ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

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dawman
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ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

The new i7 S Series is a keeper, and regardless of the jive about being locked can be oc'd to 3.9GHz with ease, and a small temperature increase only. 48.5 C using a Dynatron 1U HSF combo in a 1U Supermicro Chassis.

Disable Turbo Boost and Spread Spectrum only.
Everything else in the BIOS is rock solid as I have the fast one using M.2 PCI-e SSDs as a spare now.
This a simple cheap and fast Live DAWg that will hunt.

Crucial MX-100s are fast and 100 bucks for the 256GB versions, I suggest these if you need SSDs for sample streaming Kontakt and ujsing Native Syn ths, FX, etc.

I am running at 9% with full polyphony on VB3, PianoTeq 5 Pro, Zebra 2 HZ (Diva Filters from Hans Zimmer and Howard Scarr), Kontakt 5.4. Satin 1.2 from u-He, Melda MRotary and Melda Multiband Saturator across all cores.

SATA3 Bus is 590MBps so the scores shown below are great for such a cost effective SSD.
93,000 IOPs is what I calculated using the division with Seq.Reads. Plenty for our needs.
But PLAY and VSL benefit greatly from 120k+ using M.2s like the XP941 and SM951 from Samsung.
AS-SSD.jpg
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SilverScoper

Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by SilverScoper »

You can get the IOps under the 'View' menu no need manual calcs :)
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Samsung-benchmark
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dawman
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

True, the iops is not calculated with seq. read throughput though.
For example your Samsung even w/o the caching/boost has a much higher transfer rate, most I have seen are around 95,000 IOps.
It really doesn't matter though as benchmarks can be attained for the sole reason to sell gear.
The Magician software uses from the purchase of that company early last year can show you insane benchmarks, yet there's little effect in real world usage since caching already occurs just from the RAM buffers samplers use as small pre fetch data.
I am a big Samsung fan btw.
Their SM951 should be in my hands by April.
It will turn the XP941 into a spare, and that's on my spare DAW as my recent build was based on the cheapest parts, like our Space Shuttles... :lol:
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dante
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dante »

Only according to Steve Buscemi (Armaggedon) :P :lol:
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ronnie
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by ronnie »

So nice to have the best of both worlds: Nope and Scope. When your PC says "Nope" :( , it's time for Scope :D . Ba-Da-Bing (Compressed) :lol: .
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dante »

This system is amazing (i7 4790 at stock speed, 16GB RAM and SSD).

In Reason - 60 track mix with subgroups - 30 audio tracks and 30 sampler / rack extension instruments sent to XITE-1D. All at 96KHz.

The CPU meter in Reason is registering at 2 bars out of 6 ! That's less than half, and both XITE and Reason load times sub 20 seconds.
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

What I really like about the Haswells is you can hit them hard and see the Task Manager looking Dangerously high, but not the slightest crackle or noise form all of the plug ins.
On the i7 3770K I was having good luck too but noticed it started crackling after 4 years, and my first Haswell is now a spare with years of life left.
No more upgrades for me, I was lucky to get old Giga era Kontakt 2 libraries working again.
I NCW's them so their size is smaller but really old libraries pre NCW are huge...

But yepp ASRock mand i7s are definitely audio bros of mine...
jksuperstar
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by jksuperstar »

I just ordered an Asus ROC Maximus VII IMpact...a Mini-ITX board, that has a PCIe slot and M.2 that can share the CPU's dedicated PCIe ports, just like the Asrock Extreme 6. Thanks for the tips in your build Jimmy...this should last me a number of years to come.

But, it also has a removable audio card, so I can bring the board up without any hardware to disable or IRQs to worry about. I also ordered an i5-4690K...devil's canyon without the extra virtual processors. Add some 2400MHz DDR3 RAM, and I should be good to go.

All in a 6" x 6" space. I plan on a custom built rack, 2U high and "1.5" wide, so I can use the stock cooler which is a lot quieter than the 1U variants, and it'll still fit on a regular keyboard stand. I'll post more as it begins to happen.

Dang, 2 weeks without Mod IV, and I'm going mad....just ask my wife.
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

Congrats on the Mini ITX but the M.2 slot Asus uses is only half speed PCI-e 2X.
You can't get the blazing fast direct to CPU stuff, but a Plextor M6e will work in those slots.

Check the ROG forum and see what those guys have been using.
Last time I chatted there everyone was whining that Asus didn't tell them the speed of the connections using PCI-e SSD.

But if it's just for OS+Apps you'll see that there's a difference from SATA III 590MBps max.
It should run up to 785MBps on the Plextor M6e and Boot from that device as well.

M.2's are great to have as they are small, low energy and do not hinder the air flow.
The only ones with really fast top end and random IOps are the Samsung XP941, and SM951.
So unless you are using PLAY, VSL and gigantic often uneeded mic placement stuff you won't miss anything.

Cheerz
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dante
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dante »

dawman wrote:What I really like about the Haswells is you can hit them hard and see the Task Manager looking Dangerously high, but not the slightest crackle or noise form all of the plug ins..
In Reason I will get a crackle during a 60 track mixdown if I do File/Save during the mixdown, or move the mouse too much.

Cubase with its AsioGuard is better in this respect - you can do a save without glitching mixdown.

If Reason had AsioGuard like Cubase - it would be a superbly solid product - but not moving the mouse during mixdown is not a huge workflow compromise IMHO, since thats the time to consume vodka anyway.

