advice on interfaces (longwinded)

[tanasfuck]

Howdy,
I just got some funny money for a worker's comp claim and it is buring a hole in my pocket. I do a lot of animation and graphics, as well as, record my trio (guitar, electronics, and one drum) so a Mac was a natural solution to my needs. I have a dual 1.8 G5 with 1 GB memory. OK. So, on my PC I was using a Delta 66 with the OmniStudio breakout box. The Delta worked great but my PC could not handle writing 4 waves tracks at once. MAC G5 1.8 and above cannot handle the Delta 66 or 44 or 1010 etc. . . Why? Because m-audio's PCI architecture uses the older PCI standard of 5V versus the newer, ehem 1998 standard of 3V (could be wrong about the actual voltage values but they are definetly different) Most card manufacturers planned for the newer standard and built in auto sensing circuits into their cards so they could deal with either standard. In speaking with M-Audio techs I found out Apple changed the architecture between the release of the 1.6 and 1.8 and they are far off from completely redesigning the Delta card.
I'm looking for a comparable interface. I've been eyeing the Presonus Firebox or maybe the Tascam US-428. How is the latency on the US-428? It was real bad on the the M-Audio DUO USB. So I'm hesitant to try a USB interface again. I really need only 4 to 6 inputs and 2 outputs. It would be cool to have 4 outputs to do sends for my Tandberg but not necessary. Any suggestions on interfaces under $500?
Thanks,
De Soleil

[high tek]

dont get a usb audio card....EVER.

for $500 u have lots of options.
i would recomend a RME PCI card (they have lots of options at different prices)

[toastchee]

Dude...the new interfaces from Presonus are awesome. I have the firepod and I am very happy with it. The sound is fantastic. I think you'd be very happy with the firebox.

[tanasfuck]

I'm a little intimidated by the RME stuff, it seems way pro for my ghetto ways.
The HDSP 9632 seems my speed but do I need to buy the analog in/out cards too.? The stats are impressive though. 0% cpu usage, nice. I'd need a better mixer for this solution