Yes, I know this question has been asked to death but it's hard to recent information on it through the search feature. 

Anyway, after getting my X2 upgrade I realize I'm going to have to get a new PC. My old interface was an Emu 1810 PCI to box thing that worked just fine, but it's an orphan and it never really worked in 64-bit anyway. 

I'm not getting an Apple and I'm not going to build my own and I really don't want to use a build-it shop since these shops come and go. I'm planning on getting a PC with at least an I-5 processor with 8gig RAM and a 1T hard disk.

So, now in terms of an interface, I'm at a conundrum. Neither Dell or HP installs Firewire cards when building computers (actually, Dell does with some, but they don't offer them in my preferred configuration). I'd prefer Firewire because it supposedly puts less overhead on the processor than USB and I'd leaning toward getting one of the Focusrite Firewire interfaces. 

What I've found is that it's nearly impossible to determine whether a big brand box will accommodate a third party Firewire card in terms of will it fit into whatever PCI slot the computer has or work at all. 

I'm a little hesitant about using a USB interface because I use many USB peripherals on my PC--wireless keyboard, mouse, wifi card, printer, a sound module--and am worried that all these separate uses will hinder performance. 

I'm willing to be convinced either way on this. Thanks for your advice. 

The old FW/USB "overhead" was important when computers were a tenth of power (or less) than now.  A little extra overhead could kill back then.

It depends - if you are going laptop USB is the way to go.  Desktop - I think I spent $20 last month for a new FW card that I installed in a PCIe slot.  Took 5 minutes since the case was open to put in an extra HD.  Granted, this was a via card but they didn't have any TI chipsets in stock at microcenter and I've never had a problem w/ Via - my old Via FW card worked fine in 3-4 computers.  The new one works too.

All those peirpherals, except sound card, shouldn't be a problem.  The wifi has interrupts, which is something to be aware of.  But unless you are surfing and printing while making music, I wouldn't think it would be too much of a problem.

@

Thank you. This is a desktop that will only be used for music production. 

Can you tell me what 'PCIe' means? I'm unfamiliar with the term. Do all PCs have this?

google is your friend!

I would probably opt for a USB connected external interface. They come in all kinds and have lots of options..... 

Firewire is finicky at times and if you don't have the TI chip set it can give you problems. 

I have a FW Saffire.... but I would replace it with a USB interface if it ever dies. 

My new motherboard came with the proper TI chip firewire and has worked flawless.

It is a Gigabyte GA-Z77X and Intel i7-3770K 3.5 GHz quad.

Agree with AT that the overhead of USB is much less of a concern nowadays than it once was. And with USB you usually don't have to buy anything extra because even laptops have multiple USB ports.

However, even small overhead is still overhead, and if you're running a large project that's seriously taxing the system you never know when you're on the edge of the precipice and dropping in one more plugin is going to push you over.

USB ports also seem to have more potential issues, too. By default, most systems want to power them down after they've been idle for awhile or the computer goes to sleep, which can cause your interface to stop working. If you have a lot of USB devices, your audio interface will have to share an interrupt request channel and compete with all of them for attention. You may also run out of USB ports, and you can't use a port extender for audio. Some interfaces assume they'll be powered by the USB port, which can be a problem depending on what else is being powered through USB; low voltage on the USB port can mean low phantom power voltage.

Plus we all know that the really cool people all use Firewire. Of course, they also use Macs, but we won't go there.

raisindot


Thank you. This is a desktop that will only be used for music production. 

Can you tell me what 'PCIe' means? I'm unfamiliar with the term. Do all PCs have this?

PCIe is a slot on your motherboard that you put peripherals in. I don't know all the particulars of the protocol but for the average user that's all you need to know.


It has basically replaced PCI which are probably being phased out.


I have an RME AIO audio card that goes into a PCIe slot.

My custom build machine has 2 firewire ports on the MB and the Saffire runs fine on it..... maybe I was just lucky. 

I was fully prepared to buy a new interface for the DAW and it would have been USB.