Firewire - Card or Built-In?

tvanveen · 11th October 2006, 04:58 PM

I'm thinking of getting a barebones Core 2 kit from Tiger Direct to use as my DAW.

I'm using an audiofire 12 at the moment, so obviously I need a Firewire port. The kit I'm looking at doesn't have one, and I'm wondering if it might be a problem using a PCIe firewire adapter. Shoud I skip it and build one that has a port built into the board?

There don't seem to be a lot of Core 2 mobos with firewire and plenty of PCI/PCIe slots.

Thanks,

Tom

dementedchord · 11th October 2006, 05:19 PM

as i see it the advantage of a add on card would be that you could bet one with multiple ports... the advantage of on board is it wouldn't take bandwidth from pci if you ever want to use dsp cards (powercore/uad).. so it's still up to you...BTW check to see what chip set is being used for FW controller in either case... look for TI chips some people(myself included) have had trouble with the VIA chip sets...

jonmatifa · 11th October 2006, 05:41 PM

I was able to find a nice Foxconn motherboard that supports Pentium D, is mATX and has a built on TI Firewire chip.

statikcat · 11th October 2006, 07:39 PM

Most audio companies that make a firewire interface have a recommended chipset.. or at least a chipset or two to stear clear of. A motherboard firewire may work fine but it will be using an onboard mobo controller. If you buy a PCI card you can get a nice chipset plus be able to run you firewire off a pci bus and you can easily change the irq it uses by just moving the pci card to a new slot.

theblue1 · 11th October 2006, 09:58 PM

Apologies: This is peripheral to the core of the topic -- but I feel compelled to follow through on my vow to alert people to Tiger Direct and their business practices.

I've bought things online for over a decade, from SCORES of vendors, big and small -- but I will NEVER buy from Tiger Direct again.

They are -- in my experience -- thoroughly sleazy.

(I use a PCI FW card for my MOTU 828mkII. [I got the MOTU to use with my laptop.] I made a point of buying one with a Texas Instruments chipset, as recommended by MOTU. I've had no problems. Then again, I've never had a mobo with built-on FW [w/ the exception of my lappy, of course.] )

tvanveen · 12th October 2006, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dementedchord

as i see it the advantage of a add on card would be that you could bet one with multiple ports... the advantage of on board is it wouldn't take bandwidth from pci if you ever want to use dsp cards (powercore/uad).. so it's still up to you...

I have 2 UAD cards and plan to buy a 3rd.

Thanks for all your help guys.

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11th October 2006, 04:58 PM	#1
tvanveen Gear maniac Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: DC Posts: 275	Firewire - Card or Built-In? I'm thinking of getting a barebones Core 2 kit from Tiger Direct to use as my DAW. I'm using an audiofire 12 at the moment, so obviously I need a Firewire port. The kit I'm looking at doesn't have one, and I'm wondering if it might be a problem using a PCIe firewire adapter. Shoud I skip it and build one that has a port built into the board? There don't seem to be a lot of Core 2 mobos with firewire and plenty of PCI/PCIe slots. Thanks, Tom __________________ ---------------------------- www.boxcarcollision.com ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------------------------------------------

11th October 2006, 05:19 PM	#2
dementedchord Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 799	$.02 as i see it the advantage of a add on card would be that you could bet one with multiple ports... the advantage of on board is it wouldn't take bandwidth from pci if you ever want to use dsp cards (powercore/uad).. so it's still up to you...BTW check to see what chip set is being used for FW controller in either case... look for TI chips some people(myself included) have had trouble with the VIA chip sets...

11th October 2006, 09:58 PM	#5
theblue1 Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 5,762	Apologies: This is peripheral to the core of the topic -- but I feel compelled to follow through on my vow to alert people to Tiger Direct and their business practices. I've bought things online for over a decade, from SCORES of vendors, big and small -- but I will NEVER buy from Tiger Direct again. They are -- in my experience -- thoroughly sleazy. (I use a PCI FW card for my MOTU 828mkII. [I got the MOTU to use with my laptop.] I made a point of buying one with a Texas Instruments chipset, as recommended by MOTU. I've had no problems. Then again, I've never had a mobo with built-on FW [w/ the exception of my lappy, of course.] ) __________________ biz \| profile \| songblog \| acoustic \| mutant roots pop

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11th October 2006, 05:41 PM	#3
jonmatifa Gear nut Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SLC, UT Posts: 121	I was able to find a nice Foxconn motherboard that supports Pentium D, is mATX and has a built on TI Firewire chip.

11th October 2006, 07:39 PM	#4
statikcat Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: USA - Indiana Posts: 774	Most audio companies that make a firewire interface have a recommended chipset.. or at least a chipset or two to stear clear of. A motherboard firewire may work fine but it will be using an onboard mobo controller. If you buy a PCI card you can get a nice chipset plus be able to run you firewire off a pci bus and you can easily change the irq it uses by just moving the pci card to a new slot.