used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

Guys, bit confused.

I want to pick up a used HD system.

Pci-x cards are much cheaper than the new express version on ebay. Would you say its better to invest in the express version? Are the x version compatible with pt 10?
What year did the mac pro move to pci express?

Now thinking about the mac pro. My understanding is a 2010 spring model would give me access to the current os and pt 10, but what about pt 8 and 9? Pt 10 is still too costly for me but I imagine when pt 11 comes out prices will drop dramatically so pt 8 or 9 would do me for a year or two then I can pick up 10 later.
Hoping for some advice. Thanks.

Re: used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

Another question, I have some plugins on my mix tdm pt 6.4 such as focusrite d2/3 , autotune on ilok. Will they work in pt hd?

Re: used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

Express is the more powerful system .
If I were you I would consider HDN seriously
HDN with a HD 16x16 analog have sold on ebay for as low as $3500.
A HD1 rig leaves a lot to be desired and may even be a let down for some HD2 not much better. From my limited experience with TDM HD3/4 is where the real potential of TDM kicks in. But I also would be hesitant because of the $900 to $1200 per card TDM still costs now but in a year when HD11 is finally released its my estimate that TDM prices will drastically reduce by half in a month.
But if you dont mind having your investment devalue as much as it most certainly should TDM is a great system.
New MAC PROs will be out in six months and if they get the power boost most assume they will a HDN and new MAC PRO will be a much faster with greater processing resources. TDM will likely not be able to compete with the new MAC PROs even with just PT11 and CPTK .
But its all speculative as nobody really knows for sure

But the fact that HDN will support new releases of PT for a long time to come would get my vote. I wouldn't invest thousands to be out of date unsupported and discontinued a year before you even own it.

Re: used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

I'm pretty sure Focurite should. I beleive those were both TDM and Native auths. Autotune i dont know.

Mac Pros are all PCI express. G4s are all PCI. I'm not positive if they are PCI 64bit or PCI-X technically but the cards fit and run. The PCI HD cards themselves are actually 32 bit. The rear set of "Fingers" or contacts on the card are unused. G5's were a mix of PCI, PCIX and PCIe. Nice link listing the various models. Its important to note that you cannot mix card types in the same machine. In other words they must all be PCI or PCIe. Hope that helps.

Re: used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

Tell me, do the HD native cards handle the audio or is it just an expensive bridge to HD interfaces? In otherwords does the computer handle the plugins but not the audio?

And does the HD native card connect to the old HD interfaces or just the HDX ones?

used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

Yes HD native is no card processing power for plug's it just handles the audio from the interfaces to the computer

And yes the HD native does support the legacy blue HD interfaces not just the new HD i/o's. You're welcome to doublecheck me but I believe that's correct information about the latter question

Re: used Hd cards: pcix or express?
 

Mac Pro has always been PCI-express. It was the G5 PowerMac that was PCI-X to begin with, and it was the very last generation (late-2005) models that got PCI-express.

If you're choosing PCI-X you're choosing very old host workstation or expansion chassis or PC or Hackintosh which not many of us would like to recommend, with the exception of expanded systems if you need/want more than three cards.

(that said, I have a spare system G5 with PCI-X cards running PT8.0.1 and it's really usable. hard to get plugin support anymore but other than that it's workable solution)