New i7 system sandra report , need help please..

[dawnofadreamx97]

What's up everyone,

First let me thank everyone here who has helped make this a very informative and invaluable place to trouble shoot digi software / hardware issues. I have been following here for years and just recently built an i7 machine for my 002 rack on protools 8.01 on XP service pack 3.

I have been having some pretty rough times getting things to run stable. I so far have been suffering from the dreaded white noise bursts, the system crash's or hangs with certain plugins and i feel like overall performance should be better. I've had to reinstall protools several times, trash system preferences and etc.

I have done the digi tweaks
I'm running waves v7 mercury native
Mcdsp Emerald bundle latest version (except mcdsp said to revert back 1 version for revolver)

also my adat mic preamp (ada 8000) leaks into the master bus even without audio tracks being armed or even open, anyone ever have this happen? is this an i/o setting possibly? Does anyone see anything here on the sandra report that could be causing me these headaches ? Possibly the firewire card being an NEC chipset?

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : System manufacturer System Product Name
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : user-bc1a1a8551
User : studio

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Speed : 2.8GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 4x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L3 On-board Cache : 8MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size, 8 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Asus Rampage II Extreme
BIOS : AMI 1504 07/23/2009
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3GB DIMM DDR3

Chipset
Model : ASUS X58 I/O Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 3.22GHz (6.43GHz)

Chipset
Model : Intel Core Desktop (Bloomfield) UnCore
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 3.22GHz (6.43GHz)
Total Memory : 6GB DIMM DDR3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 670MHz (1.34GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Mushkin 991585 996585 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-24 4-33-10-5)
Memory Module : Mushkin 991585 996585 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-24 4-33-10-5)
Memory Module : Mushkin 991585 996585 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-24 4-33-10-5)

Graphics Processor - right now using a generic vga driver per digi's suggestion but the card is a PNYORCE 9600 GSO 768MB DDR3 GRAPHICS CONTROLLER

Storage Devices
WDC WD5002ABYS-02B1B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)
WDC WD2500SD-01KCC0 (250GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 233GB (E:)
ATAPI DVD A DH16A3L (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5002ABYS-02B1B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Storage (E:) : 233GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD2500SD-01KCC0 (250GB, SATA150, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ ATAPI DVD A DH16A3L (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
3.5" 1.44MB (A:) : N/A

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 A5-13h
Disk Controller : ASUS 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #4
USB Controller 2 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #5
USB Controller 3 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #6
USB Controller 4 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 5 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #1
USB Controller 6 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 7 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #3
USB Controller 8 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : NEC uPD72874 IEEE1394 OHCI 1.1 3-port PHY-Link Ctrlr
FireWire/1394 Controller 2 : ASUS VT6306 VIA Fire II IEEE-1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Network Services
Network Adapter : Wireless LAN PCI 802.11 b/g adapter WN5301A - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 54Mbps)
Wireless Adapter 1 : Wireless LAN PCI 802.11 b/g adapter WN5301A - Packet Scheduler Miniport (802.11g (ERP), 54Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 3)
Platform Compliance : x86
Thanks in advance!

[sw rec]

The firewire card not having the approved TI chipset could certainly be a bottleneck. SIIG cards seem to ALWAYS have the Ti chip on them.
Also, most would prompt you to disable the wireless features, at least while PT is running.
I have an ADA8000 and have never experienced that problem you're speaking of. Wondering if it could be bad grounding or cheap TOSLINKs? Connected both ways? You really only need ADA out to 002r in.

[dawnofadreamx97]

Cool,

yes i always disable the wireless, but had to enable it to post .... Im gonna try to change the toslinks out for new ones..I have to find a texas instrument firewire card...

[sw rec]

And again, just a toslink from the ada out to the digi in should do.

[dawnofadreamx97]

right on.... anyone else see anything that could be an issue with my setup / config ?

thanks...

[pianosound]

Hey dawnofadream,,,,,,,,,,,,, A lot of us like a Hard drive with 32MB cache! All of mine are, and I no of a few others that feel especialy for your audio drive, that something like the WD Caviar Black, 7200 rpm, and 32 MB cache is a very good choice. I would leave your system drive alone for now, and maybe try a WD for your audio!! They are not to expensive, and could do a lot better than the 8MB cache your using!!??

Good Luck ,,, keep us posted ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Mike

[dawnofadreamx97]

i know shoot me ! That drive was supposed to be for the system and the 500 gig 16 mb cache for audio, but the knucklehead who installed xp did that! i dont own a copy of xp myself, i had the store install it for me. So i have not been able to change it... luckily.. I have a glyph gt050q 250 gig external firewire 400/800 and esata drive that i just setup to use.... hopefully this will be good !

[dawnofadreamx97]

alrighty, so i ordered a siib texas instruments firewire card to replace my nec chipset...

did the dverb test tonight was hitting 290 dverb 2.0's @ 1024 buffer

not to bad... not overclocked at all... i think i may leave it as is to, as long as it's stable! lol what do you guys think ?

ps - the adat leaking through the master bus only happens when the I/o paths default to stereo pairs. VERY ODD, when i hit default and it assigned each input to mono again, it went away, I also checked the cables ( they were fine)