Good FW800 card PCI Express Card

[Chaos123x]

Just realized that all the firewire ports on my 8-Core Mac Pro share the same bus.

I need to capture video from a HDV camera to a firewire hard drives and I get hickups and slow downs that cause dropped frames.

Can anybody share any links to what FW card to get to and where I can buy it from? Anything that does not cost to much?

Please only post links of cards you have used or read good reviews using it on a Mac Pro.


Also what slot would I put the card in? I want to make sure the slot is not also sharing a bus with something else.

 

[richard.mac]

i was looking to buy one for that works in both OS X and Windows (Hackintosh) and has Firewire 400 as well. Belkin sells one but its too but its too expensive and adds 2 USB as well (no Firewire 400).

the problem with most of reviews for this type of card say they dont get full 800 speeds in Windows and this maybe due to the poorly written drivers. Firewire drivers are included in OS X so its no problem.

i found this one on Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158091 and the single reviewer says it works fine in OS X and Windows too i presume as he has a Hackintosh and at full speed without need for drivers (in OS X). so i would recommend this one. its cheap, works, and has 3 Firewire ports.

note: does not include a Firewire 800 to 80 cable. you can get them a lot cheaper than $40 as described in the review http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...TMATCH&Description=firewire+800+cable&x=0&y=0

 

[Chaos123x]

Sweet that one looks pretty good 2 800's and one 400.

Do you know what slot would be best to stick it in?

Anybody else have any suggestions?

 

[richard.mac]

sorry forgot to meantion that. stick it in the third slot if you have a single lane graphics card or in the fourth slot if a double lane graphics card (leave a space between graphics card and Firewire card for air flow). if you only have one slot left then thats fine.

i think thats the best value-performance Firewire 800 card. though im not guaranteeing a 100% success rate as thats electronics for you. should work fine though.

heres a pic from Startech's site http://www.startech.com/item/PEX1394B3-2-Port-FireWire-800-1-Port-FireWire-400-PCI-Express-Card.aspx so dont worry if it looks like that. probably a newer model.

 

[Chaos123x]

The only card I have in there now is the ATI graphics card... so two slots down from that?

 

[richard.mac]

the ATI is on the bottom slot out of the box right?

sorry i forgot the first slot is double laned allowing double slot cards to be put in. put it in the second slot so there will then be a gap between both cards and a metal slot gate between them at the back like this.

 

[Chaos123x]

ok cool thanks

 

[richard.mac]

it doesnt really matter where you put it, thats just how i would do it hope i have helped!