Digidesign Expansion chassis 6 slot PCI

[Analog_]

Hi!

I've recently purchased a second-hand Digidesign 6 slot expansion chassis which should hold my 5 HD Accel PCI-X cards (1 core + 4 HD|Accel cards) and connect to my 12 core MacPro. As far as I've read I this chassis works up to PT 8.0.1. So here are my questions:

unfortunately the Ethernet card that came with the chassis got lost since it has been shipped with other stuff in a separate box. Can I get a replacement Ethernet card?

Is there a way to make this chassis work with PT HD|9 or 10? I also have a 4 slot Magma chassis PCI-X to PCIe with the PCIe host card that goes into my MacPro. Since 4 slots are not enough I bought the Digidesign 6 slots. Could I take the PCI host card from my Magma expansion chassis and put it in the Digidesign one? In that case I could avoid trying to find the lost Ethernet cable and maybe use PT HD|9 or 10?
I've also read that Digidesign only rebranded SBS's and Magma's expansion chassis... so they should be identical?

Many thanks in advance. Any help would be very much appreciated.

[DigitalMetal]

First off no you can't use different host cards from different branded chassis.
For PT HD TDM PCI cards you have the following options.

Digidesign Ethernet chassis with either the PCI or PCIe host card - these are awful and induce massive latency I would not recommend them to anyone - they were discontinued very quickly and I suspect this is why.

Magma P7R4 64 bit PCI to PCI chassis - these work well but your host system needs PCI slots and seeing as you are talking about Macs this means a G5

Magma PE6R4i PCIe to PCI which are the best chassis and ideally what you need.

[Analog_]

Hi DigitalMetal,

thanks for your reply. Does this mean that I can use the Digidesign Expansion chassis I have (with ethernet host card) only up to PT 8.0.1?

Would the Magma PE6R4i work well with PT 9 and/or 10?

Best regards

[DigitalMetal]

Yes and yes !

[DigitalMetal]

The Ethernet chassis "May" work just fine beyond 8 but Avid stopped testing them and in my experience it's obvious why.

[Analog_]

Ok! Thanks again

[DigitalMetal]

No problem !
My advice is to look for a PE6R4i (make sure it's an "i" and not just a PE6R4).

[Analog_]

Great! Any idea what The 2nd hand value is?

[DigitalMetal]

a PE6R4i In the UK is about £350-£500 check past eBay listings for a rough idea.

[Analog_]

Cheers, mate