Roomy motherboard?

Scoped · Mar 13, 2008, 09:39 PM

Hello, I am new to the forums , but they seem to me as the most comprehensive and informative of all the others, and thought that this question would perfectly suit these discussions.

First off, I am planning on buying a new computer in June/July. I am on a budget of $3000 (CAN).

I am planning on getting an Nvidia Graphics solution, and the more I look into it, the more tempting it becomes to get the three (tri-SLI) graphics cards.

This would all prove to be not a problem. However, I am (apart from gaming) also a DJ and an audio enthusiast. This means that I need to get a good Xi-Fi sound card for it's ASiO capabilities.

The problem in all of this is that all motherboards I've seen would not leave any room for an extra PCI slot (for the sound card) if i decide to use three new graphics cards (8800 GTS/X, or 9800).

My question, if not obvious:

Is there a motherboard out there that would allow me to use tri-SLI and still leave room for a PCI device?

Thank you in advance to anyone who replies.

Judas · Mar 13, 2008, 11:49 PM

Scrap the X-fi solution..

find a location you can purchase one of these :

MOTU.com - Welcome to MOTU

problem solved..

alot of people seem to like the traveler.....

Scoped · Mar 14, 2008, 03:12 AM

Thank you for the reply, but I don't see how this helps Latency issues in audio programs (Im using FL Studio, Reason, and Cubase). From what I see, the "traveler" is just an I/O device with many ports. While this would certainly prove useful, it doesn't seem to work like a sound card, as in it doesn't process the audio internally.

**temeteus82** · Mar 14, 2008, 08:06 AM

if you got the money this would be nice for your audio work : RME: Hammerfall DSP 9632

But then perhaps this would be what you are looking for : Auzentech, Inc. Sound Cards. Audio You Can Believe In. World First soundcards for Music, HTPC, and Gaming.

***Veridian3*** · Mar 14, 2008, 10:09 AM

MSI -- MICRO-STAR INT'L CO., LTD.

Comes bundled with a X-fi xtreme audio (not sure if thats a model you are interested in).

**dj_stick** · Mar 14, 2008, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoped

Thank you for the reply, but I don't see how this helps Latency issues in audio programs (Im using FL Studio, Reason, and Cubase). From what I see, the "traveler" is just an I/O device with many ports. While this would certainly prove useful, it doesn't seem to work like a sound card, as in it doesn't process the audio internally.

if you're after ASIO performance, especially for those sorts of apps, scrap the x-fi completely, go with a professional type solution, such as the MOTU one Judas linked you to, you will get much better latency performance for a dedicated pro card than a consumer card like the x-fi

Judas · Mar 14, 2008, 04:02 PM

the traveler is saposed to be a sound card in itself... although it uses firewire...

and the overall quality of the product and it's production class standards.. from what i understood.. is saposed to be specifically designed for what you want to do....

i mean you can continue to use the audio that came with your system.. onboard or not.. but the production end of it will be through the traveler unit

Scoped · Mar 14, 2008, 07:03 PM

@ temetus: Well, that Hammerfall looks like it would suit the job, but it says that it's a PCI Audio interface, and that was my initial problem (no room). The same goes for the Auzentech.

@ Veridian: That motherboard comes with the sound card that would suit me, but it is a pci card, and yet again, there is no room left for 3-SLI.

@ dj_stick: Judging from your name, I assume you know something about PC music production. Form what I've seen, the ASIO on the Xi-FI cards gives a latency of about 1.8 milliseconds. While I think the dedicated tools give lower latencies, is it really that noticeable of a difference?

@ Judas: The traveler, has a LOT of useful mixing, routing, and controls. And while it does say that it provides sample-accurate timing, there are some features on there that I simply do not need, and if there was a scaled-down, simple version of the Traveler, I would buy it.

Thanks to everybody for the replies!

**temeteus82** · Mar 14, 2008, 07:09 PM

If you got on board FW this might be what you are looking for : RME: Fireface 400

One friend of mine who is Pro music designer and musician uses that for his job, mainly music for theater plays ...

Scoped · Mar 14, 2008, 07:17 PM

But I thought Firewire was only available on Macs?

**temeteus82** · Mar 14, 2008, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoped

But I thought Firewire was only available on Macs?

Well thats not true anymore. Mobo's are now coming for PC's too. I've had 3 different mobos with FW chip on board and I think there is tri-SLI boards with FW

Geminiwave · Mar 14, 2008, 07:52 PM

No Firewire is available on all computers. It is rather standard now. In fact Apple has started abandoning firewire with their products. You'll notice most of their products stick with USB now.

I use firewire for my hard drive and several other peripherals. I have both a PC and a Mac (truth be told I prefer the PC).

