I need a new motherboard but...

[petersueco]

My \"old\" P4 2.4Mhz died on me las weekend. After many testing the conclusion is the MB is dead.

I must upgrade this DAW with a new motherboard but I need at least 4 PCI slots (better 5) for my 3 UAD-1 cards and the RME Digiface, SATA controller, AGP x8 (Matrox P-750 Triple head) and I really want to be prepared for the future being able to run duo or quad cores at 64bit.

So, what is the best candidate?

Peter Holmquist

 

[bulls hit]

That's gonna be tough. I don't know of any board that supports both AGP and Core 2 duo.

Even finding a board with 4 pci slots is no easy task - most mobos now only have 3 at the most, the rest being pci-express

I suggest ditching the AGP card, because the modern chipsets no longer do agp. Check out one of the asus boards with a 965 chipset

 

[BjoernBojahr]

So, what is the best candidate?

Look at the Asrock ConRoe865PE = 5x PCI, AGP and Core2Duo. It will not be the fastest mainboard however...

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ConRoe865PE

 

[Geir]

Asrock is a good mobo!

I got the 775dual vista. It has 4 pci, 1 agp, 1 PCI Express Graphics slot.
No irq conflicts at all on the pci slots. suport for duo core, but not quad core. But there is a new version of my mobo 4core775dual vista, that suport quad core. The mobo suport both ddr (max 200hz) and ddr2 (max667hz) ram. But max 2gb on ddr or ddr2.

My first choise was the Conroe mobo, but it wasn't in stock at the time, so i went for the dual775 vista insted. And i am happy!

 

[project]

its not the fastest because the 865PE chipset does not use a lot of the features that the newer CPU's have and need from the mainboard chipset.

 

[petersueco]

Thank you, guys, for your input.

But there is a new version of my mobo 4core775dual vista, that suport quad core.

This MB looks very good. I have 3 UAD-1 PCI cards and the RME PCI card. These will fill in the four PCI slots.

This mother board has a PCI express x16 graphics slot. Is is possible to connect a UAD-1e card to this kind of slot? :roll: That would give me the posibility to add the fourth card to complete my new system.

Peter Holmquist

 

[billybk1]

This mother board has a PCI express x16 graphics slot. Is is possible to connect a UAD-1e card to this kind of slot? :roll: That would give me the posibility to add the fourth card to complete my new system.

The UAD-1e literature says it is compatible with any type PCIe slot.
You can always shoot an email to UA support just to be 100% sure though.

 

[petersueco]

That is good news, billybk1, think I will go shopping next.

Peter Holmquist

 

[Agent Cooper]

its not the fastest because the 865PE chipset does not use a lot of the features that the newer CPU's have and need from the mainboard chipset.

project,
what new features exactly are you talking about ?
most \"exciting new mainboard technologies\" from the past two years only show their superiority on the bank accounts of the manufacturers afaik.
Not much advantage left for a DAW after doing benchmarks.
This is no gaming rig where PCIe would make any difference, SATA 300 is not even faster than IDE atm and DDR1 still holds its own quite well.
Granted, the memory interface of newer chipsets is considerably faster, but how much does that translate to a DAW ?
Not wanting to doubt what you're saying, just curious !
The Conroe865 has its drawbacks for sure (few SATA ports, no Firewire, less than ideal board layout) but performance (E6700) is stunning here compared to my previous A8V/4200 @ 2600 MHz system.
And, best of all, it's rock solid and has Intel's compatibility.
I've had my share of VIA fun...
Ymmv.
Cheers, Cooper

 

[project]

well right off the top of my head i would say the much faster DDR2 RAM but there are other things that are handled more efficiently.

 

[flynn]

... SATA 300 is not even faster than IDE atm and DDR1 still holds its own quite well.
Cheers, Cooper

What Where did you make this finding? My tests of SATA-II gives a much better result than IDE, (and the memory performance test between DDR & DDR2 shows much better results, but that's comparing apples and oranges, DDR-400 / DDR2-800 ) :roll:

EF

 

[Fundy]

The truth is you never get the full speed of your drive interface even in most other situtions like RAID. The interface bandwidth of SATA is 1.5Gb and 3 Gb for version 2.

