RME HDSP 9632 (PCI) vs. HDSPe AIO (PCIe) for ASIO Vst Performance

[SavingPrincess]

Hey all,

I continually see that RME is the way to go for VST ASIO Latency (i.e. Drivers) performance. I was wondering however, if anyone has seen/know of any difference between the PCI-Based HDSP 9632 and the PCIe-Based HDSP AIO card when it comes to VST latency.

There's close to a $300 difference between the two cards, but I'm wondering if I am going to get that much of a performance boost from going PCIe. I know from the DAWBench Charts, that PCIe has a huge boost over Firewire/USB2.0, but I haven't seen a chart that compares the PCI vs. PCIe.

Thanks all.

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

The advantage to buying PCIe over PCI? What slots will motherboards have in a year or two or five? The advantage to buying cards from companies like Lynx or RME is that they don't change models every year, they build their cards for the long term. The extra cost of the AIO, besides buying newer technology and pieces/parts, buys longevity. The PCI card will still work too, but will you be able to get a motherboard to run it?

[DrFrankencopter]

I don't have an answer to your specific question, but have been happy with my 9652 hdsp card. When it's time to upgrade ill likely look for a Madi card in PCIE form factor.

It's possible to get an adapter to convert a PCIE 1x slot to a PCI, but this may limit your ability to access the connectors on the back of the card.

Cheers

Kris

[popmann]

Compatibility. Latest intel chipsets have dropped PCI natively.

Arguably, bandwidth improvement wouldn't be seen until you go MADI or such where you would have 128 channels of 96k back and forth.

[pietrogirardi]

Originally Posted by popmann

Compatibility. Latest intel chipsets have dropped PCI natively.

+1
Very careful on what motherboard you have. My Asus P8P67 has no native PCI controller (just like the majority of newest MB): performance was so poor in terms of latency that I had to switch to a PCIe card (HDSPe AIO). Now everything works as it should.

Best,
Pietro

[prado escondido]

So, to put a fine point on it, if you have a PC you're satisfied with and no expectation of replacing it into the far future ... since it already does everything you want well ... there would be no practical advantage of the HDSPe over the HDSP.

Correct?

Or is there something else needs be considered?

Prado