Signed in just to say thx for this valuable info.

I'm currently building my new Wokstation. Although I use C5 (C6 soon), I always look @ my options. :)

The only things that concern me on going 2600k
- Bandwidth which IMO is one of the most important things in a successful DAW build
- Video power, which it something that comes into play since I am also using this as a video production build.

While the price is attractive in an O'Ced environment, I really would pay the extra $$$ to ensure the throughput I need.
Now one thing that makes it attractive are the newer MOBOs for the the 2600k, loaded w SATAIII and USB3.0 is soooo attractive.
That said, specwise only, the 980x is still a better build IMO
Add to that, Bulldozer on the horizon.... hmm, build now or wait?

Again, Thx for all the great info, your numbers are absolutely appreciated and I've seen your posts in quite a few forums that we both frequent. I had seen those numbers on gearslutz. 

What I am most focused on is how a DAW would perform @ MAX throughput.
I believe a 980x setup would have higher bandwidth thorughout.

KONTAKT - EWQL - Trillian - Omnisphere - C6 - VEGAS - CS5 - Adobe Premiere etc...
(not saying these will be used @ the same time btw lol)

I mean Taking tons of VSTs into account along with plugins and totally getting a DAW close to maxing thoughput, isn't a 2600k setup slightly limited in the amount of throughput moving around a DAW compared to a 980x DAW?

Royal Tee


Again, Thx for all the great info, your numbers are absolutely appreciated and I've seen your posts in quite a few forums that we both frequent. I had seen those numbers on gearslutz. 

What I am most focused on is how a DAW would perform @ MAX throughput.
I believe a 980x setup would have higher bandwidth thorughout.

KONTAKT - EWQL - Trillian - Omnisphere - C6 - VEGAS - CS5 - Adobe Premiere etc...
(not saying these will be used @ the same time btw lol)

I mean Taking tons of VSTs into account along with plugins and totally getting a DAW close to maxing thoughput, isn't a 2600k setup slightly limited in the amount of throughput moving around a DAW compared to a 980x DAW?

both the audio benchmarks and video benchmarks while done in a different fashion are hitting near 100% system load.
 
the only thing i cant say with 100% certainty is for VSTi's
we have just not had the time for a good test. (we are so busy)
for video the sandy bridge is right there with the 980x only benefit to the x58 platform is if you need a raid card. (past 4 drives in raid0 or a raid 5.6 setup)
 
and while this will work on sandy bridge, there is only 20 lanes of PCIe 16 is for the video leaving 4 for the raid.
(usually an 8x card) so a load balance (assuming 100% hit on both) might look like this
14x for the video and 6x for the raid card. leaving both running at less than 100% performance..
 
at that point i may comment that if you need that king of power then perhaps a dual Xeon is best anyway.. (for video)
 
the question is is it worth $700+ for the minor differences.
 
 
 
 
 

Question for Scott:
 
I am debating whether to go with a 980x of 2600k system.  I am going to Win 7 and if I went with the 2600K I would have 16gb of ram (4 - 4gb sticks)
 
Question is  - I do not care about video.  I would have an ATI video card because they play nicer with a a lynx aes16e.
 
So my question is - will the PCI-E slot for the video card interfere with the PCI-E slot (which only needs to be 1X) for the AES 16e?  
 
The reason I ask, and this is over my head, is because it appears that so many of the PCI-E slots are sharing the same IRQ or something.
 
I save $1000 by going with a 2600K system overall.
 
THANKS IN ADVANCE.
AB

jcschild


no not at all.. there are 20 PCIe lanes
the video card takes 16x but for audio can easily be down clocked to 8x.
even at 16x that leaves 4 x left no audio interface is more than 1x..
leaving room for 3 UADs :-)

we have had the entire board full with no issues.

Scott - it is very kind of you to respond so fast.  Will this motherboard work:  I will have a UAD-2 PCI-E card as well as the Lynx AES-16e.  The motherboard choices are confusing.  Here is the one I am thinking of as it  seems to have great features and overclocks well:

ASUS P8P67 EVO LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

Good stuff Scott!  As you know (based on the fact that you replied that other thread), I'm doing the research before putting together one or more new PC's for work and studio so this information is very helpful.

Looking at your signature (the "ADK" part) answered my next question - lol!

I took a few years off from building computers and I feel very left behind - I've got a couple of other questions, but they're probably better off in their own threads.  Thanks for CPU info!

Here's some very trivial trivia for you:  On Intel's software that allows you to adjust your system, I created the speedometer-like dials (using Blend and C#) that you see on the screen during a two-week contract with Intel a few years ago.  On the days that I had to be at their campus near Portland for a meeting they were always cussing about Vista - pretty funny!

Wow - nothing more fun than taking your motherboard out to be fixed!
 
Tests were mentioned above - and I do think it is important to know what motherboard was used.
 
This latest post steers me towards waiting for the 990X to be released, presumably at the same cost as the 980x.  And on motherboards that have been in use for months.
 
