Building a DIY Music Server

[abase]

..are there any suggestions for a DDR5 Ram?
I plan to build my DIY-Server arround the "ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO" (up sampling HQPlayer)

[Exocer]

On 1/23/2024 at 2:01 PM, abase said:

..are there any suggestions for a DDR5 Ram?
I plan to build my DIY-Server arround the "ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO" (up sampling HQPlayer)

I don’t have any known good sounding model numbers but generally Ram that uses Samsung B-die (discontinued as far as I know), wide-temp, ECC usually sounds better than ordinary Ram. I would start there and experiment. I do t know what today’s equivalent to Samsung B-die chips is.

[Exocer]

On 1/23/2024 at 2:12 AM, seeteeyou said:

While Win11PE still remained the most "striking" flavor so far, please feel free to check them out as well

 

Scripts to build a trimmed-down Windows 11 image.
https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder

 

The official and complete tiny10 and tiny11 list - NTDEV

https://ntdev.blog/2024/01/08/the-complete-tiny10-and-tiny11-list/

Super helpful. I have a brand new Intel 900P waiting for these experiments. Stay tuned!

 

edit: windows 11pe seems a bit over my head right now. I don’t have the time to follow the entire thread. 
 

I’ll try tiny11 and see if hqplayer desktop will work on it.

[seeteeyou]

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=67019

 

WinPE 11 – Extended Recovery Environment for Windows

https://web.archive.org/web/20231002082328/https://www.aioboot.com/en/winpe-11/

 

WinPE_11_230605.7z

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AJMhaK6j3SVIeBBNuK-fg_ePMLQAOtu1/view

 

Bypass Google Drive Download Limit

https://bustatech.com/bypass-google-drive-download-limit/

 

IMHO that could be somewhat / much easier to get started, though the size might be quite "substantial" for sure due to the number of tools added to that particular image.

 

---

 

And then we'll simply add the ASIO driver for the USB DAC / DDC afterwards

 

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=63240

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=64366

https://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?13357-WinPE-的一點點筆記&p=253256#post253256

 

NIC drivers as follows

 

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/index-all-my-drivers-firmware-software-threads.11360/

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/hardware-build-advice/index-all-my-drivers-firmware-software-threads/m-p/827232

• [DRIVERS] Intel Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] AMD|MediaTek WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] Marvell/Aquantia Ethernet
• [DRIVERS] Realtek Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] Qualcomm Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] Broadcom WiFi/Bluetooth

Solarflare

https://www.xilinx.com/content/dam/xilinx/publications/solarflare/drivers-software/windows/x2-sfn8000/sfn-v1.9.2.zip

https://catalog.s.download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/driver/drvs/2018/11/bb3ac8ae-a695-4079-b922-6a453f342e74_406a7d54125823d97c9e909117c8fe8240d2acf7.cab

[Exocer]

39 minutes ago, seeteeyou said:

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=67019

 

WinPE 11 – Extended Recovery Environment for Windows

https://web.archive.org/web/20231002082328/https://www.aioboot.com/en/winpe-11/

 

WinPE_11_230605.7z

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AJMhaK6j3SVIeBBNuK-fg_ePMLQAOtu1/view

 

Bypass Google Drive Download Limit

https://bustatech.com/bypass-google-drive-download-limit/

 

IMHO that could be somewhat / much easier to get started, though the size might be quite "substantial" for sure due to the number of tools added to that particular image.

 

---

 

And then we'll simply add the ASIO driver for the USB DAC / DDC afterwards

 

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=63240

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=64366

https://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?13357-WinPE-的一點點筆記&p=253256#post253256

 

NIC drivers as follows

 

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/index-all-my-drivers-firmware-software-threads.11360/

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/hardware-build-advice/index-all-my-drivers-firmware-software-threads/m-p/827232

• [DRIVERS] Intel Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] AMD|MediaTek WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] Marvell/Aquantia Ethernet
• [DRIVERS] Realtek Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] Qualcomm Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth
• [DRIVERS] Broadcom WiFi/Bluetooth

Solarflare

https://www.xilinx.com/content/dam/xilinx/publications/solarflare/drivers-software/windows/x2-sfn8000/sfn-v1.9.2.zip

https://catalog.s.download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/driver/drvs/2018/11/bb3ac8ae-a695-4079-b922-6a453f342e74_406a7d54125823d97c9e909117c8fe8240d2acf7.cab

Awesome 😎 thanks again. Up and running with tiny11 and hqplayer desktop 5. The hqplayer control app leaves a lot to be desired though. I haven’t yet figured how to view my favorite albums via the control all although i am able to connect to Qobuz via hqplayer client and view my favorites there.

