PCIE Core/Accel cards?

[Durka]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but If you have a single (PCIE) Core/Accel card only for your HD rig, are you able to run your Accel plugins without having a second card?

[Avid]

Yes, the PCIe version of the HD 1 system is capable of running Accel-only plug-ins.
For details on the chips on HD cards, see the "PCIe vs PCI Power with HD Systems" document here:
Digidesign Technical White Papers

[Durka]

Ok thank's for clearing that up but what does this mean exactly?
However, users should know that it is possible to create sessions on PCIe-based HD 1
systems that cannot be opened on a PCI-based HD 1 system.

[KingTor]

(never mind my response that was here. I wrote it before the topic really got going, and it's clearly obsolete now.)

[Durka]

I understand about the cards but I would like some additional clarification on the other Digi statement that i posted above! In regard's to PCI VS PCIE session compatability!

[Dutchmuzik]

Yes, that's correct, same is possible creating sessions on HD1 PCI that are not compatible with PCIe.

[Avid]

It's not an incompatiblity between PCI and PCIe systems but rather the difference in power between an HD1 PCIe and an HD1 PCI single core card system.

I'm not a tech or an engineer, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but I would assume that it is related to a couple of things, and the document is probably referring to this first one...

1 - In some cases, a larger session with higher track count might be created on a PCIe HD1 system, where the PCI HD1 system might not be able to open as many tracks (an HD2 PCI system might be required to handle the larger session)...

Power Differences Relate to System Size

Technically speaking, there are more “MIPs” (millions of instructions per second)
available on the new HD PCIe card than the HD Core for PCI, though the increase in
power experienced by the user depends upon individual plug-in efficiencies. Users of HD
1 for PCIe may see a significant performance gain versus HD 1 for PCI systems,
particularly if they tend to use many instances of just a few different plug-ins and if those
plug-ins have been optimized for Pro Tools 7. However, with HD 2 and HD 3, there is a
much smaller difference in power between the systems. In fact, with systems larger than
HD 3, there is no advantage to running on PCIe versus PCI other than slot-type
compatibility.

2 - While you can have a session on a PCIe HD1 system with Accel-only plug-ins, the PCI HD1 system would not be able to use Accel plug-ins.

[Durka]

Ok I get it now makes sense! Thank's for clearing this up for me I appreciate the insite.