Suggestions for new machine

Fredv wrote on 11/24/2008, 3:49 AM
My present editor is giving me fits again. I think it's time to put it down. It hosed me last night and I have three projects pending for customers.

About 80% of my work is with pro-sound, voiceover and post-audio sweetening. And the remaining 20% is with broadcast content and instructional DVDs

Right now I run a CardD Deluxe for audio (balanced) and a Matrox for video. I'm leaning toward the M-Audio Delta 1010, or at the least the Delta 66 because of the multitrack I do. I heard Decklink is good, as well as Stratis, but I'm open for suggestions. I also need a DVD burner in the machine, mostly for using Nero to make backups of projects (Data DVDs).

That leaves OS and the general system. This is the part where I'm as clueless as a 15 year old blond in calculus class. Any suggestions for what I should be spec'ing out? Thoughts for RAID, yea/ney? WinXP or Vista? Brands of drives? Mem, processor, etc?

I'm also leaning toward Dell or something that has a warranty of some kind so if things do go bump in the night, someone else has to deal with it. I don't really want to.

Thoughts? Anything I should definitely stay away from in running Vegas, SF, Batch, Acid, DVDA, and Nero? Any help in recommendations for hardware or retailers with complete systems would be welcomed.

Fred

Comments

Fredv wrote on 12/8/2008, 5:05 PM
I'm bumping this thread because I'm not a computer hardware guy. I really could use some guidance.

I've been looking on the Dell and Microcenter site for a machine to replace my present editor. What are the things I should consider, and what features don't help me a bit?

Is RAID needed, or if I just backup to another machine/media will I be OK?

SATA or regular IDE drives? Does it really matter?

Any suggestions would be welcomed. This is not my area of expertise.
marks27 wrote on 12/9/2008, 6:09 PM
Fred,

I think anyone looking at a new machine for media creation work would be crazy not to look seriously at an i7 solution (and this from an AMD man). They are just too fast to ignore.

Re: XP vs Vista -- might depend on what your other hardware is compatible with. I am anti-Vista, but I'm sure time and inertia will get me in the end.

Disks -- definitely SATA for performance and convenience. I would have a separate disk for programs and system files, and then a collection for your work data (raw media, output, etc). Most motherboards now only provide a single ATA connection, limiting you to 2 drives.

If data integrity is crucial I guess you could look into RAID 5, but probably a simple external back-up solution would be just a effective and more performant. If performance is crucial (Disk i/o wise) then maybe RAID 0 is for you. Alternately you could simply have a collection of disks (internal or in caddy), say 1 -2 for original media, another for temp data, another for rendered output. That is probably overkill, but food for thought.

Other things to consider: if you don't already, look into a dual monitor setup -- screen real estate can do wonders for productivity. Most modern video cards will handle it without raising a sweat.

Also, make sure you get a good power supply with plenty of headroom for adding disks and other peripherals. And if you are likely to be adding drives etc, do yourself a favour and spend a bit more on a user friendly case (one with easy access to things like drives, connections, etc.)

This at least is a start. what you do might vary depending on if you buy a build system or assemble one yourself.

Good luck.

Ciao,

marks


MichaelduS wrote on 12/9/2008, 6:35 PM
Hi agree with all that Mark's suggested. With reference to Dell, I've had the unfortunate experience of having 3 top specced machines (an XPS 1720 and two XPS 1730's) returned in the past 18 months. While these machines have all the bells and whistles I have had hard drives replaced in 6 months, the keyboard being frozen suggesting the motherboard needed replacing, unexpected system crashes etc. One of the technicians suggested the dual nvidia 512MB SLI cards were responsible. Who knows?? Frustration ++ Anyhow the customer care has been excellent and they have replaced and/or refunded me. However, I will not go down the Dell path again. Have a look at the Lenovo W series workstation or Apple. I think I might explore Vegas on an Apple. Good hunting