Extending Old Receptor Life (DIY)

[mikeparent]

Not sure if this is a taboo topic or not (apologies in advance).

I have a Receptor Rev B and find I am starting to hit a wall performance-wise.

Sadly I don't really have the $1K + to do an upgrade to a newer unit.

I have added RAM to the unit (going from 256MB to 1GB) and I am not really at the wall as far as the hard drive is concerned (just as well since upgrading it sounds somewhat complicated). I am wondering about the CPU though which is where my troubles seem to be.

So I did a little research. I will spare you the technical jargon and someone jump in if I am wrong on this but the 2500+ (factory CPU on the 1B) is rated at around 1.8Ghz. The top of the scale for that line is the 3200+ which I see on eBay can be had for around $20. This would bump up the CPU to 2.2GHz which is a significant boost (22%).

I am wondering if anyone out there has replaced the CPU on one of these bad boys?

[mikeparent]

96 views and no replies - I guess that's a resounding "no"

[ndurant]

My only response is to wonder what plugins you're running, that's pushing you near the limit of the CPU. When I had a Receptor Rev B I could run quite a lot of plugins without too much trouble.

I'm not sure I'd be happy about swapping the CPU, especially if you rely on the Receptor for work / live shows. I'd be more inclined to save up for the upgrade, or consider moving to one of the new VIP units...

[mikeparent]

Firstly I guess I should say it my -only- sound source now.

I typically have a number of plugins loaded for any patch, 4 is pretty common, sometimes more, seldom fewer.

My "goto synths" are Synth1, OPx, MiniMogueVA, Arppe2600VA. I will often have multiple instances of OPx going.

[Bryan@MuseResearch]

Not sure if this is a taboo topic or not (apologies in advance).

I have a Receptor Rev B and find I am starting to hit a wall performance-wise.

Sadly I don't really have the $1K + to do an upgrade to a newer unit.

I have added RAM to the unit (going from 256MB to 1GB) and I am not really at the wall as far as the hard drive is concerned (just as well since upgrading it sounds somewhat complicated). I am wondering about the CPU though which is where my troubles seem to be.

So I did a little research. I will spare you the technical jargon and someone jump in if I am wrong on this but the 2500+ (factory CPU on the 1B) is rated at around 1.8Ghz. The top of the scale for that line is the 3200+ which I see on eBay can be had for around $20. This would bump up the CPU to 2.2GHz which is a significant boost (22%).

I am wondering if anyone out there has replaced the CPU on one of these bad boys?

Hi Mike

Our official policy is that you shouldn't mess with your Receptor, and bad things can happen if you do the wrong thing to it. "No user serviceable parts inside"; that kind of thing. That being said, your unit is well out of the warranty so if you knew what you were doing you could do a processor upgrade yourself and perhaps benefit from a little higher performance. I put in a XP3200 on a Rev 1 unit just for fun, and it did provide a little more oomph, but we decided the performance increase didn't justify the SUBSTANTIAL increase in price of the processor. I will point out though that even with the fastest available processor in that generation, it doesn't hold a candle to upgrading to one of the higher performance processors like what are in the RECEPTOR 2... sorry about that!

If you're going to experiment with this kind of thing, it's really important to realize that in the Rev A and B machines, CPU efficiency was ANYTHING but consistent. We'd get one batch of processors and they'd run nice and cool, and then we'd get another production lot and they'd run insanely hot, so we actually hand picked the processors we used in each and every machine in that vintage to ensure excellent performance. If they didn't have certain performance characteristics, they got rejected since a processor that ran hot could shut down the system if the ambient temperature was too high (as you know Receptors need to work at outdoor concerts where its 120 degrees outside, and few computer systems are capable of staying up in that kind of heat). This wasn't a problem in Rev Cs, where the processors ran much cooler to begin with, or any of the RECEPTOR 2 family since they have really consistent processor behavior and performance. Putting a nearly 2 pound copper heatsink gives them tons of thermal margin as well!

So if you do want to perform a processor upgrade yourself, you need to understand that the system might run substantially hotter than it was designed, and you'll want to either put a faster (read: noisier) system fan in place, or turn down any offers to play concerts in Phoenix in the middle of summer. And of course, you need to be really careful about static discharge that can blitz your motherboard, and be sure to put the right amount of heat sink compound on the CPU die, or that can cause it to overheat as well.

Its kinda like working on your own house wiring. Seems simple enough to wire up a switch, or a socket, but the fact is you could burn down your house and your insurance wouldn't have to pay since you aren't a licensed electrician. So I really don't recommend doing this kind of stuff if you are squeamish around electronics; you could ruin your Receptor, or worse yet, injure yourself. So don't try this unless you are qualified!

Not trying to scare you, but its important to understand what you're getting into with this kind of thing. Also, I'd get in trouble if i didn't point out that doing a processor upgrade on any new unit voids the warranty and we can't provide support for "customized" Receptors. It also means we won't send you a Christmas card too.

Bryan