FireWire PCIe card recommendations?

I bought a generic firewire card that supported 400/800.  I use my focusrite at 400 with it.
 
I think it cost me $20 and had the TI chipset but I can't remember.  you might want to scout the forcusrite website and look at support and read which chipset they recommend, I remember it was in the manual at some point.
 
I only have the interface on the firewire so I don't use any additional devices on that firewire PCIe and it works just great.

i thought fire wire was a dead end?
 

I've always used SIIG cards (FW and USB2) with my DAW, and they've been flawless.
 
Here's the one I currently use:
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16800998059
 
Might be cheaper through Amazon or Ebay.

Presonus doesn't think it is dead.  Their new RM (Rack Mount) series StudioLive:
http://www.presonus.com/products/StudioLive-RM-Series
uses Firewire to capture 16 or 32 (depending on model) channels.  It is also a wireless LIVE sound system...
 
 

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16815124107

Thanks, Pat and Jim and James and Tim.

Installed the donated FireWire card with TI chip. It's recognized by Windows and is working properly, according to device manager.
Downloaded the latest Saffire firmware update, 2.7 I think, but it won't install. Mix control did install from the disk, but the Saffire is not recognized, sorta.
Running the firmware update, it reminds you to disconnect the device before beginning. I do that and it loads driver update 1. Before loading driver 2 it says to connect the device, check.
Doesn't see the device, so it wouldn't load the first thousand times I tried it.
Finally got it to load part 2, but when It gets to the box "Install Firmware", it tells me to connect the already-connected device, and that's as far as I can get.
All the lights on the Saffire are lit. 
Back to the "is not recognized, sorta" part.
Frustrated, I didn't disconnect the Saffire before running the update. It tells me the Saffire is connected and to disconnect it before updating, so it does see it, until I run the update.
So, my music computer is XP 32-bit, thus no Windows support, no MSE updates beyond what was installed a day before XP support ended.
My question (finally! ) is, would you connect the computer to the internet to update the firmware on an unprotected computer and do you think it would make any difference when connecting the Saffire from the XP box to the newer Win 10 box?
 

Unfortunately, out of ignorance, I upgraded from 7 to 10 and now I can't go back (easily).
I'll try moving the Saffire updated firmware to a thumb drive and running it in the XP computer before I do anything else.
Shoot, I may already be running the latest firmware; it's been years since the DAW was on the 'net.
 
JohnnyV, you probably missed my older post about my dying XP DAW. Well, it did die, but was miraculously resurrected. So I'm trying to migrate all my Cakewalk stuff and interface to my newer computer before the final death of the DAW.
 
 

57Gregy
 
My question (finally! ) is, would you connect the computer to the internet to update the firmware on an unprotected computer and do you think it would make any difference when connecting the Saffire from the XP box to the newer Win 10 box?
 

I would if that's an available option.
 
In fact, I have an old XP DAW running on the internet that I've repurposed now.  I'm not sure what i'm going to do, if I will continue to leave it on the internet or not, but it's on the internet now a couple of hours every couple of days while I do stuff with it.  it complains all the time, but it serves the purpose I have for it and I only use it on the internet to download drivers and documents on devices I have connected to it.
 
but it's completely up to you.  if you don't go to any malicious websites (and if you just search for "drivers" for something it's likely you WILL go to a site which would load unwanted stuff on your system, so be careful!), then I wouldn't worry about it just for a driver update.

Thanks, Jim.
Now, what does that mean?
Updated the Saffire to 2.7 using a thumb drive.
It's plugged into the Win 10 box now, but both it and the Belkin FireWire card are not connected to the computer, according to the Device Manager (Currently, this device is not connected to the computer [code 45]), and despite the lights being lit on the Saffire.
Sometimes a restart will get the Belkin device to work; no luck yet with the Focusrite.
 

57Gregy
I see. I do have the power supply for the Saffire, never used. Would there be a performance increase?

 
You won't see a performance increase (as in lower latency)... but you might notice a fidelity difference (with 48v phantom powered mics).

PCIe Firewire controllers are short x1 cards.
It doesn't take much for them to get just a smidge out of position (not making proper contact).
If this happens, re-seating the Firewire controller usually does the trick.

I happlily use 2 Mackie Firewire interfaces on 2 different DAW's - an old 1200F and a newer 1640i FW mixer/interface.  Both work great.  And I use the cheap Siig TI-chipset Firewire from NewEgg.  All is well.
 
PS - If you're having trouble with your FW card, I sometimes spray a little DeOxit on the connectors when I reinstall a funky PCIe card.  Works wonders, but I live ina very salty and corrosive environment.

I'm using the SIIG Firewire card. I just put it in my brand new PC two weeks ago in order to interface with my Motu. I needed to get a SATA to old-style power adapter from NewEgg as the card wants the old style power connector to power the Firewire bus. My PC only supples SATA style power connections - the card came with an old-style to-old style Y-cable power adapter
 
SIIG-2-Port-FireWire-1394a-PCI-Express-Card
SATATMLP4F-12 Power Adapter Cable
 
It's working fantastically, and it's at a bargain price.

57Gregy
Is there something that needs to be done besides installing? Enabling something in BIOS?
...

Normally, no.  Unless you have somehow disabled the FW in the BIOS.  Wouldn't hurt to check.
 
Was the Saffire connected when you installed the drivers?  That can cause problems.  If it was (or you don't remember), it's worth uninstalling/reinstalling the drivers.  First make sure to physically disconnect the Saffire (or if it has a power switch, just power it off). After installing the drivers, reboot.  Then reconnect or power on the Saffire.
 
One other thing to try:  Clean out your registry with something like CCleaner (I use JV Power Tools for this, but if you don't have a commercial utility, CCleaner will do).  First - and very importantly - create a backup of the registry. 
 
After the cleanup, I would do an uninstall/reinstall of the drivers using the steps mentioned above.
 
Good luck.