Has anyone switched from Expansion HD to the new Magma?

[mixboy bob]

Hi Everyone.

I'm just wondering if you have switched, is the performance better? Latency (the fact that it's double with the EHD), extreme sluggishness when instantiating plugs/snds/in/out, etc?

Even after 16 months Expansion HD has just never felt great to me, and if the Magma is considerably snappier, I think it would be worth my while.

I'm currently using a G5 2.0 Dual Core (PCIe) with 1 Core, 1 Accel, and 3 Process.

Thanks!

Rob Burrell

[Howardk]

Which Magma chassis are you referring to?

[mixboy bob]

There's only one that can replace the Expansion HD - the PE6R4.

Rob B

[colinweeks]

i'd be curious also to see what the performance differences are... i've found previewing when doing audiosuite processing, auditioning files from the region bin, rerouting outputs and scrubbing to be alittle painful with the expansion|HD... i had a second rig in here that was an intel and didn't have an expansion chassis and that performed significantly better, but that's not really a fair comparison....

-colin

[Vaporhead]

Anyone using the PE6R4? Getting some impressions on performance would be a start to answering this pretty important question. I'm thinking about getting the PE6R4 also but haven't heard any first hand user reports.

[mixboy bob]

I'm thinking about ordering a Magma from somewhere that has a return policy later this month. It will take me half a day to know if it's worth the 2 grand. Pretty much any performance increase will be worth it. I had to ditch my G4 last year and move to a G5 (thus the need for the Expansion HD) to handle my workflow, but what I gained in system speed I lost in TDM communication speed.

Two steps forward, 1-1/2 back...

Rob Burrell

[colinweeks]

the magma is compatible with intel macs only, which is why its a little more difficult for me to justify moving to it (i'm on a G5 quad).

[mixboy bob]

I must have read the compat. docs wrong - I guess I'll be sticking with the Expansion HD!! Although, it would only cost around 7 grand to bump to the Magma and a Mac Pro...

I think I'll wait for the announcement of PT HD Whammy-Accel!!, which I understand will be the official name for the new cards coming out at AES!

"Dream the impossible dream..."

Rob B

[ZEUSS]

Rock solid for me.

[priorytools]

Zeus.

What's your card config ? . . I have NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT in slot 1 (x16 lane), & the expansion card in slot 4 x 8 lane. .

Occasionally I'm getting a DAE error - 6024 I think it is, ran out of time on the pci bus. . . ?