Lenovo M55 USFF, wow

[solarex]

Wow, this little box is a tough horse. I have the M55 USFF with the smaller E4300 CPU. Although it didn't take my the Motu 324 card, but ran the old RME 9636 card fine--no fuzz. It's running with /onecpu and SAC XP tweaks. I bench test this little guy with 24ch fully loaded with eq, dyn, fx; and four 24ch mon mixes + fully load of dyn's. It's rock solid at 1x64, even though the load is at 82***37;, it didn't skip a beat with fast switching through different views. No slip buffers for 10hrs straight at that load. 1x128 buffers take the load down to 70%.

I know in live situation the load will come down a bit more, since each monitor mix doesn't necessary will be patched with all 24 inputs.

[AntonZ]

Nice little power house isn't it. I love mine, great value for money, practical size and weight. Glad to hear it is working for you.

[solarex]

Nice little power house isn't it. I love mine, great value for money, practical size and weight. Glad to hear it is working for you.

Yes, definitely a great little machine that could. Thanks for discovering (introducing) this little guy. I might upgrade the CPU later.

I would like to use my MOTU PCI card so I can quickly disconnect the audiowire to the mix rack. I'm not sure if the 424 PCI card will work with this box, I hate to buy it and it's not compatible.

[AntonZ]

I've installed an RME HDSP card in mine. It is a PCI card and connects with a single firewire cable to an RME Digiface. From there it's ADAT lightpipes to the preamps. In my case there is no need to separate the two, but it might work for you.

[solarex]

I've installed an RME HDSP card in mine. It is a PCI card and connects with a single firewire cable to an RME Digiface. From there it's ADAT lightpipes to the preamps. In my case there is no need to separate the two, but it might work for you.

Right now my main host is running MOTU, to make it a seamless backup system switch out, I like to stay within MOTU environment. RME Digiface are very nice, but I'm already vested with MOTU hardware.

[Wurst Werner]

@Solarex: Do you have a BCF2000?

[solarex]

@Solarex: Do you have a BCF2000?

Christian: Yes I do. I also have a bad unit that I haven't got around to repair the power supply cap that went bad. I intended on linking them for a 16ch. control surface.

[ralhop]

after i´ve seen a lot of postive things about this little workhorse from Anton in live),and I want to buy one too.
only on the Itsco site there i only one model available that has the 1,6 ghz. if i want to upgrade how big can i go like a E8600 or 8400?

and where i have to look at on the M55 because there are a lot of models i see.

[AntonZ]

Ralhop: these models only pop up every now and then on the Itsco website. They sell refurbished machines, so they probably depend on what is brought in by their suppliers.

The Lenovo machines have a code (4 numbers, three more digits, e.g. 6089-A1G). You can look up specs for that number on the Lenovo website. I would think you can find what upgrades can be done for the processor. Personally, I wouldn't bother with the 1.6GHz version. It's a dual core Pentium rather then a Core2 processor. I would prefer to wait till a higher spec machine becomes available.

[solarex]

My box is a M55 8807, it has a Core2Duo E4300 1.8GHz. From my research, E7xxx and E8xxx CPUs are not compatible.

[ralhop]

thanks for the answers, then ill wait some time.

[davidss1]

It's a dual core Pentium rather then a Core2 processor.

pardon my ignorance, whats the difference?

[solarex]

pardon my ignorance, whats the difference?

The Pentium dual core is a predecessor to the core 2 duo. It draws a lot of power and generate lots of heat.

[Wurst Werner]

Christian: Yes I do. I also have a bad unit that I haven't got around to repair the power supply cap that went bad. I intended on linking them for a 16ch. control surface.


Did you try this-->

http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/showpost.php?p=175908&postcount=11

I'm curious, if you're M55 behaves like mine, if you constantly changing views and simultaniously move some faders on the BCF2000. I had to shut down one core, to make it stable.

Christian

[solarex]

Did you try this-->

http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/showpost.php?p=175908&postcount=11

I'm curious, if you're M55 behaves like mine, if you constantly changing views and simultaniously move some faders on the BCF2000. I had to shut down one core, to make it stable.

Christian

I will test that with the BCF. Will report back.

[Rein]

My M57 had a C2D e4600 cpu and I already changed that for a e8500 and it runs fine. The Lenovo cpu cooler isn't as good as a stock Intel cooler (for example) due to it's small size but it stays around 36 degrees C idle (room temperature is 21 C), with both cores enabled. I want to stress test the system this weekend.

[solarex]

My M57 had a C2D e4600 cpu and I already changed that for a e8500 and it runs fine. The Lenovo cpu cooler isn't as good as a stock Intel cooler (for example) due to it's small size but it stays around 36 degrees C idle (room temperature is 21 C), with both cores enabled. I want to stress test the system this weekend.

