X99 + 5960x + Pro Tools HDX = boldly going where no man has gone before?

[B-San]

I built a Hackintosh for a friend; it is actually my third one with the following components:

ASUS X99-A

5960X overclocked to 3.875GHz

Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB Kit (8GBx4) DDR4 2400 (the first two actually have 64GB of the same RAM).

ASUS ThunderboltEX II Dual (which is installed in the PCIEX16_4 slot and the BIOS set so that the PCIeX16_4 is at X8 Mode and the PCIeX16_4 Link Speed is set to Gen2).

Also I used Multibeast / Chimera, as I heard there were potential issues with Clover and using multiple PCIe slots with the X99 platform and Yosemite (of which I am using 10.10.5).

What differentiates this rig from the other two is that we installed an Avid HDX card, which is currently occupying the closest available slot to the GPU (PCIe 2.0x16_2).

The issue we are having is sample-rate related; the recorded audio will come out severely distorted until the sample-rate is changed and then reverted back to match the session.

At this point, I have tried different Avid I/O units and even clocked the rig externally to an Apogee Big Ben.

I wonder if changing preferences within the BIOS so that all slots (which are not occupied by the GPU and TB card) are reduced to x1 speed will help with this situation; it is my understanding that all PCIe audio devices run no higher than x1 bandwidth so hopefully this is the culprit.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions etc would be very much appreciated!

 

[sgtpepper1976]

I built a Hackintosh for a friend; it is actually my third one with the following components:

ASUS X99-A

5960X overclocked to 3.875GHz

Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB Kit (8GBx4) DDR4 2400 (the first two actually have 64GB of the same RAM).

ASUS ThunderboltEX II Dual (which is installed in the PCIEX16_4 slot and the BIOS set so that the PCIeX16_4 is at X8 Mode and the PCIeX16_4 Link Speed is set to Gen2).

Also I used Multibeast / Chimera, as I heard there were potential issues with Clover and using multiple PCIe slots with the X99 platform and Yosemite (of which I am using 10.10.5).

What differentiates this rig from the other two is that we installed an Avid HDX card, which is currently occupying the closest available slot to the GPU (PCIe 2.0x16_2).

The issue we are having is sample-rate related; the recorded audio will come out severely distorted until the sample-rate is changed and then reverted back to match the session.

At this point, I have tried different Avid I/O units and even clocked the rig externally to an Apogee Big Ben.

I wonder if changing preferences within the BIOS so that all slots (which are not occupied by the GPU and TB card) are reduced to x1 speed will help with this situation; it is my understanding that all PCIe audio devices run no higher than x1 bandwidth so hopefully this is the culprit.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions etc would be very much appreciated!

Hi,

Know this is an old thread. But I'll try it anyway.
I built a very similar system with an HDX-card.

I used to have a similar issue with my Lynx interfaces, but that was actually a firmware issue in the interfaces.

BUT I really could use some help with another issue.
I've spent countless hours getting my HDX card to play nicely together with my thunderbolt ex card.
They both work well by them self.
But pro tools doesn't like when the thunderbolt card is in.
It gives me a AAE error -1103 and refuses to start pro tools.
I've tried all the different card/slots combinations without luck.
Thunderbolt seems to be ok with the HDX card thou.
But the HDX card really doesn't like the TB card.

Did you have any issues like this with this build?

 

[B-San]

Hi,

Know this is an old thread. But I'll try it anyway.
I built a very similar system with an HDX-card.

I used to have a similar issue with my Lynx interfaces, but that was actually a firmware issue in the interfaces.

BUT I really could use some help with another issue.
I've spent countless hours getting my HDX card to play nicely together with my thunderbolt ex card.
They both work well by them self.
But pro tools doesn't like when the thunderbolt card is in.
It gives me a AAE error -1103 and refuses to start pro tools.
I've tried all the different card/slots combinations without luck.
Thunderbolt seems to be ok with the HDX card thou.
But the HDX card really doesn't like the TB card.

Did you have any issues like this with this build?

Hi did you use Clover?

Reason why I'm asking is because I did not, due to reading about reports of multiple PCIe cards not playing nice together.

I used Chimera and am the only person I know of that got the 5960X to work that way.

 

[sgtpepper1976]

Thanks for getting back to this old thread!

Yes I do use clover!
I'm just starting to realize that clover could be the culprit.

So I really need to get Chimera going on my machine.
Cause I have the HDX card and a bunch of UAD thunderbolt satellites I really want to finally be able to use.

Any useful info you could share to get Chimera working?
Any installation tips, boot flags?
I'm staring a big mix on Monday and those satellite cards would be great if I could get them working now!

Hi did you use Clover?

Reason why I'm asking is because I did not, due to reading about reports of multiple PCIe cards not playing nice together.

I used Chimera and am the only person I know of that got the 5960X to work that way.