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News Archive for Monday Sept. 15, 2008
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| Notes on early model Magma 4-slot PCI expansion chassis use w/Mac Pros |
| (from a reader mail)
I have a Magma 4-slot PCI expansion chassis (PCI4DRQ.) This has a PCI host card and has run well with 3 Universal Audio UAD-1 cards in it an another UAD-1 and a MOTU PCI(X)-424 in a early 2005 Dual 2GHz G5 tower (not PCI-express model - PCI slots only) It's the only time the 2.0Ghz spec was the "low end" model. It didn't have the AMD chipset and did not feature PCI-X. It was much more stable with many Pro Audio PCI cards. Would not accept older 5V cards of course. It has always worked extremely well...The time has finally come for a Mac Pro (current 5400 Xeon series - standard 2.8Ghz model) and the chassis has been deployed with a new PCIe host card from Magma.
However, any time I would play ANY audio, even if it didn't directly involve a UAD plug in or the MOTU Audio Interface, a kernel panic would occur instantly. The MOTU-424 PCI also does not work in the chassis either. At all.
As it turns out after many hours of diagnosis, and confirmed by knowledgeable staff at Magma:
If you have an older 4-Slot chassis with a "Dec" branded chipset, you can only put ONE UAD-1 card in the chassis when using a Mac Pro. There are known compatibility issues with these older units and all Mac Pro's.
I figured it has to be due to the way the PCI signals are handled by the UAD-1's and the chipset in the Mac, even though there is a PCIe host card "in-between." This was pretty much confirmed by Magma. "Dec" was a brand manufactured by Intel, but discontinued some years ago.
Their solution is the change the board in the chassis for a newer revision, which shouldn't too much trouble, costs notwithstanding.
Hope this helps someone else who may be thinking of using a Magma chassis to extend the life of some PCI cards. Make sure to get a newer Magma 4-slot chassis!
Kind regards, James"
While on the subject, the 2008 Mac pro page here had some past notes on issues with some PCIe controller cards in Slot 2 after the last (2008) Mac Pro firmware update - moving
cards to another slot (i.e. slot 4 or slot 3) worked to get them recognized again. (James later wrote his controller card for the chassis was in slot 4.)
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| Battery Runtime Question for iPod Touch/2.1 update users (improved?) |
I've had mails asking that I post a request from iPod Touch users with the 2.1 software update about their battery run-time. (Some think that the iPhone had more improvement in that area w/2.1 than Touch users have). If you have an iPod Touch with the v2.1 software update, let me know if you if you've seen an improvement or not in battery runtime. Thanks.
(Feedback today from several iPod Touch owners noted no real improvement although 3G iPhone users said v2.1 significantly improved battery runtime - some saying 2x better.)
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| Mac CPU Upgrade Reports Database Updated |
| The Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has another report added this morning. Total to date: 10,358. Here's a summary of the latest addition (search database by upgrade brand, mac model, etc. for a complete list/comments of all user reports on matching criteria - latest reports first).
- Sonnet G4 1.4GHz in (Quicksilver 733MHz) G4/AGP tower
(includes notes on other OEM cpu swaps, OEM QS heatsink swap on sonnet upgrade)
(Full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades compared to stock CPUs, including real world apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked at the G4 upgrade reviews and G3 upgrade reviews pages. Intel-CPU chip swaps (i.e socketed Mac Mini) and OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)
If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, send a review with your experience (performance/stability/installation, etc.), Mac Model/Upgrade brand info and overall rating (1= worst to 10=best). If you can, please run some tests with the original CPU vs the upgrade (for example time some tests with your favorite app, game, etc. - see full reviews here for example tests with common apps/games/benchmarks.)
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