1394a PCI plugin board vs onboard ports, is there a difference?

What application are you using the Firewire for? If its for recording, you need one with a T.I. Chipset. Most audio recording equipment use the DICE or DICE II firewire chipset and that only wants to see a T.I. Chipset in the PC interface. A PCI firewire 400 will be more than adequate.

On most newer motherboards, the PCI port on the motherboard is not a full PCI port but is bridged from the PCIe bus. We've been through that on the Cakewalk Sonar forum. (I have a recording studio using Sonar X2).

The most common PCI kind has 133 MB/s of transfer speed, a firewire 400 has up to 50 MB/s of actual transfer speed, Firewire 800 (the 1394b) has speeds up to 400 MB/s. So if you need transfer speeds in excess of 133 MB/s, it's better if you find a firewire expansion card with PCI-e interface.

Assuming PCI-e 2.0 standards (as that's what you find on new boards and expansion cards), it will give you 500 MB/s of transfer speed per PCI-e lane (x1 cards have one lane, x2 cards have two and so on) So a x1 card will be more than enough to run a single device.


If you have specific needs other than raw file transfer speed (device compatibility?), post more info.

Would a motherboard (one bought today) that has Firewire port be a 1394a or 1394b.

You must check the specifications on the manufacturer's site. Google the motherboard's name and you will get there fast.

If I choose to buy a PCI Firewire add-on card should I get the PCIx16 or does it matter if I just use PCIx1.

You mean PCI-e. Anyway I said already. if the PCI-e slot on the motherboard is PCI-e 2.0 you can get a x1 card and it will be fast enough for a single firewire 800 (1394b) port (even if it has more than one port). Again, check from the specifications on the manufacturer site.

If you just need to run firewire 400 (1394a), a PCI card will be enough

Anyway, don't confuse PCI with PCI-e, they are different in both appearence and speed. THis pic shows a PCI slot down below, and 4 sizes of PCI-e slots.

This is a PCI card (USB ports). This is a PCI-e x1 card (ethernet). Look at the size and shape of the part with golden lines.

What is the difference between a ePCI and a Full PCI port that fireberd talked about?

Full PCI port is a port that is controlled by a PCI controller in the chipset or somewhere on the board, but most modern motherboards simply convert a PCI-e slot into PCI with conversion chips and solder a PCI slot in its place, and that may cause issues with some cards.