Switching to Windows From Mac

[mftorso]

Hello all,
As I cannot afford a mac pro nor the swapping of my HD2 Accel cards to PCI-express I'm thinking of getting in to a windows system which would easily give me 5 PCI slots ( I have 2 UAD-1 cards in my G4 MDD Dual 1.25) and a major boost in processing power. I suspect heat will be less an issue internally as well.
I work at a small radio station and use LE on Windows and despite it being a modest system it's rock solid but for my home system I'm seriously considering the switch.

Can I get folks thoughts on the switch and problems I could face?

Much appreciation!

Mark

[Eric Seaberg]

Our facility has 4-PTHD systems running on Macs, and they've been FLAWLESS for 5+ years. We recently built an HDTV remote truck with an SSL console and PT HD4 system running on an HP8600 and Windows XP.

We put a Windows system in the truck because of the following:
1. Enough slots for 1 Core and 3 Accel cards without an expansion rack
2. Enough space for 4 1TB drives for audio
3. Rack mount system for it to remain horizontal, saving LOTS of rack space
4. Easy interface with the on-board AVID Nitris system, also on Windows

I've been a Mac user since 1986 and know them better than anything! I'm not at a loss on Windows, either, but can easily see that the issues with ProTools on a PC have to do TOTALLY with the OS. There are so many little picky things to go through just to get USB accessories to work, i.e. "new device discovered. Looking for drivers!". Give me a break!!!


To be honest, if I had it to do over again, I would've stuck with a Mac PRO and keep it an HD3 system. There is SO MUCH MORE you get with the Mac OS that we take for granted, and it will bite you in the butt your first week on Windows. ProTools, once it's running, will be almost identical. It's EVERYTHING ELSE that changes so much!


My $.02.

Good luck... IMHO, the cost difference isn't worth the difference.

[mftorso]

Thanks Eric!
Anyone else?

[JimC]

I have had two people change from windows to mac. They had more trouble with windows in one year then I have on my mac in ten years.

Windows will cost you more tine and trouble then you would like.

[M-ManLA]

Is the problems really with Windows, or is it the MOTHERBOARD maybe. Lots of people say Windows but a lot of times they could of spend an extra $30 and gotten a workstation motherboard that would handle the system response better. Like does your network controller connects via a PCI bus (Which I found out the hard way) Also your hard drive can also matter. Make sure you defrag those puppies, especially the main drive.

I want a new mobo, but otherwise after some tiny tweaks (that you can find on the site), PT runs fine, In Vista too.

Also can be at fault is the Cards positioning. Macs like you to start with the HD Core card closest to the GPU. Windows like them from the farthest of your GPU. It is the way they are built.

But if you absolutely have to blame it on the OS, then it is because there is no 64bit drivers out for XP/Vista on Pro Tools. Macs are using the 64 bit code, which you can add more than 3.5GB of RAM in your machine ( Certain hardware can also make this number smaller, like your GPU that might take a gig for memory, so get a good card and watch other hardware), deliver information to the memory faster, and is better at working in a multicore/multithreaded enviornment since 32bits was never really programmed for more than one core. Intel and AMD just added support for it down the line on their CPU, and Microsoft had to right the EMT64 code extension for it.

Now with that said, If you can hold off I would wait until the new Windows 7 machines come out. They will natively be 64bits out of the box, and most likely cheaper. Avid Digidesign already added their support for the New OS in 64 bits as well as Apple's Upcoming Snow Leopard.


PS the new Nehalem systems I heard are MONSTERS for LE. I would look into those.

[vudoo]

mftorso,

I was in the same situation as you a few months back. I end up getting an approve HP workstation. It's an HP XW4600 quad core 2.8 Ghz, 4 Gb ram. I'm running an HD3 with 192 i/o and Procontrol+Edit pack + Fader pack.
I've since mixed several music and film projects. On the film project, we're talking well above 160 tracks of audio with EQ/comp on at least half of them and the odd Noise reduction plugs, all this with full HD video @ 1920 ( uncompressed 8 bits and DVCpro CODEC )playing back on the same computer using the DVI output.
It ran flawlessly 10-12 hrs/day. I have two other similar set up on a MacPro and i really don't notice any difference between the MacPro and the Windows machine. The only difference was that i paid $ 800 for the PC computer Personally, i could not care less what OS i'm using because once you're in the app, it's basically all the same other than getting use to the keyboard shortcut.
Just get one of the approve PC and you should be good. Good Luck.

[mftorso]

Thanks to you all for the comments. I've something to chew on before making a move.

mark

[Eric Seaberg]

Originally Posted by M-ManLA

Is the problems really with Windows, or is it the MOTHERBOARD maybe.

Our Windows system is an HP8600 workstation configured by one of the premier Digi resellers in the States. They knew exactly what we were doing with it and built it for that purpose alone... nothing else! Extra Windows fluff was NOT installed and Digi techs came down from the 'motherland' and installed PT8 before the official release date, blessing it as they left.

It's all about the OS, IMHO. Of course your milage may vary, but I've had more trouble with this one Windows XP system in 6-months than I have with 4-Mac systems over the last 5+ years!

I'll still keep the Windows system where it is, but only because it was the best choice for that installation and NOT because it's a better system.

[Bob Olhsson]

I had an easier time setting up an XP system than I did going from Mac system 9 to X.

[Eric Seaberg]

HA!! Amen to that, Bob! But XP was probably easier because you HAD gone through OSX already, yes?