Motherboard - horizontal or vertical move?

[Eric White]

Im looking to replace my Gigabyte EP45 flavor board with something else. Not because Ive had any issues with it, Its an awesome board... just it wont play well with me wanting 3 Digi9652 cards to work at 64*1 performance. 2 cards work great...not 3.

Question for all that know..

I currently have an E8400 processor. Should I stay with it and purchase/test other motherboards in this socket 775 family or look at an i5 (or similar) motherboard and processor. I won't blame anyone here if it doesnt work.. I just need to know If staying with older hardware is better than newer for this. Im having IRQ issues and need 3 digi cards in my rig for upcoming work. ALso .. is built in video preferred over pcie-x16 slot video?

Thanks gang.. Your a great resource.
-Eric

[airickess]

Are there any IRQ conflicts with the cards when you attempt 3 card?
Did you try different settings in SAC, such as Realtime Priority, Force Single CPU, etc., with the three cards?
Did you try 2x64 or even 2x32?

Personally I would exhaust all of these avenues and more before introducing a new motherboard.

[Eric White]

Are there any IRQ conflicts with the cards when you attempt 3 card?
Did you try different settings in SAC, such as Realtime Priority, Force Single CPU, etc., with the three cards?
Did you try 2x64 or even 2x32?

Personally I would exhaust all of these avenues and more before introducing a new motherboard.


Oh yea, been there.. done that. months of poking and testing.. http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15844
Card #1 will assign to its own IRQ, card #2 will share one with some USB stuff and the 3rd card ..well.. I cant make it budge to an IRQ that it will work on. The Digi9652 cards wont go below 64. I guess I could look at purchasing raydat cards, but that is quite an expense right now. I need to be at a minimum of 64 channels of input for my rig. Thats why the 3rd card is so important. I can get away with 128 performance for theatre, but live band use needs to be 64 or less...

Thanks -Eric

[Sound Machine Inc]

I know this may sound like a large expense as well, but I have had the full 72 ch running with motu 424 at 2x64 8 monitor mixers and 10 vts at 45% cpu on an I3-2125

[Yogi]

the motu is the trick. I've actually had 4 of 'em running.

[Eric White]

I know this may sound like a large expense as well, but I have had the full 72 ch running with motu 424 at 2x64 8 monitor mixers and 10 vts at 45% cpu on an I3-2125

Ive worked with firewire devices before in industrial machine vision applications and there is just something a little fearful that is tugging me away from firewire for live audio. Maybe its unfounded, but its one of those things where you get burned once and you shy away after that. THanks for the info -it helps.

[Sound Machine Inc]

the motu is the trick. I've actually had 4 of 'em running.
best part is with adat you can pickup any of the older expansion chassis on ebay for a LOT less than a new unit.. you COULD have 72 in and out for price of 1 raydat

[Mattseymour]

Ive worked with firewire devices before in industrial machine vision applications and there is just something a little fearful that is tugging me away from firewire for live audio. Maybe its unfounded, but its one of those things where you get burned once and you shy away after that. THanks for the info -it helps.

Of course the motu pci interfaces connecting to the 424 card do not use firewire, but they do use the same connector.

[Sound Machine Inc]

Of course the motu pci interfaces connecting to the 424 card do not use firewire, but they do use the same connector.
silicon adhesive fixed ALL my issues for them.. I use neutrik firewire jacks to bring to panels to connect motu racks with 45' firewire cables.. NEVER had a problem in 300 shows

[Eric White]

Of course the motu pci interfaces connecting to the 424 card do not use firewire, but they do use the same connector.

Thanks for that, I just assumed it was firewire because of the connector. If I went with a Motu 424 , what can I expect for performance? 32x? 64x?

Maybe this is the way to transistion. Would I have less issues than going Raydat? Im running XP professional 32 bit.


Thanks -Eric

[Sound Machine Inc]

Thanks for that, I just assumed it was firewire because of the connector. If I went with a Motu 424 , what can I expect for performance? 32x? 64x?

Maybe this is the way to transistion. Would I have less issues than going Raydat? Im running XP professional 32 bit.


Thanks -Eric
I have had 24 channels at 1x32 but usually I run 48 channels at 2x64 using a 24i/o and 2 2408 original. use the 24 analog outs for all my outs and 24 analog ins with any additional stuff in (2) 4 space racks with 3 art optopre's and 1 2408 that runs to main rack with 45' firewire cable

[Mattseymour]

I run 1x64 mostly, and quite happily. Will do 1x32 at the expected higher load. I haven't been able to get either of my motu systems to work with as few as 16 buffers.

[Eric White]

If I had my preference, it would be to reduce the amount of necessary hardware to get from adat optical to the PC. To go the Motu route will require a 424 and some 2408's. I am already mounting stuff on the back rails of my 16sp case. I'll do it if there is an advantage over not going Raydat.

Any raydat users?? Please chime in.

Thanks -Eric

[Sound Machine Inc]

here is how mine is set up Eric.. may help you see the ease.. the 2 white cables on front is my 2 "audiowire" connections

[JLepore]

The nice thing about the MOTU route is the modularity. You can build things in 4 space racks - 1 motu + 3 devices and then mix/match/add what you need for the gig. Just need one cable to hook them to the main system.

