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Ok guys...did some quick research and found an erata report for the Intel 845G
ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/specupdt/29074501.pdf

They even discuss the denormalizing thing and give a workaround for it..I'm going to pester my eningeer at work about this one and see if he knows what to do and if I can get him to impliment this I'll be stoked!
I'll let you know
Opus

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knightfly Mon, 07/15/2002 - 14:09

Hey Opus - there are 6 different errata I saw on the "fuck you we don't care" sheet, NONE of which are slated for fixes, TWO of which they suggest board mods for, a couple of which sound very UN-GOOD for audio geeks, and NONE of which mention anything about DENORMALIZATION - Canya home in on the particular gem a little closer? Thankz... Steve

Opus2000 Mon, 07/15/2002 - 15:51

Hey Steve
Well...indeed the Bus Mastering issue seems rather sketchy to me..especially for audio based systems...serious ouch there!
I like the "Fuck you we don't care sheets" name very much...so straight to the point! lol
Well, it turns out this is for just the ICH4 hub which is used in the 845E as well...so it's not just for the 845G!!! Arrrrrggggghhhhh!! WTF Intel!!!!!
So...denormalizing..I thought the erata #2 and #4 were aimed at the denormalizing but I guess I was wrong...
I know I can get one of our bench engineers to mod a board for me on the one workaround they give for the ICH4 LPC Reset timing...but that doesn't truly help in the long run as Bus Mastering is very important....
So....audio should be kind of sketchy on these boards....FUCK ME!!!(well, not literally!)
This truly sucks...what do we do now if we want this great FSB improvement and better memory throughput? NOTHING!!! GOD F^%&^%&^% SDS*&^@# @#(^& @#(*$Y(Y# $*&Y(#^ B #($Y#($ (#$()* $
Ok....venting over
Opus :mad:

knightfly Mon, 07/15/2002 - 21:45

Hey, maybe they only fucked up their new 850 chipsets HALF as much - ATA100 is a fucking joke anyhoozitz, much less ata133, so maybe we should seriously wig out an 850 mobo and try to crash the bitch - it ain't like ram's much different in cost anymore - or, for that matter, maybe Sis finally got "her" ass in gear for audio stuff, who nose? It just might be time for a new "quest"

Hey! Even gotta new "slow gun" - how 'bout (sung to the tune of an old Beatles ballad)

"In-Tel - You smell -
Go To Hell Our Sis is running well -
No Intel...."

Anybody got a gee-tar I kin borrow? (Like I'd need one, got 3 of those GC 6-banger stands with only one empty slot now... Later, Steve

Opus2000 Tue, 07/16/2002 - 00:00

Well...it seems as tho RME cards are safe with Sis chipsets....not sure about anything else tho...man..this bites!!! I still have my P4S533 board with me...ya know the Asus one that lost the first round of battles on the Anus build!!!
I'm curious to stick the RME card in there and see what happens...
I think I'll get the 2.26 P4 and some DDR 333 to shove in it and do some testing....
But...time to take a venture over to Sis website and see if there's any erata over there we should be worried about...
Thus it begins again..vicous fucking circle...I swear we have been down this raod before!
Opus :roll:

Tommy P. Tue, 07/16/2002 - 10:22

Errata?
What's a matta?
You no gotta
piece o crudda...
Its an Anus
Kinda famous!
In a silver rackmount cases
Please be nice
And take advice
From the man who brings you Anus
He ain't got no other motive,
a musician, tech, devoted!
:D :D

Ahhhh! been choking after reading about the errata on the

"Fuck you we don't care sheets"

. Mainly cause I just got my shipment in yesterday for an Anus inspired gaming/mp3 machine I'm building for a friend. I hope there won't be any issues with the 845G.. :eek:

Opus2000 Tue, 07/16/2002 - 11:37

Well..as I stated I don't how this is truly going to affect any user in the long run..I don't truly know what the implications are and what truly get's affected...is it the signal of the device in question?(SMbus activity..) or is it the reset bit issue?
I think the biggest concern is the bus mastering issue when it says it completes an action when it really doesn't only if there are morethan one bus masters present...what cards are bus masters in a setup is the main question now....
Sinus...lmao!! that's great! I have a feeling there will be a Sinus in the near future...but the main issue with Sis is certain audio cards...especially Echo and Aardvark
As far as gaming...I don't know if there's an issue there as the graphics card will want to be the master as well as any audio card...who knows....I need some application examples from Intel as to what is truly screwed on those erata's
Opus

Tommy P. Tue, 07/16/2002 - 12:46

Hard to say if this is due to errata but,
I haven't been able to get firewire to work on my Anus rig, two different firewire cards(though no TI chips on either)and two identical latest generation Sony digital camcorders. I've been too busy with other projects (a custom designed killer guitar rig)to give any time to troubleshooting it.

