RME-Athlon compatibility survey
The editor wants to express a big "Thank You!" to all respondents who have contributed with data in the "RME-Athlon Success Survey" presented below. Users who want an introductory reading regarding chipsets & soundcard compatibility issues may have a look at: http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/aug01/articles/pcmusician0801.asp Disclaimer: All information is presented as reported by the respective users. RME does neither warrant nor guarantee against any compatibility issues with RME products that may follow from users' hardware & software selections as presented below. The table represents the most comprehensive list of successful RME-Athlon configurations reported by users in various public DAW forums or through direct contact with the editor. The editor is not an employee of AMD or RME but rather a passionate RME user, who is convinced that both RME and AMD are producing excellent tools for successful digital audio workstations. The table is produced to increase user-to-user services for customers potentially interested in RME-Athlon investments. The user is ultimately responsible for any decisions made from the tabulated data. June, 2002. Editor: Anders Fahln (contact: anders@agronova.se)
Table 1. VIA, ALiMAGiK and AMD 761 chipsets
Chipset VIA KT133A VIA KT133A VIA KT133A VIA KT133A Via KT133A Motherboard Abit KT7A-100 Raid Asus A7V133 Asus A7V Asus A7V133 Iwill KK266 Plus CPU Athlon-C 1200 Athlon Duron 700 (o/c 900) Athlon Thunderbird 1400 Athlon 800 N/A Bios revision Dez 01/04/02 Operating system W2K SP2 W2K Win98SE W2K Win XP Pro 768 MB RAM 256 MB Crucial 1024 MB generic PCMB SDRAM PCMB 133 CL2 Micron Memory configuration
VIA KT266A VIA KT266A VIA KT333 VIA KT333 Ali MAGiK
Epox EP-8KHA+ Asus A7M266 Asus A7V333 Asus A7V333 Raid Iwill XP333
N/A Athlon XP 1700+ Athon XP 1800+ Athlon XP 2000+ N/A

N/A 1005 4/11/02

WinXP WinXP Pro

N/A 512 MB Samsung DDR

WinXP Home 512 MB Crucial 2.5 CAS latency WinXP Win XP Pro/ Win 98 SE 1 GB Crucial DDR 256 MG DDR PC2100 Samsung
AMD 761 AMD 761 AMD 761 AMD 761 AMD 761
Abit KG7-Raid Abit KG7 Asus A7M266 Asus A7M266 Asus A7M266
Athlon XP 1800+ Athlon 1200 Athlon Thunderbird 1400 Athlon XP 2100+

N/A 2,2 1004A 1007 1004

W2K SP2 WinXP W2K SP2 W2K
256 MB Kingston 1024 MB PC2100 ECC/REG 512 MB Kingston DDR PCMB PC2100 Kingston
WinXP Home 512 MB Infineon DDR CL-2

AMD 761 AMD 761

Asus A7M266

Athlon XP 1700+

1006 F4

WinXP Pro Win XP

512 MB Samsung DDR 1024 MB PC2100 Mushkin
Gigabyte GA7-DXR+ Athlon XP 1900+
RME soundcard DIGI96/8 PST Multiface DIGI9652 DIGI9652 DIGI9652 DIGI9652/ DIGI96/8 PST Multiface HDSP PCI RME HDSP DIGI9652 DIGI9652/ DIGI96/8 PST DIGI9652 HDSP HDSP HDSP PCI HDSP
Audio & midi software Cubase VST 5.1 r1 N/A N/A Cubase 5.1 Saw Studio 2.6 Nuendo 1.53/Cubase VST32 5.1 R.1/Reason 1.01/Ableton Live Nuendo Cakewalk Sonar 2.0 Cakewalk Sonar XL Nuendo/Cubase Nuendo 1.53/Cubase VST32 5.1 R.1/Reason 1.01/Ableton Live Nuendo 1.53 Nuendo/LAWP 5.0 LAWP 4.8.1/5.0 Cubase VST 32 5.1 r2/ LAWP 4.8.1 Nuendo 1.53
Latency 5 ms @ <60-70% CPU load/ 22 ms @ <95% CPU load 6 ms 6 ms 3 ms N/A 3 ms @ 9652 (24 tracks/44.1 kHz/24bit/5 softsynths; 6-12 ms with many effects); 6 ms @ 96/8 PST 1.5 ms 1.5 ms @ 44.1 Khz/48 Khz/96 kHz 1.5 ms @ FM7 Dxi/2.9 ms @ The Grand in Fxpansion Wrapper 23 ms (safety precations preferred) 3 ms @ 9652 (24 tracks/44.1 kHz/24bit/5 softsynths; 6-12 ms with many effects); 6 ms @ 96/8 PST N/A 3 ms 6 ms (3 ms also working) Steinberg Grand @ 3 ms/44.1 kHz 3 ms 40 x Waves RCL @ 6 ms/44.1 kHz 1.5 ms > 1.5 ms

