big problem with new mobo

[phonc]

hi everyone,
so thanks for all the replies. I finally went with the intel DH55HC mobo.
And indeed thanks for the tip about the midex drivers. I've now installed Windows 7, bought the new 5.1 drivers from Sonic Core and got everything working again.
........
except for the fact that now audio tends to stutter a lot.
I've tried swapping memory with a new Kingston strip, no difference.
So now my system looks like this:

Intel DH55HC motherboard with i55 chipset
Intel I5 760 2.8 ghz CPU
12 gig ddr3 (1 x kingston 4GB, 2 x Corsair Vengeance 4 GB)
HDD: OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 120 GB
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 1 TB
HDD: Hitachi 2 TB
Firewire pci card
Sweex wifi pci card
Creamware PulsarII pci card
Enermax front panel
Eminent card reader

I've tried switching off several Intel functions like c-state etc in bios settings. no luck so far. The asio meter in cubase 5.5 keeps flickering like mad, even when there's nothing playing.
I've checked the irq: it's currently only sharing irq 22 with "high definition audio controller" which I'm not even using.
Does anyone have the solution or can help me cure this?
thanks!

[garyb]

have you tried disabling the HD audio?

C state is good to disable, but EIST is the more important function to kill. the full list is:
Intel EIST
Intel C State
C1E Support
Overspeed Protection
Hyperthreading
Execute Bit Support
Set Limit CPUID MaxVal to 3 (maybe not important)
Intel Virtual Tech
Intel VT-d Tech

the asio meter flickering like mad indicates SOMETHING is using resources like mad. a plugin maybe?

[phonc]

hi Gary,
thanks for the quick reply.
I saw that list with the new scope version but i can't find most of these functions in the bios. But I'm sure most of them are present since this is a fairly new Intel board.
And I've already switched off the hd-audio controller in the bios.
Furthermore, the asio meter should remain stable, even though I've got loads of plug-ins running, it shouldn't be flickering when I'm not playing audio (when they're not processing anything).
Also, when I place the cursor in a different area, the disk meter always flashes in the red, even when there's no audio (only midi) present in that particular project. I'm suspecting these symptoms are caused by the same problem.

Any suggestions?
Does anyone know / own this Intel board?

[garyb]

actually, if that's Cubase yes, the meter should be moving when the system is at idle. the cursor is another issue, though.

try turning off multicore support in Cubase.

[phonc]

disabled multicore, no difference (actually seems to get worse). now, I've enabled smart again (some kind of hdd monitoring?) in the bios.
I'm not sure if it's connected, but the audio seems to stutter a bit less, but it's still not resolved. Also, the disk meter still peaks in the red when i move my cursor.

[garyb]

you have another issue as indicated with the mouse problems.

power supply?

video card?

missing driver?

bios update?

faulty hardware?

cracked plugin/program?

this doesn't look like a Scope issue.

[spacef]

Hi all,
I wantedt o change my intial post because of a question i received by PM
here is my answer about my mobo, and if it is better....

HEllo,

My mobo is a P6T Deluxe v2 from Asus, but it peobably does not have better pci performances than yours.
When I posted the message, I was using only 4 asio channels and no reverb.

Now, it is different, I have pci overflows as soon as i add a few asio channels, and i can resynch and it is fine, but not really the best I experienced.
On Scope 4.x, I was using the 16 bit asio, so i never had a problem.
I may have to change for another mobo as garyb explained, but I am not sure it is worth it now.....

On my previous motherboard, p45 for core2duo, I had the same problems in Scope SDK and it could not resync, until I changed the RAM for Gskill. and the pci problem suddenly disapeared, or at least went much much better. less pci overflows, and ability to resync all the time in a couple of seconds (while i was not possible before, had to ctrl+alt+supr the scope sdk.)

I should try with other ram if it is better on my i7, but I don't have money to invest for testing right now....

Sorry for the bad news :-/

[garyb]

yes, many of these motherboards require ram with specific working voltages. the wrong ram may work, but not correctly...

[spacef]

I don't know both are referenced in the manual of the mobo (same voltage i guess, nothing very fancy in those DDR2 ram).
One was better than the other for some reason. I don't know if the same would apply to DDR3... I would need to buy a full Gskill kit to verify, but it's not really what i 'm gonna do soon....

[garyb]

i've had great luck with regular old kingston value ram...

[phonc]

Hi everyone, I'm back again. With still the problem of stuttering audio. But I've discovered that it's also stuttering with simple mp3's playing through windows media player. It doesn't seem to matter if it streams from a usb thumb drive or the internal ssd (C:).
I'm really at a loss and am almost willing to part with my beloved Pulsar card and try another brand. I have got to get my studio up and running again. Anyone any ideas left?

[next to nothing]

The 5.1 wave drivers are not OK (atleast for 64bit, not sure about 32 bit). This is one of the issues SC is apparently looking into, but when (if) a fix will arrive nobody knows. Not sure if this is the issue here as you have other issues as well, i think i can play mp3's pretty fine but a wav file will play with crackles on my setup as well. Games are OK, movies are OK.

[the19thbear]

I had tons of problems in pro tools - basically what made it work was:

disable hyperthreading.
disable 50% of my cores. (or set your daw only to use 50%) - so if you have a quad core, only use 2.
Choose a non AERO theme in windows 7.

the 64bit driver from SC are known to have problems with playing stuff from its wave drivers (basic wave player etc on windows) but not the asio drivers - they seem stable.


have you tried with another daw (like reaper)

[phonc]

I've disabled all mentioned protocols and processes. And even chose a non aero theme, but it doesn't seem to be working. And now even cubase is acting worse than before.
I'm really at the end of my Pulsar-patience. Even though I just spent more than € 200,- on the new drivers.
Anyone left with the ultimate solution?

[the19thbear]

have you tried reaper? and/or disabling the onboard audio in bios?
Have you tried with other sound cards? (maybe the internal one with asio4all drivers) - does the problem still persist?