Z68 based mobo

[DaveS]

I'm looking at building a new system that will primarily be running VSTi synths and such. I'm also looking at possiby SAC/SAW on it.

I'm considering an i7 processor on a Z68 based mobo, however I've read that Z68 systems don't handle PCI sound cards as well as they handle PCIe. Obviously the PCIe buss would be faster, however I have a RME HDSP 9652 which I would like to continue to use. Anyone out there using one of these cards with a Z68 chipset mobo? Probably Win 7 pro 64 bit will be the OS.

[hkmorgan87]

I'm using the asus p8z68-v mobo with good success. I have a rev 1 board. It has 3 pci slots, all running through 1 bridge chip. It handles the 1 HDSP card that I have. I'm not sure I would recommend running more than 1 pci card in any z68 chipset. I am also using win 7 64 bit.

[DaveS]

That's good to see. What is your latency set to? Can you get 64 ok?

[JeremyJo]

I am working on a Z68 based i5 system. It handles SAC load very well with our MOTU 424 PCI card. What it is not doing so well right now is F-key switches or mouse wheel channel selection. I get dropped buffers when I scroll through channels or use F-keys to switch mixers.

I suspect graphics card or graphics drivers, so I'm playing with those right now. But I haven't seen any issues with passing audio on 64 channels with 14 monitor mixers enabled and about eight native plugins. The SAC load on the "old" host is about 60%. With this new i5 machine it is about 46%.

I'm hoping a new graphics card will fix the dropped buffers.

JJ

[JeremyJo]

See my reply in another thread titles New Host. I think I found my buffer slip problem with the Z68 motherboard and i5 processor.

Dual channel memory installed incorrectly. Once fixed, the host is acting stable - 64 channels, 14 monitors, eight native plugs, one remote; SAC load 46-50%

This represents about 10-14% DECREASE from the previous host that used the older i5 650 and older chipset. Seems like Sandy Bridge has a performance advantage.

Jeremy

[DaveS]

Where is your latency sitting at?

Glad to see the systems with the Z68s are working good....

:)

[hkmorgan87]

@dave. On my 1st gen i3, I was running 2x64 @40% with my base template mix session. On my new 2nd gen i3, I can run the same sound card, same mix session at 1x32 at 35%.

[DaveS]

Oh that's good! :)

I guess I'll start ordering my parts.

:D

[ChrisCotton]

http://www.ably.com.tw/news/news.asp

All the internal risers and connectors you'll need to task your PCIe slots to anything needed. Crossfire stuff too.