Is this compatible?
 

I'm about to be a new user of Pro Tools LE, and I have some compatibility questions(I've not decided on either the Mbox or Digi 002 yet, so if there are two answers please give both).

1. The nForce4 chipsets. Does Pro Tools have any specific problems on them?

2 4 gigs of RAM. Will Pro Tools be able to handle it?

3. RAID 0. Are they ****** serious about no RAID?

4. SLI. How about two video cards, guys?

5. I'll be using an AMD Athlon 64 3500+. Will Pro Tools run on Windows 64-bit edition or should
I stick with 32-bit Windows?

Final Question: Are their plans on 64-bit Pro Tools? If so, what are the details and when will it come out?

I'll appreciate a response.

Re: Is this compatible?
 

Between Mbox and 002, its no contest. Mbox is a great songwriter's tool and that's it. 002 allows for low latency mode(worth the price of admission) and lots of inputs and outputs(up to 18 of each!). If you plan on ALWAYS working solo-Mbox is fine with its 2 inputs and 2 outputs ONLY! If you EVER want to work with a live drum kit, band or more than a single player at a time-002 is absolutley the way to go.

First-read the thread on "best PC" and stick to it like glue. That way you are practically guarenteed to have a solid and dependable system. Deviate and you take your chances.

4 gigs of RAM won't make much difference unless you plan to run a boatload of softsynths and samplers. I noticed no change from 1 gig to 2 gig but I do not use softsynths and samplers(yet).

They are serious about RAID BUT some people are using it with success. As long as you back up your sessions and save constantly(both good ideas), you may never need it.

Why 2 video cards? Generally, 2 monitors are plenty(especially if you can afford a pair of 21" or larger LCD's). Lots of AGP video cards will run 2 monitors.

Stick with the 32bit version of XP for now. If you can afford it, get the "clawhammer" version of the cpu(1 gig L2 cache).

Rumor has it that PT7 may take advantage of 64 bit but its not there yet. Meanwhile, load up XP and start making music.

Re: Is this compatible?
 

hmm

1. The nForce4 chipsets. Does Pro Tools have any specific problems on them?
I'm sure it will.

2 4 gigs of RAM. Will Pro Tools be able to handle it?
From what i've seen they dont' recommend over 1.5 or 2gbs... I don't understand why.. but thats what I've seen.
3. RAID 0. Are they ****** serious about no RAID?
I'm pretty srue they are serious.. and why would you really want raid? You're not going to be writing more then 16 tracks at a time or playing back 32... and a 7200rpmATA66 can handle that. And if its for back-up.. get a DVD burner and burn your session when your all done. I have 2 SATA150's and i had hopes for striping them.. but everyone said that it woudl be a waste. eh.. whatever...
4. SLI. How about two video cards, guys?
I don't see why this woudlnt' work...
5. I'll be using an AMD Athlon 64 3500+. Will Pro Tools run on Windows 64-bit edition or should
I stick with 32-bit Windows?
Protools will install on the 64-bit windows.. driuvers must be 64bit.. which they aren't.. so stick wiht a 32-bit install.

And I also would liek to knwo if Protools is going to 64-bit with the release of 7 or whatever... and aslo if it will support dual proccessors.. I will be highly gipped if they don't because they think people will stop buying HD systmes... because I'm sure if we had dual core AMD 64's or Dual CPU P4's with hyperthreading and 64bit.. that it woudl be as powerful of atleast an HD1 or 2... and would be a difference of about 8g's...

Well.. thats my 2 cents.. Wait for Doc, Cavell or any of the others with over 1000 posts to come along.

Jonny

Re: Is this compatible?
 

Thanks for the reply.
for the athlon 64, I'll be using the San Diego core, which is currently the high-end version of the socket 939 boards. I'll downgrade to 2 gigs of ram, and i guess I'll be taking a chance in using the nForce4 chipsets. And If I were to use RAID, it would be striping RAID(simultaneous disk access, instead of backup), not mirror. so yep...reply in a bit if you will.

Re: Is this compatible?
 

I wanted to stripe my drives too. ANd I also have the sandiego.. but mines the 3700+ and i stuck with the 1gb ram like the recommended. my drives also have 4.2ms seektime on them which from what i've seen is about half of the normal. I dont' see WHY striping wouldn't work... I thought it was totally bios driven.. so windows won't knwo the difference... so I say.. try it out.. do some tests.. and see if it works.. I'd be very interested to see how it goes. Because from what I knwo from moremal computer use it works basically twice as fast for writing and reading.. so instead of 1.5gb/sec for my drives it would be 3gb.. kinda like dual channel memory.. but dual channel Harddrives.... Atleast I thought it was a good idea. ha ha. let me know how it goes.

Jonny

Re: Is this compatible?
 

I'm buying two identical drives, so i'll test it out, but i probably wont be able to make a good observation, seeing as how ive never used protools before. but we'll see. Oh and i meant to say 3700, because they dont even make 3500 san diegos

Re: Is this compatible?
 

right... lol.. 3400 and 3700 and higher.. as soon as protools goes 64bit and dual processor i'm going to get a 4200 64 x2

Re: Is this compatible?
 

Sounds like a plan, except that they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO expensive. Let me know how that works out. You could also check out dual opterons.

Re: Is this compatible?
 

dual oprterons (with single cores) aren't as fast as the dual core athlon 64 x2 4200+... and its not THAT epensive.. like 600.. my chip was 350.. by the time protools acctually supports it and windows is 64 bit officially its going to be dropped to about 350 anyways.. But dual opterons with dual cores.. that would be pretty rediculous.. quad processor for protools(if it supported it in the futer) and 64bit on all threads(if it supports it) would be rediculous...

Jonny

Re: Is this compatible?
 

Any luck with the RAID0? I was about to try installing PTLE, but I am running a 3x200GB SATA150 RAID0 for my non-system drive. Have you gotten RAID0 to work at all?