• Registered: 2010-02-20
  • Posts: 9

Topic: Building new music PC - time to replace FF400 with USB interface?

Hi,

I'm about to replace my old music computer - I though one thing I wouldn't have to worry about was replacing my FF400 - however, while researching Firewire PCIe cards I realised it might not be so simple....

Hadn't realised Windows 10 had basically stopped support for Firewire (old PC was Win7) - and though I understand it's possible to get hold of legacy drivers that should still work, it sounds like people are having problems finding Firewire cards that work without issues.

So the question is - is there a PCIe Firewire card I can buy that will definitely work with my FF400?

Ideally, I'd like to keep using it, as it's a great interface that does everything I need.

On the other had, if I'm going to have ongoing problems with Firewire connectivity, is now a good time to replace it with an audio interface I can connect via USB?

I'm planning to build the new system around an ASUS PRIME Z490-P motherboard by the way if that makes any difference.

Any advice much appreciated!

  • From: Canada
  • Registered: 2016-02-11
  • Posts: 75

Re: Building new music PC - time to replace FF400 with USB interface?

Two years ago, I built a pc using the Asus Prime Z390-A (first version) motherboard, Intel i7 core 8700k Coffee Lake 3.7 GHz 6-core CPU LGA1151 95w and Win 10x64. Using a USB connection to the RME Fireface UFX (first version), I had dropouts. After reading a post from Ramses on this forum about his system, and use of a Sonnet Pro USB 3 card, I added the card to my system. This stopped the dropouts. The moral of the story: do not assume motherboard USB will be the entire solution.

UFX+; MADIfaceUSB; Startech active USB3 cable; Sonnet Allegro Pro adapter; Win11x64