Well, I'm really hoping you guys can help me out.  I'm using a Dell Precision 690 Workstation with the following configuration:

CPU Slot 1 (PCIe x8) empty

CPU Slot 2 (100MHz 64-bit) empty

CPU Slot 3 (100MHz 64-bit) SCSI Host Adapater for Avid Media Chain

CPU Slot 4 (33MHz 32-bit) CalDigit SATA Card for External CalDigit Storage

CPU Slot 5 (PCIe x8) empty

CPU Slot 6 (PCIe x16) NVidia NVS Graphics

CPU Slot 7 (PCIe x8) Do not use

Everything seems to work fine.  But when I go to output to a Sony HD Deck, I get dropped frames and MC stops the export.  Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it stops every 10 minutes and I have to keep restarting it.  The Audio Adrenaline is connected to the onboard Firewire slot. 

I read something about the bus segment for the onboard firewire being shared with the PCI Slot (Slot 4) where the Caldigit SATA tower is located.  I'm assuming that I have to have the Adrenaline (Firewire) on it's own separate bus segment.  I purchased a PCIe x4 FireWire Card 1394A (SiiG) for Adrenaline box to fill one of the PCIx slots.  I tried slot 7 and slot 1 and the performance was choppy and terrible.  I tried slot 5 (recommended online...somewhere) and it appears to work, but still drops frames on output.  Rendering to the screen appears fine...it's only when I output from the Adrenaline deck. 

Can anyone recommend a proper configuration for the Dell Precision 690 to work with Adrenaline and Media Composer.  I don't want to keep buying and testing new hardware without knowing if anything will work for sure.  My next move (after checking with you guys) will be to get an Atto SATA card that is PCIx so that I can free up the PCI Slot and hopefully have dedicated access to the onboard firewire.

Thanks for the info

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