• From: Irvine, CA
  • Registered: 2008-01-24
  • Posts: 13

Topic: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

The Windows section of Fireface UC System Compatibility states:

This behaviour occurs regardless of the driver and operating system. Intel seem to have identified the problem with the ICH7. Modern PCs with ICH8, 9, and 10 exhibit an excellent USB performance in principle, and mostly feature Core 2 Duo CPUs, assuring ample processing power.

When it says "Intel seem to have identified the problem with the ICH7", does that mean they identified that this controller had issues and then fix them in the ICH8 or does it meant that they address the problem in the ICH7 itself?

Thanks,

mb

I wish computers worked.
  • vigor
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  • Registered: 2009-08-04
  • Posts: 12

Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

That is how Intel fixes things, by releasing new version. ICH9 in my motherboard is actually fixed up ICH8.

  • From: Irvine, CA
  • Registered: 2008-01-24
  • Posts: 13

Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

So the sentence must then mean that they identified the problem that the ICH7 has and fixed those problems in the ICH8 and that all subsequent version work better.

I wish computers worked.

4 Reply by vigor (edited by vigor 2010-02-20 00:48:55)

  • vigor
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Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

That doesn't mean you can't use FFUC.  If you have a desktop you can get a $20 PCI USB card that should work well.  I am not sure if RME tested any, you should probably check that.

5 Reply by undertone (edited by undertone 2010-03-11 14:50:03)

  • Registered: 2007-05-02
  • Posts: 316

Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

vigor wrote:

That doesn't mean you can't use FFUC.  If you have a desktop you can get a $20 PCI USB card that should work well.  I am not sure if RME tested any, you should probably check that.

I was thinking the same thing: by turning off the motherboard USB in the BIOS and then using a recent USB card with a recent chipset off the PCI buss should make it possible to use the UC on "older" computers. It would be useful to know what USB chipsets work well with the UC for this workaround. I've been considering a FFUC but I'd need to run reliably on a variety of computers.

PC1 = HDSPe PCIe: DF-ADI-8 DS / HDSPe PCIe: MF2
MBP = HDSPe Expresscard: MF1
  • vinark
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Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

If you give a little more info (cpu used for example and motherboard types) We might give a little better advice. I have several mobo´s in use with intel 876, p35 and p45 chipset and ICH7 8 and 9. They way I read it ICH8 will indeed give better performance with USB. And in most cases you don´t need to reinstal windows. I migrated from 875 to p45 without issues at all. Ofcourse drivers will be reinstalled but that only takes 10 minutes.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632
  • Dom
  • AES/EBU artist
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  • Registered: 2007-05-06
  • Posts: 132

Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

So that effectively means that a fairly new computer with ICH10 will perform very well indeed with a USB interface from RME?

  • vinark
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Re: Fireface UC - ICH7 Controller

From the perspective of the usb controler yes. But that doesn´t mean there can´t be other issues with a setup.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632