PCIx in PCI slots...

[sean shannon]

I don't know if this helps you, but I am using the Intel H55HC motherboard with an i7 quad, and it rocks for PTHD. 3 PCI slots, currently available, no modifications necessary.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...168&CatId=5195

[dawkab]

Originally Posted by sean shannon

I don't know if this helps you, but I am using the Intel H55HC motherboard with an i7 quad, and it rocks for PTHD. 3 PCI slots, currently available, no modifications necessary.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...168&CatId=5195

Thanks, I think I'll try to get a sandybridge system going - worth a shot. The asus board also has 5 slots -which would be nice to expand into.

That board is a definite solid backup though.

[dawkab]

Ok, so I've got PT 9 installed on an asus p8b-c4\L with a xeon e3-1245.

System boots fine with all cards, but is not passing digitest.

With 2 cards (core and process), both pass.

With 3 cards (core, process, process) core passes, process cards both fail TDM flex cable test.

Could be a flex cable issue, or cards in wrong order (the core is in the furthest slot from the processor).

2 other issues with the board -

1. The usb headers are directly below pci slot 4- too close to install the standard connectors. The power/reset/hdd activity headers are very close to slot 5. Installing them is possible, but tight.

2. The first two pci slots will be inaccessible without cutting off the pcix pins on the HD cards edge connectors. The southbridge heat sink gets in the way in slot 1, and the bios chip gets in the way in slot 2.

[lorudess]

Building a GA-Q67M-D2H-B3/i7 2600/ PT HD2 Accel 7.4 system (XP)... the PSU had a problem and I will get a new one next thursday.
I am on it... some news in a few days.

[dawkab]

Originally Posted by dawkab

Ok, so I've got PT 9 installed on an asus p8b-c4\L with a xeon e3-1245.

System boots fine with all cards, but is not passing digitest.

With 2 cards (core and process), both pass.

With 3 cards (core, process, process) core passes, process cards both fail TDM flex cable test.

Could be a flex cable issue, or cards in wrong order (the core is in the furthest slot from the processor).

I think I've got a dodgy flex cable. Tried swapping the flex cables just using two cards, and one card always fails digitest with a flex cable error when I use a particular cable.

But the good news is I'm up and running with a HD2 and Pt 9. Just testing some sessions now.

System is:

HD core (pci) slot 5 ( furthest from CPU)
HD process (pci) slot 4
192 i/o

Asus P8BC4L

Xeon e3-1245

4gig Kingston ECC

OCZ vertex II 60gig

coupla audio drives

Windows 7 pro 64bit

Pro tools 9.0 no third party plugs.

I'll try re-seating the cards and the dodgy cable a few more times just to be certain, but I think I'll have to get a new cable.

[lennieh]

So it sounds like only 3 of the PCI slots are usable for PT cards unless you want to hack the pins off - eeek I really don't fancy trying that.

Has anyone tried the Supermicro board? I looked on their website and it looks like the heatsink is going to be a problem as it's smack in line with one of the PCI slots, and there seem to be some headers in line with the other slots, so I'm guessing this might not work...

I'm going to have to build a new PC soon, I've got a HD2 Accel system using a Tyan server board with 2 Xeon Quad processors, but it's becoming unstable, freezing up, not booting occasionally... Would be nice to get up to speed with a Sandybridge CPU and have the option of upgrading to HD3 sometime...

We could avoid all this pain if Avd would give us free upgrades to PCIe cards

[dawkab]

After reseating the cards and last flex cable a few more times, I've got a working HD3 system on Sandybridge.

I'll be testing it on a fairly big mix over the next few hours.

HD core - pci slot 5 ( furthest from CPU)
HD process - pci slot 4
HD process - pci slot 3

192 i/o

Asus P8BC4L

Xeon e3-1245

ATI 4350 - passive heatsink

4gig Kingston ECC

OCZ vertex II 60gig

coupla audio drives

Windows 7 pro 64bit

Pro tools 9.0.2

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by dawkab

After reseating the cards and last flex cable a few more times, I've got a working HD3 system on Sandybridge.

I'll be testing it on a fairly big mix over the next few hours.

HD core - pci slot 5 ( furthest from CPU)
HD process - pci slot 4
HD process - pci slot 3

192 i/o

Asus P8BC4L

Xeon e3-1245

ATI 4350 - passive heatsink

4gig Kingston ECC

OCZ vertex II 60gig

coupla audio drives

Windows 7 pro 64bit

Pro tools 9.0.2

The 4 teamable network ports are a great touch for some one accessing network shares.

Did the cards interfere with motherboard components in the slots closer to the CPU?

[lorudess]

Originally Posted by lorudess

Building a GA-Q67M-D2H-B3/i7 2600/ PT HD2 Accel 7.4 system (XP)... the PSU had a problem and I will get a new one next thursday.
I am on it... some news in a few days.

Protools HD2 7.4 (XP)/Sandybridge working in here...
I am installing everything. Testing PT deeply tomorrow.

System:

GA-Q67M-D2H-B3 (2 x PCI)
i7 2600
2x 2GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1333 10666 CL7
ATI Radeon x300 Passive Heatsink (from my previous system)
1x WD Caviar Black 1 TB
1x Seagate Barracuda. 12 1 TB
1x WD Caviar Blue 320 Gb. (OS)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
2x Scythe Gentle Typhoon
PSU Tacens Valeo III 0 dB 600w
Cooler Master Silencio 550

Windows XP Pro SP2
Protools HD2 7.4 cs10:

1 x HD Core card
1 x HD Accel card
1 x Aurora 8/ LT-HD
1 x Rosetta 800/ X-HD

Next update to W7 64 bits/ PT HD9 in a few months... working flawlessly on PT 7.4 so far.

[dawkab]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

The 4 teamable network ports are a great touch for some one accessing network shares.

Did the cards interfere with motherboard components in the slots closer to the CPU?

I'm thinking it might be good for running a vienna ensemble pro network.

The first two pci slots will be inaccessible without cutting off the pcix pins on the HD cards edge connectors. The southbridge heat sink gets in the way in slot 1, and the bios chip gets in the way in slot 2.