Scoped · Mar 14, 2008, 11:42 PM

Oh, well in that case, I have a solution. One more question though :

I am not too familiar with, well, any aspects of FireWire, so i don't know what to look for. Kindly, if anyone is willing to point out the FireWire motherboards from this site?

PC VILLAGE www.pcvonline.com -- PC Computers,Laptops,Systems,Parts,Customer Services & Company solutions

Again, thanks for the great replies.

Judas · Mar 14, 2008, 11:54 PM

Pcvonline.com, Buy Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 ATX LGA775 X38 DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI Corssfirex SATA2 RAID Sound GLAN 1394 Motherboard

that one has 3 firewire total....

and it's a very damn good motherboard.... although i think that price is a bit steep imo

Scoped · Mar 15, 2008, 12:05 AM

Well I was planning on a more expensive one anyway. But doesn't the one you linked only have 2 pcie x16 connectors?

**temeteus82** · Mar 15, 2008, 12:58 AM

That board has CrossFire it has intel's own chipset...

And every SLI board on that site has FW chip. Know as IEEE1394

Scoped · Mar 15, 2008, 02:41 AM

Ahh, yes! That cleared things up very well.

Thanks to all for the great replies!!!

**dj_stick** · Mar 15, 2008, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoped

@ dj_stick: Judging from your name, I assume you know something about PC music production. Form what I've seen, the ASIO on the Xi-FI cards gives a latency of about 1.8 milliseconds. While I think the dedicated tools give lower latencies, is it really that noticeable of a difference?

for background info, i've been into music production/dj'ing for a few years now

as for the latency of 1.8ms - that is a theoretical minimum, and relies entirely on your computer setup - it has nothing to do with the x-fi, as none of the processing in any of your apps will be done by the dsp chip on it - it's all CPU based

so the lowest latency you can get will be determined by: system power/configuration, optimisation (optimise for background services), and soundcard drivers - ASIO on the x-fi is more of an afterthought than with dedicated pro devices, so I doubt it will perform as well - trust me i've tried creative's ASIO driver on an audigy 2 and found it lacking

personally i would recommend a good firewire interface, better latency figures than USB, and is more "future proof" than a PCI card (you can use it on any computer with a firewire port, laptops, pcs in the future that no longer have PCI slots (or ones made inaccessible by graphics cards)

if you post a little more about what you intend to use the audio card for, perhaps i can help you narrow down a list of possible interfaces

Scoped · Mar 15, 2008, 07:34 PM

Well, actually I have been at a friends house, who's also into music production, and Ive SEEN him set the sampling rate in FL7 to about 2 milliseconds, and he played a pretty intensive composition (the whole thing consisted of only z3ta and Nexus VST), and it handled all the sound without a single crack or jitter.

Well, apart from audio processing, I would also expect the card to have full surround sound, as I have a Logitech G51 Sound System, and would like to continue taking advantage of that. I don't need it to have MIDI interface, as my controller's MIDI is only MIDI on one side, and on the other, USB.

But that's not what the lower latency is for. I have a Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1, its cheap, and has no ASIO. Using ASIO4All (although i want to switch to kx), the lowest I can get my latency to is 21ms, 896 samples. Not the greatest.

**dj_stick** · Mar 15, 2008, 11:51 PM

Audigy SE is not kX compatible, so that won't work

get a dedicated pro card for best performance and audio quality, also for a card to have "full surround" all it needs is multiple outputs - something like this seems perfect for your uses, or for extra I/O, this

Scoped · Mar 16, 2008, 02:53 AM

Hmm... 400 dollars? Its not that steep. Will probably buy this soon enough.

But will it function as a sound card? i.e render the sound in games?

***Veridian3*** · Mar 16, 2008, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoped

@ Veridian: That motherboard comes with the sound card that would suit me, but it is a pci card, and yet again, there is no room left for 3-SLI.

The card that comes with the MSI board is PCI-Express and there is room for it below the 1st graphics card and above the 2nd in a 3-way setup.

Scoped · Mar 16, 2008, 04:27 AM

Oh, didn't notice that. Well that's great! I came in here with a problem and leave with a choice

.

**dj_stick** · Mar 16, 2008, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoped

Hmm... 400 dollars? Its not that steep. Will probably buy this soon enough.

