Motherboard question

[LCS AUDIO]

Greetings all

I need to quickly upgrade my system to accomodate a third 15DSP card for a live recording in a few weeks. I was wondering if anyone knew of the following motherboard:

P8Z77-V LX (the board is available locally immediately)
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_ ... P8Z77V_LX/
It has 3 x PCI slots, able to use the PCIe for graphic card without loosing a PCI slot.
Using Scope 5.1 under Win 7 32bits
Prefer using i7, you can suggest model.

Ultimately I don't really care for the CPU brand as long as the machine is stable. I always get the best PSU and RAM available.

Otherwise any known model you can suggest to allow this with great stability is appreciated. I need the machine built and "burned-in" in 10 days.

Many Thanks to this community

Kind Regards

EP

[garyb]

socket 1155= very poor pci performance(so far).

[LCS AUDIO]

Thanks for th prompt reply

I would have hoped that the 1155 PCI performance issues would have been improved since introduction..

Would this model work:
ASUS P7P55 LX LGA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 813131604R

OR

ASUS F1A75-V PRO FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131765

Feel free to suggest a model, I don't want to waste money but I don't really care how much it will cost, I need this to work,

Kind Regards

[garyb]

both of those should be better.

[LCS AUDIO]

Greetings All

Question in a different format:

I have read and re read all threads about this and yet I can't come up with a clear answer.

1) what would currently be the best motherboard with a minimum of 3 PCI slots?
Sockets and price don't really matter (within reason)
What really matters is getting the best pci performance.

The reason I stick with older Scope PCI hardware is for their ability to stack i/o's.
60ins and 60outs is my current zone of comfort. Mostly to connect to outboard gear via AES and sometimes to record live gigs with 50 to 60 ch.

2) can older Pulsar with 6 ADAT ports be used with later Scope cards under v5.1?


Thanks for your help

[dawman]

I am buying the i7 3770k with the Z77 Intel board. Was going to get the Asus.
I became concerned more concerned with the USB Boost and, all of the Bells and Whistles I am reading that guys are having trouble with.
I don't need that junk, but asked around the forums and guys with 32bit Soundcards all seem happy. Some Gamers are really into the EMU stuff so they spring a little more for the card where it uses 2 x PCI 32 bit slots, for some reason.

I heard the Sandy Bridge boards were a problem, but have been fixed months and months later woth a BIOS and firmware update.

I think you'll be OK with the new Asus, but check out the big gamer forums like Hardocp and Anandtech. These guys are gamer geeks but some are also HDMI and audio buffs too. Ask around, or look for the dedicated thread for your particular motherboard. Shills are always asked for screenshots, etc. and all braggers must post their results and pics. So these guys keep shills honest.

Intel really looks like the only guys that really QC their hardware anymore.
Everyone else, gives out great boards for reviews, and then send unfinished products that need fixes with BIOS. So far Asus has had 3 BIOS for their Z77s which is good to hear, but shows you how they sell and fix later. Intel has never done this everytime I bought a board from them.

[LCS AUDIO]

Thanks XITE-1/4LIVE

the boards you suggest are all for socket 1155, which seems to be not recommended on these forums.

Do you have first hand experience with these?

Thanks for the help

Eric

[dawman]

The experience is from the i7 3770k more than the PCI Slots.
But as I said, audio buffs, who are heavy gamers seem to be using the EMU 1202 PCI w/ sampling software, and have no issues with those cards, even the Soundblaster guys using HDMI simultaneaously.
I haven't seen Scope cards personally.
However, when you buy a product from Newegg you have 30 days to RMA the product, and I have done business with them so long, I can get an RMA and send the board back, but they won't wait for delivery, they send the new choice that day.
So at least you can try it out.

If Supermicro had a Z77 I would buy theirs, I wanted the Z77 Sabertooth, but have no patience for sell and fix later strategies, which is what brings me back to Intel.
I will only do a slight overclock on the 1.35v RAM, to bring it up to 1.5v, which means it will go from 1600 to 1866, while keeping the CPU at the mid 50s tempurature wise.
I don't need Native except for fast sub system Memory. Kontakt doesn't really hit the CPU too hard.

But my goal was a 1U that functions with low heat, and streams samples fast.

[garyb]

there's absolutely nothing wrong with socket 1155's pci-e performance. it's great with XITE. it's onl;y pci cards that may have a problem with socket 1155 motherboards.

[LCS AUDIO]

Greetings all

the question were always about PCI slots, not PCI-e, see below:

1) what would currently be the best motherboard with a minimum of 3 PCI slots?
Sockets and price don't really matter (within reason)
What really matters is getting the best pci performance.

AND

2) can older Pulsar with 6 ADAT ports be used with later Scope cards under v5.1?

After reading multiple threads on this I think it is quite clear that the recommendation is to stay away from socket 1155. Moving forward what is the best motherboard or the most recommended motherboard with 3x PCI slots for 3 Scope 14-15DSP cards?

I would love to go the XITE way but the inabilty to stack i/o's with multiple cards is a major hurdle for my needs.

Thanks again to all

Eric

[garyb]

it depends on what you want to do with the computer. if you don't need the most blazing speed, you could just use something tried and true like the intel dp35dp. otherwise, any good quality motherboard with the proper number of pci slots will do. you may need to find a used board. if you want the latest processors then i might go amd. there are several users who have recently had good luck with amd boards. for intel based boards, i like to stick with basic models, they seem to be more stable. i favor intel brand motherboards. gigabyte has been pretty good as well. i have never had a problem with high quality server boards like super micro.

finding a working board hasn't been quite so tough since the 800 series intel chipsets. since that time, even the amd boards have usually worked.

it would be easier to choose a board and then ask if there is anyone with experience using that board.

even more important is that you have the correct processor and ram of the correct voltage. some boards require specific parts, or at least the proper bios to run other parts.