New Magma PCI 3 slot expansion to PCIe

[nst7]

Just thought I'd mention this to those with older HD PCI cards. I'm not sure how this is really new, but apparently Magma has not had a 3 slot expansion for older PCI cards until now.

Note this is not Thunderbolt, but it can connect your PCI cards to either a PCIe card or an Express card. You can then use Sonnet's Express Card to Thunderbolt adapter.

So this could be a solution for those with HD3's with older PCI cards to hook up to newer Imacs or Macbooks with Thunderbolt.

Again, maybe you could have done this before, and I'm not sure how this is different from their other PCI solutions other than being 3 slots.

But I just thought I'd mention it.

http://www.magma.com/3-slot-pci-expansion

http://sonnettech.com/product/echoex...underbolt.html

[Jeff D.]

I have e-mailed Magma asking if it has been tested with PT10 / HD3 PCIx. No answer yet.

I hope it works....

[John_Toolbox]

Not really anything new, they've had 1, 2, 3, and 4 slot PCI chassis for quite some time, and a PCIe host card (The PEHIFX1) that connects to them... assuming they are new enough to have a compatible chipset for this host card.

The issue has always been that they are not officially supported or tested by AVID for use with Pro Tools cards, so while some people have reported that they worked in their systems, YMMV. My advice is: unless magma says they have tested it with your exact configuration, assume that it won't work. PCI expansion chassis are very finicky about, OS, Pro Tools version, and computer model, it's never as simple as "A PCIe computer will work with a PCIe -> PCI chassis with PCI cards". Throwing a Thunderbolt -> PCie adaptor into the mix makes it even less likely to work.

Assuming your system specs are supported with it, the safest bet is to get the PE6R4-I, which has been tested, and last time I checked, is the only PCIe -> PCI chassis that has ever been officially supported. If you don't plan to use more than an HD3, you should also look at the price of used PCIe HD cards on ebay, the cost isn't that bad anymore, especially if you factor in selling your old PCI HD cards.

[lifer]

Cool..i hadn't seen the Sonnet Express Card before..be great if it works! I was looking at that new Magma chassis wondering if there was a work around somewhere for the new macs. Just need my HD3 to limp along a bit longer till all the AAX plugins are up to speed :) ...fingers crossed..

[Jeff D.]

I used a Sonnet Expressbox Thunderbolt-to-PCIe to house a Blackmagic Decklink Quad PCIe video card, and it worked fine with an iMac.

If we could get HD PCIx working for a little longer I would be happy.