Do I need an expansion chassis?

[RickW]

I'm looking to upgrade my recording PC by springtime. I currently use a P4 that used to be in my commercial studio. The machine is about 5 years old but still runs all my software fine. Unfortunately, I can't purchase any of the new software I'd like because the machine just isn't powerful enough. My dilemma is - my PC is comprised of PCI slots, which houses my UAD-1 ultra (2 slots) and my Hammerfall DSP cards(2 slots) along with a dual video card and whatever else is in there. Newer PCs are PCIe. My question is...can I get a new PC with PCI slots (I've seen motherboards with one or two but not as many as I need) along with PCIe slots or do I need to purchase an expansion chassis with a PCIe to PCI card adapter? It's an expense I wasn't planning on but if I have to, I'll postpone the purchase until I can fund the whole thing. I haven't found a chassis for less than $400 and found out that some won't run on Windows 7 (?). I didn't realize that they would be picky about the OS, but I guess they are. I figured I'd refer to some of you that understand computers much better than I. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Warning..totally NON expert opinion ahead. Well, I was in the same boat about 6 months ago. The first thing I did was research the P4 motherboard and upgraded the CPU and RAM to its max. Cost a whopping $47 on ebay(old P4 stuff is cheap now). However..it STILL was waaaaaaaaay obsolete. So I bit the bullet and after 6 months researching i7/x58 systems, I found a totally maxed out i7-975 gamer system on ebay for the price of the i7 itself. Unbelievable. The reason is...most of the older proprietary DSP type stuff is going to go native..EVENTUALLY. Period. Even PT is now native with PT9. I TOTALLY understand your wanting to keep the UAD- stuff...but man, times are achangin! And believe me, when it comes to puttin out that stuff in my wallet...I have to be absolutely sure its not a waste. Hell, I used my old P4 for almost 8 years and used it to its max for not only music, but graphics as well as I'm a pro 3d detailer. But the old P4 just didn't cut it anymore. Still have it though and will incorporate it in my hybrid analog/digital system too. Don't have a clue how I'll use it...but I'll find a way.

With a high end CPU, the right software/plugs/samplers becoming the defacto ITB systems of today ...the PCI stuff is going the route of floppy drives. I would suggest keeping the P4 as an auxilary system though. But for the price of an expansion unit like the magma...crap, you could buy a barebones i7/950 system. Besides..with the Sandybridge stuff coming soon..i7 stuff's price will drop dramatically. Anyway...my NON expert.02
fitZ

ps...I probably didn't answer your questions...but, I'm an old fart and forget quick.

 

[Jeff_D]

out of curiosity, I checked newegg. They have 6 Intel based motherboards with 4 or 5 pic slots. They don't have any AMD based boards with more than 3. So, that complicates your options for sure...

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

with 4 or 5 pic slots

Well, you can find a gazillion mobo's on ebay with lots of PCI slots(vs PCIe), but that doesn't solve his problem, because of the old CPU's arn't powerful enough to run a modern OS, lots of plugins and huge sample librarys, and expansion chassi's mostly work with XP..not Win7, although you might want to check these out. Just found them.

PCI-Express Adapters

I didn't have time to research the compatibility with Win 7 though. If they do..one of those just might be the ticket to PCI nirvana.

Even my new EVGA 3xSLI Classified mobo has one PCI slot that could be used for an expansion adaptor card. However, the DE-FACTO x58 board is this..

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Here is a link to Avids PT Maudio Powered forum. The members there have built TONS of systems using this board and know all the BIOS tweaks, fixits and there is many posts with compatible hardware lists. Warning...over 300 pages though

i7 Builds - Specs and Results - Avid Audio Forums

Actually, I just ordered the Gigabyte board for my DAW computer. The EVGA is for Graphics as it has the 3xSLI slots for multiple GPU's for rendering and Folding.

anyway, good luck with your choice.
fitZ

 

[TheGuitarMan]

A few hundred dollars outlay for a solution that may be clunky or not work at all.

Have you considered upgrading to the PCIe versions of these cards? It'll be easy to find a new motherboard with two PCI slots, so you wouldn't have to replace all of them. I'd sell two of them and upgrade, keep the other two as is.

Keep in mind that gaming video cards will take up two slots, so make sure if you're getting a big video card that where you're plugging it in it wont end up covering one of the PCI slots. I can't imagine you would put a gaming card in a recording PC but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[RickW]

Thanks guys for all your help. I may even be a bit more confused now, but at least I have a good basis to go on. I really don't want to part with either the UAD or the RME, so expansion may be my only choice - unless I can't find one that works with Windows 7 and I have to start from scratch. I hate that thought. Since my P4 is running great and I haven't done any recording in a couple of years, I may just stick with it's limitations until I get frustrated enough to bite the bullet. Thanks again for your help and I will continue investigating.