Topic: Sound Cards, Anyone?

[Scooter123]

I use a Layla Echo 3g now, 24b PCI card interface.

I'm migrating to a new server, a home network actually, and will need another card.  With Raid Controllers taking over two really valuable slots, I'm looking for other options.  I'd need 24b of course, and I'd love a headphone output. 

What do you guys use?

[fozzy]

A decent RAID card will probably be PCI-E 4x or 8x for a new computer. 

You should have a free PCI slot.

[Scooter123]

My Raid Cards will need two x8's, the Controller, and an Adapter kit.  This is for a 12 port external SATA Array.  Cheapest storage and back up right now. 

The single RAID Card for new computers is, believe, for internal hard drives only.  At least that is what HP and Dell are telling me.  God these phone sales people are idiots. 

I forget if my Layla Card is full length or what capacity (x4, x8 or x16) it needs to be.  I may need to move to firewire, and was wondering about other options. 

[admkrk]

talk tp m-audio. no idea if it will help in your situation tho?

[fozzy]

your Layla is going to be a plain old PCI card(Not PCI-E or the now deprecated PCI-X).  I believe most PCs are still going to have a least one or two PCI slots.

Yea, most of the internal/onboard will only have one external sata connection.  they are also not true RAID cards.  they generally rely on the main CPU and RAM rather than having their own dedicated processor and memory.

The adaptec 3085 is pretty easy to find for ~$100 since they come in a lot of servers and end up on ebay.

[kindms]

I use a Layla Echo 3g now, 24b PCI card interface.

I'm migrating to a new server, a home network actually, and will need another card.  With Raid Controllers taking over two really valuable slots, I'm looking for other options.  I'd need 24b of course, and I'd love a headphone output. 

What do you guys use?

What are you interfacing with ? Stereo , PC speakers etc ?

There is a nice thread in the playback section about USB DACS etc. Some of the mentioned units have headphone out. Depending on your needs you may only need to use a USB port vs. PCI. I ditched my 3rd Party soundcard for the onbaord COAX but i run it to my DAC

[Scooter123]

OK, Fozzy was right on.  The Layla 3g is a half length PCI card, of which most of the systems I am looking at have two.  The PCIe x8 cards will be used for RAID 1 and 5. 

So it looks like I am in the clear. 

[fozzy]

glad i could help.  the PCI, PCI-E and PCI-X confused me when i built my last home workstation.  It gets even crazier w/ all the pci-e variants and the motherboard slots that may or may not be full bandwidth.