Motherboards and systems for use with original HD core and process cards?

[David Sandwisch]

Hi Everyone,

It's been a few years since my last post but my homemade P4 Xenon system with an original HD Core and Process card (HD2) has been running faithfully for 7+ years now. This forum has always been a valuable source of information and helped me build 2 custom computers as well as solve a few issues. I value everyone's input and hope I may share my own experiences to add to the wealth of information gathered.

My Windows XP PTHD2 computer has been running great as mentioned above but I think it's time to start thinking about upgrading to a faster processor, more ram, SATA hard drives etc... Essentially I want to build a new computer using the latest technology but still be able to use my original PCI ProTools HD cards.

I will read up on the many posts in this forum but it's a little overwhelming as I've been unable to keep up the last few years. Here are my questions and please feel free to ask me anything. I thank you in advance.

Does anyone have experience building a computer with Intel Quad Core processors and MB to run the original PTHD cards?

Are there any current modern motherboards that support 2 full length PCI slots next to each other that my cards will be happy with? It's been awhile since I researched MBs but everything these days seems to come with PCI-x etc... and I need original PCI slots, 2 at that.

Once I know what motherboard will work, building the rest of the computer is pretty straight forward. My goal is to end up with Windows 7 and PT 8. Currently I'm on 7.3 still on XP pro. I don't really have any other parts from my current computer I care about saving. Hard drives, ram, processor, graphics will all be new.

Basically my goal is to avoid having to exchange my 2 PTHD cars for the current Accel models as the price is quite large. FWIW I'm using a 96 I/O but that's still current and should be the same in a new system.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
David

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by David Sandwisch

Hi Everyone,

It's been a few years since my last post but my homemade P4 Xenon system with an original HD Core and Process card (HD2) has been running faithfully for 7+ years now. This forum has always been a valuable source of information and helped me build 2 custom computers as well as solve a few issues. I value everyone's input and hope I may share my own experiences to add to the wealth of information gathered.

My Windows XP PTHD2 computer has been running great as mentioned above but I think it's time to start thinking about upgrading to a faster processor, more ram, SATA hard drives etc... Essentially I want to build a new computer using the latest technology but still be able to use my original PCI ProTools HD cards.

I will read up on the many posts in this forum but it's a little overwhelming as I've been unable to keep up the last few years. Here are my questions and please feel free to ask me anything. I thank you in advance.

Does anyone have experience building a computer with Intel Quad Core processors and MB to run the original PTHD cards?

Are there any current modern motherboards that support 2 full length PCI slots next to each other that my cards will be happy with? It's been awhile since I researched MBs but everything these days seems to come with PCI-x etc... and I need original PCI slots, 2 at that.

Once I know what motherboard will work, building the rest of the computer is pretty straight forward. My goal is to end up with Windows 7 and PT 8. Currently I'm on 7.3 still on XP pro. I don't really have any other parts from my current computer I care about saving. Hard drives, ram, processor, graphics will all be new.

Basically my goal is to avoid having to exchange my 2 PTHD cars for the current Accel models as the price is quite large. FWIW I'm using a 96 I/O but that's still current and should be the same in a new system.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
David

Best board for HD PCI with a Core 2 Quad is the ASUS P5WDG2-WS-Pro. If you can still find one. They are worth seeking out. Grab a Core 2 Quad Q9550 while they are still cheap. Grab 4GB of Corsair XMS DDR2 800 with timing specs of 4-4-4-12 and a ATI video card with a minimal amount of memory. The P5WDG2-Pro has 2 PCI-X slots and 2 PCI slots. This will let you run up to HD3 and you will have tons of RTAS. This board has been used on 4-5 HD builds - Nick H, Bob Nagy, Guitarzan and a few others. This is probably the most trouble free of all the HD compatible boards.

Moving my LE rig from a P4 3.4GHz to a Q6600 picked me up about 700% more RTAS power.

