Topic: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Hello!

I need to know if the firewire card listed below will work well with the rest of the components?

ASUS X99-A - Haswell-E
Intel Core i7 5930K - Haswell-E
Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 2133MHz CL15
ASUS GeForce GT 730
Sonnet Allegro FireWire 800 PCIe Card, 3xFirewire 9-pin   (TI XIO2213-chip)


I don´t dear to click the "buy now" button until I have a confirmation from here. I´m using a Fireface 400.

Thank you in advance!
/Thomas

2 (edited by ramses 2014-12-31 09:37:07)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

This question can't be answered easily or somebody would need to have exactly the same components
and be part of this forum.

In regards to the graphic card I would strongly recommend a GTX 970 with "zero fan feature". Read some reviews.

These cards are awesome in terms of price/performance, but also temperature as below 60° C they do not turn the fans on. My MSI GTX 970 4 Gaming stays cool in normal "office" mode at 35°C. So its ultra silent. Even when playing games you do not
hear much as the card operates around 60°C.

If you buy a version which is not overclocked by the vendor then its also a very energy efficient card. I decided to take one with a little overclocking (MSI).

I would recommend a card from either EVGA or MSI. Careful with EVGA, they had an older version without zero fan
feature. The newer one is called "ACX 2.0".

The GTX 980 has besides more power another advantage, it can control both fans separately, but if you are not a hard core gamer on top of recording its maybe a little to much in terms of price.

Another good aspect of these cards, if you intend to do video editing, then the GPU of the graphic card can be used to support the CPU (i.e. in Sony Vegas Pro 13 and surely other products).

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

If you do not intend to do overclocking you could also take a look to workstation boards and make use of ECC RAM.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/497/In … 50_v3.html
http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth … 0SRA-F.cfm

When looking at supermicro boards, take always the ones with IPMI (separate management unit). One of the biggest benefits of IPMI is that you can flash your PC via WebGUI/network should BIOS flashing fail and fully recover.

Depending on how the blower control is in that particular BIOS, I would advice to take a Case which offers a blower control of its own like with the Fractal Design define XL R2. An advantage is here, that you can switch between 12, 7 and 5 volt.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6764/frac … ave-it-all

I operate my system permanently with 5 volt. Added even a 2nd 140mm Fractal Design Blower in the front and its a nice solution.

At my time the newer boards were not available, so I took a pure server board from them, which has 90° turned CPU/RAM which required me to choose a CPU cooler from them with narrow LMI mounting standard etc etc ... but the new board with IPMI looks really good.

If you prefer more the new features like M.2 sockets and Sata express, maybe little overclocking, but no ECC RAM, then better stay with the Asus board.

This I put together on my own ...
http://www.sysprofile.de/id185813
http://www.passmark.com/baselines/V8/di … 0705512678

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

4

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Apart from the above, and answering your thread title: the XIO2213 is known to work. The older 2200A was problematic.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Thank you very much MC. I will now go for this components.

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

MC wrote:

... answering your thread title: the XIO2213 is known to work.

Should work fine, if only driving a single Fireface from an XIO22013A-based card.

I found that I had to drive my FF800 and FF400 from separate cards.

Cheaper XIO22013A cards that work are:
- Syba SD-PEX30009 = US$22
- SIIG NN-E38012-S3 = US$53
Both can use the FW cable supplied with the FF400 directly, but the Sonnet cannot.

I am using the Syba with my FF400 on an ASUS P9X79-E WS mb.

On music hiatus, so RMEs have gone to homes where others can enjoy them.

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Alternative from EXSYS, they build good quality cards

http://www.amazon.de/EXSYS-EX-16415-Exp … s=EX-16415

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Another alternative is to get the Thunderbolt option for the Asus board and use an Apple TB-FW adapter (LSI/Agere based).

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Timur Born wrote:

Another alternative is to get the Thunderbolt option for the Asus board and use an Apple TB-FW adapter (LSI/Agere based).