I have a rack with a MOTU and my HD24, so I can just instantly add record/playback, another rack with a MOTU and 3 crap preamps so I can add an additional 24 ch when I need them, a spare 24i that I can mount in someone else's rack or use in the back of an analog desk for 24 more line level inputs. It just gives amazing flexibility.

[hkmorgan87]

Personally, I love my raydats. Pci express, Simple to setup, and install. Easy to configure. I can run 1x64 and lower with no problems. Go straight from the preamp with optical cables.

I have never tried any Motu hardware, so I can't comment there.

I will say that if you opt to upgrade your mobo and processor, stay away from the 1156 socket 2nd gen I series processor, "unless" you are using pci express. That newer series doesn't really support pci anymore. They have pci bridge chips, which assign all pci slots with the same IRQ, which is pretty much a no go for audio cards. Pci express works fine on those.

[soundchicken]

The nice thing about the MOTU route is the modularity. You can build things in 4 space racks - 1 motu + 3 devices and then mix/match/add what you need for the gig. Just need one cable to hook them to the main system.

This is a great plus, if you don't need it for this gig, leave it home. (or take it as a backup) I started with a hammerfall card, but to fit stuff in my ride I needed smaller racks and plugging and unplugging toslink for every gig scared me off. I'm now in a pci424e with three 4 space preamp/output racks and am able to mix and match for what I need for a gig. I just upgraded to a i3 2120(?) and have been getting ~35-40% for 32 channels/6 mixes @ 1/64 and a ton o'plugs. If I had a big ol' ride for a big ol' rack and wanted to make a monster case out of it I might go back, but for me now motu is rockin the house.

[gdougherty]

I'm currently playing with components for a MOTU conversion. The ability to use Smaller building block components and even pack a large channel rig into my sedan. Right now without connecting and tracking adat cables I can't do that with my raydat based rig.

[airickess]

I'm currently playing with components for a MOTU conversion. The ability to use Smaller building block components and even pack a large channel rig into my sedan. Right now without connecting and tracking adat cables I can't do that with my raydat based rig.
Agreed. I'm looking at doing the same thing and the MOTU options are very attractive for this. The RME cards do not lend themselves to this type of modularity and expansion of channel counts as easily as MOTU appears to do.

[TomyN]

Hi,

well I also like the motu system because of its flexibility. As mentioned before, I use 5 pin neutrik connectors with up to 15meters to place the racks on different places on the stage.

http://www.take-sat.de/pics/sac/stagebox.jpg

The right connection is the connection to the host.

Tomy

[Mattseymour]

The rme cards are rightly well regarded for their stability and quality. I went motu because I could get more i/o for less buying second hand. Also the single slot requirement means you can use a 1u case for the host and still not need too large a rack case.

Thought I'd mention that I'm running a system with a 2nd gen core i3 and having no problems with a pci 424 card.

[Eric White]

The motu stuff looks really enticing and I have used their stuff before, I know its quality. My biggest issue is that my SAC rig is all self contained in a 16sp rolling rack. It contains all the channel count it will ever have. I would definately look at the 424 option for a portable rack; however, I never disconnect my adat cables and would prefer to keep it card based for this host rig. This topic has gone on a tangent from my original question about motherboards. I think for now I will try a different board, then possibly consider going raydat. 3rd option is motu 424, but it is definately #1 option for a future portable rig.

Thanks much!

[gdougherty]

The motu stuff looks really enticing and I have used their stuff before, I know its quality. My biggest issue is that my SAC rig is all self contained in a 16sp rolling rack. It contains all the channel count it will ever have. I would definately look at the 424 option for a portable rack; however, I never disconnect my adat cables and would prefer to keep it card based for this host rig. This topic has gone on a tangent from my original question about motherboards. I think for now I will try a different board, then possibly consider going raydat. 3rd option is motu 424, but it is definately #1 option for a future portable rig.

Thanks much!

Frankly, I'd expect newer motherboards to get worse, not better with your need for 3 independent PCI slots. If you need the big count without the extra rack spaces, I'd go RayDAT. I doubt you'll get it done with the older PCI cards these days.

[Mattseymour]

Yes, and back on topic... I suspect you'll struggle with irq sharing with three cards on any board.

[Eric White]

Frankly, I'd expect newer motherboards to get worse, not better with your need for 3 independent PCI slots.

My thoughts exactly. There is certainly a move toward phasing them out. I won't be purchasing a new board, rather a used ebay special that is older and compatible with my processor. It's a cheap 'test' and if it doesnt work, I can always mount it in my parents PC as an upgrade so it doesnt go to waste.

2 raydats will be nice. I'll do that 2nd if the mobo doesn't work out..which I'm not holding my breath over.

Thanks gang. Happy faders to you.

-Eric

[gdougherty]

Yes, and back on topic... I suspect you'll struggle with irq sharing with three cards on any board.

Don't know there are some 6-7 slot pcie motherboards out there.

[Mattseymour]

Sorry should have clarified, I was thinking pci not pcie.