SONNET 1 GHZ UPGRADE RESULTS !!!

[jjjamison]

Originally posted by Bunting Ho:
I'm certainly interested!
I was about to jump into a dual 1ghz Mirror door, but I've been scared off by all the problems, which apparently haven't been fixed by replacing the motherboards [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ..........SO...........it looks like my trusty 400 AGP may just get a new lease on life...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yeah, I 've been dealing w/ the Mac upgrade path on a large scale - 30-40 machines at any given time - since the days of system 6 and I've learned my lesson. OSX is fantastic - a major step toward the future, but it's going to be some time before PTLE 6 is a viable option and by then there will be better faster Macs available at lower costs (relatively). In the meantime my g4 is choking on LE, so $700 bucks to squeeze a couple more years out of the g4 is not a bad deal AND today's problems are solved with a minimal amount of hassle (I hope!). Fed-X box just showed up at my door - the Sonnet upgrade is here!!! I'll post review and Dave C test results ASAP.

[kris whitten]

Just gave back the Sonnett 1 ghz (thanks sonnett!!) And picked up a 1.2 ghz upgrade which gave me 23 tracks recording for 60 seconds... The 24th track would give me a DAE 9017 error after 5 sec of record.

This was 4 tracks better than the 1 ghz, and the Quantum fireball 20gb drive only had 1.2 GB left on it.

Maybe I should clean this rats nest up some

This is with DAE buffer set at 2 and H/W at 128. I never change it from 128, b/c the latency drives me nucking futs [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[picksail]

Hey Kris, was this the card that you tested that you returned or one that you purchased? You may remember my problem with the thing a couple of months ago. They did, in fact send me a new one with the"New-Improved-Thermal-Grease". I just wonder if they would take mine back, because I'm really curious about the new OWC upgrades. Check them out. They even include a heat sink to accommodate the larger processor.

[kris whitten]

picksail,

This is a new one.... I tested the 1ghz, and I got the 1.2 from a friend.... It has a different little "patch" on the chip, works fine !!!!

Do you think a larger heatsink is necessary???

[picksail]

Kris,
Just wondering if you could help me out with a recurring problem. I am now on my second Sonnet 1GHz card and it is now failing. The first one lasted four months and it was rock solid until one day... The second one has lasted only 2 months and during which time didn't perform well at all.

I was experiencing random crashes with it(2nd one) , but was able to find a work-around performing standard maintenence operations. Now I can barely get it to start-up (if at all) before incurring these crashes. I have tried everything. It is far from stable and I am not happy with Sonnet at all.

What would you suggest? I need a new card, but from which company? I replaced the Sonnet with the original and it works fine, albeit much slower (450 Sawtooth). I have sessions I can't even open. I can record and edit if I disable most of the plugs, which is what I will continue to do until I get this sorted out.

Please, help.

[picksail]

To top.

[kris whitten]

picksail,

What os are you on?

What firmware?

That is really strange, I personally think that most iff not all d these upgrades are the same.

Since they come with no software, I figure it is just like an engine swap....

Has Sonnett been able to help you
????

[picksail]

I am using 9.2.2. Firm ware 4.8.2 (whichever is the most recent). What would you suggest?

By the way, the OWC Mercury Elite 1.3GHz processor includes a fan and heat sink to accomodate the larger processor. Check it out, it looks very interesting.

And, no Sonnet was anything but helpful. The tech, with whom I spoke was pretty condescending and offered little 'support'. I'm just hoping that I can deal with customer service and have my money refunded. When I purchased the first one in November it cost $700.

[picksail]

One of the guys on the TDM page posted this: MacFixIt

And this could be a possible solution: OWC