 

The SQ is really good though. This is without process lasso. Time to scour this thread for hints 😎.

[MarcelNL]

On 1/23/2024 at 8:01 PM, abase said:

..are there any suggestions for a DDR5 Ram?
I plan to build my DIY-Server arround the "ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO" (up sampling HQPlayer)

have a look at the Griggs audio website, they have been using DDR5 for a while now, I see they use specific G-Skill sticks

[MarcelNL]

Meanwhile I have  lift off, now the great BIOS battle begins...

 

Anyone who can tell me if I need to manually switch off the fan control or that the MB is fine with no fans connected?

(currently have the heatpipe adapter mounted with the fans loosely lying on top, heat production is not as dramatic as with the Ryzen 16 core)

 

[ciccio1112]

HI MarcelNL, on the Asus c621 it is not necessary to disable any fans in the bios settings. You can easily work in fanless mode without doing anything.

[MarcelNL]

thanks! great news! I got a little paranoid after fighting the MB using a PCIe Videocard that did not work (MB jumper set to internal VGA), then two RAM sticks 'error training RAM" and FF on the display that I translated into fan fail without looking up the code....

 

I'll be fighting my way through the BIOS...A bit worried about the RAM sticks as those were 2 of the 4 that previously worked without any hiccup (before adding 4 more sticks)

 

[abase]

6 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

have a look at the Griggs audio website, they have been using DDR5 for a while now

..thank you for the tip, I will try that!

[MarcelNL]

6 hours ago, ciccio1112 said:

HI MarcelNL, on the Asus c621 it is not necessary to disable any fans in the bios settings. You can easily work in fanless mode without doing anything.

one more question, I may be dealing with a faulty VGA monitor/cable...is the Q code showing 00 after succesfully booting?

The manual says 00 'not used' 

 

I seem unable to get anything on the screen, earlier today I was in the BIOS settings, but am not getting in anymore...'no signal' on screen and after clearing the CMOS I get no further...

 

 

[Exocer]

12 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

one more question, I may be dealing with a faulty VGA monitor/cable...is the Q code showing 00 after succesfully booting?

The manual says 00 'not used' 

 

I seem unable to get anything on the screen, earlier today I was in the BIOS settings, but am not getting in anymore...'no signal' on screen and after clearing the CMOS I get no further...

 

 

With Euphony : 00

with windows 11 tiny : AA

[MarcelNL]

interesting difference... THANKS...will try load the BIOS from scratch, and then go find another VGA monitor and cable...the NVME SSD on the Mb has a tiny W10 loaded but i expect to be able to see the boot messaged on screen regardless of what OS is being/attempted to boot

[Nenon]

53 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

interesting difference... THANKS...will try load the BIOS from scratch, and then go find another VGA monitor and cable...the NVME SSD on the Mb has a tiny W10 loaded but i expect to be able to see the boot messaged on screen regardless of what OS is being/attempted to boot

 

Do you have a BMC module on yours? The KVM is very handy for troubleshooting without needing to plug in a monitor. 

[MarcelNL]

4 minutes ago, Nenon said:

 

Do you have a BMC module on yours? The KVM is very handy for troubleshooting without needing to plug in a monitor. 

I did buy one, but took it off as I did not read up on how to access it yet...guess I need to do that now ;-)

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, MarcelNL said:

I did buy one, but took it off as I did not read up on how to access it yet...guess I need to do that now ;-)

 

Just connect the onboard NIC to your network. The BMC module will receive an IP address (different than the your OS IP address). Connect with a web browser to that IP address. Login with the default credentials (I think it was admin/admin but double check in the manual). The rest should be self-explanatory. 

[Hulio]

MarcelNL,

 

Reseeding the RAM normally helps.

[seeteeyou]

On 1/25/2024 at 7:06 AM, Exocer said:

Super helpful. I have a brand new Intel 900P waiting for these experiments. Stay tuned!

 

I just read that someone was upgrading from 118GB P1600X to 400GB P5800X (i.e. pretty much the very last generation of Optane with the lowest latency EVER, should be fairly similar when compared to P5810X) several days ago, that resulted in fatigue free listening while still costing less than buying this guy

 

https://www.udinfo.com.tw/news/news-release-2/

 

---

 

Since @Nenon is still reading this thread at the moment, let's talk about this for a little bit as well

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/69312-taikos-xdmi-interface/#comment-1267928  

On 1/22/2024 at 1:09 AM, Nenon said:

I don't follow all the Taiko threads on WBF, and I don't know if anyone has written about this outside of the Taiko XDMS Discord (which I rarely have the time to follow too), but Taiko released a software update on Jan-10 that made Qobuz sound better than local files on the NVME storage. With careful control over the entire network chain by designing their own router, switch, NIC, customized OS, and software, they managed to reduce the noise floor of the network more than the noise floor of NVME or Optane storage. It's incredible to hear the exact same recording sounding better when streamed from Qobuz than my local copy. I never thought that would be possible.

