tell me how this system sounds...

[Moogyboy]

hey all

Actually, it's the one I'm in the process of building right now, but I wanted to get yall's opinion. I decided that a decent/fast/powerful Mac system was out of my reach (sniffle) so I've started piecing together a PC instead. I eventually want to use the thing for video editing--once I either get my crapped-out camcorder fixed, or get another one, aaagh--but my immediate goal involves my other passion, audio recording. I'm hoping that this machine will be something of a desktop multimedia studio eventually, so you'll hopefully someday see a Moogyboy vacation video, complete with original score

Aaanyway...

definites so far:
AOpen AK77 motherboard / VIA KT600 chipset
AMD AthlonXP 2800+ (Barton) 2.08 gHz

remaining to be purchased:
at least 1 gB RAM
80-120 gB hard drive
some kind of basic Firewire card
some kind of video card, possibly with 2 VGA outputs (need yer input on this one)
I'd be thrilled to have at least one 17-19" LCD monitor.

No idea about the intricacies of software, except that I vaguely hope that Adobe Premiere is available for Windows.

I do hope that the AthlonXP is a decent processor to base a system like this on; I suspect there will be some Pentium partisans on here, and those saying that the XP is dead and I should be going for an Athlon 64 or something. Oh well...

Please exuse me if this seems like a somewhat pointless post, I'm trying to get my head back into this subject after a long layover.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[MikeC]

I would look at a faster CPU. You would need a bigger hard drive. One option is to install an 80 or 120 for Windows and programs and then install a removeable drive tray like this from CompUSA. Start with a 200GB, then you can buy 200 GB drives when you need them. Some motherboards have firewire on them. As for the video card, check the specs for the software you will be using.

Why LCD's? I still like the picture quality of a GOOD CRT over a LCD anyday.

 

[Moogyboy]

I agree about CRTs...plus they're cheaper now that they're out of style. But I rather like the light weight and dimensions of LCDs, I guess. Especially if I want to do the dual monitor thing. My Mac has an old Sony 20" Trinitron monitor, and lemme tell you, the less I have to move that thing the happier my back is. Good call on the hard drive configuration ideas; that removable tray is a great idea.

As for the CPU speed...gawd, 2.08 gHz is already "slow"?

Thanks for the info!

cheers

Billy S.

 

[diversteve]

I agree about CRTs...plus they're cheaper now that they're out of style. But I rather like the light weight and dimensions of LCDs, I guess. Especially if I want to do the dual monitor thing. My Mac has an old Sony 20" Trinitron monitor, and lemme tell you, the less I have to move that thing the happier my back is. Good call on the hard drive configuration ideas; that removable tray is a great idea.

As for the CPU speed...gawd, 2.08 gHz is already "slow"?

Thanks for the info!

cheers

Billy S.

You can probably re-use the Sony Trinitron with your new PC if desired. If you're going to buy a Digital LCD, then you'll need a DVI output on your video card. Any of the better ones now come with both VGA and DVI and you can use them both under XP. So you could have an analog monitor for your video and use the LCD for your controls, especially with Premiere.

Premiere Pro 1.5 runs under/is optimized for XP. I wouldn't consider any other o/s. Here's the minimum system requirements for Premiere, but I'd double all these at least.

System requirements

Windows

Intel® Pentium® III 800MHz processor (Pentium 4 3GHz recommended)

Microsoft® Windows XP

256MB of RAM (1GB or more recommended)

800MB of available hard-disk space for installation

Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound support recommended)

CD-ROM drive, CD recorder (CD-R/-RW) required for CD creation

DVD recorder (DVD-R/RW+R/RW) required for export to DVD

1,280x1,024 32-bit color video display adapter (OpenGL card recommended)

For DV: OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 interface and dedicated 7200rpm UDMA 66 IDE or SCSI hard disk

I'd add a second drive to your computer for video storage only also, either an external as was suggested or an internal. Get a 7200 RPM drive. Or two. The AOpen AK77/600 board supports SATA drives which are the latest rage. And it also supports Raid 0, 1 and 0+1 mirroring so you can do that later for redundancy if desired.

Do get a separate smaller disk for the operating system and applications though, that way you can convert any/all of the other disks to Raid if desired in the future. I have XP, all the Adobe programs, all the better Microsoft products, sound editors, DVD programs, Web design programs(my work) and lots of MP3's all stored on a 60GB drive with about 20GB free.

