Maybe this is not the right forum but what would be the most similar setup to having 2 Multifaces with current products?

2x ADI 8 + ?

I think the budget is quite clear. I would try to buy 2 used Multiface II with PCIe card.

Point is that all newer interfaces will require to get a new computer as well, unless you stay with PCIe.

What about this ?

UFX II
- 8 Analog IN/OUT
- ADAT1 IN existing Octamic
- ADAT2 IN NEW A/D converter i.e. ADI8 DS MK III
- ADAT1 OUT -> monitoring
- ADAT2 OUT -> monitoring

All nicely USB2 compatible and enough channels if you stay with 44.1/48 kHz.
UFX II €1936
UFX €1600 (alternatively, if still available .. hurry
ADI8 DS MKIII €1358

With older UFX you stay in budget.
With the new UFX II you are slightly over, but have then on top a better analog part and other nice features.

As both are plain USB2 based solutions there is IMHO no need for a change in terms of the PC if it is still powerful for his use cases.

Other big advantage .. Routing of all channels in one TM FX instance, this was before not possible with two single Multifaces.

Oh sorry I didnt notice this old HW. Time for an upgrade.

Sorry, but to replace an extremely old hw by very old hw doesnt make any sense to me.

The best strategy is to get a normal system of the last 1-3y new, that fits your requirements.
Nothing fancy, pure mainstream. Then you get all the good things and HW standards of today
in combination with CPUs which also will give to you a performance advantage on top.

The only question is whether you want to go Win7 or Win10.
Win8 and 8.1 is crap with the perverted Smartphone GUI.

Win7 will give you more privacy protection and stability, as there you can still parametrize Windows updates to update only with important / security updates which is one of the most important basements to gather stability.
Win10 is a data grabber and instantly moving/changing target where updates can not be customized anymore and bring instability by introducing too much changes. An application as a service makes sense. But not Windows as a service. From the Operating System I expect ultra stability. And exactly this you can not reach by introducing too many changes, which are out of the control of the administrator.

But if you choose a HW (mainboard, etc) which supports Win7 and if you run on Win7... then look closely to get also a good Internet Security Suite like Norton or Kaspersky, because your PC needs additional protection by such commercial tools. Especially because Microsoft has no interest into Win7 anymore and only the biggest security issues become fixed.

I personally will stay longer on Win7 for more privacy and robustness, even if it wont be supported by Microsoft anymore, because a mature Win7 along with a Security Suite should give me enough security with the things which I do.100% you wont reach anyway also not with the newest stuff. So go figure what best to take (stuff thats proven and works).

When looking for a CPU, you can look at passmark.com which CPUs give the best bang for the buck.
You should also choose a CPU where many PCIe 3.0 lanes come directly from the CPU.
Then with a good mainboard and a good layout you have more flexibility and performance for any
potential extension with add-on cards, shall this be required.

All that you should look for is for mainbords that support i.e. M.2, USB3, USB3.1 gen2
at least 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 sockets for 1 GPU if you are casual gamer.

An option if eventually to build up a system Xeon based with Supermicro mainboard.
Does not need to be newest platform / CPU. Simply something E3-XXXX CPU based.

There are plenty of options what to take, you simply need to choose wisely and carefully.

Everybody has different ideas/demands, I only described my personal opinion, the owner of the thread finally has to decide.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cp … mp;id=1050 4000+ points
But this is not a good audio processing test. That is all floating  point. And the pentium4 is about 400....
But this is completely beside the point. This was simply a solution to the problem of having to replace the multifaces when they are still working.

Have a great weekend!

And I always build myself and have build better/newer systems for others. But I am still happy with my system as it is.

:-) Your expertise is valued immensely! When building a new system or needing an usb card etc I would certainly ask your advice.

You should both know that I bow to both of you on your expertise.  I read several hours each week trying to get this stuff down so that I can spend more time recording and less time setting everything up

Any post that has either of you responding to goes on my must read list and I thank you for the great education.  I only wish I knew what some of it means

Ramses, I read that blog more than the manual....