hard drives SSD?+ HDX + Win7 or MAC ?

[badman62]

Hi all
I have a friend who wants to purchase a setup that comes with
HDX, PT11 , 2 hard drives (Pacific Pro), and wants to go with a MAC
He is not that technical far as computer savy
(thats why he wants the MAC)
But i am.
I am wondering if i could build him a system cheaper
but i dont know that much about audio systems like this.

First question is ...
Does the hard drive have to be special to handle
lower noise ratio or something ?
Can i use an SSD with USB 3.0 or SATA or?

Also,
Why do most people using this, use a MAC ?

I am pretty computer savy and worked as a tech for a few years.
I just dont want him to spend 20k on a system that he can get the same performance for much less.
This IS for work, he rents out systems, records bands, does sound etc...
So it definitely needs to be a prof setup

He is actually using soundscape on a WIN95 machine because
he said there were no updates.
The way it sounds windows op system, doesnt play much into it

thanks
Brad

[Craig F]

Will you be doing his hardware support for him? if not Mac is the better way to go
It can be done, there is a thread on i7 builds

hard drives need to have a minium seek time and throughput ability, WD Blacks are a good choice Mac or Windows
my preference order is:
SATA
eSATA
USB3(win)/WF(mac)

SSDs work but when you braked down the $ per GB platters are the better deal
now a SSD for the System drive is a good idea and if he is going to have a lost of sample based Virtual instruments a dedicated drive fro the samples is recommended and is also were an SSD can shine

Pro Tools started as Mac only and the Mac is easier for non-technical people to maintain

[badman62]

Hi Craig,
Will you be doing his hardware support for him?

Well, thats kinda up in the air.He will be going from New Orleans
to Seattle on a regular basis
In New Orleans i can, in Seattle, i can help him over the phone,
but often, that doesnt work...
I will talk to him about that.

He said people told him he needed a special hard drive
http://www.pacificproaudio.com/drives.asp
these guys made it for audio.

I used WD blacks for years, luv them...
just want to make sure it can do what he needs ?


Also even if he buys a MAC i need to know what specs he needs
he wanted a 12 core, but i told him theres no reason for that
right ? is 4 good enough? like i-7 quad ?
im guessing proc speed is crucial, as well as good RAM ?

thanks much !
Brad

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by badman62

Hi all
I have a friend who wants to purchase a setup that comes with
HDX, PT11 , 2 hard drives (Pacific Pro), and wants to go with a MAC
He is not that technical far as computer savy
(thats why he wants the MAC)
But i am.
I am wondering if i could build him a system cheaper
but i dont know that much about audio systems like this.

First question is ...
Does the hard drive have to be special to handle
lower noise ratio or something ?
Can i use an SSD with USB 3.0 or SATA or?

Also,
Why do most people using this, use a MAC ?

I am pretty computer savy and worked as a tech for a few years.
I just dont want him to spend 20k on a system that he can get the same performance for much less.
This IS for work, he rents out systems, records bands, does sound etc...
So it definitely needs to be a prof setup

He is actually using soundscape on a WIN95 machine because
he said there were no updates.
The way it sounds windows op system, doesnt play much into it

thanks
Brad

At one time Mac was the dominant computer power and OS wise. This held true till about 2003 or so when the G5 was released and then never updated. Power wise PC's flew by Macs. This continued until apple dropped IBM and signed with intel giving Mac the same architecture and processing power possibilitys of a PC. Currently though, Mac is in another holding pattern and again unless you go hackintosh, Macs are again far behind in processing power.

I say all of this to say, that most of us over 30 engineers almost had to learn on a Mac. I never touched a PC until years after working on Macs. Many standards were established during this time. Software was built around Macs, studios both audio and video were built around Mac. It's only been the last few years where PC's are entering more of a "mainstream" prescense. But many engineers know Mac and are comfortable there, so why change?? Also in the past they required less tweaking or are not as capable for tweaking depending on how you look at it.

Things have changed massively though and hardly any mainstream software is only one platform, parts are interchangeable between them, and run on the same architecture. The differences have dwindled and as Mac has but dropped support on the pro market as they are lagging behind terribly in power and no word or hint on updating it. Mac OS updates commonly break software and obviously far more expensive. These are areas where PC's dominate. For way under half the cost you can build a computer that is quite a bit more powerful than any Mac on the market. They can easily have parts swapped and upgraded, and OS updates are far less of an issue and rarely problematic.

Once it is up and going and dialed in, support should not be much of an issue.

Yes, regular old WD blacks w 64mb cache are great drives and work like a charm.

For build ideas, link from around here to the last page will be lots of 3930k based builds that are killer!!!

Feel free to get one spec'd and ask questions.

[CLASS-A-DUDI TAMIR]

After a lot of questions here in the Forum and Help
This week I purchased a PC forum guidelines.

I am now waiting for HDX system I ordered (just a few more days arrive).

