Hi everyone, Just thought I 'd post to see if anyone else has experience with this. I currently own a Powercore Element (v 1.8) and a UAD card (v3.4) running in OSX.3.3 with Logic Pro 6.4.1 on a G4 DP800. Last night, I did a few experiments with CPU load and these DSP cards. I have owned the UAD card for some time, but I am new to the Powercore. So I pushed them both to their respective breaking points, just to see how many plug ins I could cram on to 4 audio tracks before the cards hit their limits. What I was shocked to discover is that my CPU almost gave up before the cards did - is that normal? I mean, isn't that the point of having these cards, so that I will leave my CPU relatively unstressed? Now, I know to expect some hit to the meters (I would have assumed maybe ten to fiftenn percent), but not an overload. Mind you, I did not have any native plug ins or instruments running at all - just each card alone, by itself. I discovered that a fully taxed Powercore equalled a fully taxed CPU and a fully taxed UAD left my meters hovering around the 80% mark. And not just one meter, but both CPU's! I have tried all of the posted tips and tricks (increasing the I/O buffer, changing the PoCo settings per the TC site, etc) and ultimately I am very dissapointed. Am I delusional for believing that I should have better performance? Perpetually seeking more power, Mike