PCI Expansion Chassis Requirements
With Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel Systems with Pro Tools HD 7.0/7.1 for Windows XP
The following Expansion Chassis are officially qualified for use with Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel PCI card systems with Pro Tools HD 7 for Windows XP.
Up to 7 HD PCI cards can be used in a single ProTools|HD system
- 1 HD Core card, any combination of HD Accel and/or HD Process cards
- For proper operation, card order MUST be: HD Core card, all HD Accel cards, then remaining HD Process cards
- DigiTest will NOT reflect the actual card order. System Usage window in Pro Tools will reflect the proper card order.
- Although 7 cards may be installed, only 4 HD cards are addressable when using 176 or 192 kHz sample rates, regardless of whether an expansion chassis is used or not
- HP Workstation xw8200 qualified with a maximum of 6 HD cards when used with qualified expansion chassis
- HD PCIe (PCI Express) cards cannot be used in an expansion chassis, and are currently not compatible with Pro Tools|HD systems for Windows XP
Expanded Systems Guide
For more information about expansion chassis setup and requirements, please see the Expanded Systems Guide.pdf installed on your hard drive during Pro Tools installation. Also available in the Technical Document Library of the Support/Tech Support section of the website.
- Expanded Systems Guide (571 k, v7.1 for HD Systems)
- Slot orders in the chassis run from left (closest to the power supply) to right
Digidesign Expansion|HD 6 Slot Expansion Chassis
Product information and Specifications
Please Note: The Digidesign Host PCIe Card (PCI Express host card) is currently not qualified with Pro Tools|HD systems for Windows XP. Pro Tools users on Windows XP should use the Digidesign Host PCI Card option for the Digidesign Expansion|HD Chassis.
The Digidesign Expansion|HD package includes the following components:
- Digidesign Expansion|HD chassis: 4U, 19-inch rackmount enclosure
- Expansion|HD cable: 5-meter cable to connect the host card to the Expansion|HD chassis
- AC power cable
The following must be purchased separately from Digidesign:
- PCI Host Card: Dedicated card that is installed in the host computer and provides the connection to the chassis
System Requirements
- Digidesign-approved Windows or Macintosh dual-processor computer with PCI or PCIe slots
- Pro Tools|HD or Pro Tools|HD Accel system
- At least 1 GB RAM in the host computer
- Pro Tools 7.1 software or higher
The Digidesign Expansion|HD is for Pro Tools|HD (for PCI) cards only. It does not support Pro Tools|HD (for PCIe) cards, SCSI HBA cards, video cards, FireWire cards, or other special-purpose cards.
Performance Notes
Due to buffering requirements in Expansion|HD, which increase efficiency between the host and chassis, some aspects of system performance are affected in the following ways:
- There is a slight decrease in the number of instances of certain RTAS plug-ins.
- There is an increase in the monitoring latency of RTAS virtual instruments. This is most apparent when playing instruments in real time and is compensated for upon playback. The hardware buffer size preference can be used to adjust the amount of latency, but the minimum amount is 256 samples (achieved by a setting of 128 in Hardware Buffer size).
Digidesign/Magma 7 Slot, 64-Bit Chassis
- Digidesign 7 slot 64-bit/33mhz Rackmount Chassis
- Magma 7 slot 64-bit/33mhz Rackmount Chassis - model P7R464 (current), P7R464-D1 (discontinued)
Product information and Specifications
For further information about this expansion chassis, please contact Magma at www.magma.com
Special offers from MAGMA for owners of Magma and Digidesign/Magma expansion chassis:
The Digidesign and Magma 64bit/33mHz 7 slot expansion chassis have been qualified by Digidesign with Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel systems with the following computer models:
- HP Workstation xw9300
- HP Workstation xw8200
- Dell Precision Workstation 670
- HP Workstation xw8000 (discontinued, BIOS version JQW111US or higher is required when using a Digidesign or Magma 7 slot 64 bit 33 MHz expansion chassis)*
- Dell Precision Workstation 650 (discontinued)
Click on the CPU links above for specific requirements and CPU slot order.
*Expansion chassis are not supported with the Compaq Evo Workstation W8000 (HP Workstation xw8000 is supported with expansion chassis)
There have been some customer reports of -6042 errors when using the Digidesign/Magma Expansion Chassis (7 slot, 64-bit). These errors can occur with very high voiced track counts @ 48kHz or 44.1kHz sample rates when the tracks are all assigned to surround mixers. We recommend taking the following steps to reduce these errors:
- Limit QuickTime or Avid Video Playback to the qualified 64 audio track level
- If you are automating ReVibe with Pro Tools HD 7, please be sure you have updated to Pro Tools 7.1cs7 or higher, which contain a newer version of the ReVibe plug-in.
