Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

PC Configurations, motherboards, etc, etc

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garyb
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by garyb »

YES, BOTH PCI AND XITE.
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valis
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by valis »

And both sets of information are useful to us as a community. So let's keep investigating and clarifying and documenting, and thank you
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by Bud Weiser »

garyb wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:48 pm YES, BOTH PCI AND XITE.
THX,- GREAT !

:wink:

Bud
S|C Scope/XITE-1 & S|C A16U, Scope PCI & CW A16U
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Sounddesigner
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by Sounddesigner »

garyb wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:48 pm YES, BOTH PCI AND XITE.
This is GREAT news that XITE-1 is now confirmed to work with a couple of the latest Motherboards and current generations of i7 computers. This combo should satisfy Scopers for the next 10 years. Holger has just helped the community out immensely with this confirmation. I'll bet the compatibility with XITE-1 and the tested z270 Motherboards was made possible threw all the under-the-hood work done in SCOPE 7.

Me personally, I'm just fine with the i7 4790K I chose recently and truly believe it is definitely a winner for Scopers going forward as well and has a advantage over recently released i7's (i7 4790k supports all versions of Windows but the latest i7's only support Windows 10). Even with this great news about i7 7700k's and z270 compatibility if I was to buy a new computer right now today I'd still get the older i7 4790K instead of the latest generation, and I believe the i7 4790K will be a great alternative to the latest-and-greatest CPU's/Sockets for a long time to come. Especially since there has been no major leaps in CPU power thus the newest aren't much more powerfull than the older CPU's, just more limited with regards to O/S cause they only run Windows 10 only.

I'm very satisfied with i7 4790K but I also know that XITE-1's future is going to partly depend on being compatible with current computer hardware and softeware. This is awesome news for both XITE and the everliving PCI cards from the days of old!
fidox
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by fidox »

socket 1151, Z170 chipset, nearly 2 years old, no problems so far.
good performance. :)
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by Bud Weiser »

fidox wrote: Sat Dec 30, 2017 4:01 pm socket 1151, Z170 chipset, nearly 2 years old, no problems so far.
good performance. :)
Cool ! 8)

I now think we can expect socket 1151-v2 and z370 chipset will work too.
I got info the difference of socket 1151 and 1151-v2 is nothing else than a handfull of pins providing power to the new 8th gen Intel i7 hex- and octa core processors.
There are also not much differences between z270 and z370 ...

My computer builder Inofficially talked w/ ASUS support a few days ago when he bought a Maximus 10 Hero mobo and Intel i7 8700K for his own new build.
ASUS said socket 1151-v2 was unnecessary and running 8th gen i7s could have been realized also on the old socket 1151,- but Intel wanted it the other way around.

:)

Bud
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bigovum
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by bigovum »

Since my original post I had a funny five minutes and dug our my original old PC, pre my HP Xeon (recommended here). It’s super quiet based on an Asus A8n sli socket 939 Nvidia chipset. 1gb of memory, 128mb GeForce 6600 pciex graphics card, and a small 60gb SSD. Instead of reinstalling Windows (my normal preference), I cleaned the existing install of Win 7 Pro 32bit (daughter had taken it over), fully updated it, and turned off some of the things...

I’ve got 1 scope card, 1 pulsar card and a pulsar srb. I could only fit the scope into my case by removing an hd bay and sacrificing the SRB; so only two cards went in: 19 DSP will do :). It’s worth bearing in mind that I’m looking to use this as a mixer for my synths and then feed into a Mac for recording. (Any midi fader recommendations?)

So, I fired it all up, installed 5.1, imported my key file. And shit me, it all worked first time. Even at 1080p moving the windows is silky smooth; ulli at 3ms at 48khz, all good. I randomly dropped in some devices; minimax, STM16, Timeworks reverb, prodissey, and a masterberb pro. Not even a murmur. So, I started piling in the stereo masterverb pros. Every time I added one I was waiting for the bad news. It topped out at 12 with no problems at all and all the other stuff. Holy shit balls. :)

Now I’ve got ADAT linking it to a Focusrite 18i20 and an Octopre, giving 16 ins in total which I mix down to 8, back into the Mac via the 18i20 for recording in Ableton. This is so ace; literally overnight I have a well specced mega desk for live sequencing and mixing, creative fx, and no sacrifice of control.

Anyway, I’ve just saved myself 800 quid. Still more real world tests to do. Happy to share any setup info if helpful (bios tweaks, windows tweaks, ADAT and midi routing, etc).

AMD, who’d have thunk it? :D

Thanks all. Cheers. Mark.
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garyb
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by garyb »

sounds good to me...
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valis
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by valis »

Sounds excellent =)
haba
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by haba »

I'm having a pretty similar setting. I have my Mixer Scope PC (15 dsp ) linkt with my second scope PC (18 dsp) trough the analog in outs. Do you feed the Mac with anaolog or digital. And if digital, whats your master/slave constellation?
Regards Haba
bigovum
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by bigovum »

@haba

Audio setup is:
  • Focusrite 18i20 - ADAT in/out
  • Focusrite Ocotpre mk2 - ADAT out
  • Scope PC with Scope and Pulsar 1
  • iMac
The iMac is connected to the 18i20 via USB with sync source set as Internal
The Scope PC (Scope ADAT A) is connected to the 18i20 ADAT in and out
The Scope PC (Scope ADAT B) is connected to the Octopre Mk2 out
The Scope PC (Scope SPDIF) is connected to the 18i20 in and out

The sync on the Scope PC is set to Slave ADAT B (The Octopre, which is set to 48khz).

