Motherboards

[Trackzilla]

worst case, you might be able to adapt extra PCIe slots with an adapter.
10 seconds with google turned up many...here's the single slot one it showed first:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815158165

for a more comprehensive, and expensive, solution...these guys make an external box that will house several PCI or PCIe cards and run them from one PCIe slot:
http://www.virtuavia.eu/shop/pci-adapters-c205.html

I found this stuff while looking for a way to use my MOTU 424e with my laptop expresscard slot...ended up deciding to try an ebay adapter that was cheap (which brings up the concept of, look there as well & you might find a deal)...I'll know in a few days if mine was a well spent $30 or not. Wish me luck

[Dave Labrecque]

worst case, you might be able to adapt extra PCIe slots with an adapter.
10 seconds with google turned up many...here's the single slot one it showed first:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815158165

for a more comprehensive, and expensive, solution...these guys make an external box that will house several PCI or PCIe cards and run them from one PCIe slot:
http://www.virtuavia.eu/shop/pci-adapters-c205.html

I found this stuff while looking for a way to use my MOTU 424e with my laptop expresscard slot...ended up deciding to try an ebay adapter that was cheap (which brings up the concept of, look there as well & you might find a deal)...I'll know in a few days if mine was a well spent $30 or not. Wish me luck

TZ -- let us know how you make out. Please.

[905shmick]

I wouldn't say LGA 1156 is dead by any stretch of the imagination.

[Tom Roberts]

I'm going to have to get really serious about thinking this out before I make a move. Because I'll be stuck with my decisions for a while likely! It would make sense to get off the PCI band wagon now, rather than later... but it sure is costly to go replacing otherwise perfectly good hardware... darn!

I'm in the same boat. The PCIe hardware doesn't perform "better" than my PCI versions, for my purposes.

I suspect that PCIe is not the end of the story either, the way things have been going, and may likely be replaced with something faster in the not so distant future. So I think I can squeeze two or three more good years out of my PCI stuff. So for around a grand, maybe less, I can get a screaming box that will get me through a couple of years when another major overhaul will be required.

But as I said before, I think the PCI mobo supply is dwindling as we speak.

Thomas

[905shmick]

I'm in the same boat. The PCIe hardware doesn't perform "better" than my PCI versions, for my purposes.

I suspect that PCIe is not the end of the story either, the way things have been going, and may likely be replaced with something faster in the not so distant future. So I think I can squeeze two or three more good years out of my PCI stuff. So for around a grand, maybe less, I can get a screaming box that will get me through a couple of years when another major overhaul will be required.

But as I said before, I think the PCI mobo supply is dwindling as we speak.

Thomas

PCIe isn't going away any time soon. PCIe has replaced PCI, PCI-X and AGP. The PCIe 3.0 spec was just ratified at the end of the year and will bring even more bandwidth compare to 2.0

PCIe 3.0 will be about 1GB/s per lane, meaning a x16 card slot can do 16GB/s, in theory.

No need to wait for the next big thing, PCIe will be around for plenty of time.

[Tom Roberts]

No need to wait for the next big thing, PCIe will be around for plenty of time.

I still don't see the point in trading in or selling or buying new PCIe to replace perfectly good cards because you need (or want) a good computer.

It's a little more complicated for me since I have an older Mac and need to move to a newer Mac or PC to stay updated with software features no longer supported on the older Mac OS.

Thomas

[Naturally Digital]

I still don't see the point in trading in or selling or buying new PCIe to replace perfectly good cards because you need (or want) a good computer.

It's a little more complicated for me since I have an older Mac and need to move to a newer Mac or PC to stay updated with software features no longer supported on the older Mac OS.

Yup, I feel for the Mac people with the newer Macs only supporting PCIe... To me, that's a drag. In PC-land PCI lives on with support from most MB's and full systems. It makes this transition time a little easier to deal with.

Since you're straddling both sides of the fence, you could consider extending the life of your PT system by moving to Windoze for a couple of years. Avid seems intent on supporting both platforms and a guy like you could easily work in either environment. I don't know how the licensing works for 3rd party plugins (and sure, there are some that are Mac only) but it might be worth considering.

[905shmick]

I still don't see the point in trading in or selling or buying new PCIe to replace perfectly good cards because you need (or want) a good computer.

It's a little more complicated for me since I have an older Mac and need to move to a newer Mac or PC to stay updated with software features no longer supported on the older Mac OS.

Thomas

The PCI architecture ran out of bandwidth and wasn't able to meet the demands of the faster peripherals that were being used ie: multi gigabit ethernet and storage controllers.

Sound cards are a minority in the peripheral market and because they don't consume a lot of bandwidth, they're happy chugging along just fine.

Such is life, the PCI train has left and you'll need to save your pennies for something new. Like I said, PCIe will be around for a while, so tuff it out with your existing PCI gear while you can and maybe you can get a deal on some used PCIe gear later on.

[Tom Roberts]

Since you're straddling both sides of the fence, you could consider extending the life of your PT system by moving to Windoze for a couple of years. Avid seems intent on supporting both platforms and a guy like you could easily work in either environment. I don't know how the licensing works for 3rd party plugins (and sure, there are some that are Mac only) but it might be worth considering.

That's exactly what I'm looking at. There are probably a couple of plug-ins that I have that are Mac only, but such is life.

The option of getting an PCI expansion chassis and a new Mac, or using the trade in Avid offers is still a couple few grand more than hot- rodding a PC if I can find enough slots.

Thomas

[Perry]

In the just out Maximum PC review of the new Intel Sandy Bridge CPU they say this:

"In essence, Intel's Sandy Bridge has rendered all previous quad-core and dual-core processors obsolete in both performance and price."

And this: "The top-end Core i7-2600K smashes every other quad-core Intel chip by healthy margins."

So the i7-2600K outruns every quad-core in existence and challenges even the mighty i7-980X six-core CPU that comes in around $1,100, beating it in several benchmarks.

And it's in the low $300 range!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

And they scale DOWN from there!

And, maybe of significance to SAWStudio users, there's a Sandy Bridge dual core that's crazy cheap! Like AMD pricing cheap! Of course the price has to include a new LGA 1155 mobo.

But if you're wanting to build a new box then from my perspective nothing else will make sense at this point.

Anyway, expect Sandy Bridge and LGA 1155 to dominate... well... pretty much everything going forward. It's like when the Core 2 Conroe's came out.. it was game over for everything else on the market. And I guess Nehalem Core i7 was similar, but for me at least, I've skipped that one now it would seem.

My 'ancient' P5W DH Deluxe dual core 'Conroe' certainly isn't 'dead'... I'm still using it! And it's still working great! And the same applies to any rig that anyone is still using.

But... Hey! Blame Intel for once again making pretty much everything out there obsolete in one fell swoop! Yep, the b*stards!

Hey... no question about it for me, I want one!!!!

Now about that PCI Slot problem.... I for one am just going to have to sort that out. No way am I 'backing up' to any of the previous CPU's/mobos. And yes, the PCI chassis thing is an option. In fact I'm already running a 7-slot PCI chassis... but I was hoping to dump that added complication at some pint... errr.. point!

And there ARE 1155 boards with 3 PCI slots. I've just got to figure if that's what I *really* want. I want the next rig to last me as long as the last one did... and I want to make careful choices. But... Sandy Bridge and LGA 1155 seems a no-brainer at this point in time.

Cheers!

Perry