SFP and AMD X2 ?

buyakasha · Post by **buyakasha** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:51 pm

Hey Shayne. Sorry for the delay in my reply. Yes I do use the PCI port and I haven't had any problems with it whatsoever.
You can also choose to disable it while writing. Hope this helps.

MD69 · Post by **MD69** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:24 am

Hi all,

Shaine, is your config working now?

Anyone with an idea of performance boost compared to a PIV 3.2G as I am a little short with my halion voices?

Regards

Michel

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:23 pm

I just put in the Gigabyte board. After installing all the drivers, I loaded up Scope and tried to change the ULLI setting. It immediately crashed -- mouse freezes, Windows freezes.

So it wasn't EPoX. However, I do like the layout of this new board much better. Unfortunately, I'm still having issues.

So Buyakasha and Scofieldkid, do you have any ideas on how to make dual core work here? I've reinstalled Windows from scratch, so it isn't any old conflicting drivers hosing up things.

Try this on your own system: load up a light project and start changing the ULLI setting, again and again and again. After a minute or so, close Scope, reopen it, load the project again, and keep changing the ULLI setting. On my computer, it crashes anywhere from 1-5 minutes with three boards. With two, it might take a little longer -- up to a half-an-hour. I know this will take some time, but I'd like to confirm that everything is working for you.

Thanks,

Shayne

Post by **Guest** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:33 pm

also check with andre on his recent set up with dual core. Maybe he can try multiple DSP card and report to you and us here at planetz.

view andre recent post here

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... forum=31&2

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:16 pm

Three questions:

1) you have ACPI enabled, correct?
2) you have installed the AMD CPU driver?

and the big one....

3) Do you have some other memory DIMMS you
can try in place?

A lot of times, nagging problems like this end up being memory. One thing to try even is to *underclock* the memory and see if that fixes the problem. The other thing is to turn down settings, but that is a bit trickier.

MD69 · Post by **MD69** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:45 pm

Hi Shayne,

I cannot say for AMD, but when I was fighting with XTC for a "stable" config on my PIV hyperthreated it appeared that:
1 the smaller the latency, more instable my PC become.
2 instability seemed to come from Midi communication linked to pulsar hardware ports. On my system I have no more midi communication but at least the system is "stable" (2PowerPulsar and 1 SRB).
3. Playing with latency setting is rather odd as scope is particularly sensitive to this and it is normally not the way you'll use the board.

Maybe you could setup the latency once and then check if your projects are working and that you are able to switch from one project to another without loosing your works. If you do not need midi, you could also test if by removing midi connection betwen sonar and scope you get a more stable config

Best regards and let us know

Michel

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:59 pm

On 2005-11-09 15:33, antar wrote:
also check with andre on his recent set up with dual core. Maybe he can try multiple DSP card and report to you and us here at planetz.

view andre recent post here

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... forum=31&2

No problems here...

-asus p5 wd2 premium
-intel d830
-scope
-pulsar2
-pulsar1

I just did "the test"

http://www.informationarchitecture.it/c ... erformance

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:32 pm

Well, other people are running the 939 with great success. So, I think this one deserves a little bit of thought.

To reaffirm the MIDI comment before, yeah, that's a killer. I can also make my system lock hard by creating a MIDI feedback loop, tying Sequencer Source -> Sequencer Dest, and then doing OVERDUB in my sequencer.

But since there is no mention of any MIDI use in this thread, I was assuming that this was not a problem. I'm still betting on MEMORY beefs. The other thing that could kill you would be other-soundcard-drivers, but again, I'm assuming that problem is not here.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:06 pm

Hi everyone,

Yes, I'm using ACPI and APIC. No, I'm not using any other soundcard drivers. No, I can have it crash even when no cables are plugged in at all -- it has nothing to do with MIDI. I've determined that none of my boards are defective by trying different combinations of two boards. Yes, I installed the latest version of the AMD x2 driver. Yes, I tried underclocking the memory. Yes, I tried taking out one of my two memory sticks, and after it didn't work, swapped it out for the other one. Nothing fixes the problem: if I'm running dual-core, it crashes. If I'm running single-core, it works.

So the only other thing it could be -- since it isn't my boards, Windows installation, motherboard, or memory -- is the video card (ATi Radeon 8500 AGP, but I find it highly unlikely) or the CPU itself. I have no way of knowing if the CPU is defective or not.

It has nothing to do with the action of changing the ULLI setting; if I'm running single-core, I can change it as many times as I please without it locking up. Also, sometimes the system would crash in dual-core mode if I ran or exited the Scope software.

So, Andre, you tried a dual-core Intel CPU with three boards? What about AMD x2? Can you try that?

As I said, it could be the CPU itself. If that's the case, I suppose I could contact AMD?

