OT (RexRT) but worth a look ...

[RGBaker]

... I recognize this is OT, but still & all the best place to post, so if you're interested, please consider:

I'm doing a little housekeeping, and it's time to semi-retire the trusty old RexRT. Yes, the RexRT. Truth is, there are still projects that roll in SD only, shot on DVCam ... and the easiest thing to do is keep them off the full suite, edit them with Premiere 6.5 (hey if you're living in the past why not go all the way!) -- it is fast, rock solid reliable, and delivers all the features these projects willl ever call for.

But the box the system resides in is wearing out, and I'd like to consider building a solid system out of old parts that will carry the RexRT on into its fading years. Put it out to pasture, sort of, with an eye to making it a nice pasture.

I've had teamed up with an Asus CUSL-2C running a smoking hot 800mhz and a wopping 1GB of RAM for something approaching six years now I think ... and would think that in building out a box it might be time to upgrade that board. I've got a great Lian Li case sitting empty that will take an ATX size board, a 400 watt PS that will do the trick, no end of ATA drives to use as system & project drives ... but what mainboard should I use? I'm not looking to overclock or anything else that will push the limits of this old technology, but if I could double or triple the system speed, toss in another gig of RAM (and upgrade to newer, faster RAM) I suspect I could build an SD box that will satisfy my needs for ... well, who knows. But the RexRT owes me nothing, I'm fond of it & spending a few dollars more to keep it useful would be easy to do.

Thoughts? Experiences with good old boards & cpus? Chipset warnings?

Apologies to any that think this a waste of forum space --

Cheers,
GB

[peterC]

Doing the same process in mind right now but can't commit.
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe (INTEL 875P chipset) was my last recollection of best mobo for this, 3.2 Prescott CPU max's it , but my inclination is to wonder about putting into a X48/T board if 2xPCI 32bit 33MHz are there and at 5(.5?) volts. I forget but that's close without checking.

Would very much like to know what might do, even in X38/T, P35, P965. How far back down the ladder is the point for compatability before what I suggested from memory?

Love to know. Want to keep RexRT too. (throw no stones please, or boos and hisses)

[RGBaker]

Thanks for the suggestion -- anyone out there actually use that board & have advice?

I note that is much easier to find the P4P version not the P4C version ... but I assume that's a compatibility killer ...

Thanks again to all for humouring me with this.

GB

[JPowell]

and as this relates to Edius...

What is the most current version of Edius that works with the RexRT?

I want to revive mine as well :-)

[GrassValley_KH]

3.62 was the last officially supported version. 4.24 was the last unofficially supported version.

[johannesj]

last one i used on my old REX were version 4.24. and it worked just fine..

[peterC]

I note that is much easier to find the P4P version not the P4C version ...
GB

Yes, that's right. Further there are variants on the P4C800 too, so watch out if you go that way. You want the 800-E Deluxe (from memory). I have extensive notes from old forums on this and recall one of the last mentioning the use of an ***MSI board by a guy in UK.

Please, don't ask me get them for you, I don't want to get them for myself. If I ever do I'll post. They are extensive tracking on it, but I am on memory and so not to be trusted!

I would like to drop the boards into my mate's P4P800 he uses for Avid but haven't.

***Er that may have been a Supermicro board - PDSBA+, PDSBA, PDSBE - check for pdf. 1x PCIx16, 1x PCIX4, 4 PCI 33MHz (on BA and BE only)


And also this so far Note it is RTPro, not RexRT:

BasslineAV
Journeyman

Reged: 09/14/02
Posts: 61

Dual Xeon and DVRexRT Pro - nearly working :) Top
#335353 - 10/26/06 12:34 AM
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25th October 2006, and I've just maxed out my old DVRex system (the card is still an integral part of our studio).

I used a Tyan Tiger i7525 with two Xeon 3.0 dual processors.
(link here... http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tigeri7525.html)

It can import and export Canopus DV files without problems, and it has no trouble playing them in Windows Media Player etc. There are no conflicts with any other devices, so if anyone is looking for a valid upgrade path for their old Rex this MAY be the answer - two 5v PCI slots on the motherboard, compatible chipset etc etc.

HOWEVER, I am having overlay issues with the new VGA card. It is a Gigabyte / NVidia GeForce 7300GT. I undestand that a lot of the newer PCI Express graphics cards are having overlay issues, so if anyone has a solution to this I would be eternally grateful.

There's hope for us Rex users yet! Now if only Premiere 6.5 took advantage of dual processors...

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RGBaker
Addict

Reged: 09/27/02
Posts: 586
Loc: Canada

Re: Dual Xeon and DVRexRT Pro - nearly working :) [Re: BasslineAV] Top
#335571 - 10/27/06 09:10 AM
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Thanks for doing the legwork on this one. I too have a venerable and still useful RexRT ... I'm a firm believer in keeping a good box running, just in case ... as long as the dedicated costs aren't too high, the Rex has paid for itself, my car, a good chunk of my house -- putting it in a good box on the 'edge' of the pasture would seem the decent thing to do.

Keep us informed!

GB

--------------------
DVRexRT/Premiere6.5/AE5.5/RexEdit2.95



I know you should NOT go nForce chipset. Intel.....

