PCI Sound Card Project

[mpelley92]

When I built my latest PC, I neglected to make my choice of motherboard with one important feature in mind... a (legacy) PCI port. Reason for this? I have two old PCI sound cards, both with audio processors that are still better than today's on-board audio processors.

The idea here, is to build an external box made out of lexan (or plexiglass). Use a PCI to PCIe converter and also a USB 3 PCIe extender. The reason for the extender is to enable me to have the box sitting off to the side, with a round cord instead of a flimsy ribbon cable.

So far, here's the list:

3x uxcell Clear Plastic Acrylic Plexiglass Sheet A5
1x Startech PEX1PCI1R
1x SODIAL(R) USB 3.0 PCI-E Express 1x to 16x Extender Riser Card
1x Pack of 25pcs Blank Square Dice

The total comes to just under $54 CAD.

I plan on making a template tomorrow. It's going to basically consist of 6 sides, with holes drilled in the rear to allow me to support the card properly, as well as all the components inside. As well as a hole drilled in front to stick the USB 3 cable through. I may even entertain the idea of making a design that incorporates enough space to fit the sound card, with a separate partition for the PCI-PCIe converter and extender to fit. The dice will be used to basically create corners. Drill holes into them and the plexiglass and screw all the pieces together.

I'll update this post as I go.

 

[CountMike]

Before you make so much effort in mounting all of that, try it with just provisional, temporary placement because you may run into serious latency problems.

 

[sizzling]

Also that's a lot of new cable and connections which could pick up electrical noise. Agree test it before putting too much effort in.

 

[mpelley92]

Before you make so much effort in mounting all of that, try it with just provisional, temporary placement because you may run into serious latency problems.

This is true. I purchased the PCI hardware first. Amazon has a good return policy, so if it doesn't work properly I'll send it back.

 

[mpelley92]

My plan didn't work. Connected everything up and sound card was shown in device manager. I installed the drivers and when it came time to play music, it was all extremely quiet and ended up cutting out after playing for 3 seconds. Did the same thing with both my Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 and my Creative Soundblaster X-Fi. I think I may end up having to buy a cheap low-end desktop with an old school PCI slot in it.

 

[albundyhere]

My plan didn't work. Connected everything up and sound card was shown in device manager. I installed the drivers and when it came time to play music, it was all extremely quiet and ended up cutting out after playing for 3 seconds. Did the same thing with both my Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 and my Creative Soundblaster X-Fi. I think I may end up having to buy a cheap low-end desktop with an old school PCI slot in it.

did you try to use just the startech pcie to pci adapter without the riser?
did you make sure to power the adapter? it has a floppy power connector
did you make sure the x-fi is powered? it also requires a floppy power connector.
that riser also needs to be powered, right? i see a molex connector.
did you try different pci-e slots?
is your ram overclocked? not sure if that tends to affect pcie performance.
if all else fails, do you have another PC that you can try it in?

 

[mpelley92]

My plan didn't work. Connected everything up and sound card was shown in device manager. I installed the drivers and when it came time to play music, it was all extremely quiet and ended up cutting out after playing for 3 seconds. Did the same thing with both my Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 and my Creative Soundblaster X-Fi. I think I may end up having to buy a cheap low-end desktop with an old school PCI slot in it.

did you try to use just the startech pcie to pci adapter without the riser?
did you make sure to power the adapter? it has a floppy power connector
did you make sure the x-fi is powered? it also requires a floppy power connector.
that riser also needs to be powered, right? i see a molex connector.
did you try different pci-e slots?
is your ram overclocked? not sure if that tends to affect pcie performance.
if all else fails, do you have another PC that you can try it in?

I meant to reply to this earlier.

It's hard to use the adapter by itself, because it's on a 90 degree angle.
Both adapters were powered.
Both cards when connected to the contraption were powered.
Tried different PCI-E slots as well tried connecting it to another computer, same thing.
RAM is not overclocked.

Something tells me there either an issue with PCI clocking (maybe my motherboard doesn't even support PCI). Funny because everything connects fine, drivers install, I can hear sound, but the volume is super low and it cuts out when I try to play music. Seems like it's not getting enough power. But I can't be 100% sure.