Regarding Sata to IDE/PATA adapters: They work but there is no advantage to using one over getting a newer hard drive. If you have data that you need to keep, back up your drive to a DVD image and buy new hard drives. They're very cheap now. You can buy a 160 Gig drive for $80. Newer technology is cheaper than the older stuff now.

Not sure that there's even such a thing a PCI X to PCI adapter. Does the Delta not support PCI X?

Delta 1010 is PCI. Don't newer motherboards still have some PCI, even though they also have PCIe?

How would a card adapter work, unless you had a sideways slot for it? You can't just pop, say, a PCI adapter into a PCIe slot, and then something into that. It would sit too high to mount properly. And you can't really shove it to the side to lower it, because then it wouldn't line up with the mounting slot.

Speaking of mounting PCIe, be careful with those short little slots. We had to adjust the mounting bracket on cards to get some to sit (more) level. Those things can rock askew fairly easily. A bunch were tilted pretty far down at the back, once screwed in. May not have hurt anything, but I like to know they are making full, straight contact, with less chance of becoming intimate with neighbors.

Kapt. Krunch

I have to admit that I never heard of a PCIe to PCI adapter. I should have probably worded my question better. Sorry about that. I posed my question because I want to do a gradual smooth transition from my current DAW. The Deltas are PCI based. But, I'll have to check out the motherboards and see if can get one with both PCIe and PCI slots.

Just as a side note PCI E(xpress) is a graphics standard PCI X is the expansion slot.

hueseph wrote: Just as a side note PCI E(xpress) is a graphics standard PCI X is the expansion slot.

Yes...and no. The boards I was referring to WERE graphics cards, and they were PCIe, and the only one on those boards. Those boards had a 4x slot, which is very short. Apparently, there may exist on a board different size slots...1x, 4x, 16x, etc., with the larger the X, the longer the slot. The larger the #, the more "lanes" the card can use simultaneously.

PCI X is a bit older, but faster, parallel PCI slot that still shares the bus, and PCIe is a faster serial PCI that doesn't. (Not quite that simple, but...)

PCIe is starting to replace PCI, but boards will still be manufactured with both for some time. It will also replace PCI X. PCIe is a selfish bugger...it doesn't wanna ride the bus with ANYone, and it wants the highway clear of all other traffic, too, in all lanes.

Apogee, Digidesign and RME, to name a few, already have PCIe offerings.
There are, and will be more, RAID controllers, network cards...anything that is now PCI or PCI X.. offered up to force us to buy more stuff to keep up with the Jones'. UNTIL they are certain they've saturated the market a couple times over and come up with the next standard...which they probably already have in the can...but are waiting until they exhaust this thing first for maximum profit! :twisted:

I THINK I got all that right :roll:

Kapt.Krunch

hueseph wrote: Just as a side note PCI E(xpress) is a graphics standard PCI X is the expansion slot.

No. PCI Express (PCIe) is a serial implementation of the parallel PCI bus. PCIe can have 1,2,4 or 8 lanes (serial channels), each capable of 2.5Gbps. So far, the 8-lane standard has only been used for graphics adaptors, which is where your confusion may have come about.

New PC motherboards are being fitted with several PCIe slots, usually 2-lane or 4-lane, and also one or two conventional PCI slots. The extended version of parallel PCI is called PCI-X, and goes up to 64-bit and 133MHz.

Soon we will see PCIe external connectors, bringing a 2-lane PCIe bus out of the computer so the actual interface can be in an external box. Wait for audio interface manufacturers to take advantage of this, since the achievable data rates will be many times that of FireWire. In addition, double-rate PCIe is at the specification stage, and will have bit rates of at least 5Gbps per lane.

In response to lambchop (the original poster), PCIe to PCI adaptor chips are fairly readily available to make it easier for designers to convert their PCI-X designs to PCIe, but the only in-place adaptor boards I know of are tall ones used for debugging purposes with the PC lid off.

Edit: The Kapt'n snuck in before me.

Boswell's further explanation filled in my holes. Great minds think alike, but different. :?
And with that, I'm gonna brew up another cup of PCI Espresso! :roll:

Kapt.Krunch

Well guys, I really have to thank you for your input. Thanks to you I realized that I can buy a fairly "state of the art" board that will probably still have some legacy PCI slots for my current interface. I'll probably go for some SATA harddrives and use a disk imager to transfer the files on the ATA's.

Now I just need to wait a little while since I bought some new monitors yesterday and don't want the wife to divorce me (not yet at least :wink: ). I'll probably start the process right after XMAS and will most likely be back here with some more questions.