IDE may run fastest on that interface as it's nearly maxed out. SATA is nowhere near saturated. However it's not just the benefit of bandwidth, it's how the information is channelled too, as it's less load on the CPU too.

 

[bulls hit]

So, what is the best candidate?

Look at the Asrock ConRoe865PE = 5x PCI, AGP and Core2Duo. It will not be the fastest mainboard however...

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ConRoe865PE

That board looks like a very good solution for UAD-1 cards.

The downside is that you're buying 5 year old technology. But if I had 3 UAD-1 cards, I'd buy that just as insurance

 

[Agent Cooper]

Fundy,
exactly what I meant.
You're probably right about CPU usage, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Afaik different IDE controllers (Intel, VIA, Promise, Highpoint etc.) do vary in CPU usage, too, and it's never been a problem for me. I only noticed it in benchmarks.
Might be a factor to consider if you plan to do simultaneous recording of many tracks at high samplerates, but probably your PC can then concentrate on that task and will have CPU to spare.
-----------------------------------------------
About memory :
1. Afaik the speed advantage of all but the most expensive DDR2 modules comes at the cost of much higher memory latency, so that \"old\" DDR is not so bad at all in real world comparison.
2. Do a search of the benchmark threads at the Nuendo hardware forum (prepare for a long night !) and you'll find memory speed to be of rather marginal importance for a DAW.
What you really need is raw CPU power and a great audio card (Lynx and RME being in a class of their own), with PCI cards being about 10% faster than Firewire interfaces. Lets not even talk of USB ...
--------------------------------------------------
That said, there sure is a performance gain with newest boards/RAM/controllers, it's debatable though how much really translates to DAW performance.
I suspect it to be below 5 %, more like maybe 2 or 3 %, and I sure can live with that.

Cheers, Cooper

 

[Agent Cooper]

So, what is the best candidate?

Look at the Asrock ConRoe865PE = 5x PCI, AGP and Core2Duo. It will not be the fastest mainboard however...

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ConRoe865PE

That board looks like a very good solution for UAD-1 cards.

The downside is that you're buying 5 year old technology. But if I had 3 UAD-1 cards, I'd buy that just as insurance

The upside is that you do have 5 PCI slots with your Core2Duo that are completely UAD (and probably PoCo, haven't tried) compatible, and we all know how many trouble free boards exist ...
The 865 was the best and most stable Intel chipset yet, and the 865Conroe lives up to that reputation.
And then, what have you got to risk ?
Worst case : you lost ca. 60 $ and a few hours.
So what ?
Cheers, Cooper

 

[Agent Cooper]

Fwiw, this is not a case of \"I bought it, so it must be the best\".
All I want is make you guys take a closer look at that \"ugly duckling\" since it really might be exactly what many UAD users need.
And dirt cheap too, considering you probably won't need new RAM or VGA.
Ymmv, Cooper

 

[secretworld]

Fwiw, this is not a case of "I bought it, so it must be the best".
All I want is make you guys take a closer look at that "ugly duckling" since it really might be exactly what many UAD users need.
And dirt cheap too, considering you probably won't need new RAM or VGA.
Ymmv, Cooper

Yup I agree, I´m gonna buy one when the conroe 6600 price drops on april 22nd....
E6600 $ 316 to $ 224 -29%
E6700 $ 530 to $ 316 -40%

 

[petersueco]

Yup I agree, I´m gonna buy one when the conroe 6600 price drops on april 22nd....
E6600 $ 316 to $ 224 -29%
E6700 $ 530 to $ 316 -40%

Secretworld, where did you get this info?

Peter Holmquist

 

[Fundy]

I always found these synthetic tests too be helpful to get an average rating and comparison, however no 2 PC's behave the same unless they are coming of a production line.

However with this is in mind, it's always nice have big statistical numbers to show off to your mates.

 

[secretworld]

Yup I agree, I´m gonna buy one when the conroe 6600 price drops on april 22nd....
E6600 $ 316 to $ 224 -29%
E6700 $ 530 to $ 316 -40%

Secretworld, where did you get this info?

Peter Holmquist

On tweakers.net a dutch site. Upon till now they have always been right about these things. Very handy to know these things in advance.