i'm about to spend all my money on a pc editing station. i'm planning to work with avid xpress dv 3.5 and after effects.
i barely know anything about hardware and am trying to learn as i do my research on what set up will best fit my needs and budget.
i'll put down the list i've made out so far, please, those of you who know what you're talking about, or those of you who have similar set-ups yourselves - let me know what you think. comments, advice and warnings are all welcome. also, feel free to point me the direction to a different forum or internet site which might be of more help. thanks.
and now the list:

intel pentium4 2.53 GHz 533 MHz
asus P4B533 845E
512 MB mushkin PC2100 DDR
WD 40 GB 7200 RPM (system drive)
WD 120 GB 7200 RPM (video drive)
ADS pyro fire wire 1394 DV #API 300
matrox G550 dualhead 32MB display
soundblaster LIVE
windows xp pro
not sure about case and power supply yet

i'll be editing straight forward video. mainly documentaries. no 3D or anything like that. sound is very important to me. i don't want to compromise my sound, but understood from reading posts on various forums that a simple soundblaster card will do fine. is this correct?

there is one other thing. i've understood that in order to work with xpress dv and after effects or any other adobe product on the same computer, i'll have to run them on different systems and therefore require dual boot capabilty. what is the best way to go about handling this? i have no idea. is this a software solution? will this require additional hardware? another hard disc?

thanks for your patience and any help you can hand out. i'm really set on buying as soon as possible.

adios,
adi.

I would get a bigger primary drive. You can quickly fill up 40gig with apps as well as your system.

System looks okay, I run with 1 gig of ddram. If Editing is ALL you are doing, I think the system drive is okay. Biger is always better. I would reccomend a second media drive. (I use two 120's). Capture video on one, audio on the other. (But the system sees it as on"E" drive). This prevents underuns.

Use "Automatic Duck" to work with After Effects. OR just stay with Boris... (Remember you get a full copy with the package) It's not like you need a huge efx package to do Docs right?

Posting to the AVID Forum will answer many of your questions. And they have a list of approved hardware.

By the way, the base pack is now under a grand and the power pack is at $1600... pretty sweet deal.

www.avid.com

is the forum. Drop by DVline.com to look at how they build their turnkey systems. (They built mine). They list what they use, so you can double check the specs.

Bill

thanks keith and bill.
bill, what exactly is automatic duck?
i'll check out dvline.

Drives are so cheap now that you might as well get a bigger primary. Who knows what you might fill it with?

ok. i took a look at dvline. their site seemed familiar. i think my list is pretty much based on their specifications.
they seem to think 2.4Ghz is enough. i might settle for 2.4 instead of 2.53 and invest the difference in more storage space.

what about soundcards? is the sounblaster LIVE! good enough. DVline suggest the soundblaster Audigy.

display card: will i be satisfied with the matrox g550 or should i upgrade to (as dvline suggest):Nvidia Ti4600 128 MB dual head or ATI Radeon 9700 pro?

Be prepared to switch cards the moment you have any system trouble. For some reason, a lot of systems are finicky about the type of card you have. Many programs have to release new drivers to support even popular cards because of assorted sound card compatibility issues. Fortunately, the cards are usually the cheapest components in your system.

Yeah, soundcards can be funky. It seems to be the most often asked question on the avid forum... "Why won't my sound card work?" I believe I am running the audigy on my system.

Automatic Duck is program that facilitates the import of omf files from avid to after effects.

I have the g55o. Works great for me. Lot's of people are opting for the parahelia card.... depends on your needs. Do you want to go with a dual desktop configuration, with realtime out to an NTSC monitor? Then Parahelia is the way to go. Be advised, it runs the rt monitor preview at single field.

I run my ntsc monitor out of my transcoder, looks great.

It seems to me, that if what you are cutting is straight docs... then nine tenths of your editing is "realtime" anyway... no rendering needed... pretty straightforward stuff. In Greendot mode you get the realtime preview on your desktop monitor.

The forum is a great place to get your questions answered, don't hesitate to jump in there.

Bill

thanks again bill for the help. i WILL drop in the avid forum
4 more questions before i do:
(1) i'm in PAL land. does this change anything?
(2) isn't there a problem with running adobe products on the same system with xpress dv? do you have a hard drive partition, or dual boot, or whatever they call it?
(3) <<< Be advised, it runs the rt monitor preview at single field.>>> what is rt monitor preview? what is single field?
(4) are you happy with your editing system? have you made any changes or run into any problems since purchasing your computer from DVline?

thanks again.
adi.

Be sure you get the Soundblaster LIVE that supports surround sound (5.1) which may be all of them now, but mine doesn't. Soundblaster Audigy was recommended to me.

thanks dan.
if there's anyone out there (bill?) who can answer those 4 questions i put down, i'd appreciate it.
more comments on set up are welcome too.
really set on purchasing the new computer this week.
thanks.