Can my PC Handle Pro Tools 8 LE?

[Tritono9]

Hey,

I have an Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2,6 Mhz AMD K8, Nvidia Geforce 6100 nForce 405 (256 mb) integrated, 2 Gb Ddr2 ram, 2 HD 7200 RPM, Windows XP SP3.

Do you think my setup can handle PT LE 8 with a Digi 003 rack?

For now I dont need a huge number of tracks. I will use some plugins like reverbs and Superior Drummer 2.0. In the future I will upgrade motherboard and processor.

Tell me what you think. Thank you.

Here is a Sandra report:

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
Speed : 2.61GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 1MB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

Computer
Platform Compliance : AMD LIVE!
Mainboard : NF-MCP61
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/23/2007
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 1.75GB DIMM DDR2

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron HT Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1GHz (2GHz)
Total Memory : 2GB DIMM DDR2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 373MHz (746MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Buffalo 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-23-6-3)
Memory Module : Buffalo 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-23-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405 (4 PS3.0, 1 VS3.0, 256MB, PCI)

Storage Devices
WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (E:)
WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (C:)
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 599MB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 8468rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 8468rpm, NCQ, 32MB Cache)
WINXPVOL_ES (D:) : 599MB (CDFS) @ HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ECS MCP61 LPC Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : ITE IT8726F
Audio Device : ECS MCP61 High Definition Audio
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor Realtek 662 High Definition Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ECS MCP61 IDE
Disk Controller : ECS MCP61 SATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : ECS MCP61 USB Controller
USB Controller 2 : ECS MCP61 USB Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : nVidia MCP5+ SMBus 1
SMBus/i2c Controller 2 : nVidia MCP5+ SMBus 2

Printers and Faxes
Printer : SolidPDFConverter (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Canon MP490 series Printer (USB, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Minipuerto del administrador de paquetes (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 3)
Platform Compliance : x86

Performance Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[rqstudio]

Yes, I think it could according to your first sentence. "I have an Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2,6 Mhz AMD K8, Nvidia Geforce 6100 nForce 405 (256 mb) integrated, 2 Gb Ddr2 ram, 2 HD 7200 RPM, Windows XP SP3" This should run, but for some reason Digi stopped qualifing AMD's.You may need some minor tweaking but 2 7200 drives and 256mg video card are two of the things you definitely need to run properly.Give it a try.

[Tritono9]

rqstudio Thank you.

Im confused because I found this information:
____
AMD Desktop Processors
The AMD processors listed below were used by Beta Sites during Pro Tools 8.0 development. They were not tested by Digidesign Engineering but are considered compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0 for Windows:
* AMD Athlon™ 64
* AMD Athlon™ 64 FX
* AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core
* AMD Opteron™

Notes:
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core requires the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer
* Pro Tools 8 uses certain SSE instructions for drawing and other performance critical code. We have found that some older models of AMD chips from the Athlon 64 X2 (Athlon X2, AMD K9) family do not support specific SSE instructions used by Pro Tools, even though they claim to be SSE compliant. On these AMD computers, Pro Tools 8 will not launch. Unfortunately, this issue is not something we think can be fixed on our end, given the amount of custom recoding and testing that would be required. Current AMD chips and those manufactured in the last few years do support these SSE instructions.
* Although not tested, there have been reports of incompatibility from some users with Pro Tools and motherboards with the NVIDIA nForce 405, nForce 410, and nForce 430 graphics chipsets:
NVIDEA Motherboard GPU Technical Specifications
____

I have a Nvidia 405 and something in my AMD is K8. What do you think?

There are some users with a setup like me?

Thank you for your time.

J.P.

[browniespeaks]

at home i run an amd 4800+ im on the infiniti sli mobo with the nvidia chipset. Needed optimisation but tuns solid at the moment. Its allways a crap shoot when I add something new. Can run only 1 instance of trillian and reason before cpu becomes a prob.

[rqstudio]

I hadn't read that but as I said I know Digi has stopped qualifying AMD's. On the other hand I've always had good luck with them. Don't know if you'll ever get a definite yes or no.

[sunburst79]

From personnel experience (2 different Nvidea 6100 series machines) and from numerous DUC posts the NVIDEA 61xx series chipsets with Integrated Graphics are pretty much a no go with Pro Tools. Even after adding a dedicated graphics card.

The AMD processor its self is probably just fine.

By most acounts the later 7series ATI/AMD chipsets are working fine.

[Tritono9]

Thanks for your help.

Bad news for me, bad news.

Any one here are using Nvidias 6100 in your PC sucessfully?

Sunburst: with the Nvidia, when you get crashes? I need a few tracks and a few plugins, nothing demanding at all, from your experience, even with light use do you think I could have problems?

[albee1952]

On board video is likely to be a deal breaker(but its usually simple to disable that and install a cheap graphics card, so check your motherboard for an AGP, PCI-e or PCI slot where you could install a card). The Athlon may work with PT8 but if it doesn't, I bet it will with 7(which does work with multi-core systems. I was trying to install 8 on my older AMD 4400+ system and could not get it to work, but 7 runs just fine.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by Tritono9

Thanks for your help.

Bad news for me, bad news.

Any one here are using Nvidias 6100 in your PC sucessfully?

Sunburst: with the Nvidia, when you get crashes? I need a few tracks and a few plugins, nothing demanding at all, from your experience, even with light use do you think I could have problems?

It would error out as soon as you pressed play. No amount of BIOS tweaking or system settings seemed to remedy it. Some chipsets just dont play well with Pro Tools.

Its a shame as generally speaking the 6100 series stuff made for a pleasant desktop computing experience. Theres a reason that the OEMs were using it on entry level computers.

If my memory serves the first build was with 7.4 and didn't work and the latest one was with 8.0. I added a nVidea 6600 video card to the first build but it didnt make any difference.

The good news that you can pick up AMD based mother boards very cheaply and swap your old parts over. Pick the right new board and you can swap in a 6 core CPU down the road. The earlier nForce 4 and 5 series also worked well with PT FWIW. I'm fairly sure the nForce 5 series is both PCIe and DDR2 so you could reuse your DDR2 memory.

[Tritono9]

Thank for your help.

Im glad that I know it before the buy.

I need a new motherboard to use Pro Tools correctly, right? this is the only incompatibility of my equipment?

I know I need a better processor and more ram but I cant afford everything at once. I only can afford a motherboard for now. I want Pro Tools so I will buy it.

Please help me in this.

What I should consider? What are the specific requirements? what I should take into consideration to achieve compatibility?

Thank you!

J.P.