[LAU] PCI1 and new motherboards - a tip

[Len Ovens]

On Sun, 24 May 2015, Kevin Cosgrove wrote:

> On 24 May 2015 at 6:28, Len Ovens <len at ovenwerks.net> wrote:
>
>> In looking for HW, I first chose my cpu. (i5 with 4 cores and no
>> hyperthreads) Then I looked at the whole line of mother boards that
>> supported the cpu socket. While there were lots of MB with 1 or two PCI
>> slots, I looked for maximum and got three because I wanted to avoid
>> whichever slot uses irq 16 and I have two audio cards. I looked for
>> something that still has ps2 kb/mouse ports because I have USB audio I try
>> out sometimes and the mouse can cause trouble (I think there are ways
>> around this though and I might not be so picky next time). I also wanted
>> at least two monitor outputs, but this is easy as many MB have three at
>> least. Monitors are cheap ($90 at walmart) and double monitors for audio
>> just seems the way to go. I would add, lots of USB ports, but all the MB
>> have more than I need.
>
> Did you buy one of those motherboards to which you refer?  If so,
> what make/model and how well is it working?

ASUS Z87-K
CPU i5-4570
  - there are some i5 that are only 2 cores with hyperthreading... 
basically they seem to me to be an i3 with i5 printed on them. It is not 
enough to just get an i5.

I can run my delta66 in Jack at 16/2 with no xruns provided cron is turned 
off... no software updates. I don't know how much (sw) I can run like 
that, but I use that setup for guitar through effects (guitarix) and back 
out. For Ardour I use 64/2 but have not pushed it to see what I can get 
away with (tracks/effects/synths). I use UbuntuStudio with the Low Latency 
kernel. (14.04 LTS right now, but I keep the SW I use a lot up to date)
I use external monitoring anyway (first of the Mackie cr1604) so recording 
latency is not too important.

--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net