With this set up, I can have 16 "real" audio channels from hardware synths direct into the Scope PC, as well as any Scope synths. This can be mixed down to 8 (+SPDIF) channels and sent back to the iMac for recording, as an insert, send, etc.

The sync lock, doesn't really make sense to me, but it seems to work well... I.e. the 18i20 isn't locked to anything except itself and doesn't;t work at all if I set to slave to ADAT.

Hope this helps.
haba
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by haba »

Thank you bigovum, yes it helps. I will try something similar. I set the hardware mixer PC as Master (with 2 ada8000 and lunabox slaved) and slave the two ohter PC via Adat (3xscope and 2xscope+rme hdsp). If I want the other PC (with sequencer and plugins) as master, I select the RME driver and slave the internal 2 pulsar cards...

thank you, regards, haba
cemhot
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Re: Definitive PC?

Post by cemhot »

garyb wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:54 pm anything with those processor types will work great!
i use a lot of Core2 powered HP workstations, XW4400/4600, Z400 etc.
garyb,
what do you think about HP Z200?

https://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c02027649

the version i can buy is with Intel Core i5-660 3.33 GHz
It has a 1156 socket and three PCI

Here is the real offer.
It is in german though:
https://www.harlander.com/hp-z200-cmt-w ... -ware.html

I wonder a little about 320 watts power supply, but they should know what they do.
Do you think it has real PCI?
I came back here some days ago after some three years and read about emulated PCIe <> PCI

Do you know if this is "real" PCI ?

This is for PCI Scope of course not Xite.
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garyb
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by garyb »

it should be great. the commercial HPs were made for serious 24/7 use, so the parts are pretty good. the power supply is probably sufficient. i've used stock supplies on other xw and z series HP machines and they've worked really well. there are many different ways to rate a supply, the stock HP business machines have a very conservative rating, unlike consumer and many gamer supplies, which often measure only best-case peaks. if it's too small, just replace it, but it should be ok if it is the stock Z200 power supply.

yes, 1156 is "real" PCI but that does not matter. for example, Z87/97 based motherboards are not "real" PCI but they perform as well as the socket 1156 machine that you are looking at.
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t_tangent
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by t_tangent »

Yes I have an HP micro server which I use as a NAS and it's been running 24 7 for over year now. Lovely little machine and its psu is only 150 Watts.

So yes, your HP system with Scope should be a decent setup
cemhot
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by cemhot »

Guys, you are great as always.
Too much thanks for you, you could handle!
You will hear from me in another thread.
I used to be the most humble Creamware/Scope user with one Luna card.

I am negotiating now about the RAM.
The offer it with 8 GB and currently do not know how many banks they used.
They move to another location right now and the HP is already there.
He said something like the board wouldnt use ECC RAM, so there wouldnt be need of special RAM.
In the technical details from HP i see that there are different possibilities:

PC3-10600 DDR3-1333 nECC Registered DIMMs CTO

1GB (1 x 1GB) DDR3-1333 nECC Unbuffered RAM 1-CPU

PC3-10600 DDR3-1333 ECC Unbuffered DIMMs CTO

3GB (3 x 1GB) DDR3-1333 ECC Unbuffered RAM 1-CPU

So i have to check that again.

I asked for same RAM type but he couldnt guarantee if they would come from the same series.
A used 4 GB RAM would be 26 Euro.
Not really cheap for a used one, huh?

The grafics is not passive.
It is an AMD/ATI FirePro V4800 mit 1 GB

This is also not indicated in the original configurations.

Edit:
i reserved it with two 4 GB
i will get the 8 GB RAM in it anyway.
So in worst case i would have 12 GB and sell the other modules.

Happy Easter everybody!
fraz
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by fraz »

Reading fidox's post above, he doesn't like the integrated graphics as it causes pops in the audio, I'm not doubting this, but asking is this really the case this would happen and keep on happening due to using the Intel onboard graphics?

It's really handy to use onboard graphics as it means no need for another add on inside the computer case, unless it causes problems?
bigovum
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by bigovum »

I’ve found on an a good spec iMac with integrated graphics everything is fine... until I added a 4K secondary monitor. In full res there’s so many pops, clicks and slowdowns. It makes total sense, but a little annoying having to run a 4K monitor at half res. My next pc will definitely have a dedicated card. Made me wonder why new monitors don’t have a gpu built in and a thunderbolt 3 port...
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by petal »

I know that Sonic Core have used the mobo: ASUS H81-PLUS for testing of the PCI cards. Do we know anything about how well it/the chipset H81 is performing compared to Z87/Z97-based boards?

I'm planning an upgrade and all I need now is a motherboard to run my 3 PCI boards and my XITE in the same machine. I can get the ASUS H81-PLUS, but I want to make sure it is up for the job and performing as well as the higer range Z87/Z97-based boards?
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garyb
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Re: Definitive Scope PCI card host PC?

Post by garyb »

as far as i know, H81 is working about as well as Z97.
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