 

Somehow Optane finally got "defeated" by something else, maybe the customers of Taiko could start exploring these options then?

 

https://github.com/grub4dos/ntloader#readme

 

iPXE

https://rpi4cluster.com/pxe/ipxe/

 

Tiny PXE Server

http://labalec.fr/erwan/?page_id=958

 

Boot Windows 10 and WinPE from PXE (IPXE)

https://gist.github.com/rikka0w0/987d3e03c6f133802318669e85836870

 

Windows | netboot.xyz
https://netboot.xyz/docs/kb/pxe/windows/

 

NetBoot.xyz - Windows Server 2019

https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/162026/netboot-xyz-windows-server-2019

 

Boot WinPE via WimBoot from Grub2 and iPXE

https://web.archive.org/web/20231002080118/https://www.aioboot.com/en/wimboot/

 

Configure a PXE server to load Windows PE

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/configure-a-pxe-server-to-load-windows-pe

 

---

 

BTW, G4D (i.e. grub4dos) totally smoked Boot Configuration Data / Windows Boot Manager

 

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=58773

Quote

Changing the setting back to “enabled” to allow for “legacy USB” support immediately allowed the USB-C to M.2 adapter to show up in the boot section, and Grub4DOS to load with a boot menu just as samotc said it would. I am glad, too, because “Grub4UEFI” was proving too complicated for me to understand.

Anyway, I can definitely see why it produces lower latencies just by how quickly it loads Win11PE into RAM. Lightning fast!

 

http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/?p=58496

Quote

Hello again, I have been testing LatencyMon, and indeed, there is an improvement in latency between loading WIM and loading ISO TO RAM with G4D, being lower in the latter, my ears, despite my age, did not deceive me, Here I attach 2 txt files with the results of the measurement in Wim and in ISO TO TAM with G4D.

 

Quote

Another curious thing is that the USB latency improves with the boot in G4D, with respect to Wim, it also strikes me that when testing LatencyMon on my host, the processes that caused the most latency were those related to the Nvidia drivers of my graphics card, fortunately I had the intuition not to install them on the XPE.

 

[drjimwillie]

4 hours ago, Nenon said:

 

Just connect the onboard NIC to your network. The BMC module will receive an IP address (different than the your OS IP address). Connect with a web browser to that IP address. Login with the default credentials (I think it was admin/admin but double check in the manual). The rest should be self-explanatory. 

What is the BCM module, please. 
does it come with the sage motherboard?
Thank you

[MarcelNL]

4 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

What is the BCM module, please. 
does it come with the sage motherboard?
Thank you

the BMC module is a tiny circuit board (something like 60 Euro) that connects to the Sage motherboard, it's intended as remote access/control for the motherboard through KVM ....don't even ask anything more, just regurgitating what I think I know ;-)  

I bought the module to be able to control the fans on the standard coolers but did not get around to do anything with it yet but it's indeed a great idea to be able to rule out VGA or boot issues.

(boot process takes looong)

 

 

 

[MarcelNL]

https://dlsvr04.asus.com.cn/pub/ASUS/server/accessory/ASMB9/E12610_ASMB9-iKVM_UM_WEB.pdf

 

the BMC module is the tiny white stickered daughterboard, the Mb needs to have a pinout connector for it to work (of course)

[MarcelNL]

so far I'm unable to source the required software that ought to come with the ASMB9 module....grrrr

 

 

[seeteeyou]

https://aswmentol.blob.core.windows.net/release/OVA/ACC_V1.4.2.5.ova

https://aswmentol.blob.core.windows.net/release/OVA/ACC_V1.3.1.13.ova

https://aswmentol.blob.core.windows.net/user-guide/0.9.x/E12238_ASUS_Control_Center_EM_WEB.pdf

 

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/14Utilities/ASUS_Control_Center_Express_Setup.zip

 

[MarcelNL]

I'm back in the room....not sure how, but I'm in the BIOS again, without the ASMB9 module. Guess it was a BIOS reset plus removing the BIOS battery and powering down the board completely.

What stays is that it seems to power down, without being able to see CPU temp or load it's hard to say if it's the MB, the CPU temp or simply the PSU being underdimensioned (400W so should IMHO be up to the task)

 

 

[MarcelNL]

something weird with the memory slot A, it shows the RDIMM as 0GB...now the thid one in a row....it may mean the CPU is not seated properly? or there are a few duds amongst the RDIMMs....or the MB has a defect..??