But will it function as a sound card? i.e render the sound in games?

yes all interfaces will play sound generated by the computer - pro interfaces aren't called sound "cards," but as far as the computer is concerned, there is no difference - I use an MBox 2 pro as my primary interface, works fine with games

Mar 13, 2008, 09:39 PM	#1
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Roomy motherboard? Hello, I am new to the forums , but they seem to me as the most comprehensive and informative of all the others, and thought that this question would perfectly suit these discussions. First off, I am planning on buying a new computer in June/July. I am on a budget of $3000 (CAN). I am planning on getting an Nvidia Graphics solution, and the more I look into it, the more tempting it becomes to get the three (tri-SLI) graphics cards. This would all prove to be not a problem. However, I am (apart from gaming) also a DJ and an audio enthusiast. This means that I need to get a good Xi-Fi sound card for it's ASiO capabilities. The problem in all of this is that all motherboards I've seen would not leave any room for an extra PCI slot (for the sound card) if i decide to use three new graphics cards (8800 GTS/X, or 9800). My question, if not obvious: Is there a motherboard out there that would allow me to use tri-SLI and still leave room for a PCI device? Thank you in advance to anyone who replies. __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 14, 2008, 03:12 AM	Thread Starter #3
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Thank you for the reply, but I don't see how this helps Latency issues in audio programs (Im using FL Studio, Reason, and Cubase). From what I see, the "traveler" is just an I/O device with many ports. While this would certainly prove useful, it doesn't seem to work like a sound card, as in it doesn't process the audio internally. __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 14, 2008, 07:03 PM	Thread Starter #8
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	@ temetus: Well, that Hammerfall looks like it would suit the job, but it says that it's a PCI Audio interface, and that was my initial problem (no room). The same goes for the Auzentech. @ Veridian: That motherboard comes with the sound card that would suit me, but it is a pci card, and yet again, there is no room left for 3-SLI. @ dj_stick: Judging from your name, I assume you know something about PC music production. Form what I've seen, the ASIO on the Xi-FI cards gives a latency of about 1.8 milliseconds. While I think the dedicated tools give lower latencies, is it really that noticeable of a difference? @ Judas: The traveler, has a LOT of useful mixing, routing, and controls. And while it does say that it provides sample-accurate timing, there are some features on there that I simply do not need, and if there was a scaled-down, simple version of the Traveler, I would buy it. Thanks to everybody for the replies! __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 14, 2008, 07:17 PM	Thread Starter #10
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	But I thought Firewire was only available on Macs? __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 14, 2008, 07:52 PM	#12
Geminiwave I Have lovely Breasts Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: In the closet... Posts: 5,395 Rep Power: 62	No Firewire is available on all computers. It is rather standard now. In fact Apple has started abandoning firewire with their products. You'll notice most of their products stick with USB now. I use firewire for my hard drive and several other peripherals. I have both a PC and a Mac (truth be told I prefer the PC). __________________

Mar 14, 2008, 10:09 AM	#5
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,833 Rep Power: 174	MSI -- MICRO-STAR INT'L CO., LTD. Comes bundled with a X-fi xtreme audio (not sure if thats a model you are interested in).

Mar 14, 2008, 11:42 PM	Thread Starter #13
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Oh, well in that case, I have a solution. One more question though : I am not too familiar with, well, any aspects of FireWire, so i don't know what to look for. Kindly, if anyone is willing to point out the FireWire motherboards from this site? PC VILLAGE www.pcvonline.com -- PC Computers,Laptops,Systems,Parts,Customer Services & Company solutions Again, thanks for the great replies. __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 15, 2008, 12:05 AM	Thread Starter #15
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well I was planning on a more expensive one anyway. But doesn't the one you linked only have 2 pcie x16 connectors? __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 15, 2008, 02:41 AM	Thread Starter #17
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Ahh, yes! That cleared things up very well. Thanks to all for the great replies!!! __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 15, 2008, 07:34 PM	Thread Starter #19
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well, actually I have been at a friends house, who's also into music production, and Ive SEEN him set the sampling rate in FL7 to about 2 milliseconds, and he played a pretty intensive composition (the whole thing consisted of only z3ta and Nexus VST), and it handled all the sound without a single crack or jitter. Well, apart from audio processing, I would also expect the card to have full surround sound, as I have a Logitech G51 Sound System, and would like to continue taking advantage of that. I don't need it to have MIDI interface, as my controller's MIDI is only MIDI on one side, and on the other, USB. But that's not what the lower latency is for. I have a Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1, its cheap, and has no ASIO. Using ASIO4All (although i want to switch to kx), the lowest I can get my latency to is 21ms, 896 samples. Not the greatest. __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 16, 2008, 02:53 AM	Thread Starter #21
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Hmm... 400 dollars? Its not that steep. Will probably buy this soon enough. But will it function as a sound card? i.e render the sound in games? __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_

Mar 16, 2008, 04:27 AM	Thread Starter #23
Scoped DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Toronto Posts: 16 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Oh, didn't notice that. Well that's great! I came in here with a problem and leave with a choice . __________________ _=Give them your death, but take from them, EVERYTHING!!!=_