Protools 8 hardware compatability questions

[JoshuaD]

I'm trying to get my system working properly with protools. Although it seems I have enough raw power, my motherboard and processer seem to be mildly incompatable with protools 8, which is causing pro-tools to hang up with only a few tracks running. I can't even run X-Pand without any other plug-ins or tracks running.

So I'm going to upgrade. I have some questions:

• Does protools have a preference between AMD and Intel?
• I understand that pairing the processor with the right motherboard is key, is there a list anywhere of good pairs of supported motherboards/processors? I've come across this, but I'm having just a little trouble decoding it.
• My gut tells me that more processor cores = better. Should I be going for a quad-core processor or is this not necessary? How many cores would you suggest?
• Is 64 bit fully supported?
• If 64 bit is supported, is 64 bit preferable?
• Is windows 7 supported? Last time I tried installing pro-tools on windows 7 (a week ago) it killed the windows install beyond the point of recovery.

I have a sandra system profile available if anyone wants it. I didn't want to make the first post too long. Any help is hugely appreciated. I want to go get something today or tomorrow.


I'm pretty much just looking for someone to say "Processor X and Motherboard Y will definitely have no compatibility issues." I'd like for them to be compatible with with memory I have now (2x 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800), but I'm not terribly concerned with that. At this point I just really want to get pro-tools working properly and without hang-ups or glitches. I just spent $1500 on a bunch of equipment and I can't really use it.

[JoshuaD]

I'm looking the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 as my processor. Does anyone have any experience with it? Does anyone have a motherboard suggestion?

[TOM@METRO]

This is the thread to read for core2 Quad systems.
http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=200560

[JoshuaD]

Thanks Tom. This is what I'm looking at getting:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo

Do you know why the "Yorkfield" processors are $40 less expensive than their non-yorkfield counterparts?