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Hi,

As covered in some other threads I have a computer now with only 1 PCI slot and 3 PCIx slots. This means it will only take my Pulsar 2 main card and not my SRB.

Creamware say I am doomed. Does anyone know if there is a way around it? Or alternatively does anyone want to buy a 6 DSP SRB? :/

cheers, sam.

Does anyone know if there is a way around it?

Is there no motherboards that suit your demands and have more PCI slots? That will only cost 10% of the pulsar2...

2 obvious options:

a) get a mainboard with mor than 1 PCI
b) sell the SRB under Purchasing

there is no Magic wand to make these 2 cards fit in your new PC if there is only 1 PCI slot. I is always a good idea to know what type of motherboard will be in your PC and whether the board fits your need.

What other threads?

post #1 and other threads.
maybe he means other forums.

Cheers - I figured I had screwed it!

I did check the spec of the PC and it said 4 free PCI slots but 3 of them are PCIx. At a glance PCIx is meant to be backwards compatible but I have been told by the creamware crew that this is no good for their kit.

The problem is that the computer is a great deal cos they messed up before when it was deliverd all mashed up and they did me a great replacement as compensation. They will take the PC back but I aint 100% if I want them to - not least because it's euroPC so there is no guarantee what they will be able to replace it with.

FYI: I got the SRB in the days when computers were slow...I do loads more in cubase now and I tend to avoid the hungry plugs more too.

Anyway, I was just hoping someone would come up with a clever solution. I have seen some really expensive PCI extension boxes - with 4 PCI slots running off one

In terms of other threads, in my googling I got linked through to a thread on here discussing if PCI is dead.

I've been a lurker around here for a few years now.

Out of interest, how much do SRBs fetch?

Ta, sam.

it'd be easier to just change the motherboard. you shiouldn't have to pay more than $150, and you should be able to sell the old one on ebay.

yep, that's quite a good plan. prob is I think the board would probably be quite specialist / expensive. It's a dual Xeon dell machine you see

I suupose I could try it and see - if I get really fed up without the SRB I could swap the motherboard...

ta.

well, if the machine works as expected with the single Pulsar and you're happy with it, then - and only then you might consider a PCI riser card.
I've no experiences with a particular one, but there seem to some which can do miracles.
of course it may not fit mechanically (backplane) etc... just an idea

cheers, Tom

Dell are also making pretty decent rack mounted servers. In fact, lots of company i sees have Dell servers.

They have good support usually

no offence taken.

the dual xeon decision is based on me wanting a hard as nails computer now...and not being willing to wait for the dust to settle on dual core etc. Advice as given in Sound on Sound recently.

I don't need a lot of PCI slots, just 2 and the spec said it had 4.

In terms of what makes a DAW, I just have a super fast machine with 2 xeons, 2 SCSI drives, lots of ram, a pulsar 2 [with ADAT to my 01v] and lots of outboard kit - including loads of circuit bent stuff I've made. So, it works for me. If I find it's too noisy, I'll get drive mounts and quieter fans etc.

Maybe I am missing the point but given that it also has lots of ports [firewire / usb etc], what more should I be looking at in a DAW (other than more PCI slots - hehe)? especially as it cost me £1500 refurbished rather than £3800 from Dell

Anyway, still no closer to sorting my problem. I have the system up and running now and yesterday I was running some tests.....fast as f*ck!!

yes, ALL current computers are fast. lots of usb and firewire ports means lots of irqs used. you may have to disable some of those ports in the device manager.

yep i dig. wasn't trying to boast, was just wondering what denotes a DAW and what doesn't...

that it's dedicated to audio - and nothing else

it doesn't even have to be very powerful if it comfortably handles the number of tracks you're after

cheers, Tom

cheers tom - makes sense hehe

You can actually buy a cable that plugs into a PCI slot, and has 3 more on the end. You'd have to get creative with how to mount it in your case, but these do exist. I have one PCI slot left, but it's partially blocked by the rather extreme cooler that I put on one of my video cards. I'm going to use a similar cabe (with only one slot on the end,) and mount an SRB card vertically in my case. Here is one place that has them: http://www.adexelec.com/pci32.htm

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: j3rk on 2005-07-22 09:23 ]</font>

aha - thanks to you both!

what's MoBo?

where could i get such a cable??

i'd enjoy mounting it 'creatively'...sounds like most of my circuit bending.

ta, sam.

I just added a link to my first post.

cheers man!

will try to find somewhere in the UK to source something like that...good stuff!

MoBo = Motherboard = Mainboard