# RME 9652 Hammerfall DSP PCI - advice needed



## Bunford (Feb 12, 2016)

Anybody use this card at all?

I currently use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface but considering purchasing this as I only hear good things about RME and having an internal PCI will like improve latency and the DSP help lower CPU usage.

Is it worth an upgrade? Any comments on usage? It will be on a Windows 10 Pro 64 bit system and using Ableton 9 and Reason 8 as my DAWs.


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## JohnG (Feb 12, 2016)

I use them but PCI is a dead format, from what I can see. It's all PCIe now. I have five PCI Hammerfall 9652 cards and they are totally boss in sound / performance.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Feb 12, 2016)

They're great but as JohnG mentioned, PCI is dead so make sure your mobo can support it. I have one sitting around that I'll probably never use again unless I go back to using my old DAW which right now is just being used as a file server. Tried selling the card on here but no one was interested.


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## Bunford (Feb 12, 2016)

Well I just upgraded my system in December to a Core i7 4960X Hex Core and 64GB RAM on an Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard. The motherboard does have one PCI slot in order to support legacy cards, so seems perfect as a I won't plan on upgrading for a good few years now!


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## pdub (Feb 12, 2016)

I have the RME HDSPe Raydat PCIe and love it. RME has the best drivers hands down. Rock solid. I wouldn't invest in PCI either though. Go PCIe.


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## kitekrazy (Feb 12, 2016)

There are some using a PCI to PCIe adapter. Go to RME forums and check that out. There are still boards out there with PCI slots.


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## JohnG (Feb 12, 2016)

kitekrazy said:


> There are still boards out there with PCI slots.



True -- I bought a board with a PCI slot but had to compromise on other things. I absolutely would NOT recommend buying a new PCI card today. I own five of them, so I'm stuck. It's bonkers to spend money today on a new product that is "legacy-city." Or "legacy-ville." If you prefer.


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## simsung (Jan 2, 2017)

does anyone know if it makes sense to upgrade from an usb fireface UC to HDSPe?


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## chimuelo (Jan 3, 2017)

PCI is dead in consumer products, but ASRock or Supermicro have Industrial boards.
Buddy of mine still uses UAD and Scope PCI Cards for his Stage rig.
Just built an i7 rig with 3 x Scope cards and a UAD 1, still has a 32bit PCI Slot left.

These type of boards have long life designs.
Only recently have the ISA and PCI-X slots been replaced.
They "died" 10 years ago in consumer products.


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## chrysshawk (Jan 3, 2017)

simsung said:


> does anyone know if it makes sense to upgrade from an usb fireface UC to HDSPe?


It makes sense if you want to do the processing internally and any DA or AD externally. Alas, it is not an upgrade, but a crossgrade into a different product.


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