Possibiities with this PC.....

[Sixstringer7]

Hi folks.

I have one of these that isn't getting much use anymore
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883113088

Gateway DX 4200-09
It is an AMD quad core with 8gb of ram.

I am pretty computer illiterate and it apears to have both pci and pci slots.
What are my options if turning this into a Pro Tools HD computer?

Can I run a Magma with PCI host card?
Can I run older HD cards (PCI) or do I need newer PCIe cards? How many slots of one or the other?

Help.

[sunburst79]

Not suitable at all.

Short list.

Its a mATX mini tower. HD card are something like 12 1/2 inches long. I can say with a fairly high degree of certainty they wont even fit into the case.

AMD chipset. Not a deal breaker but a HD unknown.

AMD processor. While is a four core its ~25% less powerful than a lntel dual core.

Lack of a dedcated video card.

Its a Micro ATX mother board with a PCIe x16 video card slot PCI slot, another PCI x4 slot and two PCI slots. The HD cards are PCI 64bit form factor and require a PCI slot thats twice as long as a 32bit slot. and require a clear distance behind the slot. Its almost guaranteed there will be immovable obstructions on the board the prevent HD cards from physicaly fitting.

You probably couldn't pick a worse machine for HD. However it would make a great office or internet connected PC. Not a horrible computer. Just not what you want for HD.

[Sixstringer7]

Ugh.

Well it does have a great 1024 mb graphics card. I installed in place of the original. Unfortunately, just not HD compatible. Guess it is time to start digging into the pocket book.

Maybe an old G5 running PCIx HD crads in PT8 until the next generation makes it sensible to take the huge financial leap.

Thanks for the info.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by Sixstringer7

Ugh.

Well it does have a great 1024 mb graphics card. I installed in place of the original. Unfortunately, just not HD compatible. Guess it is time to start digging into the pocket book.

Maybe an old G5 running PCIx HD crads in PT8 until the next generation makes it sensible to take the huge financial leap.

Thanks for the info.

I did have a 785G chipset AMD board with the onboard graphics running LE 8. It's not like its totaly incompatable with Pro Tools. Just that theres a whole lot more out there that's better. Even using high quality PC components to build a Pro Tools HD specific work station is tough mthe space and clearance limitations of the HD cards.