Motherboard advice

[Carl G.]

Re-shopping on Black Friday - looking for best ASUS motherboard for SAC/Sawstudio - help please.

(earlier considered ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS or the V-LX model)

But then thought - why not add Thunderbolt to the mix (which the above boards don't have).

Ideas?

[CurtZHP]

That's a good one. As far as Thunderbolt, could you add a card later?

[Microstudio]

What is it with thunderbolt IMHO it's too new and there is not enough equipment out there let alone in a good price range?

[hkmorgan87]

Are you looking for a motherboard that currently goes with a processor that you have? I had two of the LE versions of that board that both failed within 30 days of ownership.

Most importantly is interface type. Are you using PCI, PCIe, USB, FireWire? Native PCI is nearly impossible to find on the 3rd gen CPUs. Most use a bridge chip to convert PCI which isn't all that great for audio. I believe it is a similar issue with 2nd gen. 1st gen should be easy to find native PCI.

I'm with microstudio on Thunderbolt. It's still rather expensive, and requires some new hardware to utilize. Stick with USB 3.0 for now for external drives, and 2.0 for audio.

[Carl G.]

What is it with thunderbolt IMHO it's too new and there is not enough equipment out there let alone in a good price range?
Yep... the more I thought about it - the less I *needed* thunderbolt (for now).
Settled on a Asus Z87 series board. The rest of the build is going well.

[Tim Miskimon]

Yep... the more I thought about it - the less I *needed* thunderbolt (for now).
Settled on a Asus Z87 series board. The rest of the build is going well.

Hey Carl,
How many standard PCI slots does that board have?
I really need 3.

[hkmorgan87]

None of the z87 boards I could find have PCI. However if you find a z87 board with PCI, it is not native. It will use a bridge chip. The use of more than 1 PCI card in those types of systems generally do not function well. Especially with audio.

[Carl G.]

Hey Carl,
How many standard PCI slots does that board have?
I really need 3.

I went for two PCI's, Z87-Plus (because my Lynx ADAT card can use any empty slot)

However, if you want THREE... here they are: Z87C and Z87K (both have THREE PCI slots).
Here's the complete comparisons of Z87 boards:
http://promos.asus.com/us/z87/comparison/
to arrange the order by number of PCI slots simply click on the PCI heading.
(note Harley Morgan's advice in this thread - I've yet to check out how mine will do)

[Carl G.]

None of the z87 boards I could find have PCI. However if you find a z87 board with PCI, it is not native. It will use a bridge chip. The use of more than 1 PCI card in those types of systems generally do not function well. Especially with audio.
Thanks for the heads up (it left my head hanging down in dismay) :)
I'll see what happens. At today's prices... the motherboards are cheaper than a good hunk of memory!

[Dave Labrecque]

FWIW, here's my mobo: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-board-dh67cl.html

Three PCI slots. Built the system a couple years ago. I'm thinking the PCI is not native (but I could be wrong; feel free to check into it). I used it with all three PCI slots full (RME PCI interface and two PCI UAD-1 cards -- plus a non-PCI UAD-2 in the system as well) for over a year with no issues. I've since replaced the two UAD-1's with a second UAD-2, so only a single PCI slot currently in use.

[hkmorgan87]

I'm not saying that will definitely have problems, but you more than likely will. The bridge chipset usually forces all of the pci slots to one IRQ. which for audio generally spells disaster. YMMV

[Carl G.]

I'm not saying that will definitely have problems, but you more than likely will. The bridge chipset usually forces all of the pci slots to one IRQ. which for audio generally spells disaster. YMMV

That is good to know in the planning stages before building stages!