Should I add a FW 800 Card to my Windows PC?

[hammerransom]

I just ordered the new Mbox Pro and the PT9 Cross-grade. I am upgrading from a USB Mbox 2 and PT 8 LE.

I am using a pretty old (2006) Dell XPS 400 and am in the process of adding a PCI card with 2 FW 800 and 1 FW 400 ports because I have read that FW is way better than USB 2.0.

I was going over the system requirements for PT9 and saw where the FW cards were specifically recommended for MAC but wasn't mentioned for Windows based systems, am I reading too much into that? Is it ok to reconfigure my PC to use the 1394 FW card for better performance with PT or is that a bad move?

Im not running Windows 7 (Im using XP Media Center - yes I know, not ideal), but I saw that the 1394 FW cards could have compatibility issues with Windows 7.

I also need either an external hard drive or a separate internal hard drive to dedicate to recording... what is the best way to go and what are some good options?

Obviously Im pretty new to the technical side of this, any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by hammerransom

I just ordered the new Mbox Pro and the PT9 Cross-grade. I am upgrading from a USB Mbox 2 and PT 8 LE.

I am using a pretty old (2006) Dell XPS 400 and am in the process of adding a PCI card with 2 FW 800 and 1 FW 400 ports because I have read that FW is way better than USB 2.0.

I was going over the system requirements for PT9 and saw where the FW cards were specifically recommended for MAC but wasn't mentioned for Windows based systems, am I reading too much into that? Is it ok to reconfigure my PC to use the 1394 FW card for better performance with PT or is that a bad move?

Im not running Windows 7 (Im using XP Media Center - yes I know, not ideal), but I saw that the 1394 FW cards could have compatibility issues with Windows 7.

I also need either an external hard drive or a separate internal hard drive to dedicate to recording... what is the best way to go and what are some good options?

Obviously Im pretty new to the technical side of this, any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

Go internal on the drive. The FW cards you saw should be for PC not Mac. Most Macs already have FW ports.

Make sure do the recommended system optimzations for XP. Your milege varies with Windows Media Center. I've never had problems. Others have.

[hammerransom]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

Go internal on the drive. The FW cards you saw should be for PC not Mac. Most Macs already have FW ports.

Make sure do the recommended system optimzations for XP. Your milege varies with Windows Media Center. I've never had problems. Others have.

Thanks. What specifically would be a good option on the hard drive?

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by hammerransom

Thanks. What specifically would be a good option on the hard drive?

32MB cache Western Digital Black. Avoid the "Green" drives.

The WD I mentioned is a SATA drive. You should have a look inside your machine to ensure it has SATA ports. If its an IDE Machine your choices are going to be pretty limited. I'm guessing however that its SATA.

[jita1]

From the pictures I've seen, the new Mbox Pro doesn't have any USB ports, only two FireWire. The Mbox is also FW400 so it won't benefit you to go 800 unless you're going to have FW800 devices in the chain, like an external HD.

[hammerransom]

Originally Posted by jita1

From the pictures I've seen, the new Mbox Pro doesn't have any USB ports, only two FireWire. The Mbox is also FW400 so it won't benefit you to go 800 unless you're going to have FW800 devices in the chain, like an external HD.

Good call on the USB thing... forgot about that. As far as the 400 to 800... it is my understanding that the mbox pro ships with an 800 to 400 adapter cable, so in theory that shouldn't matter about having FW800 ports on the PC. The card I'm considering however, has 2 fw800 and 1 fw400.

[jita1]

Originally Posted by hammerransom

Good call on the USB thing... forgot about that. As far as the 400 to 800... it is my understanding that the mbox pro ships with an 800 to 400 adapter cable, so in theory that shouldn't matter about having FW800 ports on the PC. The card I'm considering however, has 2 fw800 and 1 fw400.

Yep, you're right. I forgot that your card has both 400 and 800. You are all set. You should be able to plug the Mbox directly into your 400 port, without having to daisy chain it with 800 devices you might have.