Best Systems and Components for Win HD/TDM

[kirkgale]

Hi 3rd Eye...(thnx for the input)

based on which I reverted to my pre 8.0.3 card order (identical to yours) w/out however the 2nd Accel card in the non-x PCI slot.

and its stable..! HD2 w/ Omnisphere, Strike...

wish I could access some info re that PCI Latency Timer in the Supermicro BIOS (mine currently set @ 64)...will have to test whether increase/decrease helps to get this wonderful stability even w/ that extra card/slot powered up...

[Third Eye Studios]

I'm glad it's working stable for you. Too bad it's not stable with all the cards.

I'm not going to be at the studio until tomorrow to verify my the PCI latency timer settings for you. Let me know if you find a setting that works. We'll be shopping for a third card soon.

[kirkgale]

Hmmm 3rd Eye...

we gotta fix this prob otherwise, how r u gonna be brave 'nuf to buy a 2nd accel card for that Supermicro board...?

I played around w/ diff PCI Latency Timer settings in the BIOS today (from the default? 64 up to 96 and down to 32 but in none of those 3 settings was PT free from a "not responding" error for more than 3 or 4 minutes (e.g., loading or unloading a VI plug will trigger it)...

while as soon as I remove that 3rd card and use only the PCI-x slots, no crashes...

you know, I picked this board back in Feb when 8.0 was new but maybe since then there's 'nother i7 board out there w 3 contiguous PCI-x slots..?

[kirkgale]

searced the web for 30 min and found no 3 pci-x contiguous slot boards for the i7 (although I found 3 contiguous regular pci slot boards for the i7 but not ready to go there yet)...

next step may be to email tech support @ supermicro to inquire what BIOS settings they may recommend in this situation...

[Third Eye Studios]

we gotta fix this prob otherwise, how r u gonna be brave 'nuf to buy a 2nd accel card for that Supermicro board...?

I know. I wonder what Supermicro would have to say about it. We might just have to stay at HD2. We could at least upgrade to HD Accel, as we're non-Accel right now.

When I did a search for MB's a few weeks ago, the Supermicro was it for PCIX.

Feel free to cantact me via email. DanaSampson [at] Thirdeyestudios [dot] org. If you'd like we could chat off of the forum and post back any solutions.

Dana

[pm mastering studio]

some info on the ASUS P7P55D Mobo :
-------------------------------------
I7 860 CPU
8GB RAM (Kinstong 1333mhz 4 x 2GB)
Samsung 150 GB VeloRaptor (10.000 rpm) - Boot
Samsung 1TB (Samples and storage)
Samsung 350 GB VeloRaptor (10.000rpm) Recording/projects
Asus EN86000 GT Silence

Installed Windows 7 Ultimatex64
ProTools HD8.03
Massive Pack 7
Waves 7.r4 Mercury + SSL400
NI Komplete 6
BrainWorx Complete
Celemony Editor DNA
BFD2
Superiour Drummer 2

HD3 Accel card

I'm a bit dissepointed with loadtimes (up to 10 minutes). on my QuadZilla it took about the same time to fully load PT (could take about 10 minutes due to waves)
With this mean machine I hoped this would be reduced enormously - unfortunatly it stays the same. It takes loooooooong time until my Waves Mercury plugins are loaded which sometimes make me believe it has crashed.
Even a setup without waves takes up to about 5 minutes.

As soon all is running first impressions are ok. Looks stable. Although it take time to load a plugin into the insert-slot (also the case with previous setup as soon as I swithced to 8.0).

I hope I can find some time tonight to start testing the whole thing on some real recordings.

One thing is great - I now have enormous CPU power !!!! whohooooooooooo

I'll keep y'all posted


PS. Important tip : when using windows 7 U have to disable the user-safety thingy (UserAccountControl) . ProTools always needs to be runned as administrator to work !!!


Philippe

[undergroundcubby]

I have a HD3 PCI accel and also want to get up on the i7 spec.

I am about to build a system (having always used HP XW's in the past)

So any thoughts on mobos to use I will investigate and gladly guinea pig it.

Hit me up with suggestions and lets see if we can find a solution (just not prepared to Digi crossgrade for same spec system!)

Cheers

[Third Eye Studios]

Finding a MB for an i7 with 3 consecutive PCI slots is hard. Digi user "kirkgale" and I are currently both using the Supermicro X8SAX. It runs a HD2 great, but kirkgale is having issues with Pro Tools not responding with his 3rd HD card installed. He's currently working with Supermicro to find a solution.

[undergroundcubby]

Originally Posted by pm mastering studio

some info on the ASUS P7P55D Mobo :
-------------------------------------
I7 860 CPU
8GB RAM (Kinstong 1333mhz 4 x 2GB)
Samsung 150 GB VeloRaptor (10.000 rpm) - Boot
Samsung 1TB (Samples and storage)
Samsung 350 GB VeloRaptor (10.000rpm) Recording/projects
Asus EN86000 GT Silence

Installed Windows 7 Ultimatex64
ProTools HD8.03
Massive Pack 7
Waves 7.r4 Mercury + SSL400
NI Komplete 6
BrainWorx Complete
Celemony Editor DNA
BFD2
Superiour Drummer 2

HD3 Accel card

I'm a bit dissepointed with loadtimes (up to 10 minutes). on my QuadZilla it took about the same time to fully load PT (could take about 10 minutes due to waves)
With this mean machine I hoped this would be reduced enormously - unfortunatly it stays the same. It takes loooooooong time until my Waves Mercury plugins are loaded which sometimes make me believe it has crashed.
Even a setup without waves takes up to about 5 minutes.

As soon all is running first impressions are ok. Looks stable. Although it take time to load a plugin into the insert-slot (also the case with previous setup as soon as I swithced to 8.0).

I hope I can find some time tonight to start testing the whole thing on some real recordings.

One thing is great - I now have enormous CPU power !!!! whohooooooooooo

I'll keep y'all posted


PS. Important tip : when using windows 7 U have to disable the user-safety thingy (UserAccountControl) . ProTools always needs to be runned as administrator to work !!!


Philippe

Hi, Any joy with tests on this board yet? The supermicro looks OK and they are a rock solid brand, just interested with HD3 PCI on this, cheers

[pm mastering studio]

at the nmoment having some minor issues with Wave plugins (see other threads). Also going to switch the Nvidia for an ATI GPU.

all the rest is working Great ! No issues with HD3 setup