I read around this forum and it seems you´re one of the pro´s.
I have Thinkpad P70 with Win7 pro 64bit, Fireface 400.
I think over to use an Expresscard with Firewire or an Expresscard wird Thunderbolt 2 and the Apple TB-FW adapter.
What would you recommend?
See https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopi … 11#p115311

10 (edited by Timur Born 2016-10-28 16:07:58)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Do you mean to use a Thunderbolt-to-ExpressCard adapter? Or do you mean that you know of an ExpressCard-to-Thunderbolt adapter, which theoretically is well possible, but Intel's spec demands for the embedded video signal are a problem for add-in cards.

In the former case I would first try the Apple TB-FW adapter, because it's a much small and more physically stable solution. In the latter case I would just get a FW card for the ExpressCard slot right away (unless you need the TB chain in between for other devices).

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Ha, my fault. I tought there are 2 possibilities:
1. Thunderbolt Expresscard > Apple TB-FW adapter > FW800-FW400 cable > Fireface 400
2. Firewire Expresscard > FW400 cable > Fireface 400
But there isn´t a Thunderbolt Expresscard. But a Thunderbolt Adapter* to input Expresscards, but Adapter needs a thunderbolt port, which I don´t have , so I was wrong. *http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresscard34thunderbolt.html
Sorry.

12 (edited by Timur Born 2016-10-28 18:43:31)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Yes, the Sonnet adapter works if you need that kind of thing (TB-to-ExpressCard).

But for your usage case I suggest to get the Sonnet FW800 ExpressCard. If they didn't change the chipset in the meantime and your laptop is playing nicely it will work well.

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw800 … ard34.html

13 (edited by Idiocratic 2016-11-05 11:27:29)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

Timur Born wrote:

But for your usage case I suggest to get the Sonnet FW800 ExpressCard. If they didn't change the chipset in the meantime and your laptop is playing nicely it will work well.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw800 … ard34.html

Thx, but this is FW800? I have RME Fireface 400 which needs Firewire 400 (1394a)? Or is it 100% same compatibility as a FW400 Expresscard, just by using a FW800 to FW400 cable?

Update; answered by sonnet support from today:
Sonnet FireWire 800 Pro ExpressCard/34
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw800 … ard34.html
TI XIO 2213B chip (Device ID: 0x823f)

Sonnet Firewire/USB 2.0 E/34
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fwusb … ard34.html
TI XIO 2200A chip (Vendor ID: 0x104c, Device ID: 0x8235)

[edited]

I would like to buy one of these*, cause they have good user ratings at amazon.de from users who used them with thinkpad & fireface. But they use TI XIO2200A chipset, which is not recommended in various (including official) postings in the rme forum, f.e. https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopi … 46#p102446 , https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopi … 60#p113060
* Exsys EX-6610E / Exsys EX-6611E, Delock Express Karte 61387.
btw.: Exsys EX-6610E / Exsys EX-6611E do use TI XIO2200A, confirmed by Exsys support today.

14 (edited by ramses 2016-11-05 06:34:47)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

TI XIO 2200A has flaws, don't take cards with that TI chip. This has been mentioned several times in this forum.

Cards with TI XIO2213B work. I had an EXSYS card with this chip in my own for UFX.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

15 (edited by Idiocratic 2016-11-05 11:25:28)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

ramses wrote:

TI XIO 2200A has flaws, don't take cards with that TI chip. This has been mentioned several times in this forum.

And in my posting above, where i cited you and RME Mod (I edited it). ,-)
Maybe you can answer the question, if I can use a FW800 expresscard (Sonnet FireWire 800 Pro ExpressCard/34) for my Fireface400, just by using a FW800 to FW400 cable, with no limitations in comparison to use a FW400 expresscard.

16 (edited by ramses 2016-11-05 17:48:34)

Re: New PC build. Need help to pick the right FireWire Card.

I remember that Fw800 and Fw400 shall be compatible and that adapter cables are available.
But this I do not remember exactly and never used it on my own, maybe somebody else can help here or google with
"site:www.forum.rme-audio.de" behind your query, then the search is limited to this forum or use this forums search function.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13