Hi Amir, I somehow missed your build thread. Like you, I went for the Streacom FC10. This is what I have in it:
- Streacom FC10 Alpha, Optical
- i7-6700K CPU
- MSI B170i Gaming Pro AC motherboard (has on board wifi and graphics)
- 16GB Corsair RAM
- 1TB Samsung Evo SSD (I bought an M.2 SSD but it had a SATA interface, my mobo supports PCIE interface only!)
- Silverstone Blu-Ray optical drive
- RME HDSPe AES sound card
- Uptone Audio JS-2 LPS
- Software: Windows 10, Acourate, HQPlayer, JRiver (for video)
All this feeds a Merging+ NADAC MC-8.
I wasn't planning to get the LPS, but I had a tonne of spurious noise from my Streacom SMPS. The LPS was a definite upgrade. At the moment I do not have a way to measure the noise coming out the DAC from the SMPS, but it is audible enough to make a Youtube video to demonstrate it. It might be the reason that noise on my system is audible because I have a high gain / high efficiency system.
I use it to run HQPlayer, which also generates the crossovers. If you try to run 8 channels of convolution and upsample to DSD256, it brings the i7 down to its knees! I am currently running at 80% CPU and get occasional clicks if I do this. So I have to keep it at DSD128 or PCM.
Right now I am investigating getting a GPU so that I can CUDA offload from HQPlayer, and also use it to upsample to 4K when I get my new TV. I therefore need as powerful a GPU as possible ... but unfortunately those things tend to have a TDP of 145 or more, and I am not sure if I am able to passively cool it with heatpipes.