Upgrading from 002 to HD, where to distribute $$

[WannabeSQ]

I am going to upgrade from my 002R to a HD system of some sort. WIth a budget of $10,000 where should I spend the money? I already have outboard gear, monitors, mics, etc and don't want to spend any money there (Perhaps 2 inexpensive LCD panels, but that depends on if there's any $ left)

I have a Powermac G4 dual 1.42GHz, would I gain anything by upgrading to a G5? I would lose 1 PCI slot, and gain some CPU horsepower, but is it necessary? I'd love to get a HD2 Accel with a 96io, and have room to add more Accel or Process cards as I go.

If I must buy a G5, is it worth it to get the quad? I will likely be using it for DVD encoding as well, but other than that, this will be a Pro Tools only machine.

If I get a G5 Quad, that leaves barely enough for a Used HD1 and 96IO.
If I get a G5 dual (cpu or core) for around $2500, that barely leaves enough for a used HD2 Accel and 96IO

I am thinking that the G4 is enough, and an HD2 used with 96 io leaves enough money for a SyncIO, (though the studio I work at already has one) or some nice LCDs, and maybe a good Mic Pre.

Any thoughts, Opinions? I will be using this for Post production, from ADR/Foley, do Dialogue Editorial, Stereo and 5.1 mixing (eventually)

[mwingerski]

I would definitely go with an HD system with accel cards in it. At least an HD2 accel...
If you've got 10 grand you should be able to get that...
But save some money for plug-ins... If you're not in a huge rush, there's usually a massive pack promotion for plug-ins that comes out around the end of the summer...

AND the new intel macs should be out by the end of the year, which will have a significant downward pressure on G5 pricing (although that just gives you somewhere else to think about sinking your money)

The accel cards are definitely worth it though...you can run more plug-ins per card and there are a few plug-ins that only run on accel (revibe (which is great) and impact (which is ok))

But definitely shop around... there are deals to be had...

[Studio Studio]

My dealer told me the Quad is less powerful in combination with Protools than the 2x2...
The quad is not supported (yet)

[WannabeSQ]

Not officially supported, but I've used one on a dubbing stage, the stage had 2 G5s, one quad, and one dual 2.0, and the dual 2.0 kept having to turn the fans on high to keep up, the quad was silent the whole time. I don't see why the quad is less powerful for pro tools than any other CPU combination, unless that many CPUS hogs up memory bandwidth or something.

I'm starting to think that the G4 will be slightly better, it's got more internal Hard drive space, and an extra PCI slot, so I can do an HD4, which I'm guessing is more powerful than a HD3 on a G5? My dual G4 does just fine for the majority of what I do with PT LE, so adding some more "brains" should be fine. Unless someone can tell me that the faster bus speeds and more max RAM in the G5 will benefit protools much. I only have 1 gig of ram now, and the computer only supports a max of 2GB.


I think ill go with a HD2 Accel, with a 96 i/o and look for a cheap HD Process card on ebay (track count is more important to me than plugin power, and HD3 lets me spread the chips around)

[Jonathan Starr]

I suggest that you go with an Accel 2 and a 192 I/O, and stick with your G4 for now. My experience is that the price difference between the 96 and the 192 is less than the quality difference.

You can add more firepower later as needs arise, but you won't be getting anything that's not a "keeper".

With a G5, slots are precious and if you may end up eventually with a HD3 system on a G5 the process card will be superfluous.

Good luck, & Aloha,

Jonathan

[audiogeek1]

I would go with an HD2 Accel and if you can swing it I would get a 192. Better sounding but then if you can get a Sync and an Apogee Big Ben Later things will be great.

Just my opinion

Mike

[Fidelis]

Remember, if you go to HD2 Accel PCIe, you must buy a new G5, cause you'll need a computer with PCIe. If you want to use your G4, you must buy a HD2 PCI, but later, if you want to change the G4 for a Intel tower, you'll have to upgrade your system from PCI to PCIe (and it's not cheap)
I just upgraded from a Mix3 to a HD3 Accel PCIe. I think PCIe is the way to go, the only downside is: you can use only 3 cards max (HD3). But that's for now. I'm shure they'll change that soon (as digi needs to sell more Accel cards...)

Also, if it's possible, go for a 192.

Good Luck!