Today I end this project. It has sufficiently gained in quality to
finish work on it. Thanks in particular to Linnofil to have pointed
out the importance of this digital stuff - by my own I had never thought
to care about it! - and the PC world is that large, that without a
decent compass I just would have felt lost.
Recent activities included a E2K trial:
using a 8 GB Kingston RAM (HyperX KHX16C10B1B/8), mounted in the blue
slot. I was about to leave the E2K alone, as I could not bring it to
a consistent performance witht he LianLi case. But as I had more than
one 4mm alu plate made, I eventually felt, why not give it a try. Overall,
I can't make out a significant difference between the E2K and the E45
performance, when mounted in this way.
The main result, beyond those stated by Linnofil, is in my view
the surprisingly large effect of mechanics (mainboard). Many times
I felt the Intel320 sounded laid back, lazy, short of energy, etc..
It seems as if this is completely cured when the MoBo has the right
mechanical set up. To me it seems a bit funny to cure something
which was attributed to the SSD with the MoBo setting, but this is
simply the experience.
At present (E45 running, 8GB RAM as mentioned mounted, not in QVL),
the music is both detailed, fine, while engergetic and natural. The
tune(s) can be followed with ease, this is evident in particular
with multi voiced Jazz and Classic, but even Depeche's Hole to feed
sounds fine. Hank Jones's Compassion album - lively and nicely
interacting players; Mahler's sym. 3 (Levine - that's the record to
chose if interested in the piece) refined, well structured, powerful.
You may know from previous posts that equipment that is not capable
to reproduce Monk and Bach with fun is discarded here quickly.
I decided to use the E45 at the moment, because the CPU fan on the
E2K is less accessible (the small connector below the heat sink
in the first pic, visible behind the USB connector) and has an
unusual format. It is not possible to use an other fan than the
one that comes with the board/heat sink without additional effort.
I'm too lazy for that, as the other board plays well together with
the LianLi case fan (connected to CPU fan conn.).
In review, the main mechanic ingredients seem to me
- solid plate for the MoBo - without this, results have not been
repeatable here (no wonder when considering the effect of
MoBo bending, see below)
- check of the heat sink mounting screws (shutting the springs dead,
then turn back a bit to allow the springs to work)
- avoidance of any bend in the MoBo. This means at my set up that
I fasten the two screws on the RAM-side well, but the two at the
connection panel side only just so. At this side, my MoBos bend
very easily when I turn the screws further in.
- and finally, both MoBos play here best when positioned
horizontally, but upside down. Vertical position was a clear
compromise, as Linnofil already suggested.
Please note, that this is a Firewire/PC, not a DS-system. My idea is
that what happens inside the PC has a similar effect in both
systems.
Thanks again, and BR, Klaus