decrease PCI bus utilization

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VTgreen81

VTgreen81

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Okay so I think our new computer is overkill, starting with raid. It looks as if raid may be the major culprit with our noise problem. Supposedly I need to decrease the PCI Bus Utilization, anyone know how I would do this?
Thanks.
Dan
 
(I'm the other half of the team with VTgreen...)

Thanks for that tip leading to doubledawg. I tried it and it is sooo simple and nice to use.

But had no affect at all upon our problem. I found that our video card was set at 248, so I reduced it to 128 and then 96 to no avail.

I have a nice simple test: VTgreen's chimes. They are a perfect example of our problem.

It seem that NOTHING I do makes any difference.

Tomorrow, we're pulling the PCI card from our DAW computer and putting in one of our older business machines to see if there is any difference, either direction.
 
Do we mean Noise as in hiss or distortion (which is a recording path issue) or pops and crackles (which is a computer issue)? The latter can't be caused by a certain instrument (unless its a software synth!).
 
What are the specs on your computer?
What Mother Board?
What chipset?
If the SATA controller isn't natively supported by the chipset ... (like with an Intel 875p chipset), but rather supported via a Silicon Image chip or an add-on PCI card, you are most likely suffering from PCI bandwidth issues as the Silicon Image chip\add-on card is on the PCI bus competing with the soundcard\audio interface and the video card.
If in fact your SATA controller is the Silicon Image or add-on card flavor .... You would pry do better using a second ATA 100\133 drive on an IDE channel exclusively as the working directory for the audio data streams and use the SATA drive for the OS and programs.
Hope this offers some form of help.
 
Jim Y said:
Do we mean Noise as in hiss or distortion (which is a recording path issue) or pops and crackles (which is a computer issue)? The latter can't be caused by a certain instrument (unless its a software synth!).
Click to expand...
It's pops and crackles, the reason why she says the chimes are an example is that the pops and crackles are more prominent with high frequencies and/or a lot of transients which the chimes provide.
 
crankz1 said:
What are the specs on your computer?
What Mother Board?
What chipset?
If the SATA controller isn't natively supported by the chipset ... (like with an Intel 875p chipset), but rather supported via a Silicon Image chip or an add-on PCI card, you are most likely suffering from PCI bandwidth issues as the Silicon Image chip\add-on card is on the PCI bus competing with the soundcard\audio interface and the video card.
If in fact your SATA controller is the Silicon Image or add-on card flavor .... You would pry do better using a second ATA 100\133 drive on an IDE channel exclusively as the working directory for the audio data streams and use the SATA drive for the OS and programs.
Hope this offers some form of help.
Click to expand...

Shuttle AN50R Mobo http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-150-049&depa=0

1GB Geil Dual-Channel RAM
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-513&depa=0

Silverstone 400W PS http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-163-104&depa=0


Yeong Yang Case
http://www.gigacase.com/Product_Detail.asp?product_id=45

Athlon64 3000+ CPU http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-424&depa=0

(2) WD800JD Hard Disks http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-135-106&depa=0

52X CD Burner / DVD-ROM http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-151-023&depa=0


Windows XP Pro

Gainward GFX5200 256MB http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-128-164&depa=0
 
That's kinda what I suspected ... the Suttle AN50R uses the Silicon Image chip for it's SATA support.
I'm an Intel kinda guy (Zero experience with AMD and the supporting chipsets) and the Intel 875p chipset has built in SATA support, not on the PCI bus as in the case with the Silicon Image chip. Having SATA support on the South Bridge gives a direct pipeline to the processor and memory without the need to compete for bandwidth on the PCI bus. To much competition for bandwidth on the PCI bus is not a favorable situation when dealing with a DAW.
It's unfortunate that you have already made your mobo purchase in that I would have to think that there would be an AMD supporting chipset that offers SATA support via the chipset itself. Yet I just don't know enough about AMD products and the supporting chipsets. :confused:
If you have a spare ATA 100\133 HDD, I would suggest you try my prior recommendation of using an IDE channel for your audio data stream to see if that resolves any of the noise issues you are having.
In the future, if\when you decide to upgrade the mobo, try to look for a model that offers chipset SATA support.
One other thing I noticed about the AN50R is it's FireWire controller is a VIA chip. Don't know that you intend to utilize the FW capabilities, but from what I've heard the Texas Instruments chip makes for a good controller. That's not to say the VIA chip is going to cause any issues, but the TI chip comes in high regard.
Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.

-Ken
 
VTmosaic said:
But had no affect at all upon our problem. I found that our video card was set at 248, so I reduced it to 128 and then 96 to no avail.
Click to expand...

Did you try adjusting the value of your Raid controller? If that makes no difference, I would adopt crankz1's suggestion and forego the Raid.

Having disk traffic competing with your soundcard for bandwidth and access time on the bus is not cool
 
Temporary solution! Ripped the card out of the fancy new machine and plugged into an older Win2000 box...

We didn't do ANYTHING to optimize it... didn't close any background programs or fart around with it AT ALL.

Our test sample: chimes. It was a perfect recording this time!!!!!

We're gonna send the box back and get rid of the RAID, which the old box doesn't have. We will be using the advice from Crank and Bulls Hit for the next hardware configuration

Thanks.
 
Okay ready to try again. Replaced the HD's, did away with RAID set up an IDE channel. Hopefully we'll have better luck.
 
well , we ran a test and the track sounded clean. We'll be tracking vocals most of the night, so far things look good.
 
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