPU for the job is the new socket LGA 1366, X58 chipset,  i7 920 which operates at 2.66 Ghz, but has a ton of overclocking headroom. Add this to the requirements for the FirePro 8750 and you have the two components the workstation will be built around.

CPU: Intel i7 920 Bloomfield (X58 chipset)

i7 920 CPU Installed

i7 920 CPU Installed

I think it’s pretty obvious that the X58 is the way to go for a relatively current workstation build. I could have gone for the cheaper 1166 chipset, but the upcoming 6 core cpu (spring of 2010) does not support it. Only the 1366 chipset will work with the next generation of Intel CPUs. This was important to me as I want a workstation that is upgradeable and one that will last longer (my current system is 3 years old and going strong). The problem comes with the fact that the 1366 chipset requires more expensive components like DDR3 memory and specific motherboards that are mostly in the high $200 range.

In this case, I decided to pay the extra money and go with the X58,  i7 920 CPU even though components supporting the chipset are more expensive.

Although I read up on a lot of sites, there are three main tech websites that I read all the time and that have excellent reviews and forums. They are

Tom’s Hardware

Anandtech.com

Xbitlabs.com

Many builds listed at the forums of these websites whose primary focus was CG used the i7 920 and almost all of the builders overclocked the CPU to at least 3.4 Ghz. I collected listings of about a half a dozen builds using this CPU and started paying attention to hardware that kept reappearing in all of the successful computer builds. The 920 was highly effective in builds for Cinema 4D with very high Cinebench scores.

ATI FirePro 8750 Graphics card

ATI FirePro v8750 GPU

ATI FirePro v8750 GPU

As it comes with the Mach Studio Pro software, the v8750  it is at the top of the workstation graphics cards. Perfect for Mach Studio Pro, it’s drivers are fine tuned specifically for CG work (and not for games), but it does a decent job for gaming and open GL. I’ll be able to run most of my games at their top settings using this card. Cinema 4D won’t see much of a boost as CPU speed is more a factor for that program, but Mach Studio should blaze away.  It will be interesting to see how the card works overall in my system. I’ll definitely be testing it once the build is complete.

My main shopping sites are NewEgg.com (good, but not always reliable customer feedback), TigerDirect.com, Fry’s Electronics (a walk in store near me) and frozencpu.com are the sites I bought almost all of the parts for this build from.  Taxes is high in California right now (almost 10%), but since there is a warehouse in Southern California the delivery is usually next day from NewEgg.com. Very good customer service and a well-designed website/ordering system has made NewEgg a main stop for system builders. They also have very competitive prices and regular sales.

Now that we have decided on how the system will be used and have two major components chosen, we can begin to look at hardware that will compliment our core choices.

Next Up: Choosing the case, the mobo and other major components.

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