RME-Athlon Compatibility OK OK OK OK OK OK

OK OK OK OK OK

Multiface HDSP PCI
Sonar 2.0 LAWP 5.0/SAMP 6.0
Remarks Robust performance Robust performance Robust performance Robust performance Robust performance (24 ch simult. transfer via DAT) Robust performance (user reports BIOS-related issues with early versions; Enermax 300-430 W PSU tested; Matrox G450; D-Link 530TX+ NIC card) Robust performance Robust performance (no ACPI) Robust performance Robust performance (no ACPI) Robust performance (user reports BIOS-related issues with early versions; Enermax 300-430 W PSU tested; Matrox G450; D-Link 530TX+ NIC card) Robust performance Robust performance Robust performance Robust performance (incl. Zalman CNPS Robust performance 6000-Cu cooler, temp. approx. 55 C, Zalman ZM-F1 NP Fan and Zalman ZM-NB32J NorthBridge cooler) Robust performance Robust performance (APIC disabled)
References http://linux1723.dn.net/forum/Forum2/HTML/025774.html dennis@dennisdesantis.com http://linux1723.dn.net/forum/Forum5/HTML/004238.html christian_chr@chello.se chrisl@eastcoastmusicmall.com
http://www.nuendo.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/007775.html http://www.cakewalknet.com/articlesrmemultifaceeng.htm andymilne@dial.pipex.com http://www.nuendo.com/forum/Forum3/HTML/000956.html chrisl@eastcoastmusicmall.com
http://www.nuendo.com/forum/Forum3/HTML/000972.html christian.andre.meland@broadpark.no m.elzer@freenet.de jacek.hajnrych@radiotak.com.pl music@pierrepetit.org
hans@musicworks.fr dedric@keyfod.net
Editor's notes Attention: VIA KT133A/KT266A: chipset driver ver. 4.31 or later is recommended (downloadable from www.viaarena.com); VIA 686B Southbridge: PCI bus data can be corrupted during large DMA transfers. For fixes install the VIA 686B SouthBridge patch from e.g. http://www.viaarena.com, or the VIA PCI latency patch from http://www.networking.tzo.com/net/software/). For further reading regarding VIA chipset, drivers, etc; see http://forums.viaarena.com
VIA KT333 experiences: http://www.nuendo.com/forum/Forum3/HTML/000956.html http://www.digitalnaturalsound.com/logic_dsp/msg/1096.html
AMD 760 experiences: newsgroup rme-audio.forum:2002-03-23 For further reading regarding AMD chipset, drivers, etc.; see http://www.amd.com
Table 2. nForce and SiS chipsets
Chipset nForce 415 Motherboard Asus A7N266-C CPU Athlon XP 2200+ Bios revision N/A Operating system W2K

nForce 415 nForce 415

Asus A7N266-C Asus A7N266-C
Athlon XP 1900+ Athlon XP 1800+

1002c 1002

Win98SE WinXP

nForce 420 nForce 420

MSI KN7420 Pro MSI KN7420 Pro
Athlon XP 1800+ (o/c 1900+) Athlon XP 1900+

N/A N/A

WinXP Win98SE

SiS 735 SiS 735

ECS K7S5A ECS K7S5A
Athlon XP 1800+ Athlon XP 2000+

WinXP Pro WinXP Pro

Table 3. AMD 760 MP/MPX (dual) chipsets
AMD 760 MP AMD 760 MP AMD 760 MP Tyan Tiger MP (S2460) Tyan Tiger MP (S2460) Tyan Tiger MP (S2460) 2 x Athlon XP 2000+ 2 x Athlon x Athlon MP 1800+ 1 x Athlon XP 1700+ 2 x Athlon MP 1900+ N/A N/A 1,3 1,1 1,01 WinXP Pro W2K W2KSP2 WinXP WinXP Pro
AMD 760 MPX Tyan Tiger MPX (S2466) AMD 760 MPX Tyan Tiger MPX (S2466n)
AMD 760 MPX Asus A7M266-D

