PC and Pro Tools 11

[headrest]

Hi. I am building a new PC and I want to be sure I can use PT 11 on this PC.

PC details : Windows 8.1 64bit. INTEL i7 4790 3.6GHZ 4 cores 8MB cache.
ASUS H97 Plus ATX motherboard.
16GB (8gb x 2) ram
2 TB 7200 RPM 64MB SATA3 drive
NO GRAPHICS CARD. (Do I need one?)

Interface : M Audio M Track Quad.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Ross.

[Craig F]

Yes, you need a graphics card. You don't need a massive one but the integrated video plays hell with Pro Tools
I would (and I think most will) recommend 7 over 8.x
I would suggest a SSD for your OS and applications drive if you want a quick system (a good reliable unit from Samsung, Intel, or Crucial) or mSATA if the MoBo has a port for it
a 2TB WD Black is fine for sessions

take a look at the i7 build thread http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=238426

and if you want to get some Thunderbolt on your MoBo https://thunderbolttechnology.net/products

[headrest]

Thanks Craig. I'll put a graphics in. Funny, I was advised I didnt need one. But I knew I would. So, overall do you think my build will be ok for PT 11?

Thanks again man
Ross

[YYR123]

Win 8 felt solid to me, I had to run it about a week or so. But I was using PT10.3.8

Graphics card yes, SSD for the OS install definitely - 2 extra drives one for sessions and one for storage like you have listed.

I don't know about the mobo, it's the chipsets on the mobo that may be questionable

What socket is ur CPU ?

[PatriotsBiker]

Originally Posted by headrest

Thanks Craig. I'll put a graphics in. Funny, I was advised I didnt need one. But I knew I would. So, overall do you think my build will be ok for PT 11?

Thanks again man
Ross

I had the same advice at the PC parts store last year when I built mine. I ended up getting one sold to me as a "step or two" above the cheap ones. That ended up being my weakest link in the chain. I soon upgraded from the GT-620 to a GTX-760 and the problems went away. (Any bigger sessions with lots of tracks would stutter at times in the edit window, and, when rendering 8-10 drum tracks, I would get the same skipping and stuttering which made it's way into the "recorded" audio.)

Perhaps I fixed something else while replacing sound-cards. Maybe there was an issue at hand where I needed a bigger CS when most do not. I built a big, honker of a machine (Win-7 64-Pro, 32GB, a SS-HD, 3 WD-Black HDs, 3930K on a ASUS Sabertooth X79, etc)

I might add that my Windows Experience Rating went from the high 4's to something like 7.8 after the sound-card change.

[albee1952]

A word of advice for anyone here; ALWAYS have a backup plan. Drive imaging and cloning is going to be your friend. Especially when(while) building a new system! Once your new rig is on with just the OS and the basics(like Quicktime and such)and all the system tweaks done, save a drive image. After you install Pro Tools, save another image. After you install EVERYTHING, save a 3rd image. Down the road, whenever you go to install ANY update or new plugin, save an image FIRST. Without doing this, rolling back from a bad update, bad software or whatever, you will pull your hair out trying to get back to a working setup. Drive imaging makes it easy

BTW, I also clone my system drive and can swap drives and go back to work in about 5 seconds longer than it takes to reboot

[jeam25]

Originally Posted by albee1952

A word of advice for anyone here; ALWAYS have a backup plan. Drive imaging and cloning is going to be your friend. Especially when(while) building a new system! Once your new rig is on with just the OS and the basics(like Quicktime and such)and all the system tweaks done, save a drive image. After you install Pro Tools, save another image. After you install EVERYTHING, save a 3rd image. Down the road, whenever you go to install ANY update or new plugin, save an image FIRST. Without doing this, rolling back from a bad update, bad software or whatever, you will pull your hair out trying to get back to a working setup. Drive imaging makes it easy

BTW, I also clone my system drive and can swap drives and go back to work in about 5 seconds longer than it takes to reboot

This advice must ba a sticky... on the DUC !

As for the video card just try...right now im using the onboard graphics becuase
the last video card was acting wierd..and my system runs...very very good..my
playback buffer NEVER goes up than 128 with the most complex projects ...recording or
mixing ...so tought i agree than a better VC can improve youre performace the onboard one could work fine too..

[Timm Spinn]

Hey, I wanted to check in to see if you were having any trouble with your new system using the i7-4790. I just built myself a machine using the same CPU, an ASRock Z97X Killer mobo, 16GB ADATA DDR3-2400, ASUS GTX 750ti 2GB GPU, Samsung EVO SSD, 2 x WD RE4 server 2TB HDDs, with my Focusrite Scarlett 18i6 interface. I'm running PT 10.3.x and having TONS of problems!! So I wanted to see if you were also experiencing issues. Maybe it's compatibility with the new i7-4790??

I first installed 10.3.8 (because I had input monitoring issues with 10.3.9 before. And on any large session, it wouldn't even play. The transport marker wouldn't even move. Nothing. If I opened a small session with only MIDI tracks, those would work, but nothing with like more than 10-15 tracks and audio tracks.

I downgraded to 10.3.7, and some of those larger sessions would play, but when opening I would get the message that some plugins were disabled due to lack of system resources!! Obviously not correct since they would run on my old 5 year old system. It was always WavesTune that wouldn't open! But oddly, Native Inst plugins (CPU hogs!) WOULD open!

Also, opening every session it would say that it couldn't communicate with both my MIDI keyboards. Even if I went into peripherals, removed them, added them back in. Close session. Re-open session, same message. But... they would work and input properly. Just weird stuff all around.

Anyone have these issues before? Another note: This is all after a fresh install of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I would really appreciate ANY advice or suggestions. Pulling my hair out.

[sw rec]

OP: ONE hard drive is not enough. You need a secondary, dedicated recording drive. Size has nothing to do with it, and partitions don't count.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by Timm Spinn

Hey, I wanted to check in to see if you were having any trouble with your new system using the i7-4790. I just built myself a machine using the same CPU, an ASRock Z97X Killer mobo, 16GB ADATA DDR3-2400, ASUS GTX 750ti 2GB GPU, Samsung EVO SSD, 2 x WD RE4 server 2TB HDDs, with my Focusrite Scarlett 18i6 interface. I'm running PT 10.3.x and having TONS of problems!! So I wanted to see if you were also experiencing issues. Maybe it's compatibility with the new i7-4790??

I first installed 10.3.8 (because I had input monitoring issues with 10.3.9 before. And on any large session, it wouldn't even play. The transport marker wouldn't even move. Nothing. If I opened a small session with only MIDI tracks, those would work, but nothing with like more than 10-15 tracks and audio tracks.

I downgraded to 10.3.7, and some of those larger sessions would play, but when opening I would get the message that some plugins were disabled due to lack of system resources!! Obviously not correct since they would run on my old 5 year old system. It was always WavesTune that wouldn't open! But oddly, Native Inst plugins (CPU hogs!) WOULD open!

Also, opening every session it would say that it couldn't communicate with both my MIDI keyboards. Even if I went into peripherals, removed them, added them back in. Close session. Re-open session, same message. But... they would work and input properly. Just weird stuff all around.

Anyone have these issues before? Another note: This is all after a fresh install of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I would really appreciate ANY advice or suggestions. Pulling my hair out.

Start your own thread, you will get more Milage.