Motherboard that will hold 3 x 15dsp Cards ( Powerpulsar )

[MrV]

Hello ,

After 11 years of use I have finally retired my ASUS TUSL2-C mobo ....which for the last 7 or so years has had
3 x Powerpulsar cards in it . This system never let me down once ... brilliant ... unfortunately not enough RAM .

I have had , ready to set up , an ASUS PSP800SE mobo w an Intel P4 3.2Ghz Dual core 775 processor .

Setting this up today :
Problem --- the 3 Scope cards don't fit in their PCI slots !!! there are components in the way on this motherboard , transistors and stuff . I didn't foresee this ... it's crazy .

A friend is helping me with this installation and is taking the mobo to a tech tomorrow to see if these components
can be moved out of the way .

But if that's not possible .. What motherboard should I get that will hold the 3 Powerpulsars and the P4 775 processor ?

Regards , Michael

[Mike San]

ASUS COMMANDO

[garyb]

Intel DP35DP.

[MrV]

Thanks Mike + Gary , much appreciated Michael

[krizrox]

My Intel board has the same problem you mentioned. One of the three available PCI slots (the middle one) was unusable for Scope cards because of the position of the sata connectors in that area. I only have two Scope cards so I just used the two outer slots and everything has been fine.

I had issues with Asus boards in the past (although I know plenty of people who swear by them). When it comes to motherboards I guess you pick your poison and hope for the best lol Good luck!

PS - as long as we're on this subject - back in the day, it used to be a recommendation that the Scope boards all share the same IRQ and not be shared with any other devices in the system. I admit I haven't paid any attention to that in a long time. I don't see any way to change IRQ assignments in WinXP (or in the BIOS). I don't think that's even possible. What's your suggestion on this? I noticed that both my boards have different IRQ's and also are being shared with USB ports (which I need for daily operation of the computer).

[garyb]

different irqs are no problem.

shared irqs are no problem, if you don't have any obvious troubles. there are usually at least six usb controllers on a modern motherboard. disabling three or four of them shouldn't make any serious problem. if you run out of usb ports, most things work just fine with a powered usb hub.

[MrV]

Update : we had a Tech guy modify my ASUS board to get some components out of the way ... Now the 3 pwrpulsar card fit , all good
By the way , Gary .. + I know this is off-topic ..but I've been using Scope 4.5 for years no probs ... if I download and run Scope 5 do I then have to change my licence device keys etc ? I'll be running Win XP 32 bit .
Regards , Michael

[garyb]

well, there aren't any new v5 keys being generated, not since v5.1 was released. the period of grandfathering old cards to the new platform has sadly passed....

think of it as Sonic|Core quite literally singing for their supper. there's no other way to keep development moving forward but to give the workers money for shelter and food and heat.

[MrV]

Oh well no probs for me v4.5 works fine .
As for S|C sounds a bit grim I hope they can stay in business !
Cheers , M

[garyb]

sure! who else will keeep software archives and keyfile archives and software for new os.

it's not grim necessarily. it's just reality for any business. it costs money to run staff and projects and an office with electricity. that has to be dealt with because it won't go away. i just wanted to explain why there is a charge. if you are using xp, you can certainly continue to use v4.5 and nothing bad will happen.

[MrV]

Yes of course Gary understood .. I'm quite happy to pay for the new key files etc when I get around to it .
Running 2 "Scope" systems here and they have both been brilliant , rock solid , for years never a problem
during lots of pro studio work . I mix and master and the occasional live recording .
Long live SonicCore .
Perhaps some collaborations w different manufacturers may help in these times ? I've seen that mentioned
in other posts here... Regards , M

[krizrox]

Nothing bad will happen but my understanding with Scope V4.5 was that it wasn't multi-core compatible (among other things). Or is that not correct? (this exact same conversation came up recently on the Samplitude user forum - someone with Scope 3 DSP was having problems). For some odd reason I seem to remember something about that printed in the user manual for 4.5. In fact I recall having problems with 4.5 when I upgraded to my current dual-core machine. I may be mistaken about all this but I don't have good memories about 4.5 ha ha. It was worth it for me to upgrade to 5.1 if for no other reason than to have the latest drivers. And keep our boys on the home front clothed and fed lol

[MrV]

Ok thanks Krizrox hmmm sounds ominous ...I'll find out soon enough ,I'm about to do my 4.5 install later today ...... M

[garyb]

it should be fine.

[MrV]

Hi ,,, hey I've gone to install Scope 4.5 on my new system here ... but it been probably 7 or 8 years since I installed Scope ...I've got a v4.5 download zip but it's not running as an installation , so I'm thinking it's just an Update isn't it ? So I install v4.0 from then disc then run the 4.5 update on top yes? Cheers , M

[garyb]

no it's a full install. unzip it and then run "setup".

[MrV]

Ok thanks Gary ... I tried that first but nothing happened ( ??? !! ) so I went to v4 and installed that , thinking 4.5 must be an upgrade ...but now get the error mssg w v4 "Hardware version 16 detected , this hardware requires a software update" ... I remember seeing this error mssg years ago but can't remember what causes it ...
I also tried installing SonicCore v5 from a download but looks like that now requires paid key transfers ...you did say that .
jeez what a mess !
Regards , M
p.s. should I install v4.5 from the same C drive ? maybe it'll run then ?

[garyb]

that error message would indicate that there is no card.

perhaps it's not really all the way down in the slot?

by the way, there's no real difference between v4 and v4.5. v4.5 was an attempt by Creamware to stave off their death. it only changed the plugin package. v4.5 was the last version produced by Creamware before they went out of business. that's why v3 and v4/4.5 is free. Sonic|Core only provides the archives for those products as a goodwill gesture. a lot of money is spent maintaining those archives and providing keyfiles and answering questions about the Creamware stuff, that service may or may not be around forever. v5 is Sonic|Core's work.

[MrV]

The 3 cards are showing up ok in the Device Manager , is that not the same thing ?
Going to try the installation again now ...deletew drivers , roll back system restore to a few days ago and start fresh . hmmm .

[garyb]

you need to get rid of the v5 drivers. windows will insist on ignoring the v4 driver. you can try to get windows to roll back the driver, but you'll likely need to remove it manually. you can try removing the cards and rebooting, then you can point windows to the proper driver when the new device window opens. if this is a new build and you really haven't installed much yet, you could reinstall windows.