- If you are using the TDM version of TL Space, please set the PCI ramping setting to 66%, or use the RTAS version.
- Try reducing your voiced track counts to 160 either manually, or by using the 5 DSP/160 voice engine.
Please refer to these compatibility documents for future updates.
Maximum Qualified Track Counts with HD Accel Card Systems & Chassis
With ATTO EPCI-UL3D SCSI card in CPU and 5 SCSI drives:
| Sample Rate (kHz) |
48
|
96
|
192
|
| Track/Voice Count |
160
|
96
|
30
|
With qualified FireWire drives, 4 drives maximum:
| Sample Rate (kHz) |
48
|
96
|
192
|
| Track/Voice Count |
104
|
80
|
30
|
The following Expansion Chassis are no longer qualified for use with Pro Tools|HD systems:
- SBS (Bit3) 13 Slot Expansion Chassis — model DD23
- SBS (Bit3) 13 Slot Expansion Chassis — model 24-700-2-2
- SBS (Bit3) 13 Slot Expansion Chassis — model 240-2-2
- SBS (Bit3) 13 Slot Expansion Chassis — model 240-2-201
Additional Expansion Chassis Requirements & Slot Order
- Chassis host card must be slotted in the lowest 64 bit slot (slot that is furthest from the AGP card) of the CPU motherboard
- All HD cards must be placed in the chassis
- All other cards (SCSI cards, etc.) should be placed inside the CPU
- Slot orders in the chassis run from left (closest to the power supply) to right
- Chassis slot ordering should start with the core card placed in slot closest to the chassis power supply (magma chassis) followed by HD Accel cards, followed by HD process cards
- Please note that you should have a minimal amount of cards in your CPU when using a chassis. Video compression and storage cards (SCSI, FibreChannel, etc) should be placed in the slots closest to the AGP card. For Unity, please refer to the slot ordering on this page for exact ordering of non-Digidesign cards. Pro Tools Unity Client Configuration for Windows
Digidesign or Magma 64-bit 7-Slot Expansion Chassis
| Chassis Slot | PCI Card |
| Chassis Slot 1 | HD Core card |
| Chassis Slot 2 | HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty |
| Chassis Slot 3 | HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty |
| Chassis Slot 4 | HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty |
| Chassis Slot 5 | HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty |
| Chassis Slot 6 | HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty |
| Chassis Slot 7 | HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty* |
Slot orders in the chassis run from left (closest to the power supply) to right.
After the HD Core card which is always first, all Accel cards should go before any Process cards.
*Notes:
- HP Workstation xw8200 qualified with a maximum of 6 HD cards
Slot Order in Computer
Please see the following pages for correct slot order for cards in the CPU:
- HP Workstation xw9300
- HP Workstation xw8200
- HP Workstation xw8000
- Dell Precision Workstation 670
- Dell Precision Workstation 650
CardBus PCI Expansion Chassis
The following notebook computers were tested and qualified with Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools HD 7.0/7.1:
- Dell Inspiron 8500 (Pentium 4-M)
- HP Compaq Business Notebook nx8000
Qualified CardBus PCI Expansion Chassis
- Magma 4-slot model CB4DRQ (current), CB4DRQ-D1 (discontinued)
- Magma 2-Slot model CB264 (64-bit/33Mhz 2 Slot CardBus to PCI expansion)
- Magma 2-Slot model CB232 (current), CB232-D1 (discontinued) (both 32-bit/33Mhz 2 Slot CardBus to PCI expansion)
Not Tested
- Magma 2-Slot CB2 (discontinued)
- Magma 2-Slot CB2S (discontinued)
- Magma 1-Slot CB1H & CB1F
Magma Technical Bulletin - March 21, 2005
Release of PLX CardBus for Pro Tools Users. NOTICE: The Magma Engineering and Compatibility Test Group has determined that some Pro Tools users with Magma CardBus card (PN: 01-04551-02) and the current PCI bridge on the expansion chassis, may experience computer lock-up or clicks and pops in audio when using Playback Engine sizes of 2 or more DSPs. The Magma Engineering and Compatibility Test Group has also determined these issues may be alleviated by swapping out the original Magma CardBus card (PN: 01-04551-02) with a different version of the Magma CardBus card (PN: 01-04551-03). Click here to download the Technical Bulletin (46 K).