Probably be a good idea to get at least an 8X DVD burner, Double Layer too. Right now double layer DVD's are too high but the technology will catch up over the next year. Any of the above $50 DVD players can now read double layer DVD's so that's something to plan for.

And get lots of memory, Adobe products like memory. For a little extra $$, I'd probably buy XP Pro instead of XP home if I had the choice.

Firewire is already on the board so you don't need an external card. Get a good, but not great 8X AGP video card. Unless you're going to play games, there's no reason to pay for cutting edge technology for video editing. Premiere does just fine with an ATI Radeon, or get an All-in-Wonder with a TV/Video Monitor output. I like having a separate small TV monitor to view output. I recently shot some video zoomed out too wide so the edge of the port is visible during editing, but when I view it on the TV, it looks fine since broadcast overscanning pushes it out of the frame. I was going to junk the footage but now can use it. YMMV if you have an LCD/Plasma TV.

I wouldn't worry about 64 bit Athlon's and P4's just yet. I don't think Microsoft has even formally released 64bit Windows XP yet.

Welcome to the dark side - Mac user...

Steve

 

[immersed]

What Steve said.

I used to be an ATI guy, but I've come to prefer nVidia cards over ATI - especially for dual monitors. I had an ATI card in computer at work and it drove me nuts (the way they implement the dual monitors in software). You can get an nVidia card with dual monitor (with one of the sockets being DVI) for $100-$150. He does have a good point about the monitor-out on an all-in-wonder card, though.

For video work any processor is slow. I have an AMD 2800XP and final output from Premiere takes hours to render - seems to me it's generally somewhere between 2-6 times the length of the piece.

 

[nshon]

lots of MP3's all stored on a 60GB drive with about 20GB free.

Well you need more MP3s then don't you?

You'd only need XP Pro if you want IIS (web server, only limited connections anyway), need to join a Windows domain and multi-CPU support. There are other features but these will be the main reason(s) for getting XP Pro.

Add more RAM, if budget does not allow buy 1x512MB instead of 2x256MB(or 1x1GB instead of 2x512MB) so you have room for upgrades later.

 

[MikeC]

BTW, you can download a free 30 day trial version of Premiere from Adobe's web site. Do not try downloading it unless you have DSL or a cable modem, it is a 168MB file.

 

[chuck e]

As long as you are still assembling and are leaning to PPro, check out a Matrox card. www.matrox.com. It comes bundled with full versions of Adobe PPro, Audition, and Encore. You can edit in real time and view results on the fly with a TV or monitor.

 

[Moogyboy]

hey folkz

Here's an update on my soon-to-be multimedia computer. It now consists of the following pieces:

Dynapower(?) Bein series mid-tower case w/ 430W PSU
AMD AthlonXP 2800+ Barton processor 2.08 gHz
Abit KW7 motherboard, VIA Kt880 chipset (pending, see below)
Rosewill 1 gb RAM module
Sapphire/ATI Radeon 9550 video card, 256 mb RAM, AGP 8X
inexpensive USB/Firewire card, PCI
inexpensive 56k modem, PCI
one or two 17" CRT monitors (may try to do a dual monitor setup)
thrift store Compaq keyboard/thrift store Dell keyboard/dumpster IBM keyboard
Belkin mouse
Windows XP Home, OEM version

also:
Canon Optura 10 miniDV camcorder

Why an Abit motherboard now, instead of the AOpen AK77-600N that I had first? Well, last Thursday night I assembled all the pieces of the computer that I had, and Saturday morning I installed WinXP, and suddenly I had a working PC. I then spent all Saturday playing with it, installing drivers, raided Micro Center and the VOA thrift store for the remaining little pieces. I tried to figure out why it was seeing a 2.08 gHz CPU as only 1.65 gHz maximum. I got it online. I downloaded some things from AOpen's website. Including a BIOS update. Which I stupidly attempted to install.

As you techies may know--and as I didn't--the AK77-600N's BIOS chip is soldered in. Which is not a good thing if your BIOS update goes kaplooey. AClosed, permanently.

Fortunately I'm out only $50-odd. The KW7 is about the same price, but WITH up to 4 gb RAM and SATA. All I'm giving up is one PCI slot. With the Abit I'm getting a better board, I think. It should be coming today or tomorrow. Stay tuna'd.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[Moogyboy]

Incidentally, since my video-software thread I've gravitated decisively toward Premiere Elements based on what I've read as well as my own Adobephilia.

cheers

Billy S.