Firewire Card

[Solid Sound]

I have a custom pc running windows 8 and just purchased the Mbox Pro with Protools. I need to know what fire wire card (PCI Express) to purchase that will be compatible with PT11 and the Mbox. I'm pretty sure most any card will do, but I want to make sure. Thanks for any feedback.

[junkgear]

Your best bet is to buy one that uses the Texas Instruments chipset.
These have been known to have the least amount of issues with Windows PCs.

The cards made by SIIG are both used and recommended by many on this forum.

[albee1952]

like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SIIG-FireWir...item43c46c5b53
or this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Siig-NN-E200...item417b7fe3a2
or this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SIIG-FIR...item4acf5cd06c

[ValkRider]

I have had very good results with this card also.
SYBA Add-On Card Model SY-PEX30016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815124107

Pro Tools 10 & 11 running a Motu896mk3Hybrid fire wire 800.
Windows 7 64.

[mesaone]

This is the card I use, and it has worked perfectly for every FW interface I have plugged into it.... I've not used it with the MBOX Pro, though. It has a TI chip, and is only $35.

Rosewill PCIe 1394b Card 3 Ports Model RC-506E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815166027

[Solid Sound]

Is there going to be a difference between 400 and 800 other than transfer rates? Will a large session be affected by a 400 card versus an 800 card?

[mesaone]

The bandwidth of firewire might help you run larger sessions at lower buffer sizes, but I can't say for sure. Otherwise, the main benefit of a higher bandwidth is being able to record higher track counts (and faster file transfer).

FW400 is 400 mbps, and FW800 is 800 mbps. FW800 is backwards compatible, but there is no increase in speed when hooking up a FW400 device to a FW800 port.

EDIT: I just noticed you said you want to use an MBOX. MBOX is USB 2.0, and the MBOX Pro is firewire 400.

[Solid Sound]

Thank You, I searched and searched and couldn't find if the pro model was 400 or 800. Thanks for all the replies, off to the store I go

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Solid Sound

Thank You, I searched and searched and couldn't find if the pro model was 400 or 800. Thanks for all the replies, off to the store I go

Its FW400. You can tell by the connector. Using an adapter cable(800>400) will make the FW bus run at the 400 speed(which should not be an issue at all).

[JoelG]

As mentioned, most TI based firewire cards should work. But here's Avid's official list:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...ility/en352647

I'm using a cheap Belkin PCI FW400 card in my desktop, and a cheap Syba FW800 ExpressCard in my laptop without issue.

Joel