I'm hoping to get some thoughts from the fine folks here on the forum. Literally pulling my hair out at this point comparing sockets and chipsets and CPU's...AAARRRGGGHH LOL I do mostly commercial audio and scoring with large track counts and extensive plugins and softsynths so I'm looking to build a fairly monster machine...will spend what I need to, so price isn't really a concern, but I obviously don't want to spend money I don't have to. Looking for:
 
1. A lot of RAM expandability...would like to run 32GB to start with the option to run 64GB down the road. "Future-proof" myself a little bit?
 
2. A lot of PCIe slots...as many as I can get. I don't need PCI at all. Figuring 1 for a video card, 2 for my UAD2 Quads, 1 for my MOTU card, etc...at least another one for another UAD2 card... 3. Would like to have USB 3.0, and I need firewire for my Duende (whether on the mobo or through a card)
 
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1. Originally considered going with an i7-3930K and MSI X79A-GD65 Mobo. I would like to have the 8 quad channel RAM slots that LG2011 provides.
 
2. Then I considered going with dual Xeons and a server motherboard. The server motherboards don't seem to have very many PCIe slots, and the ones I've seen that do,(EVGA 270-WS-W555-A2 Classified SR-2) have a mobo fan, which of course I'd like to avoid.
 
3. ALSO considered an Intel i7 3770k with a Z77 mobo, but apparently there are no LG1155 mobos with more than 4 RAM slots...?
 
Any ideas??? Head literally swimming with CPU and mobo socket and chipset numbers LOL

Maybe this CPU/motherboard combo?
 
ASUS P9X79 PRO LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS
 
i7 3930K

This is what I use X58 chipset motherboard,i7 Processor,Triple channel DDR3, 12 Gig, Win 7 Ult 64 Bit X2 Reason 6.5

My new (3 months ago) build is listed in my sig.

If you are considering a dual Socket 2011 Xeon workstation, there are plenty of other (and better) mobo options you should be looking at, particularly Supermicro:

http://www.supermicro.com...erboard/Xeon1333/#2011

=G

NEVER, Never, Never buy Supermicro, crap 1 yr warranty that begins the day it leaves the manufacturer NOT the vendor.
so when you actually get the board its warranty could be 6-8 month left.

lousy RMA process, lousy support, and build quality has gone down hill

with that said i havent used them in at least 3 yrs, get burned a few times with a $500-600 board you learn real quick.

Tyan is much better and Intel is the best with advanced next day air replace for 3 yrs..

Wezx,

no on the dual Xeons for 99% of audio people its a complete waste of money and unless you buy dual 3.1GHz the single 6Cores are faster..

X79, 3930 @ 4.5-4.7GHz
no on MSI or EVGA

drop that duende and go native.. they never worked right to begin with (no ones FW dsp ever worked as it should) native is free for you

jcschild
NEVER, Never, Never buy Supermicro, crap 1 yr warranty that begins the day it leaves the manufacturer NOT the vendor.
so when you actually get the board its warranty could be 6-8 month left.

lousy RMA process, lousy support, and build quality has gone down hill

with that said i havent used them in at least 3 yrs, get burned a few times with a $500-600 board you learn real quick.

Oh, c'mon Scott, tell us how you really feel about Supermicro.


Never had problems dealing with Supermicro boards myself, but maybe I've just dealt with a good distributor, dunno. Had one board go bad after 4-5 years, and it was bad caps.

Tyan is much better and Intel is the best with advanced next day air replace for 3 yrs..

Ha! I got burned by Tyan years ago (buggy BIOS, their support promised an update but never delivered) and swore off their boards after that.


Intel are good too, but don't offer the variety of WS boards Supermicro do.


One interesting thing I've noticed is that Intel put a TI FW chip on their DP Skt 2011 WS board (like Supermicro do), but use a Via FW chip on their X79 desktop board. Cost maybe...

What do you guys think of this mainboard:  Intel® Desktop Board DH77EB 

I feel like a dunce with PC components these days. It is being recommended to me but I have no idea. Not even what questions to ask! 

Also, fans...what fans do you guys recommend. Every time I've had a computer built by a custom vender the fans have been poor.

What do you guys think of this mainboard:  Intel® Desktop Board DH77EB 

Intel makes a fine CPU...  
Generally speaking, avoid Intel motherboards.  Typically lack certain BIOS features that are useful for DAW purposes.

Unless you're in the upper 1/10 of one-percent of power-users...
(Meaning you're a composer the likes of Hans Zimmer)
You don't need a dual xeon DAW.

For dense productions the 3930k is typically far more than sufficient.
Many of our hardcore composer clients are running this CPU at 4.5GHz.
Armed with SSDs for disk-streaming samples, this rig can pull 2000+ notes of polyphony.

For typical audio production (balance of audio tracks and virtual instruments), the 3770k at 4.5GHz is a great fit.
The 1155 motherboards max out at 32GB of RAM, but (again) that's not an issue unless you're an extreme case.
By the time 32GB is a limitation, you'll likely need a new machine (several years down the line).