Ultimately though I'm hoping they can put AsioGuard in a Rack Extension ..... :lol:
jksuperstar
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by jksuperstar »

I know the other ROG boards use an external connection to M.2, but this particular Mini-ITX ("IMPACT") model, when M.2 slot is used, will cut the PCIe slot from 16x down to 8x lanes, with the other used by the M.2 spot, at x3 speeds. However, I am only using 2.0 speeds anyway, since I just bought the XP941 (and the PCIe will obviously be used by the XITE at 2.0 speeds). I just want there to be minimal latency in anything I use this PC for. I can also use the RAMDISK software it comes with, which will copy whatever files or folders you want into RAM, and serve that as a "disk"...so load times can be faster than any PCIe can be. You pay for the Mini-ITX format, since the Extreme6 is cheaper with more features. But I wanted portable with only the ports I need, and really liked that I can completely remove the sound card and even Wifi if I wanted to.

(I will only use 4GB of 16GB RAM, since I plan to use 32bit windows, as this will mainly be used for a massive Modular IV system that I want all the sampling modules to work more than I need large sample sets in VSTs).

I even found your posts about the xp951 elsewhere (SSD Review?), and it made me realize the things to look for in a mobo. (In fact, the Extreme6 and this IMPACT board are the only two I found that have M.2 to the CPU)

MAXIMUS VII IMPACT
*Intel® Z97 Express chipset with M.2 (PCI Express 3.0 x4) support
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

I must read up on that board then.
I waited for Asus to go faster than PCI-e 2x but ASRock jumped in with PCI-e 4x which made me get the XP941.
Sounds like a great portable rig.

I finally replaced the SE-1Xs with Zebra2 HZ so now have a 4U w/ the ASRock/XITE-1/Fireworx and the Monitor is in a tilt up SKB Mixer case that allows me to look down if any changes are necessary.

Sure beats the 28U I use to use with dual Barbettas and the 41 Sub.
Little CPS SSv3 Spacestation and Behringer B1200D Sub are also very portable.

I can now await Gray hair with this rig since it will last for years, by then I hope to run a watch from Samsung or Apple, use a hologram of me when I was younger, while I call up sequences from the bar where I will chug Jager and flirt with waittail cocktresses.....

ANkyu
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wayne
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by wayne »

AsRock H81M-HDS / i7 4790 / OCZ arc100 240gb xite rig up and running here. Bloody awesome :)
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

Right on Brotha'Man Wayne...good to hear from you.

The ARCs are getting lots of attention and Toshiba was wise not to let OCZ slip away.

Still have 4 x Vertex 4's all 128GB, they are years old beaten to death and retired as spares.
Even 4 years later they still get 80k+ and only slowed from 515MBps down to 480MBps with 66% fill on them.

And ASRock has really caught on in the last 2 years in audio world.
Places like Vision DAW use Gigabyte but I was told they have some Extreme 11a's in use from people asking why they aren't using M.2's.
???
Probably because the Extreme 11s have Dual Thunmderbolt II and LSI Chips....
Storage Heaven for us peasants....

Cheers Brother
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tlaskows
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by tlaskows »

I'm rocking my 4 core 4770k. It can go up to 4.4GHz stable OCCT tested overnight. On cheap water cooler :)

-Tom
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by dawman »

Probably don't even need the water on those first Haswells.
I like the low wattage S Series, and then zapp them with a little voltage for 700MHz increase.
Since I am using Native stuff these days that really helps out as they only recently started programming syhnths to use all cores.
Omnisphere and Zebra2 HZ are still ganged onto a single core, so synths like that benefit.

Cheerz to Canada.....
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by tlaskows »

Well, it does get pretty hot even on water when at 4.4 and 1.4 something volts....
jksuperstar
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by jksuperstar »

My build is beginning to come alive :)

Asus ROG Maximus MVII Impact (Z97 Mini-ITX)
i5-4690K @ 3.5GHz (using the cooler that came with it)
HyperX DDR3-2400 (still running at 1600MHz for now)
Samsung XP941 (PCIe SSD 128GB) -- Windows 8.1 x64
Kingston SSDNow V+ (SataII 64GB) -- Windows 8.1 x86
WD Blue Slim - 1TB (other data & backup)
XITE-1 PCIe card

DPC Max Latency: 5usec :) :)

Boot Time: 6 seconds. Shutdown and Sleep: 3 seconds.

Shit, I don't know why I stuck with a laptop for so long. These little mini-ITX "desktop" systems, paired with a portable monitor, are just as portable (for music making) as any laptop, without all the extra baggage a laptop imposes on realtime performance. No flaming hoops to jump through to try & maintain constant performance from the CPUs without power management getting in the way. This thing is riding on rails.
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tlaskows
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by tlaskows »

Damn, that's a fast boot up. My Windows 7 boots up before the animation finishes, but not as fast as yours. It's probably that Samsung PCI-e SSD. I have a SATA 6 SSD drive.

-Tom
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Re: ASRock Z97 Extrem 6 w/ WIndows 8.1 and i7 4970S

Post by jksuperstar »

Windows 8 has done a lot of optimization on boot time (plus the ndis.sys network drivers (at least for this Intel LAN/WiFi) are incredibly quick. Most people struggle with these as the primary latency causing issue. These network drivers are 20x-80x faster than my laptop DPC latency. (Old ones would spike to 400usec every 2.5 seconds)
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