PCI-424 via Thunderbolt?

RBurck · Post by **RBurck** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 10:55 am

Hi,

In 2010 I bought a Motu 24 i/o Audio Interface with a PCI-424 card for my Mac Pro computer (OS 10.6). Now I am thinking of buying a new Mac Pro. Is it somehow possible to connect the PCI-424 card to the new Mac Pro via Thunderbolt? Is teher anybody out there who has done this, and does it work?

Best, Rainer

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:01 pm

Is it somehow possible to connect the PCI-424 card to the new Mac Pro via Thunderbolt

No.

MOTU would have to research and release firmware upgrade chips for the 424e to make this work—that is never going to happen for a discontinued product.

There are many threads on this if you search.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:57 pm

I really hoped that MOTU would either release a TB>AudioWire breakout box adapter, OR... if they're worried about not selling their newer interfaces, add a couple of AudioWire connectors to the back of new TB interfaces.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:22 pm

James Steele wrote:I really hoped that MOTU would either release a TB>AudioWire breakout box adapter, OR... if they're worried about not selling their newer interfaces, add a couple of AudioWire connectors to the back of new TB interfaces.

Either would be welcome, that's for certain.

dewdman42 · Post by **dewdman42** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:54 pm

Yep. I have several MOTU devices connected to a PCI-424 and I really don't want to have to scuttle it all. It works fine for me. Most likely at some point I am going to buy the last Mac Pro with PCI slots (used), and live with it for as long as I can.

The truth is that Moore's law hasn't really been happening as much in the past 5 years. They have kind of maxed out what CPU's can do. Until they come out with something absolutely completely new, completely new ground breaking technology...we are pretty capped out to what CPU's are going to be able to do for the foreseeable future. But its ok because they can already do a lot! Software makers just have to find ways to innovate in cpu-efficient ways.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 10:38 pm

Moore's law was based on an observation. It is wishful thinking and not a predictor of the future.

It does seem to be alive and well regarding storage.

ironchef_marc · Post by **ironchef_marc** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:59 am

So essentially, upgrading to the new MAC PRO means upgrading any PCI based MOTU Audio interface?

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:01 am

ironchef_marc wrote:So essentially, upgrading to the new MAC PRO means upgrading any PCI based MOTU Audio interface?

Yup. Hence the popularity of upgrading Mac Pro 4,1s and 5,1s.

dewdman42 · Post by **dewdman42** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:48 am

ironchef_marc wrote:So essentially, upgrading to the new MAC PRO means upgrading any PCI based MOTU Audio interface?

Yep and the resale value of that perfectly usable PCI Hardware is going to plummet at some point. For now it's pretty stable. But if I were going to get a new Mac Pro, besides the fact the Mac itself would cost a lot, I'd have to spend thousands more to upgrade my pci stuff to TB.

Actually I am leaning towards picking up a 4 or 8 core Mac Pro from 2012, they are a few thousand bucks and keep my pci hardware. Defer the problem five more years.

dewdman42 · Post by **dewdman42** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:56 am

mikehalloran wrote:Moore's law was based on an observation. It is wishful thinking and not a predictor of the future.

It does seem to be alive and well regarding storage.

Yes this is where the availability of very large amounts of storage could facilitate software techniques that caches nearly everything that can be cached into very large amounts of available ram. There is plenty of room to improve software to make use of more ram to pre calculate things in the background and faster bus speeds to move the data around.

But we are nearing a point where true real time CPU crunching is about as good as it's going to get for quite a while until we have a complete technology shift to completely new CPU technology.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 9:38 am

Actually I am leaning towards picking up a 4 or 8 core Mac Pro from 2012, they are a few thousand bucks and keep my pci hardware. Defer the problem five more years.

I expected my 2010 iMac to be obsolete by now but, with 64bit, the latest OS improvements and DP 8/9, my machine keeps getting faster and more reliable. Throwing a 2T SSD gave it a major boost as well. It runs rings around DP 5 on my G5.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:46 am

mikehalloran wrote:
Actually I am leaning towards picking up a 4 or 8 core Mac Pro from 2012, they are a few thousand bucks and keep my pci hardware. Defer the problem five more years.
I expected my 2010 iMac to be obsolete by now but, with 64bit, the latest OS improvements and DP 8/9, my machine keeps getting faster and more reliable. Throwing a 2T SSD gave it a major boost as well. It runs rings around DP 5 on my G5.

The upcoming "Next Gen Pre Gen" might buy us even more time on the older hardware. It's a good time to be a DP user.

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