Reddit mentions of SYBA Low Profile PCI-Express Firewire Card with Two 1394b Ports and One 1394a Port (2B1A), TI Chipset, Extra Regular Bracket SD-PEX30009

Maybe a straight firewire card would be better.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S53IG8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As for firewire being obsolete, my guess is that is coming from the Thunderbird community. The Saffire's will connect to either, so you could always upgrade to a Thunderbird card in a couple of years. BTW - I use a Saffire Pro 40 with PT11 with no issues. If you go firewire, do your research and make sure you get a compatible card. I bought this one and it works great and was cheap.

With regards to 3 monitors, I put my instruments on the 3rd monitor and sometimes lyrics if I'm writing. It comes in quite handy but certainly isn't necessary.

Firewire is super cheap too, I got mine for $18 through an Amazon seller.

This is the Fire-Wire PCI-E card I use: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002S53IG8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It has given me no issues at all on Windows 8.1 and 10 connected to a 003 console/interface and a Glyph external drive both running Pro-Tools 11 and 12 and with the 003 acting as the system sound card.

Just don't use the drivers on the disk that come with it. Stick with whatever your computer automatically installs.

[Update]: Bought this PCI-e card via amazon on Monday:

Syba Low Profile PCI-Express 1394b/1394a (2B1A) Card, TI Chipset, Extra Regular Bracket SD-PEX30009

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S53IG8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Installed tonight, booted into Win7 first. Immediately recognized and installed drivers automagically.
Then booted into Mavericks with external FW800 drive attached, it popped right up on my Mac desktop.
Also, my original external iSight cam (FW400) plugged right in and worked in iMessage perfectly.

Could not be happier with the purchase.

This one worked great for me.

Thanks for the heads up on the cover. I took it off myself because it wasn't low profile. I'll set this project aside and just buy a new card with the appropriate cover.

So I managed to get this one to show up, but I have trouble getting it to recognize anything I plug in.

From my research, I found that switching to legacy helped alot of people.

Upon trying to install legacy drivers, I get a serious freeze followed by bsod every time.

The product I intend to use recommends TI chipset, so my plan was to buy one that had TI, which would concern me if this one had it and doesn't work.

What are my options here? Would win 10 fix this? How about a newer pci card like this one?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002S53IG8/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Regarding the Intel thing, I am running AMD.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009O7YU56/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009FC3YJ8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

if all else fails:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002S53IG8/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all

I got that and it works OOB

Probably doesn't help, but this is reported to work great in Sierra on desktop Hackintoshes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002S53IG8

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My rationale for the chosen products:

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• CPU: Intel Haswell refresh quad-core, locked CPU clocked at 3,3GHz with a turbo boost up to 3,7GHz. This is more than fast enough for your needs. You don't need a quad-core, but I decided to include it, just so you will have no problem running some more intensive programs all at once. The required system specifications for your software is all very low.
  
  
• CPU Cooler: Review. Very easy to install + very quiet. This is all I want from a CPU cooler. The temperatures of the CPU will stay more than low enough for this cooler to even drop a sweat.
  
• Motherboard: Review. This is one of the cheapest motherboards that I could find that is compatible with the Thunderbolt expansion card. This motherboard does have a lot going for it, which makes the cost a little bit justifiable. Connectivity; 6 SATA3 (6Gbps) connectors, 4 DIMM slots for up to a total of 32GB of RAM, M.2 (10Gbps) SSD slot, 3x PCI-e x16 physical slots (x16/x8/x8 electrical) & 2x PCI-e x1 slots. It also got a DisplayPort (required for the Thunderbolt connection if you use it), HDMI & DVI port. It also got a VGA port if you would for heaven forbid need it! Then it also got solid on-board audio, which I highly doubt you'll make use of, but hey! It's there..
  
• Memory: RAM is RAM. Speeds don't matter, only capacity. So I went for 2x8GB, 1600MHz, CL9. This is considered the standard speed. You'll be able to upgrade to 32GB later if needed. But for now, this should be more than enough.
  
• Storage: First look (SSD). High quality 240GB SSD for OS + most used software. This SSD is just released and seems to be very good, especially given the price. It's a no brainer.
  5TB HDD for the rest. Should be enough?
  
• Case: Review. A full red case is hard to get, there are a few but they either don't have great cable management or are very expensive. So I went with the Corsair Graphite 230T. Not a terrible case at all.
  
• Case fans: I decided to include 3 higher quality, more silent, red LED fans. They're pretty much inaudible at low to medium speeds. Compared to the Corsair stock fans that you can hear rather quickly. So I would remove the stock fans completely and replace them.
  
• Power Supply: Review. 3 year warranty, 80+ bronze, semi-modular, 520W PSU from Antec made by SeaSonic. This is a pretty high quality PSU and more than enough power for this system, that will pull about 100W~ during full load. This means that you can later add a video card if you ever intend to play video games on this PC.
  
• Thunderbolt card: Review. It's about as good as you can expect from thunderbolt.
  
• Firewire card: Amazon Customer Review. This is the best I can provide you with. I can't seem to find a real in depth review of it, but it will very likely just work.
  
  

  Hope you like it and If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

DACs are digital analog converters. They are basically really fancy sound cards that are good for recording. Low noise floor so you can turn them up really loud before you ever hear any hissing. This is essential for recording any outboard gear. It also will have proper outputs for studio speakers aka reference monitors. I don't record any instruments and work 100% in the box so I use a 2output for my speakers. This is what I use as a DAC to make electronic music.

https://www.amazon.com/Mackie-Onyx-Blackjack-Recording-Interface/dp/B003VZG550/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1467502404&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=onyx+blackjack

If you end up getting a higher end DAC that has firewire read below.

Firewire will be its own separate card that goes in a PCI-E slot. Its a very common port in Apple computers, its become the defacto standard for high end DACs that have more than 4 in/out

https://www.amazon.com/Syba-Profile-PCI-Express-Chipset-SD-PEX30009/dp/B002S53IG8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

This one I believe works right out of the box.

Power Supply:

https://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Nightjar-Completely-Acoustics-NJ520/dp/B00KHO0IG0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467502606&sr=8-2&keywords=fanless+power+supply

Fanless, more than enough power for a machine like this. Costs a little more but for an audio PC silence is worth the extra money.