Tommy P.

Opus2000 Tue, 07/16/2002 - 21:03

Not sure if that would be a chipset issue on the mainboard causing that..especially since you have the 845 and not the 845E or G...
There are no bugs(as of yet) on the regular 845's system architecture...
I tried my Sharp DV cam into a non TI chipset based firewire card and it worked fine...
I would look at what's sharing with the firewire card before I blame the chipset...
Opus

Opus2000 Fri, 07/19/2002 - 11:36

Well..I really don't see much of an update on that....if you look closely they say..."there are no plans to fix this" which means no BIOS upgrade...besides this has nothing to do with teh BIOS...it's a chipset issue...so if one could reprogram the chipset..possibly..but that ain't going to happen...
I truly can not say what this means for us DAW users....I need to get someone who has the brain power to understand that stuff and tell us what exactly will happen if one of these issue were to happen!
Opus

Tommy P. Sun, 07/21/2002 - 03:04

What grounds were you able to send it back under?

Newegg.com is one of the very best parts suppliers. I simply requested an RMA# online. The next day I received an e-mail with approval and RMA instructions. No hassle. No talking to a rep. Here's part of my e-mail approval:

Item:
13-131-416 MB ASUS P4B533-VM 845/ICH4 INTEL RE (Quantity: 1 )

Type of RMA: Refund

Restocking Fee: No
Customer comment: I have read that there are errata errors with the Intel 845G chipset in reference to bus master . I am going to order an SIS645 chipset board instead.
Thank You.

You may click the following link to check you RMA status:

anonymous Sun, 07/21/2002 - 16:51

Hey guys,

Whats going on???? About a week ago some of you guys were raving about the P4B533-V (845G). Opus was it you man who posted a spec based on this chipset?

Reason I ask I was almost convinced to build a new machine based around this chipset, UNTIL i read this thread.. bugger! Now there is doubt in my mind!!!!! Shit SHit Shit. I wanna know what issues you guys are discovering in laymans terms please. Have any of you been using this chip succesfully so far for DAW? Any issues experienced thus far? Whats the deal?

Am I better off going the 850 chipset with rambus ram?? Someone please guide me through the ugly forest of Mobo choice hell. :(

deedub

Opus2000 Sun, 07/21/2002 - 21:14

Well...at this point we're all looking at the Sis chipset as an alternative as so far(knock on wood or whatever lucky material you have) there are no known issues on the erata side of it...then again Sis doesn't post that information at least from what I could find...the Sis has been 533FSB for a bit but there was no processors that ran that fast..now there is...so..with the DDR 333, Processor at 533 and the chipset at 533 you have some serious bandwidth to play with...
Now the reason I'm thinking Sis is that it uses DDR and I like DDR as that has lower latency operation for audio based systems...RDRAM is needed for fast proceesors but DDR is still better for audio (IMHO)
The 850 uses RDRAM so that's why I didn't go that route...
A user on the Nuendo forums is using the P4B533-V with no issues(that he knows of or hasn't happened yet) and says it's a great mobo!
The layman's terms are basically this...
Intel made some dodgy chipset decisions which lead to some bit errors on the the last bit before a skip to the next device task...don't know if that means it truncates bits which could cause some wierd corrupt or spike full of DC Offset audio clips....
That's basically the risk we take if we got that route...
Shit shit shit shit is damn fucking straight man!!!
Opus

anonymous Mon, 07/22/2002 - 01:33

Well if thedug and the guy from the nuendo forum are having no problem then whats gonna change over time for them to experience possible problems?? IF it works it works!!?? dont it??

I realise it maybe not so simple to generalise perhaps but why are we all paranoid?? Dug , dude whats your low down... you seem like its a solid enough machine....whats the rest of your setup consist of if you dont mind me asking??
I'm gonna be using this system for Nuendo, Current specs as follows for new machine:
Intel Pentium IV 2.4Ghz 478- 512K NorthWood; 533FSB
80 Gb Western Digital 7200 RPM UATA 100; JB Model; 8Mb Cache (For Audio)
40 Gb IBM ATA100 7200 RPM (For OS etc.)
32Mb Matrox G550 Dual Head AGP
Sony CRX175A 40X 24X 10X IDE CD Re-Writer
Sony 16X DVD ROM Drive
Soundscape(now Mackie) Mixtreme 16in/out TDIF soundcard

Its wierd how everyone has differing opinions. I read on this thread that DDR PC2700 ram is better then Rambus for audio because of lower latency? Another guy on another forum is recommending rambus over DDR PC2700 for my setup!!?! yOU CAN;T WIN!!