The other board that was going OK was the Abit (9??/7??) but the Asus was better IMHO.

Where's the Texan? He had this down pretty well for a while.

[peterC]

I could go on.......

John_Glantz
Senior

Reged: 09/13/02
Posts: 1074
Loc: Wijlre, The Netherlands

Breathing new life into DVRex-RT Top
#322014 - 07/09/06 06:14 AM
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Okay, here's the situation: DVRex-RT with MPEG-2 Module needs a new motherboard, curently on a SM P6DBE with dual 1GHz PIII @ 100FSB. The new board I want to use is a TYAN Tiger K8WE (S2877). I see it has a PCI version of 2.3. Will this board be compatible with the DVRex-M1 and the RT 5 volt cards? Meaning will it run, kill it or otherwise not function? And, what of the chipset, is it compatible. I need a dual (dual core) 4 Processor system to finalize my Rex-RT upgrade.

--------------------
John Glantz
Glantz Media Productions

"I'm an editor because real life doesn't tell the whole story"

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Jerry
Addict

Reged: 09/13/02
Posts: 611
Loc: Orlando, Florida

Re: Breathing new life into DVRex-RT [Re: John_Glantz] Top
#322021 - 07/09/06 07:48 AM
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Quote:
Will this board be compatible with the DVRex-M1 and the RT 5 volt cards? Meaning will it run, kill it or otherwise not function? And, what of the chipset, is it compatible. I need a dual (dual core) 4 Processor system to finalize my Rex-RT upgrade.




Here is a link for the 2.3 interface.
pci 2.3

I just went to the ASUS page for my P4C800 Deluxe MOBO.
It has PCI 2.2, and 2.3 and the Rex works great.
We need to get a confirmation as to which of these the Rex requires. They do not list voltage any more.
Contact Canopus or hopefully one of the Canopus guys will see this as they venture into the vintage wastelands.

Here is an addition. I have been looking at the Asus P5WDG2-WS workstation board. It has:





Specifications

/Genuine CPU - Socket 775 for Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition / Pentium D / Pentium 4 / Celeron CPU
- Support Intel® EM64T / EIST / Hyper-Threading / VT / XD Technology
Chipset North Bridge: Intel 975X (support ATi CrossFire dual Gfx technology)
South Bridge: Intel ICH7R
PCI-X Bridge: 6702 PXH

Front Side Bus 1066/800 MHz
Memory 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 667/533, ECC and non-ECC un-buffered memory
Dual channel architecture
Native DDR2 800 Support

Expansion Slots 2 x PCI-E x 16 slots
2 x PCI-X
2 x PCI 2.2

Notice the PCI 2.2. I think this will work with the Rex.
You can get a Dual Core 3.6 processor for around $560. The board is around $330. Make sure to get at least a 500wt power supply. I would go even higher. I have an Enermax 660 on my P4 3.4.



--------------------
Jerry
Six Gill DV
Orlando, Florida

Edited by Jerry (07/09/06 08:15 AM)

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Richard_Jagers
Journeyman

Reged: 10/01/02
Posts: 68
Loc: USA

Re: Breathing new life into DVRex-RT [Re: Jerry] Top
#322109 - 07/10/06 04:23 AM
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I'd go with th Asus P4C800E Deluxe for the RexRT, I think the P4P800E Deluxe will also work.
I know there are newer boards out there, but I know the P4C800E deluxe works without any problems. I had three Tyan boards, which I had to replaced the mobo. When one of them died again, I siwtched back to the Asus and now have 3 of them, and none of them have any problems.

Just my 1/2 cent worth after having way too much trouble with the Tyans. I've been building Canopus systems for many years, and the Asus P4C800E deluxe has been the best for the older RexRT boards.

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John_Glantz
Senior

Reged: 09/13/02
Posts: 1074
Loc: Wijlre, The Netherlands

Re: Breathing new life into DVRex-RT [Re: Jerry] Top
#322110 - 07/10/06 04:25 AM
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Jerry,

Thanks for the reply and info. I know version 2.2 will work fine. The Rex is version 2.1, 5 volts only and since 2.3 drops the support for the 5 volt keyed cards I wasn't sure if the slot would be 100% compatible with it, ie. only compatible with universal cards of 3.3/5 volts or 3.3 volt cards only.

If the 2.3 slot will still run the cards and doesn't share with something else then it's a go.

--------------------
John Glantz
Glantz Media Productions

"I'm an editor because real life doesn't tell the whole story"

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GrassValley_BHAdministrator
The Western Oracle

Reged: 08/24/02
Posts: 13638
Loc: San Jose, CA

Re: Breathing new life into DVRex-RT [Re: John_Glantz] Top
#322209 - 07/11/06 03:05 AM
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Correct, PCI v2.3 removed the 5-volt compatibility.

So if you only have PCI v2.3 slots, your DVRex series boards won't fit - unless you manage to find some kind of PCI 5-volt to 3.3-volt voltage and signalling converter. Even then, it's questionable whether the converter would screw up the timings.

Find the right hump - http://forum.canopus.com/showflat.ph...rue#Post288608

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