When I put together the system I will tell you my impressions - whether everything works properly.
MAC computer would cost me 3 times .... this has no justification if everything will work without a problem.
And the same for the HP brand computer.


Processor - Intel Core i7-3930K Box
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3
System Disk - SSD Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Sata 3
Disc projects/samples - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX
Memories - G.Skill DDR3 F3-12800CL9Q-32GBZL
Video Card - Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 OC 2GB GDDR5
Power Supply - Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2EU TX850 V2
CPU fan - CoolerMaster TPC 812
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64Bit OEM English

[CME]

I started on Macs. Then built a hackintosh. Now I have a laptop that I'm trying to install osx on. And it's not going as smooth. So I'm trying out windows on it. So far it seems to be working out well. My biggest issue is my main interface is mac only. So I'm using a little two channel USB interface for now. (I mostly edit and mix stuff these days). So as far as OS goes, that's mostly a matter of preference.

Now as far as specs go. Yes a quad-core will have a lot of power. A 6-core even better. Dual CPUs would be awesome. There's an asus dual socket 2011 board I've been wanting to find a way to justify a build around. So it really depends on what his needs are. But to be the most future proof, I would build the most powerful machine I could afford. But that's just my opinion and it's easy to spend someone else's money.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by CLASS-A-DUDI TAMIR

After a lot of questions here in the Forum and Help
This week I purchased a PC forum guidelines.

I am now waiting for HDX system I ordered (just a few more days arrive).

When I put together the system I will tell you my impressions - whether everything works properly.
MAC computer would cost me 3 times .... this has no justification if everything will work without a problem.
And the same for the HP brand computer.


Processor - Intel Core i7-3930K Box
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3
System Disk - SSD Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Sata 3
Disc projects/samples - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX
Memories - G.Skill DDR3 F3-12800CL9Q-32GBZL
Video Card - Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 OC 2GB GDDR5
Power Supply - Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2EU TX850 V2
CPU fan - CoolerMaster TPC 812
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64Bit OEM English

That will be a beast of a machine and for a Mac that would cost you 3x's the price, it still would not be no where as powerful.

I can not tell for sure is that you have separate WD blacks for your samples and audio, your not partitioning them. Good job not skimping on the power supply either!!

My last thought is that I am not sure if that 2gb of ram video card will cause a slight performance hit in PT 10 due to the OS setting aside half of that in the system and if that will take away available ram to PT. will not be an issue with 11 since its a full 64 bit app.

Other than that, take your time on your build if its your first and don't rush. Research how to set your cpu properly, applying thermal paste properly, and verify if you need to set your CPU cooler before you screw down your mb or not. Bios tweaks are in the first page of the I7 thread. Hold delete on launch to get in the bios. Have fun!!

[CLASS-A-DUDI TAMIR]

1 - Even if the Mac will be stronger by 15% ... (maybe) there is no justification to pay 3 times when you are working on HDX Card + PROTOOLS 11. And also my sense NATIVE card

2 - Yes, I have a separate WD samples, projects files.

3 - about 2GB Video Card: I'm currently running PROTOOLS 9 with MBOX 2 (because my computer broke down and I go to the PC) and it works faster than
PROTOOLS HD3 on a Mac 5 years ago ...

Other than that, take your time on your build if its your first and don't rush. Research how to set your cpu properly, applying thermal paste properly, and verify if you need to set your CPU cooler before you screw down your mb or not. Bios tweaks are in the first page of the I7 thread. Hold delete on launch to get in the bios. Have fun!!

For this section - I'd love to know if I really need to change settings beyond what is listed
Site of steamed for optimizing windows 7

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by CLASS-A-DUDI TAMIR

1 - Even if the Mac will be stronger by 15% ... (maybe) there is no justification to pay 3 times when you are working on HDX Card + PROTOOLS 11. And also my sense NATIVE card

2 - Yes, I have a separate WD samples, projects files.

3 - about 2GB Video Card: I'm currently running PROTOOLS 9 with MBOX 2 (because my computer broke down and I go to the PC) and it works faster than
PROTOOLS HD3 on a Mac 5 years ago ...



For this section - I'd love to know if I really need to change settings beyond what is listed
Site of steamed for optimizing windows 7

Macs Pro's are now at over 3 years since a significant upgrade. There best case scenario would be that PC's are ONLY 15% faster!! You could hackintosh it though if your into the OS.

The OS sets aside half of the size of your video card ram on the systems ram. so a 2gb vid card is losing 1gb of system ram. In a 64 bit enviroment with a 32 bit app, i cant remember for sure if that 1gb is going to affect your available ram in PT. I know it would on a 32 bit OS.

The Bios settings I mentioned are completely different from the W7 optimizations. The W7 optimizations need to be done but the Bios settings are as equally or more important.

[CLASS-A-DUDI TAMIR]

I'd be happy if you specify what am I supposed to change the settings of the Bios settings ...?