Thanks for those replys..its all good.

deedub

Opus2000 Mon, 07/22/2002 - 10:02

Correct...we don't know what is happening so it's working in the users eyes but what about the bits on the files? Are they true or false?
I suppose with a soundscape system it might be different but I'm not quite sure...since it's not really native based...
RDRAM is good but indeed but as most people have said it's on it's way out...when that will be I do not know...
yes, most people will say RDRAM is better but for audio....no. You want lower latency operation so DDR is better for that application.
Maybe we are being paranoid on this issue but it's a valid one as that erata definately points to a possible audio corruption issue..anything that deals with bus mastering time outs can't be good...as well as reset timing on the chipset architecture...that could lead to extreme corruption of files....
The only comment I have about your system is to change out the IBM drive for a Maxtor...more reliable and less of a chance it will go down on you...IBM drives are notorious for that!
Opus

anonymous Mon, 07/22/2002 - 10:14

I have heard the newer ibms are better. But you are right.

I have been having some pop & click problems with my setup in Nuendo 1.53, 1.6, & sx. But not in Nuendo 1.52. It is really wierd. I can't put my finger on it but I am still hunting around. Anybody got any ideas?

I notice it really bad on this particular aiff sample my friend brought over. Especially when I add insert effects. Like the UAD 1176. Doesn't seem to happend when I run the 1176 on a send effect and select pre fader(I know this isn't the correct way to mix, I was just testing) This made me think that it was some sort of plugin compensation issue.

d./

Opus2000 Mon, 07/22/2002 - 11:24

Well, I've never run the UAD card myself so I can't be of much help in that area..
Nuendo 1.53 runs flawlessly for me..I installed 1.6 but since doing the whole networking thang I haven't had a chance to play with it...still need to install all the other applications and get a time to actually record and mess around with it...
I'm currently finishing up on the network install and will get around to doing the services tweak to find out which ones I can turn on and off without problems.
Anyhue...back to the main issue here...I would not doubt that the UAD will cause some issues if not setup right or has some conflicts of some nature...what if you use native plugins? Do they still crackle and pop? Typically when you put an Aiff file in windows it will read it backwared..same with a wav file on a mac...the mac reads it backwards...
the best thing to do is convert the aiff file into a wav file and see if you still get the same crackles and pop issues....If you don't then that would be one of the erata issues!! Especially since it has to read it backwards and there's that bit timing issue!! Oh boy! lol
Opus

anonymous Mon, 07/22/2002 - 17:43

Appriciate your posts opus and all others. I'm at a difficult point in time cause the studio I work for are wanting to go ahead asap with a new system and I spec'ed this one which now could have possible problems. I'm not really down with sis chipsets. I can't say I have experienced them first hand but the current machine we run in the studio is ASUS MB and although is 1Ghz has worked fine generally. Just underpowered for what we do now. Would like to stick with ASUS for their tradition in reliability, but maybe that is about to change??

Anyone else out there using the Intel 845G chipset without any issues?? pops crackles etc??

deedub

anonymous Tue, 07/23/2002 - 06:16

THIS IS FUCKING HILLIARIOUS

I wrote asus about that errata and this is what they wrote back.

***********

Dear valued Customer,

Thanks for Contacting ASUSTeK.

Well, as far as I know, do not have such kind of issue report up to now on our board.
Thanks to choose ASUS & Any further information will be appreciated if you still have problems or have more questions about it.
Thanks!

SonOfSmawg Tue, 07/23/2002 - 06:39

This really sucks. I had the BBFTBDAW article 99% complete and then this...
Now what?
Do we recommend that our members plunge into this mess?
FYI ... My AMD/Iwill/Ali Magik system is awesome. My 900 is overclocked to 1114 without a hickup. Even using a PCI video card, this thing is rock solid. However, due to the difficulty that I had getting it to the point that it is, I definately don't recommend that anyone else go this route.
So, what now Gary? Do we just recommend that people buy a Roland VS system? ROTFLMFAO

Opus2000 Tue, 07/23/2002 - 09:32

Well...Asus of course will say that...it's Intel that we need to talk to! Since they designed the chip they need to answer the questions...I guess I'll email Intel directly to see if I can get an answer from them...
In fact I'll invite them to come into here and explain it if they so choose to!!!
Anyhue...what system I reccomend is still the same until I know for a fact that there is some "real" issues here other than assumption!!
Opus