Aardvark Q10 and Vista

[dr_gingivitis]

I did a quick search and couldn't find anything, but is anyone using a Q10 with Vista? I'm looking to upgrade my desktop (currently running an AMD 950mhz with Windows ME!), but I want to make sure I'll be able to keep my Q10 with the new machine.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Hard2Hear]

Thats the same thing as wanting to buy a new car but wanting to use leaded gas and bias ply tires on it.

Chance is the Q10 won't be compatible with the newer lower voltage PCI slots on new motherboards. And no I'm not talking about PCIe slots. Your bet bet is to find an existing Q10 user and mimic their setup. A Q10 user and follower of the extinct Aardvark will have to answer the Vista question. But I'd be REALLY suprised seeing as their drivers havent been updated for 5 or so years since the Aardvark went belly up.

 

[dr_gingivitis]

Thats the same thing as wanting to buy a new car but wanting to use leaded gas and bias ply tires on it.

Chance is the Q10 won't be compatible with the newer lower voltage PCI slots on new motherboards. And no I'm not talking about PCIe slots. Your bet bet is to find an existing Q10 user and mimic their setup. A Q10 user and follower of the extinct Aardvark will have to answer the Vista question. But I'd be REALLY suprised seeing as their drivers havent been updated for 5 or so years since the Aardvark went belly up.

Ouch!!! I know about them being out of business and not having updated drivers, but leaded gas and bias ply tires? That doesn't seem like a fair comparison to me. I'd say that I'm looking for parts to keep my '68 Mustang running, and want to know if off the shelf parts would work.

Or am I naive to think that the Q10 is still on par with newer equipment?

 

[dgatwood]

Or am I naive to think that the Q10 is still on par with newer equipment?

I'm not 100% certain that the card requires 5V signaling. If you want to know for sure, post a high resolution photograph of the card on a website somewhere and post a URL in this thread. The two things we need to see clearly are:

1. The number of physical notches in the card edge connector.
2. The part number on the chip with dozens of bus lines running to the card edge connector.

With that, we can make a pretty good diagnosis of how useful this card will be with current computers.

As Hard2Hear said, if the card requires 5V signaling, that card just plain won't work with modern motherboards. That said, the leaded gas analogy is backwards. The card is like a car that requires leaded gas or it knocks. Modern motherboards are like modern gas stations. You can't buy leaded gas any more easily than you can buy recent motherboards that still have 5V PCI slots.

Given that 5V slots were pretty clearly a dead end spec-wise by the time Aardvark released this card in '02, though, I can't imagine why they would even bother releasing a device that requires 5V signaling. If it really does require 5V PCI, that was pretty boneheaded, and I'd have serious questions about the competence of their design in pretty much every other area.

 

[dr_gingivitis]

I'm not 100% certain that the card requires 5V signaling. If you want to know for sure, post a high resolution photograph of the card on a website somewhere and post a URL in this thread. The two things we need to see clearly are:

1. The number of physical notches in the card edge connector.
2. The part number on the chip with dozens of bus lines running to the card edge connector.

With that, we can make a pretty good diagnosis of how useful this card will be with current computers.

As Hard2Hear said, if the card requires 5V signaling, that card just plain won't work with modern motherboards. That said, the leaded gas analogy is backwards. The card is like a car that requires leaded gas or it knocks. Modern motherboards are like modern gas stations. You can't buy leaded gas any more easily than you can buy recent motherboards that still have 5V PCI slots.

Given that 5V slots were pretty clearly a dead end spec-wise by the time Aardvark released this card in '02, though, I can't imagine why they would even bother releasing a device that requires 5V signaling. If it really does require 5V PCI, that was pretty boneheaded, and I'd have serious questions about the competence of their design in pretty much every other area.

Thanks, I'll do that tomorrow.
Any word on Vista compatibility would still be appreciated.

 

[lcw_trey]

was this question ever answered? I have a 24/96 and am wondering if i upgrade to windows 7 if this is going to work.

 

[mjamed]

it doesn't work with windows 7

just installed the driver on windows 7 and it doesn't work, am going back to windows xp

 

[Steve Fogal]

Old thread, but as of 2023 I still have & use my Aardvark Q10's running under Win XP, with quad core CPU's & 4 installed GB ram.

I use ASUS P5KC & P5KC-E motherboards, which I believe those motherboards were released in 2008? They must be 5 volt PCI slots since my Q10's work fine.

But I was under the impression that all PCI slots that are keyed the same as the Aarvarks PCI cards, with the motherboards PCI slot having the shorter part of the slot going inwards on the board, and the longer part of the slot towards the rear were/are 5 volt PCI slots.
There was a diagram I saw that seemed to indicate that the above is the case for the differences of 5 volt vs 3.5 volt PCI slots.

Note; According to a professional PC DAW builder that was/still is? a member on what used to be Gearsluts, he had said that the Aardvarks do indeed need 5 volt PCI slots, I'd be interested to know if that could be proved wrong.

However, the other potential issue is does that particular motherboard support Win XP 32 bit?

 

[Steve Fogal]

5 Volt & 3.5 volt PCI slots, also showing 32 bit & 64 bit variety