2 x Athlon XP 2000+

WinXP Pro
Memory configuration 768 MB Corsair DDR333 PC2700

RME soundcard RME 9652

Audio & MIDI software LAWP 5.0/5.1
Latency 3 ms @ 40 PVs on 5 tracks (loop)/ 1.5 ms @ 39 PVs on 5 tracks (loop)/ 60 stereo tracks/44.1 kHz/24-bit
256 MB PC2100 DDR 512 Kingston CL2 DDR

HDSP PCI DIGI9652/ HDSP

LAWP 5.0 N/A 1.5 ms
512 MB DDR PCMB PC2100 DDR

DIGI9652 HDSP PCI

LAWP 4.81 LAWP 5.1 With ATI 7500 graphic adapter: 3 ms @ 46 PVs, 46 ms @ 38 PVs 186 ms @ 39 PVs With Matrox G450 graphic adapter: 46 ms @ 38 PVs (clicks and pops at lower latency)

512 MB DDR PC2100 N/A

HDSP PCI HDSP PCI

LAWP 4.8.1 Nuendo

6 ms 3 ms @ 24 tracks/44.1 MHz/32-bit
1 GB DDR 1 GHz PC133 RAM 1024 MB DDRAM PCMB ECC/REG SDRAM 1024 MB Kingston non-ECC RAM
DIGI9652 DIGI9652 HDSP HDSP DIGI9652
Nuendo 1.53 Saw Studio 2.x Saw Studio 2.6b Nuendo Cubase 5.1 r2 pb2
N/A N/A N/A 1.5 ms 23 ms (user reports good performance at lower latencies)
1024 MB Mushkin PC2100 DDR SDRAM
Samplitude 2496 6.05 Cakewalk Pro 9/etc.
1.5 ms ASIO (in Samplitude: VIP buffer settings 2000; buffer no: 4)
RME-Athlon Compatibility OK
Remarks Robust performance (no dropoputs at 1.5 ms latency; ThermalRight AX7 heatsink; Papst 80 mm 3200 rpm fan; Enermax 550 W PSU; CPU temp.: 41-46 degrees Celsius; peak disk read performance: 50 Mb/sec)
Robust performance (screen refresh issues with Matrox G450) Robust performance (Matthias Carstens, RME: "Best Athlonbased mobo tested by us so far")
Robust performance Robust performance (screen refresh issues with Matrox G450)
Robust performance Robust performance
OK (60+playback tracks + 16 recording tracks w/ plugins) @ 20-40 ms latency (external monitoring)/44.1 kHz/32-bit OK (72 solid audio tracks + Autotune, DSP-FX, Sonic Timeworks, Ozone plugins @ < 65% cpu load) OK (8 solid tracks/2 hours/44.1kHz/24-bit glitch-free) OK OK (user reports that RME 9652 Hammerfall does not work in 64-bit PCI slots) OK

User reports initial problems with installation & configuration Enermax 431 watt PSU; ACPI mode "on".
Enermax 431 Watt PSU; ACPI multiprocessor configured. On-board 3Com Ethernet adapter disabled. User reports boot-up problems with Matrox G450.
References http://www.digitalnaturalsound.com/logic_dsp/msg/910.html
niels@crashmicros.freeserve.co.uk MatthiasCarstens@t-online.de
http://www.digitalnaturalsound.com/logic_dsp/msg/669.html niels@crashmicros.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.nuendo.com/forum/Forum3/HTML/000864.html newsgroup rme-audio.forum:2002-02-10
http://www.nuendo.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/007193.html newsgroup: iqsoft 2002-03-12 raul@simplybrass.com newsgroup: rme-audio.forum:2002-03-16 skompfner@hotmail.com

tyc@mastermindpro.com

Editor's notes Attention: nForce: if using RME Hammerfall 1.40 driver it is necessary to make the alternative install (same as for dual CPU boards) as not to drift Midi and Audio apart; see http://www.digitalnaturalsound.com/logic_dsp/msg/980.html; problem solved in later versions; Use latest bios rev. to increase PCI bandwith and PCI write speed. For further reading regarding nForce chipset, drivers, etc; see http://www.nvidia.com
ECS K7S6A (SiS 745 chipset) supports APIC (no IRQ sharing in ACPI mode) For further reading regarding SiS chipset, drivers, etc.; see http://www.sis.com
Attention: Tyan MP/MPX: use only registered ECC RAM, Enermax PSU (> 430 W recommended), disable on-board 3Com Ethernet adpter; External 64-bit LinkSys ethernet adapter recommended. Stability is not guaranteed on Tyan 2460/2462/2466 with more than 3 GB memory (> 6 slots); newsgroup: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan 2002-06-24; One user reports compatibility issues with RME 9652 and the 64-bit PCI slots.