• Registered: 2011-08-08
  • Posts: 32

Topic: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

Hi forum members,

Im new to the forum but not RME... we have been using a FF 800 on a Rain recording pc for 3 years now with great success, rock solid.... Lovin Rme and digicheck.

We are expanding our not for profit youth music project,, and currently looking at purchasing a 15" dual core Mid 2009 MBP with applecare still current (a year), which we have seen available.

I have read about the Agere chipset issue which could effect our FF800 and asked the owner if he can find out the FW revision for me as shown here.  http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4986

If i struggle to get this info - Does anyone know of a period of macbook pros, were ` revision 7 or 8` of the agere FW chipset was standard?,, mid/late 2009 on???

Also, do people generally consider the early i5`s 2010 models ok? .. i couldn't remember if there were CPU heat issues arising from plugin in a FW device ie FF400 / 800.
MBP`s seem to have had a few issues  regarding this over the last few years, especially  in the audio world with pro audio cards,,, seems earlier models with the TI chipsets were no problems..

Also i believe that MBP`s from mid 2009 have no `Express card slot`, which would mean no `UAD solo` laptop card, but an added cost of a ` external. Uad satellite Duo`.
Is anyone aware of any 15" MBP that has got the combo of - Rev 7 FW chipset, Express card and cool running/ no heat issues? or is this some sort of holy grail, especially as i do not want a 17", although i know these have the express card slot.

Any input or recommendations greatly received, been in the audio pc world for 15 years, macs are new to me wink

Thankyou ,,,, J

www.ubyp.org.uk

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

As far as I remember revision 7 became standard for all 2009 MBP. There is no Unibody 15" combination with both ExpressCard and rev. 7, but you can use the late 2008 one with rev. 6 and just put a FW repeater/hub in between. I successfully used the repeater cable by Lindy (or ironically a MOTU Ultralite in between wink).

3 Reply by jrobot1 (edited by jrobot1 2011-08-10 01:45:39)

  • Registered: 2011-08-08
  • Posts: 32

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

Timur wrote:

As far as I remember revision 7 became standard for all 2009 MBP. There is no Unibody 15" combination with both ExpressCard and rev. 7, but you can use the late 2008 one with rev. 6 and just put a FW repeater/hub in between. I successfully used the repeater cable by Lindy (or ironically a MOTU Ultralite in between wink).

Thankyou for the info Timur, i can see you have had experience in the forum with FW chipset`s and related heat problems.... 

re.Motu - that is ironic! lol ...

The chap selling this MBP, got back to me and it is a rev.7, thanks for your advice on that..

IYO - am i likely to get any known issues with the FF800 with this core duo 2.66 rev 7.

Is there any heat issues to be concerned about.. i can see in the forums issues related to past and current i5 and i7 and earlier duo`s (generally regarding Plugin in a FF400... )

The other machine that we are considering is a 2010 i5 mbp ,, again any heat concerns or known issues with these?

Do you mind me asking, If you had about 800 - 900 pound to spend and have the fireface 800, runnin Live 8 and Ni / uad plugs - to use, any idea what you would you go for?

Thanks again, cheers cool

Jay

  • Registered: 2011-08-08
  • Posts: 32

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

Anyone on general heat issue regarding 2009/onwards - MBP and Fire faces??  were there more issues with i5/i7..

some people saying they are unusable when plugged in??

input anyone please.. thanks..

  • Registered: 2007-11-25
  • Posts: 68

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

My MBP gets very warm when the fireface 400 is plugged in. I have a Quadcore intel core i7  8 giga of ram 10.6.8 My early 2008 MBP works fantastic.

I am looking forward to test a usb audio device.

I am not sure if it just related to my MBP 2011 part of a defective batch or it affects all the i7 Quadcore. The only thing i can tell you is that my unit has been produced on the 2nd week of June 2011.

6 Reply by jrobot1 (edited by jrobot1 2011-08-11 14:06:33)

  • Registered: 2011-08-08
  • Posts: 32

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

mauritek wrote:

My MBP gets very warm when the fireface 400 is plugged in. I have a Quadcore intel core i7  8 giga of ram 10.6.8 My early 2008 MBP works fantastic.