The M57 is about a year newer, and will take the E7xx and E8xx; the M55 will stop at the bios with error. There may be newer bios for the M55 that probably will allow these procs.

[solarex]

Did you try this-->

http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/showpost.php?p=175908&postcount=11

I'm curious, if you're M55 behaves like mine, if you constantly changing views and simultaniously move some faders on the BCF2000. I had to shut down one core, to make it stable.

Christian

Christian: I did the test on my M55 box and I didn't experience any artifacts that you mentioned. I tested this with and without /onecpu option. The test was done with 24-inputs and 5-mon, load was at 83%; the load did spike to 95% during fast view switching, but it did not get any slip buffer nor crashes.

[Wurst Werner]

Wow - that's good to hear and thanks for sharing. Maybe your M55 is more suitable for SACin'.
My 55 has this code: "6089-A1G" (it normaly printed on the right corner of the frontside), what code do you have?
I mean, mine is 100% stable now, but it runs perfectly only in one specific combination of stetting. Maybe other M55/57s do not need so much tweaking...

[solarex]

Wow - that's good to hear and thanks for sharing. Maybe your M55 is more suitable for SACin'.
My 55 has this code: "6089-A1G" (it normaly printed on the right corner of the frontside), what code do you have?
I mean, mine is 100% stable now, but it runs perfectly only in one specific combination of stetting. Maybe other M55/57s do not need so much tweaking...

I have the M55 8807 DRU

[Wurst Werner]

I have the M55 8807 DRU

Good to know - thanks°!

[davidss1]

Christian: I did the test on my M55 box and I didn't experience any artifacts that you mentioned. I tested this with and without /onecpu option. The test was done with 24-inputs and 5-mon, load was at 83%; the load did spike to 95% during fast view switching, but it did not get any slip buffer nor crashes.

are these percentages cpu or buffer times?

[solarex]

are these percentages cpu or buffer times?

SAC engine load value

[davidss1]

SAC engine load value

do u know what % the cpu is running at?

[mixer100]

solarex,
why didn't your 324 card work? voltage or size?
Ken

[solarex]

solarex,
why didn't your 324 card work? voltage or size?
Ken

physically--the card fit just fine, just the system wouldn't detect the card. Forced drivers install didn't work either, because the hardware was not connected. I believe the issue is at the motherboard PCi chipset level.

[dasbin]

PCI Post Writes

[AntonZ]

Ralhop - there is currently an M57 E7200 model on the Itsco site. Costs a bit more than my E6550, does get you a higher clock speed. It appears to have one full height PCI slot.

[ralhop]

Hello Anton,

Thanks to keep an eye open for me , i'm not sure if I take the desktop or the laptop version for 100 euro more I can get a nice lenovo laptop on the Itsco site that I can easy replace for my laptop now without changing my sac rig, but on the other hand if I look at your and Christians rig I like to build a new one.:rolleyes:

on my studioPC I try how mutch power I have to use on live
I use now Guitar rig for our guitarist in his signal chain that he can switch on and of because SAC can***180;t switch the effects by midi.
and we try to use Adictive Drums to midi trigger hour drums for inear monitoring because of no mic bleeding only OH for Hihat and chimes.

how is your SAC rig running with your band are there also more demands from other band members?:)

[AntonZ]

Hello Anton,

Thanks to keep an eye open for me , i'm not sure if I take the desktop or the laptop version for 100 euro more I can get a nice lenovo laptop on the Itsco site that I can easy replace for my laptop now without changing my sac rig, but on the other hand if I look at your and Christians rig I like to build a new one.:rolleyes:

on my studioPC I try how mutch power I have to use on live
I use now Guitar rig for our guitarist in his signal chain that he can switch on and of because SAC can´t switch the effects by midi.
and we try to use Adictive Drums to midi trigger hour drums for inear monitoring because of no mic bleeding only OH for Hihat and chimes.

how is your SAC rig running with your band are there also more demands from other band members?:)

I don't get to use it often currently - one band is on the backburner because of a hernia (sax player - playing alto or tenor doesn't go well with a hernia). The other somewhat similar, lost singer and keys player due to health and family issues. So my SAC rig doesn't come out often. I do use it for the kids' school every now and then. Christmas, annual school musical, those kind of things. And I record a bit at home. The little Lenovo works very well for me.

Modern laptops are not far behind in processing power but RAM (memory) access speed may be slower. And drivers can be an issue if you want to run XP. Newer laptops typically lack XP drivers for some of their hardware.