My main non-DAW is an 800 MHz P3. My DAW is a 2.4 GHz P4 (400 FSB). My sound card is a MOTU PCI324 into a 24i. I want to upgrade the Non-DAW, but figure if I can upgrade two computers for the price of one, why not? AMD seems to be getting good press these days - wondering what motherboards/chipsets are being used with 3GHz+ AMD chips and MOTU PCI324 gear (success with PCI424 gear would also be good, as I might upgrade sometime).
I figure I‘ll try one out, and if it isn‘t as reliable as my current setup I‘ll move it to non-Daw duty and stick with my current DAW setup. If it DOES work well, then I‘ll move my DAW motherboard/CPU/RAM to Non-DAW duty and get a nice upgrade in both boxes.
Any AMD/MOTU PCI users out there? What are the proven chipsets?
AMD MBD for PCI324 (&424)
Moderator: James Steele
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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. for Mac OSX
Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. for Mac OSX
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Marci
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:01 pm
- Primary DAW OS: MacOS
- Location: Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
Re: AMD MBD for PCI324 (&424)
1) No such thing as a 3Ghz+ AMD processor. Fastest on the market is the Athlon FX55 or 4000+ clocking at 2.4ghz
2) Avoid VIA Chipsets if heading down the Athlon32 route, however these days I'd say avoid Athlon 32bit (XP)
So... avoid the cheaper option basically... trust me! Go Intel or Athlon64 if you can afford it. Athlon64 being the preferable option and ideally an Athlon64 3700+. This is the only chip in the range that has managed to retain it's 1Mb cache so performs brilliantly with Cubase in comparison to the later Newcastle cores that run at a faster clock speed but with less cache (increased the clockspeed to compensate for halving the cache down to 512kb basically)
However, if heading down THAT route, you'd end up with a socket 754 motherboard, which won't last. It's more or less discontinued as it is.
Get a Socket 939 Board and a Socket 939 Athlon64 3500+ ideally. Corsair XMS3200XL-PT memory (1Gb Twinpack). A quality PSU should also be used... Tagan 480w is good and silent. OCZ Powerstream 520w is better and silent. DON'T get any PSU that says QTEC on it... if it's rated higher than 450w and costs less than £50 it's rubbish.
Best mobo around at the mo? I'd say Abit AV8... SUPERB memory bandwidth, which is ALWAYS a good thing.
2) Avoid VIA Chipsets if heading down the Athlon32 route, however these days I'd say avoid Athlon 32bit (XP)
So... avoid the cheaper option basically... trust me! Go Intel or Athlon64 if you can afford it. Athlon64 being the preferable option and ideally an Athlon64 3700+. This is the only chip in the range that has managed to retain it's 1Mb cache so performs brilliantly with Cubase in comparison to the later Newcastle cores that run at a faster clock speed but with less cache (increased the clockspeed to compensate for halving the cache down to 512kb basically)
However, if heading down THAT route, you'd end up with a socket 754 motherboard, which won't last. It's more or less discontinued as it is.
Get a Socket 939 Board and a Socket 939 Athlon64 3500+ ideally. Corsair XMS3200XL-PT memory (1Gb Twinpack). A quality PSU should also be used... Tagan 480w is good and silent. OCZ Powerstream 520w is better and silent. DON'T get any PSU that says QTEC on it... if it's rated higher than 450w and costs less than £50 it's rubbish.
Best mobo around at the mo? I'd say Abit AV8... SUPERB memory bandwidth, which is ALWAYS a good thing.
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zemlin
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:01 pm
- Primary DAW OS: MacOS
- Location: Indianapolis, IN
- Contact:
Re: AMD MBD for PCI324 (&424)
Thanks. I knew AMD tags did not reflect actual clock speeds, but I figured numbers like 3700 would have an actual clock above 3GHz. I obviously have not done my homework. 
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Marci
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:01 pm
- Primary DAW OS: MacOS
- Location: Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
Re: AMD MBD for PCI324 (&424)
It's based on the equivalent performance of a P3 processor.... so an AMD Athlon64 4000+ equates to a P3 at a clockspeed of 4Ghz... which (if availablye - the P3 at 4Ghz that is) would actually run faster and better than a P4 at 4Ghz...
athlon problem
hi, there
i read your post about avioding an athlon xp.
could you tell me why ?? i just installed a pci 324 (with a 1224 and a 2408mk2 pluged) into my athon xp 2000+, but i have problems with noise during playback. i recognized that it depends on how much happens on the screen (example: if i play a wav in win media player and leave the media player sceen blank then there are only very little noisesignals, but if i turn on ambience (the animations that media player includes) the noise is getting much more).
could it be the grafic card (which is a geforce fx5200 runnig on 2 monitors) ??? or is it the performance of the entire machine, which is pretty weak and dusty in the meantime ???
do i have to invest in a completely new computer, or would you say, it would be enogh to change single components ???
probbably my hdd (old 80gb 7200) ??? RAM (512Mb ddr 133) ???
would be very happy to hear from you.....
thanx
micha
i read your post about avioding an athlon xp.
could you tell me why ?? i just installed a pci 324 (with a 1224 and a 2408mk2 pluged) into my athon xp 2000+, but i have problems with noise during playback. i recognized that it depends on how much happens on the screen (example: if i play a wav in win media player and leave the media player sceen blank then there are only very little noisesignals, but if i turn on ambience (the animations that media player includes) the noise is getting much more).
could it be the grafic card (which is a geforce fx5200 runnig on 2 monitors) ??? or is it the performance of the entire machine, which is pretty weak and dusty in the meantime ???
do i have to invest in a completely new computer, or would you say, it would be enogh to change single components ???
probbably my hdd (old 80gb 7200) ??? RAM (512Mb ddr 133) ???
would be very happy to hear from you.....
thanx
micha
Micha -
This reply is probably far too late, as you have either solved your probem, or given up - but I was trawling through old posts looking for a solution to my own crackling PCI324, and came across your post.
I would definitely check the PCI latency timing of your video card. I have an NVIdia Geforc FX 5500 in my non-DAW PC, and I know that it is set up to hog the PCI bus.
Use PCI Latency Tool to view and adjust these settings. It's available from http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951, for more info about these settings see http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/a ... cnotes.htm
Jon
This reply is probably far too late, as you have either solved your probem, or given up - but I was trawling through old posts looking for a solution to my own crackling PCI324, and came across your post.
I would definitely check the PCI latency timing of your video card. I have an NVIdia Geforc FX 5500 in my non-DAW PC, and I know that it is set up to hog the PCI bus.
Use PCI Latency Tool to view and adjust these settings. It's available from http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951, for more info about these settings see http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/a ... cnotes.htm
Jon
pci latency
thanx a lot for the answer
well it is too late indeed,
i bought a new motherboard, a new hdd and new ram
and the problem disappeared
in the end i don‘t even know what exactly the problem was, but i‘m happy it‘s gone ... i guess, the old hdd and 133 (fsb) ram was too slow, too little bandwidth
well thanx anyway
bye
micha
well it is too late indeed,
i bought a new motherboard, a new hdd and new ram
and the problem disappeared
in the end i don‘t even know what exactly the problem was, but i‘m happy it‘s gone ... i guess, the old hdd and 133 (fsb) ram was too slow, too little bandwidth
well thanx anyway
bye
micha