PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

astroman wrote:sure it will - if the rest of the computer is ok ...
You kind of name the 'problem' yourself.
All this supa-dupa-hardware is built with something else in mind, not audio production - let alone by a PCI card.
On a quality, industrial grade board I wouldn't expect much trouble, if any at all...
But on a 50 Euro multi-media-9-usb-double-raid-rubbish that may be a different story.
Those cards hardly ever break (if they sustained that long).
Overheating of the slot area is often a source of malfunction, because there's usually bad circulation of air (in a standard PC case)

cheers, Tom

astroman wrote:well, if it started to happen after you changed CPUs from 2.4 to 3.2, then it's more likely related to the CPU itself than 'stuck' heat in a corner of the box.
And it almost verifies that your Luna is ok

I'm not a hardware guru at all, in fact I know almost nothing about (Intel) CPU internals.
One has to get along with them, as it's the market leader and that's about it.
I usually prefer the version with the lowest clock and heat dissipation and consider 'power' a marketing blurb. Some optimized rendering jobs may benefit here and there, but most stuff today is coded rather inefficient due to deadlines and complex environments.
To raise the clockrate by 30% is significant stress for the CPU - to optimize a program by 30% is an almost exotic result.
You'd rather yield 50-200% if you dig into it.

in other words: a moderately clocked system with well choosen software will outperform the latest and greatest and it will run more reliably anyway

mind you: the CPU clock rate is labelled to the item after the production process - according to certain test results. Partially it's a matter of chance...

cheers, Tom

astroman wrote:No, I'd rather say that a modern CPU cannot even overheat - it will clock itself down internally
Afterall (today) a CPU is a very complex thing, as is a motherboard, as is the BIOS, as is what you call operating system.
Needless to mention the same applies (more or less) to applications like sequencer software etc etc.

Today you don't have reliability anymore - you only have probability
It's a matter of fact, that Intel (or AMD) cannot even test all states a modern CPU can take.
There is also a reason why they print don't use this PC (this software) for life critical applications on every box or into it's documentation.

these are the facts, and we all have to get along with them...
one approch is to buy whatever comes along and rely on luck

another one would be to increase probability that the system is stable




this starts with quality - and it really starts with the case, the powersupply (!)
a mainboard from a quality manufacturer with exactly the features you need
by a supplier who knows how to treat parts etc etc
it is very easy to damage something by static electricity - it's the most devious error you can imagine, as it may appear and disappear in arbitrary intervals.
A typical static damage doesn't make the part fail immediately and completely - that's why people hardly notice them

as you can see, there's a million of things that can go wrong on a system like yours.
It can be anything from a simple installation error (in some cases it just does the wrong thing) to a failing part (by manufacturer or by accident).
It could even be something as trivial as a badly seated card...
A lot of servicing such stuff is about intuition grown on experience - yes, it is vodoo

But you need to provide all the deatails about mobo, bios, psu, ram, graphic card, os version, service packs, applications etc
(btw with cra**ed software you can forget right about it...)

cheers, Tom

astroman wrote:static electricity is not related to power spikes - it's extremely high voltage that builds up (for example) when you walk in leather soles over an office floor... and discharges when you touch the door
When you wear synthetic clothes, your body movement is enough to build up such electricity which will discharge through your fingertips to memory modules or a CPU if you get close to them. Sometimes it's not even necessary to fully touch the items as the voltage is high enough to 'jump' over through the air.
Of course manufacturers add some protection during the building process, but they cannot prevent everything.
That's why grounded 'bands' are recommended when handling electrostatic sensitive items like CPUs, memory modules, mobos etc - but just look at the next best PC shop who's actually wearing them...
A temporary solution is to discharge yourself by touching a large metal part, but the next body movement may build up load again.

cheers, Tom