[lifer]

You could build an i7 core 860 system with twice the power of a Q6600!
There are a few motherboards with 3 consecutive PCI slots for these too.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...rboard-LGA1156
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-P...rboard-LGA1156
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...rboard-LGA1156

CPU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...source=froogle
Its my next upgrade too!
Hope this helps
Lifer

[Bender412]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

Best board for HD PCI with a Core 2 Quad is the ASUS P5WDG2-WS-Pro. If you can still find one. They are worth seeking out. Grab a Core 2 Quad Q9550 while they are still cheap. Grab 4GB of Corsair XMS DDR2 800 with timing specs of 4-4-4-12 and a ATI video card with a minimal amount of memory. The P5WDG2-Pro has 2 PCI-X slots and 2 PCI slots. This will let you run up to HD3 and you will have tons of RTAS. This board has been used on 4-5 HD builds - Nick H, Bob Nagy, Guitarzan and a few others. This is probably the most trouble free of all the HD compatible boards.

Moving my LE rig from a P4 3.4GHz to a Q6600 picked me up about 700% more RTAS power.

Hey Sunburst, I could be wrong, but I don't think the P5WDG2-Pro can run the Q9550. When I was researching that MB (which I currently use), I thought I read that it can't use the 45nm processors. Or is it just that the board wouldn't take advantage of a 45nm chip? Are they the same form factor? Anyway, that's why I went with the Q6700 when I built my system.

Also, why do you say it can run "up to HD3"? Aren't a few ppl running an HD4 on it? BrandonX for one I think?

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by Bender412

Hey Sunburst, I could be wrong, but I don't think the P5WDG2-Pro can run the Q9550. When I was researching that MB (which I currently use), I thought I read that it can't use the 45nm processors. Or is it just that the board wouldn't take advantage of a 45nm chip? Are they the same form factor? Anyway, that's why I went with the Q6700 when I built my system.

Also, why do you say it can run "up to HD3"? Aren't a few ppl running an HD4 on it? BrandonX for one I think?

Is BrandonX running HD4? I wasn't aware of that. I know Hick H had HD3. Bob Nagy said HD3 was doable but HD 4 looked iffy. I was under the impression that the 45nm stuff like the 9550 would drop in. I know that the P965 chipset the BIOS was updated to work with the newer procs. I suppose that I should check ASUS since I may be wrong there. Thanks for pointing that out. I recommended DDR800 because even though the board states somewhere it will run the RAM at 1066 (OC) I know that Nick was limited to DDR2 889 and Bob Nagy was running DDR2 800.

EDIT: You are correct. The fastest Core 2 Quads supported by the P5WDG2 are the Q6xxx series. While ASUS updated the P965 they never updated the 975X. I have a P5B (965) and updated it to a Q9450. My bad.

[David Sandwisch]

So has anyone successfully built a system for an orginal HD core and HD process card (PCI 32 bit non-accel) with the new I series of chips from Intel?

[Brandonx1]

Originally Posted by David Sandwisch

So has anyone successfully built a system for an orginal HD core and HD process card (PCI 32 bit non-accel) with the new I series of chips from Intel?

I just built an asus Asus P6T WS Pro (Core i7 xeon) workstation motherboard HD rig and I could not be hapier.

[David Sandwisch]

And you have the original HD cards? Is Windows 7 stable with the original 32 bit cards? I need a MB with 2 PCI slots for my original 32 bit cards, that MB only has 1 of those.

[Third Eye Studios]

We run our PCI HD2 rig with an i7. The computer build we used is in my digi profile if you'd like the details.

[Brandonx1]

Originally Posted by David Sandwisch

And you have the original HD cards? Is Windows 7 stable with the original 32 bit cards? I need a MB with 2 PCI slots for my original 32 bit cards, that MB only has 1 of those.

Yes the original HD cards. PCI x. That MB has 2 PCIX slots next to each other. I use a chassis tho. It's the older p7r464 chassis. It works great tho.
Best,
Brandon