Once and for all...

[Mke]

OK, I have read through all of the past posts on the 2.0GHz G5 multiple UAD card issue. I have read the UA tech note as well. And after all that it's still not clear to me what the answer is to the following question:

Should I bother getting a second card (the JRR offer is tempting) for my G5 (Logic 7 + MOTU PCI-424) or not?

I simply can't tell from all the posts I've read if the decreased performance is so bad that there's no point in getting a second card, or if UA is close enough to fixing the problem that I should do it anyway.

Surely there must be a simple yes or no answer to this one. :?:

Thanks.

Irwin

http://www.irwinshur.com

 

[MPC]

Buy the 2nd card. The way I observed it before I got my Magma chassis, the second is about 80%to90% of the first card. Also important is that I tried it quite a few versions back (3.52 or 3.6?) I have a feeling some improvements have been made since. You still get a good amount of plugins, I felt it was worth it. In the end, I use a Magma, which helps ameliorate the problem even more. I ended with 3 UAD 1 cards in the Magma.

 

[Mke]

Thanks--that's one. Anyone disagree?

Irwin

http://www.irwinshur.com

 

[UAJames]

In general you can easily get the benefits of a 2nd card, especially if you need the extra DSP because you are running plugins like the Plate 140 which require a larger amount.

The G5 problem comes from bandwidth, so the number of plugins running affects this, not necessarily the DSP usage on the UAD-1 card. So you could easily use 80% of 2 cards and not run into any G5 problems (4 Plate 140s and a Fairchild or 2). Where you will run into problems is if you try and run a Cambridge on every track of a 24 track session. Here you may not even use 50% of one card and run into clicks/pops. So basically, \"mo plugins, mo problems\"

Also, having a Magma like MPC has does alleviate some of this, so that might be an option to look into as well since many TDM users who are moving up to HD are unloading them for <$300.

 

[Demetrious]

do all PCI magma's work in G5's, for example MAGMA 7 SLOT PCI EXPANDER - PCI 7RX ?

 

[1176]

Yup. They should all be fine.

 

[Mke]

Thanks, James. I do tend to use a bunch of 1176's and LA-2A's, plus some Pultecs, rather than a few of the really heavy duty plugins, so getting the second card might not help me as much unless/until you and Apple get the cpu thing straightened out.

Irwin

http://www.irwinshur.com

 

[Vogel]

Yup. They should all be fine.

You don't happen to know if the same is true about the older six slot Magma chassis? I could get one for very cheap, but I want to know it works in a G5 (new dual 1.8).

Cheers,
Henrik

 

[UAJames]

Yeah, it's my understanding that even the old Magma chassis are 3.3v cards so they will work in the PCI-X slots of the G5s.

 

[Demetrious]

Is £175 inc P&P a good price for a 7 slot magma :?:

 

[Vogel]

Yeah, it's my understanding that even the old Magma chassis are 3.3v cards so they will work in the PCI-X slots of the G5s.

If it's a 5V - could there be any damage to the card or the computer if I tried it?

Thanks,
Henrik

 

[Demetrious]

Why try it if it won't work :?:

 

[UAJames]

If it is a 5V card, it won't even drop into the slot, so there wouldn't be any possibility of wrong voltage overloading/shorting anything.

Just for visual identification (this is the best I can *draw* with ASCII)-

3v card looks like this:

|||||| |||||||||||||||||| |||||||

where as a 5v card is like this:

|||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||

 

[demonsp]

Nice drawing James =)

Talented fellah.