pci-E 424 seems the same as normal pci424 :(

[michaeldow]

HI there

I just installed the newest pcie card with the newest drivers (i think) But it seems to be the same as the 424. The installation didnt mention it was pcie, and on the system it shows up aas just pci. Is this normal? The cuemix software and the audio settings pages are exactly the same. I thought they might b different for the pci-e card. With more settings and more options?

In fact, the cpu meter is reading pretty much the same. So im not sure if performance is even improved!? The normal pci424 isnt supposed to run on a quad core pc. But it ran fine on mine after disabling the GSIF driver. It stopped it locking up at random times

This pci-e card seems to be using the same amount of processing. I thought the cpu graph would have been reduced considerably considering the bandwdth of the pci-e is so much greater!

Never installed a pci-e card so not sure if this seems right?

and in device manager it says pci slot 3.

Not pci-e slot!

Its like its pci-e properties arent even in existance :S

Why is this? I thought id see a lot of benefit and possibly some extra latency options and stuff. BUt it just seems exactly the same!
Thanks!

[Shinobiwan]

Processing is the between PCI and PCI-E cards because they both share the same DSP. Bus bandwidth has nothing to do with the processing power of the card.

[michaeldow]

okay that makes sense. I just thought i might be getting lower cpu readings and be able to lower my latency a bit. Which i cant. Do you know why it might be that it shows up as on a pci slot and not a pci-e slot? Is this normal?

[Shinobiwan]

Is this a native PCI-E card or is it one that uses a PCI to PCI-E bridge. The latter would explain it showing as a PCI device and is a lesser solution as its simply the old PCI card with a chip on it to all transfers over PCI-E.

[michaeldow]

not really too sure what that means mate. It's just the standard motu pci-e 424 card. In a pci-e slot on my asus p5kr motherboard

[michaeldow]

oh i am using the old 2408mk2's if this makes any difference? Dont see why it would though. In the system settings in device manager it says pci slot3. Not pci-e slot. Which makes me think it cant be the fact its a mk2

[michaeldow]

well i hear now thT THE PCI-E card wont give me any performance enhances over my normal 424. What a total bummer. I spent 170 on that!! I was sure it would work a bit better.

So now the question. Do pci-e's work in normal pci slots? If they do, ill probabaly keep the pcie and sell the old 424

aLSO have a pci 324 for sale if anyone is interested!

Thanks again

[reeper]

well i hear now thT THE PCI-E card wont give me any performance enhances over my normal 424. What a total bummer. I spent 170 on that!! I was sure it would work a bit better.

So now the question. Do pci-e's work in normal pci slots? If they do, ill probabaly keep the pcie and sell the old 424

aLSO have a pci 324 for sale if anyone is interested!

Thanks again

nope will not work, and pci-e is the new standard so you better get used to it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

[michaeldow]

Yeah so its liekly that the next motherboard i buy wont have any normal pci slots. Will probs be a long way off as ive only just built this pc really. Which is weird as it only has one pci express slot. And 5 pci slots. Its a bloody good motherboard too!
Thanks again for your replies

[DJ Synchro]

I was just about to sell my PCIX 424 card and buy a PCI-e 424 card instead. But as I understand, this doesn't have any performance advantages whatsoever???
[edit] I just read this on the MOTU site:

"Advantages of PCIe

Unlike older parallel technologies, PCI Express guarantees each device dedicated bandwidth to and from the system controller. PCI Express cards and slots are defined by their bandwidth, or number of data lanes — typically one lane, four lanes, eight lanes, or 16 lanes. At 250 MBps per lane, a four-lane slot can transfer data at up to 1 GBps and an eight-lane slot, up to 2 GBps — almost twice as fast as a 133MHz PCI-X slot at a maximum throughput of just over 1 GBps. The new PCIe-424 card can be installed in any PCI Express slot (regardless of its number of lanes). PCI Express delivers more than enough bus bandwidth for the 424 card, while ensuring that other PCI devices won't "steal" bus cycles from the 424 card."

According to this, you would presume PCI-e cards do deliver better performance... [/edit]

[michaeldow]

Exactly why i thought it would give me much better performance. BEcause it really sells it that way! Lucky for me i didnt buy it direct off them but from a friend. Bit of a scam really to make people think it will make a difference when it doesnt.... Never mind. Im still keeping it and getting rid of my 324 and 424 cards.

[reeper]

WHY is this a scam? FYI this is just the NEW STANDARD . PCI Express is a major departure from prior PCI buses. Think Floppy vs. CD .
Besserwisser warning :With prior PCI buses, the buswidth and speed were decided up front, and components were selected to match these specifications. PCI Express is far more scalable, with buswidth implemented in 500 MBps (full duplex) increments called lanes. Components will implement from 1 to 32 lanes depending on I/O bandwidth requirements. ( a 16-lane PCI Express bus can boost a 64 Gbps full duplex) compared to old pci maxxed out at 133 mb/s. and firewire weighs in at 800mb/s.
As far as I know only pro-level video and broadcasting applications utilize this atm.

[michaeldow]

oh i knwo that pci express is mucb better. That is without doubt of course. But the motu card doesnt really use this. Its the same as the 424, but just able to fit an express slot. It's no faster. I've been informed that the older 424 card would pretty much never have been maxed out anyway as audio doesnt use up much andwidth. Dunno how true this is. But the express card, as ihave stated, hasn performed ANY better than the old 424. Which is why i say its a BIT of a scam for motu to suggest (in a roundabout way) that it will improve performance.

Like i say, ill be keepin it anyways