Does this Quad system seem ok?

[jayjaystevens]

Hi all,

I will be buying a new system to run my MBox2 mini with LE 7.1 on. In the future I plan on upgrading to something like an 003rack+. I have done a lot of reading on this and other forums and found out some really useful information. I'm just wondering what everyone thinks about this system for running pro tools LE, particularly regarding the quad core Phenom processor, keeping in mind that I will be wanting to upgrade to a better OS (win 7) and better gear in the hopefully near future.

I will be running winXP 32bit. I've left out the specs of the hard drive, I plan on getting a 500GB for my OS (overkill I know) and probably a 250GB for audio files because I heard that running a big drive for audio files is not a good idea, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Any advice at all regarding getting a new PC that is going to run L.E. is welcomed.

Thank you.


Product Specifications:
CPU: AMD Phenom II 810 2.6Ghz Quad-Core/6MB CACHE/95W
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P MB, AM3,790X+SB750,5.2GT/s, DDR3
Memory: G Skill 4G(2x2G) DDR3 1600Mhz PC12800 9-9-9-24
Optical: LG H22NS50 SATA 22X+- Super Multi DVDR Black with Software
Graphics: Gigabyte GV-R489UD-1GD HD4890 PCI-E 2.0 1GB GDDR5 DualLink DVI-I HDMI

[nerhal]

that looks like the setup I was gonna get. hope it works

[albee1952]

I can't say whether this motherboard will work or not(so cross your fingers) but I can tell you that large drives are fine for audio. The drive specs that matter the most are speed(7200rpm or faster), seek time(related to speed) and more cache yields better performance(look at the WD Caviar Black drives with 32 meg cache). As for video, unless you really need that card for non-Pro Tools stuff, I would downgrade to a 256 card(or 512 at the most). I would buy a pair of 250gig drives(1 system and 1 backup/samples) and use the 500 gig for audio(just opinion).

[TOM@METRO]

+1 for all albee has said, including the questioning of that motherboard. Intel based systems have been the favorites now for some time. 500GB drives are not to big for audio, I use 1TB WD Black drives with no problems.

[jayjaystevens]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

I'm not set on getting the AMD Phenom. Would you favour an i7 processor? If so, are there any motherboards that are preferable?

Cheers.

[TOM@METRO]

An i7? Absolutely. Or even a core 2 quad like the Q9550. (IMHO).

[Luke K]

Originally Posted by jayjaystevens

Hi all,

I will be buying a new system to run my MBox2 mini with LE 7.1 on. In the future I plan on upgrading to something like an 003rack+. I have done a lot of reading on this and other forums and found out some really useful information. I'm just wondering what everyone thinks about this system for running pro tools LE, particularly regarding the quad core Phenom processor, keeping in mind that I will be wanting to upgrade to a better OS (win 7) and better gear in the hopefully near future.

I will be running winXP 32bit. I've left out the specs of the hard drive, I plan on getting a 500GB for my OS (overkill I know) and probably a 250GB for audio files because I heard that running a big drive for audio files is not a good idea, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Any advice at all regarding getting a new PC that is going to run L.E. is welcomed.

Thank you.


Product Specifications:
CPU: AMD Phenom II 810 2.6Ghz Quad-Core/6MB CACHE/95W
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P MB, AM3,790X+SB750,5.2GT/s, DDR3
Memory: G Skill 4G(2x2G) DDR3 1600Mhz PC12800 9-9-9-24
Optical: LG H22NS50 SATA 22X+- Super Multi DVDR Black with Software
Graphics: Gigabyte GV-R489UD-1GD HD4890 PCI-E 2.0 1GB GDDR5 DualLink DVI-I HDMI

What's wrong with running big drives for audio? i do it without any problems.

[TOM@METRO]

There have been tests that indicate that some slower ITB and up drives take a little longer to access data. I use the WD black drives and have not seen this issue at all. So I'm with you.

I am reluctant to run cheap drives with small buffers of any capacity.