I am looking forward to test a usb audio device.

I am not sure if it just related to my MBP 2011 part of a defective batch or it affects all the i7 Quadcore. The only thing i can tell you is that my unit has been produced on the 2nd week of June 2011.

Thankyou very much for your input mauritek...

yes its interesting that the ealier MBP models  ... seem to be reporting ok with firewire.. (other than Agere rv 6)... what FW chipset have you got in that one? Agere or TI ?

Im keen to to find out when these issues started with - with what year MBP? You have kindly eliminated it from 2008.. im lookin at a 2009 MBP.

And yes - me to -  was wondering how RME users on the USB side were finding the same issues... seems a bit of a shame that this is the case, as Macs were always noted for cool running and steady systems...

Thanks mauritek smile

7 Reply by Timur Born (edited by Timur 2011-08-11 15:34:06)

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

I doubt that this has anything to do with the FW chipset, but more with the CPU and Logic Board chipset and how power-savings are handled by the respective combination of OS X, CPU, northbridge and GPU.

Not to mention that specifically the i7 Quads get hot in an instant by pretty anything.

For Core2Duo users I recommend trying Coolbook (www.coolbook.se). Costs only $10.

  • Registered: 2011-08-08
  • Posts: 32

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

Timur wrote:

I doubt that this has anything to do with the FW chipset, but more with the CPU and Logic Board chipset and how power-savings are handled by the respective combination of OS X, CPU, northbridge and GPU.

Not to mention that specifically the i7 Quads get hot in an instant by pretty anything.

For Core2Duo users I recommend trying Coolbook (www.coolbook.se). Costs only $10.

Fair point thankyou for the input...  and thanks for the link cheers

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

I consider the 2010 MBP lemons, by the way, at least when using OS X. My 2010 i7 2.8 performed worse with Ableton Live than my Coolbook controlled 2008/09 Core2Duo 2.8 and my 2011 i7 2.3 smokes them both (but gets accordingly hot and loud).

  • Registered: 2007-11-25
  • Posts: 68

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

Hi Jrobot

My 2011 macbook pro 17 inch has the agere chipset. For sure the 2011 macbook pro gets a bit warmer than the previous gen but I still think that the overheating when using the Fireface 400 is due to the chipset. I will carry out some tests very soon this week end. I am going to test usb and firewire audio card from other brand to see the performances. As I already said in another thread  in my opinion my 2011 17 MBP is not a great and ideal machine machine for music production.

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

Timur wrote:

I looked into this on my Sandybridge i7 Quad (2011 MBP) and found some interesting and surprising results. Once I find time to look at a Nehalem i7 and Core2Duo iMac I will write a full report (in a new thread). Just so much, on the SNB i7 actively using (likely) *any* FW or USB audio interface leads to OS X turning off most CPU power-saving states (C-states). This leads to *all* cores staying active at +1 Turbo bin (3.1 gHz on my 2.3 gHz i7). While for temps this might be a problem it can be quite beneficial for audio applications (I spent quite some effort and time doing exactly that on my C2D MBP).

I tested RME FF400 (FW), BF (USB), NI Kore 1 (USB) and most important Zoom H2 (USB compliant, which needs *no* drivers, but uses OS X' ones).
...
I tested several applications (Itunes, Logic, Finder, Live 7+8) and CPU temps remained around 60°C (give or take) with fan-speed increasing when FW or USB audio was used (by less than 500 rpm though).

Since it's likely OS X own power-management turning off the deeper sleep states of the CPU the interfaces and drivers have little to no influence on this. You won't see the same happen on bootcamped Windows btw, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.

12 Reply by jrobot1 (edited by jrobot1 2011-08-12 00:15:17)

  • Registered: 2011-08-08
  • Posts: 32

Re: Youth music project - buying second hand MBP - Agere chipset q`s

@Timur and mauritek

Thankyou both - for the info very informative..