Thanks for your help,

Shayne

Post by **garyb** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:19 pm

i would contact amd, as other users report stable operation.

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:21 pm

Sounds good. The only other thing that sometimes freaks me out is the Power Supply. I have to ask... what do you have there? But I still wouldn't rule out swapping out the memory. That one has bit me more times than I care to count...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ScofieldKid on 2005-11-09 18:25 ]</font>

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:03 pm

I have a 400W quiet power supply from Nexus.

I find it hard to believe both my memory sticks would be bad (and exhibit the same problem no matter which one I use), but I have a new stick of memory in another machine I could borrow and try.

The only other options are the video card and CPU. I could try putting in a PCI video card as well. If nothing changes, there's nothing left but the CPU.

If all else fails, I'll contact AMD.

Shayne

P.S. I also tried putting in a fresh hard drive with a fresh installation of Windows -- still crashed. It's isn't my hard drive either.

_________________
Melodious Synth Radio
http://www.melodious-synth.com

Indieanna: Integrated Solutions for the Independent Musician
http://www.indieanna.com

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shayne White on 2005-11-09 19:05 ]</font>

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:12 pm

Good one!

Uh, the Power Supply swap could be important, as could the graphics card. Running dual-core v. single-core should actually put more power load on the system, so that well could explain things. 400W seems just a tad low. And yeah, I've had bad graphics cards as well. Memory has been the number #1 "unexplained phenomena" around here though.

I'm happy to see that you haven't given up on all this. I think it is great to have people here willing to try and push the envelope a little. It is tough not to get mad or frustrated when you are trying to solve problems like this. For comparison, the last problem I dealt with like this was: BAD SATA cable... amazing, huh? 2 of the 16 SATA cables in the system turned up bad.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:55 am

Well, Scofield, I can certainly try another graphics card and other memory (soon), but I don't think I can get hold of a bigger power supply. However, at one point in my experiments I tried disconnecting extra fans that were in my system (CPU fan excluded, of course), and it still locked up. After all, it locks up with a two-board combination (even my 4-DSP and 3-DSP), which should use less power than all three boards at once. I don't think it's the power supply.

I haven't been upset since I discovered that single-core works OK. Since then I've just been experimenting with different configurations, knowing I can always fall back on something that works.

I'll let you know what happens when I put in another video card and memory.

Shayne

MD69 · Post by **MD69** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:20 pm

Hi all,

Don't know if it have any incidence but it might be interesting to check which host software and version you use (cubase / sonar,..) and if you work XTC or SFP?

For the power supply, with my 3 scope boards I use a 580 W.

I just received my Gygabyte MB and I'll be buying my X2 next week. I'll let you know what happens here.

Best regards

Michel

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 2:55 pm

I have an update. I've been spending time doing audio performance tests because I ran into an old problem I've had since Sonar 2.2 (when ASIO was implemented, actually) where if I have too many envelopes running at once, I start getting clicks and pops. Usually I would correct the problem by setting envelopes to "Jump" mode when they're not changing values (in Jump mode envelopes are not processed). Well, during experimenting, I decided to see what would happen in dual-core mode if I did NOT change the latency setting to make it crash. It didn't seem to crash for a long time, but twice now I've run into a curious thing: when I'm playing a project in Sonar, all of a sudden the ASIO engine and the mouse cursor will freeze (a quarter-second of audio will start repeating over and over), and it's like the usual latency setting crash. But THE MIDI KEEPS GOING. The MIDI tracks that output to Scope synths continue to function and play. So it's obviously a Windows audio/ASIO problem, which makes sense why it would crash when I change the latency setting. Yes, I tried removing all the Scope modules (including ASIO) to see if it would still crash when I changed the latency setting, and it still crashed.

I just don't think that sounds like a power supply problem. Oh, and I forgot to tell you -- I put in a DDR400 stick of memory from another computer -- a PowerMac G5, actually -- and Scope still crashed when I changed the latency setting. So none of it has anything to do with memory.

At this point I don't think it's worth it to return the CPU to AMD, and I don't have money to try another power supply, and I'm certain it isn't the video card that's causing all these problems, so I'm going to give up on dual-core. Thanks for all your suggestions, and I hope it works better for the rest of you.

Shayne

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:17 am

Thanks for providing the additional information. Hopefully you can get back up and running solid and making music again soon.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:08 am

Yeah, everything's running great and back to normal with single-core.

MD69 · Post by **MD69** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:42 pm

Hi Shayne,

I have read two things which might be interesting:
- RME recommend to update IDE / SATA driver for audio problem with Nvidia chip
- to change the app priority (myPC->properties->advanced->performance->parameters->advanced) set background services

regards

Michel

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:45 pm

I've done both of those.

Thanks,

Shayne