Expansion Chassis Questions

[Armando]

I'm running an HD3/ATTO set-up in my G4 867 Quick Silver. All my slots are full.

Are there pluses/minuses to using the internal PCI slots? Or how about the same question on using an expansion chassis instead?

I'd like to know if there's a benefit( besides the obvious, more slots for more cards) to using an expansion chassis instead of the G4's internal slots. Are there any related issues to either?

I couldn't find much info on the site. Thanks in advance.

[Lee Blaske]

If you don't need the extra slots, you're better off staying within the G4's internal slots, because you can get a higher track count at 192khz when you don't use a chassis.

OTOH, if you want to have more HD Process cards, you might need the chassis. Keep in mind that you can't use 192khz if you have more than four cards (1 core plus 3 process).

All this information is on this site, BTW.

Lee Blaske

[seeds]

Lee (or anyone:),
Is there any kind of timing issues / delays or problems with going to a chassis? Just seems when you take it off the buss of the CPU that there could be some inherent delays or something.

If anyone knows lemme know, I'm about to drop $$ on a chassis and another HD process card to use on a G4 at one location and a titanium powerbook at another....and carry the chassis back and forth.

[Allan Speers]

" Keep in mind that you can't use 192khz if you have more than four cards (1 core plus 3 process)."

Untrue.

I aksed this same thing several months ago on another thread. According to digi tech spprt:

You can't use more than four cards at 192K, but you can still run 192K with a larger system. The extra cards just won't be available.

[stoneinapond]

The only comment I can make is make sure you plan ahead for the added noise an expansion chassis creates.

Peace,

Yorik

[DigiTechSupt]

There are a few things to consider, namely whether or not the chassis you get is 64 bit or not.

The G4 has 64 bit PCI slots, these are physically longer slots than 32 bit slots and therefore can handle larger throughputs. If you don't need more cards then stick with your current configuration.

Most chassis' have 32 bit slots except for the relatively new 64 bit 7 slot chassis from Magma. This chassis will allow you to get the max track count at any sample rate with HD hardware.

If you use a 32 bit chassis, you will still be able to use 192k sample rates but your track count will be detrimentally affected. Exactly by how much, I'm not sure but it will be noticable.

Using a chassis will not incur any delays or cause any side effects other than the above, addtional fan noise (which is significant with chassis') and eat up extra rack space.

Jon Connolly
Digidesign Product Specialist

[Armando]

Are the expansion chassis' any better physically for the cards, in terms of heat, power, etc.????

[seeds]

So, what are the drawbacks of a 32 bit chassis if you are primarily running 96 or lower???

Is there ANY? I am HD..