SRB

A place to talk about whatever Scope music/gear related stuff you want.

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sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

Hi,

As covered in some other threads I have a computer now with only 1 PCI slot and 3 PCIx slots. This means it will only take my Pulsar 2 main card and not my SRB.

Creamware say I am doomed. Does anyone know if there is a way around it? Or alternatively does anyone want to buy a 6 DSP SRB? :/

cheers, sam.
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at0m
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Post by at0m »

Does anyone know if there is a way around it?
Is there no motherboards that suit your demands and have more PCI slots? That will only cost 10% of the pulsar2...
more has been done with less
https://soundcloud.com/at0m-studio
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Post by Guest »

2 obvious options:

a) get a mainboard with mor than 1 PCI
b) sell the SRB under Purchasing

there is no Magic wand to make these 2 cards fit in your new PC if there is only 1 PCI slot. I is always a good idea to know what type of motherboard will be in your PC and whether the board fits your need.
Immanuel
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Post by Immanuel »

What other threads?
Guest

Post by Guest »

post #1 and other threads.
maybe he means other forums.
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

Cheers - I figured I had screwed it!

I did check the spec of the PC and it said 4 free PCI slots but 3 of them are PCIx. At a glance PCIx is meant to be backwards compatible but I have been told by the creamware crew that this is no good for their kit.

The problem is that the computer is a great deal cos they messed up before when it was deliverd all mashed up and they did me a great replacement as compensation. They will take the PC back but I aint 100% if I want them to - not least because it's euroPC so there is no guarantee what they will be able to replace it with.

FYI: I got the SRB in the days when computers were slow...I do loads more in cubase now and I tend to avoid the hungry plugs more too.

Anyway, I was just hoping someone would come up with a clever solution. I have seen some really expensive PCI extension boxes - with 4 PCI slots running off one :smile:

In terms of other threads, in my googling I got linked through to a thread on here discussing if PCI is dead.

I've been a lurker around here for a few years now.

Out of interest, how much do SRBs fetch?

Ta, sam.
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

it'd be easier to just change the motherboard. you shiouldn't have to pay more than $150, and you should be able to sell the old one on ebay.
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

yep, that's quite a good plan. prob is I think the board would probably be quite specialist / expensive. It's a dual Xeon dell machine you see :wink:

I suupose I could try it and see - if I get really fed up without the SRB I could swap the motherboard...

ta.
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astroman
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Post by astroman »

well, if the machine works as expected with the single Pulsar and you're happy with it, then - and only then :wink: you might consider a PCI riser card.
I've no experiences with a particular one, but there seem to some which can do miracles.
of course it may not fit mechanically (backplane) etc... just an idea

cheers, Tom
marcuspocus
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Post by marcuspocus »

Dell are also making pretty decent rack mounted servers. In fact, lots of company i sees have Dell servers.

They have good support usually
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

no offence taken.

the dual xeon decision is based on me wanting a hard as nails computer now...and not being willing to wait for the dust to settle on dual core etc. Advice as given in Sound on Sound recently.

I don't need a lot of PCI slots, just 2 and the spec said it had 4.

In terms of what makes a DAW, I just have a super fast machine with 2 xeons, 2 SCSI drives, lots of ram, a pulsar 2 [with ADAT to my 01v] and lots of outboard kit - including loads of circuit bent stuff I've made. So, it works for me. If I find it's too noisy, I'll get drive mounts and quieter fans etc.

Maybe I am missing the point but given that it also has lots of ports [firewire / usb etc], what more should I be looking at in a DAW (other than more PCI slots - hehe)? especially as it cost me £1500 refurbished rather than £3800 from Dell :smile:

Anyway, still no closer to sorting my problem. I have the system up and running now and yesterday I was running some tests.....fast as f*ck!!
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

yes, ALL current computers are fast. lots of usb and firewire ports means lots of irqs used. you may have to disable some of those ports in the device manager.
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

yep i dig. wasn't trying to boast, was just wondering what denotes a DAW and what doesn't...
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astroman
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Post by astroman »

that it's dedicated to audio - and nothing else :grin:

it doesn't even have to be very powerful if it comfortably handles the number of tracks you're after :wink:

cheers, Tom
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

cheers tom - makes sense :wink: hehe
j3rk
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Post by j3rk »

You can actually buy a cable that plugs into a PCI slot, and has 3 more on the end. You'd have to get creative with how to mount it in your case, but these do exist. I have one PCI slot left, but it's partially blocked by the rather extreme cooler that I put on one of my video cards. I'm going to use a similar cabe (with only one slot on the end,) and mount an SRB card vertically in my case. Here is one place that has them: http://www.adexelec.com/pci32.htm

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: j3rk on 2005-07-22 09:23 ]</font>
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

aha - thanks to you both!

what's MoBo?

where could i get such a cable?? :smile:

i'd enjoy mounting it 'creatively'...sounds like most of my circuit bending.

ta, sam.
j3rk
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Post by j3rk »

I just added a link to my first post.
sAMsKi
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Post by sAMsKi »

cheers man!

will try to find somewhere in the UK to source something like that...good stuff!
Immanuel
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Post by Immanuel »

MoBo = Motherboard = Mainboard
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