NEW PC Recommendations

[Steven Davis]

[QUOTE=Kevin Shaw]Jonathan: for what it's worth, computers based on the Intel Pentium D processors are yielding performance similar to mid-range dual G5 Macs on some video-related tests, so they're not a bad deal for the price. My brother and I got our first Pentium D system put together this week,

Hey Kevin, can you post the hardware specs?

[Tim Brechlin]

Here's my question: With about $2300 to spend, am I better served with an Athlon X2 4200+ system or a Pentium D system?

[Jonathan Putnam]

For $2300, I would get a Dell XPS Gen 5. This dual-core computer is selling for about $1400. You can then spend extra money on more RAM (it comes with 512), extra hard drives, a nicer larger lcd monitor and still have money left over for software or camera equipment. Comparable X2 systems seem to go for about $2000. If you've found lower prices on the X2, please post. But otherwise, I recommend the Dell.

[Tim Brechlin]

^ I've already got the camera (DVX-100a), software (PPro 1.5), etc. I just have the financial flexibility to upgrade right now and it seems like the right time.

I can get an Athlon X2 4200+, 2GB RAM, 360GB HD space for about $2200.

Currently I have an old Northwood-core Pentium 4 (2.53 GHz) with a gig of RDRAM.

[Andrew Clark]

Originally Posted by Miguel Lombana

Bottom line, if someone on this board was to put together a new box, which direction would you go in? The Dual Xeon (say 2.8 or 3.0 gigs), a Dual core or a EE chip.

Thanks for the help, this has been driving me nuts all weekend!

MIGUEL

Hey Miguel -

Don't know if you already got a system, but I noticed that nobody mentioned Dual Opteron's which, from what I've been researching on Tom's Hardware and Anadatech sites that, they seem to have better processing performance vs. the Xeon's when it comes to crunching video data....i.e. video editing, rendering, encoding.

Opteron's will definitely put a dent in your bank account...if not deplete it!! But you get what you pay for.

Also, the Intel DC 3.2ghz EE has HT...which, again, according to those web sites, theoretically has (4) processing functions, 2 Dual Cores and 2 Hyper Threading functions. In their tests, it won the encoding tests over the AMD DC 4800...but by just by a little bit.

But a lab test vs. the real world scenarios is sometimes very different.

AC

[Andrew Clark]

Originally Posted by Sheila Ward

I just went through the same agonizing decision. You will probably get a bunch of different answers to your questions, which makes it more confusing :). After a bunch of research I finally decided to go with the Dell XPS Gen 5 w/Extreme Edition dual-core processor. I'm still not sure if it was the right decision (vs. a dual Xeon machine) but so far I am very happy with the performance. I can have Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and other apps running all at once with barely a performance hit.

I've never worked on a dual Xeon so I can't compare performance. I'm sure there are others here that will comment.

Hi Sheila -

Just curious, is the XPS unit noisy? I was thinking about getting one too. You made a good choice in getting the DC EE processor. I assume you got the 3.2ghz top of the line one, right?

AC

[Andrew Clark]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Putnam

I was drawn to this forum because I am about to build a pc for video work. I mostly use macs right now but I want to get a pc to play with things unavailable for the mac.

Hey Jonathan -

Are you using FCP HD / DVD SP on the Dual G5? Also, is it the 2.7ghz Dual G5 that you are using?

I realize that there are fewer programs developed for the Mac than the Win platform, but just curious as to what programs you are planning to use that are unavailable for the Mac?

I myself am contemplating between a Mac and Win computer for video/audio/dvd work. FCP HD and DVD SP seem to be hot programs. But the only thing that astonishes me is that the (lower cost) Mac audio programs such as Soundtrack and Garage Band don't have the capability to do 5.1 surround mixes. If I step up to Logic ($999.00), I get that capability. Do you know if there is another way to obtain this function on the Mac platform without spending the grand to do so?

On the Win platform, I've worked with ACID Pro and Audition which both have 5.1 mixing capability. Even Premiere Pro has it....and FCP doesn't. Strange.

AC