Does firewire have that much over PCI?
- Thread starter onetrackmind7
- Start date
tourettes5139
New member
onetrackmind7 said:
I just got a MOTU 828 MKI, the original release, with the blue front, for $445 shipped off of ebay, brand new, sealed in box. You can get used ones for about $350 to $400, but I figured it was worth the $ to get a new one. It has been great so far. 18 inputs/outputs. 2 mic pre's, 6 analog line in, 8 adat, 2 s/pdif. Just my measly recommendation.
touchstone001
New member
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the opinion that PCI operated at 133MB/s. Firewire (400 at least) operates at 400MB/s. USB2.0 is marginally faster than firewire, but isn't capable of handling the extra bandwidth for multiple devices.
stone_eufemia
New member
touchstone001 said:
I think you got it wrong mate,
Firewire or USB bandwidth is measured in "bits" just like modems and network adapters.
PCI bandwitdh is measured in "bytes", 1 "byte" equals to 8 "bits" so firewire or USB bandwidth is actually much lower than PCI.
Look at this example:
firewire 400Mbits= 400/8= 50MBytes/s
firewire 800Mbits= 800/8= 100Mbytes/s
I'm not totally shure about this but most tech papers abreviate "MegaBytes"
as "MB", and "Megabits" as "Mb" to make the distintion between them.
Hope that helps
XP only came with drivers for USB1.1 and Firewire400 (IEEE1394). USB2.0 drivers are in SP1. Certain Hotfixes for USB2.0 and the driver for Firewire800 are in SP2. The hotfixes seem to involve problems with devices disappearing following resume from suspend/standby, so if you never close your pc that way, you don't actually need SP2 for a DAW pc. There was a serious bug in the Firewire800 support in SP2 (See RME support pages, also for incompatable mobo chips).
Some Firewire interfaces don't work with certain chips - check before buying. USB seems to have settled down with few outright incompatabilities, but check to be sure.
Microsoft made a deal with chipset manufacturers so that they control distribution of the drivers, you will not find XP USB2.0 or Firewire drivers on the CD that comes with a new Mobo or for download on the manufacturers website. The USB2.0 driver is universal, so the one on a driver CD for any mobo that was made before Microsoft stopped the distribution, should work on a new mobo that didn't come with them. Useful if you really don't want any service packs on your DAW.
Some Firewire interfaces don't work with certain chips - check before buying. USB seems to have settled down with few outright incompatabilities, but check to be sure.
Microsoft made a deal with chipset manufacturers so that they control distribution of the drivers, you will not find XP USB2.0 or Firewire drivers on the CD that comes with a new Mobo or for download on the manufacturers website. The USB2.0 driver is universal, so the one on a driver CD for any mobo that was made before Microsoft stopped the distribution, should work on a new mobo that didn't come with them. Useful if you really don't want any service packs on your DAW.
How about some mathing!
So...if 1 minute of 44.1 16 bit takes approximately 10 megs of space...
88.2 16 bit is 20/minute, and 96/16 is 22, then 96/24 is 33MB/min per track.
If firewire 400Mega-bits has a theoretical throughput of 400 * .8, 32 megs a second. Then not counting overhead, you have the capability of almost 60 tracks. But lets assume about 25% loss to overhead, so that leaves you with 45 tracks on a firewire 400 device at 96/24. Seems pretty reasonable huh...
So...go with the device that is the most practical for you. If your DAW doesn't move, then don't waste the extra money on the fire, but if you might have plans to use a mobile computer, or perhaps even record to another system, go with fire!
Jake
So...if 1 minute of 44.1 16 bit takes approximately 10 megs of space...
88.2 16 bit is 20/minute, and 96/16 is 22, then 96/24 is 33MB/min per track.
If firewire 400Mega-bits has a theoretical throughput of 400 * .8, 32 megs a second. Then not counting overhead, you have the capability of almost 60 tracks. But lets assume about 25% loss to overhead, so that leaves you with 45 tracks on a firewire 400 device at 96/24. Seems pretty reasonable huh...
So...go with the device that is the most practical for you. If your DAW doesn't move, then don't waste the extra money on the fire, but if you might have plans to use a mobile computer, or perhaps even record to another system, go with fire!
Jake
undrgrnd studio
New member
From what I can tell PCI express will be the standard for graphics card in the very near future edging AGP right out the door. Apple will probably stick with AGP for a while jsut like they did with ATA 66 and again with ATA 100 HDD's. They haven't even really started using Serial HDD's yet. PCI however is such a standard piece of hardware that it isn't like to go anywahere for a while. PCI express has a faster and more direct connection to the processor and system memory just like AGP does. PCI has to go through more circuits on the motherboard and doesn't have direct access to memory or processor which is why its slower than AGP or PCI express.
Side note PCI is without a doubt faster than USB or Firewire. When you upgrade your PC to add USB 2 or Firewire, you buy a PCI card. WHich means your firewire and usb goes through PCI to gain access to your system. It HAS to be faster to take advantage of firewire or USb, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to add them through PCI slots.
Side note PCI is without a doubt faster than USB or Firewire. When you upgrade your PC to add USB 2 or Firewire, you buy a PCI card. WHich means your firewire and usb goes through PCI to gain access to your system. It HAS to be faster to take advantage of firewire or USb, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense to add them through PCI slots.
touchstone001
New member
undrgrnd studio said:
Point taken regarding interface speeds, however my USB2.0 and firewire ports are connected directly to the MOBO chipset, rather than going via PCI.