I would rather pay another $700 on equipment, than spend hours on problems.

Has anyone done any bench marking for the i5 2500k unlock processor?

What particularly sucked about it??  For medium to small sized projects. 

craftm1


What particularly sucked about it??  For medium to small sized projects. 

it was no faster than socket 1156 760 at best. wait found my numbers..
 
using dawbench
# of RXC compressors at a certain buffer
2500k @ stock
 
32 = 99
64 = 124
(about equal to a 1156 750)
 
stock 2600
32= 183
64= 191
just under a 980x... which is 201 @ 32 buffer.
 
hello...
 
only good sandy bridge is the 2600.
will a 2300 or 2400,2500 work for lite to medium use sure, non of those have HT.
 so will an AMD 1090T or a socket 1156  all are rather good.
 
if you are going to build a SB system then why not grab the better processor for $100 more and get vastly different performance
that will last you for yrs.
 

jcschild

AVTechman


That kinda makes me wonder now whether I should stick to using an X58 board, as I plan to build a new workstation for video editing and compositing, and a forthcoming DAW as well. I definitely want to ensure that I will be buying a board that will do the job and do it well. 

unless you need to add an X8 raid card (8 or 12 port raid arrays)
then the sandy bridge 2600 is worth the wait as it performs right there with a 980x.
most editors do not need an 8 drive raid array, now if you are working in red 4 k yeah..
 
 

Scott - can you explain how the cache size differences in the 980x versus 2600 affect them.  Also, how much does the triple versus double channel memory matter (assuming you have enough gbs?

Thanks for the info. jcschild!  I have inherited some new components: i5 2500K a new ASUS MOBO and other parts from an individual that had these still boxed and unopened.  They were given to me so the cost was not an issue.  As you can see from my sig I'm running an older system and will build a new machine in the next month or so.  You have a good point regarding the i7 chip.  I really don't that that much horse power.  I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.  I want to make sure that the whole sandy bridge chip issue on the mobo will not affect my build or should I wait for a new mobo?

Will do, thanks again and I'll keep everyone posted to any issues that arise with the new build.

HI SD,

thanks for the compliments..

i disagree with Tom's completely.
the only reason to not get a Sandy Bridge for editing is if you need a serious raid array. (8+ drives)

here are some CS5 numbers.

Premiere Pro CS5 Version 5.0.3 Testing
I7 2600 3.4GHZ Turbo to 3.9GHz (stock)
8GB Blackline 1600 CL 9
460GTX
4 WD 1Tb Sata 64 Meg Cache 600 Drives in 2 Raid 0 arrays
Video material - AVCHD 1080P 24 Frame Each Cut to 30 minutes of material
Export Codec - H264 HDTV 1080P 24 Preset Default
4 Effects per Layer - Fast Color Corrector, Brightness & Contrast, Video Limiter, Sharpen
Each Layer Scaled to 50% for 4 frame PinP view.
3 Layer - 37:35
4 Layer - 40:49
 
16GB Blackline 1600 CL 9
570GTX
3 Layer - 36:17
4 Layer - 40:05
 
I7 2600K 3.4GHZ Turbo to 4.7GHz
16GB Blackline 1600 CL 9
470GTX
3 Layer - 31:35  
8788 Layer - 34:35
 
I7 980X 4GHZ
12GB Blackline 1600 CL 9
570GTX
3 Layer - 32:30
4 Layer - 35:25
 
Dual Xeon X5680 CPU's at 4.0GHz
48 GB DDR3 1600 Blackline at 1600
4 WD RE4 2Tb Sata 64 Meg Cache Drives in Raid 5 array
580GTX
3 Layer - 31:00
4 Layer - 31:11
honestly the test needs to have added effects at this point as the Xeons are not really geting worked.

AVCHD to H264 is by far the most common workflow today in editing thus whe we choose this type test.
its about as close to real world as i can get.

we added the lighting effect now (triples the render times)  as systems pop up we will rebench...

post edited by jcschild - 2011/02/14 08:21:53

jcschild

AVTechman


That kinda makes me wonder now whether I should stick to using an X58 board, as I plan to build a new workstation for video editing and compositing, and a forthcoming DAW as well. I definitely want to ensure that I will be buying a board that will do the job and do it well. 

unless you need to add an X8 raid card (8 or 12 port raid arrays)
then the sandy bridge 2600 is worth the wait as it performs right there with a 980x.
most editors do not need an 8 drive raid array, now if you are working in red 4 k yeah..
 
 

Thanks Scott I appreciate the response. I won't be needing 8 drives right now for such a RAID setup most likely will be half that for video work (4 if I plan to do RAID 0+1 or simply RAID 0 for 2 drives). 


If the Sandy Bridge 2600 is capable of adding a suitable RAID card for up to four drives (unless it has a built-in RAID function) then I will definitly go the SB route. I am in no rush right now anyway so I don't mind the wait in the meantime. I am currently putting together a budget now for the system I plan to build once I have the money saved up for it.