Athlon 64 X2 at DVinfo.net

Nick Vaughan · August 23rd, 2005, 07:36 AM

So, I picked up my XL2 yesterday. Great. Now I need to build the editing machine. I need some advice.

I want to go dual core athlon 64. If I'm only capturing video through IEEE1394, will there be any hardware compatibility issues? I read another post about some matrox board only supporting intel chipsets, but I guess that's only for analog capture.

Secondly, is it worth getting a mobo with PCI-E? I'm running an AGP Radeon 9500 Pro right now and it pretty much beats everything down. Obviously, if I get a PCI-E board, I'll drop another couple hundred on a new graphics card...but is it really worth it for editing video from an XL2?

Next, the hard disk question: is a 40GB system drive and a 250GB (SATA) storage drive enough?

Lastly, is it a necessity to have 2GB RAM? Can I get by with 1GB or maybe 1.5GB?

I see myself using Pinnacle to start off with, but eventually I'll move to Premiere. Any input on software would be appreciated as well.

If you folks have ANY input whatsoever, I'd be much abliged. Thank you in advance!

~Nick Vaughan

Andrew Petrie · August 23rd, 2005, 10:19 AM

If you don't play games, PCI-E won't benefit you. Infact, the AGP ceiling has not been reached yet, there's no performance gain from going to PCI-E, unless you were going to buy an SLI video card solution (but...why?...)
You'd also probably need a new power supply.

Unless you NEED to go PCI-E, stick with the AGP motherboard. If you find your current motherboard will not support the Athlon X2 core, then upgrading to PCI-E based might be the better option, since their chipsets are more likely to be newer than what you have now. An inexpensive replacement for your aging 9500 can easily be found.

You should not have trouble using Firewire. However, some makers have the Firewire IRQ shared with another storage device (typically a SATA or RAID controller) which can result in poor transfer performance (dropouts,etc). This is really stupid on the manufacturer's part, but what can you do. I've had 2 motherboards designed this way, so I use my onboard SuondBlaster firewire port instead, and I don't have any issues.

Your storage solution seems fine to me. I've got 440 GB, but my PC is not only for editing. The extra space comes in handy.

RAM - 1 GB minimum, if you go 2GB try and get two 1GB sticks, instead of four 512Mbs, as not all motherboards support twin Dual Channel slots (4 DDR slots). 3 slots are common, but only 2 can be used for Dual channel...

Extras:
- Buy a good case, keep that baby cool.
- Do not cheap out on the power supply, buy something decent. The high quality supplies tend to weigh twice, if not more, than the cheap $20 ones. It's the lifeline for your expensive components, get something reliable.

Nick Vaughan · August 23rd, 2005, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Petrie

- Do not cheap out on the power supply, buy something decent. The high quality supplies tend to weigh twice, if not more, than the cheap $20 ones. It's the lifeline for your expensive components, get something reliable.

Andrew,

Thanks a million for the input. I've got a 450w supply right now, but it was like $50 at fry's. Some off-brand. Worth it to go Antec Truepower?

Radeon X600 a good choice for PCI-E?

Thanks again.

~Nick Vaughan

Anthony Lee · August 23rd, 2005, 11:34 AM

I'm building a system as well, I will also be using Premiere. Does the adobe line of products benefit much from dual processors or dual core?

Steven Davis · August 23rd, 2005, 02:09 PM

I just build my machine Athlon x2

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/...=AMD+DUAL+CORE

Minus a monitor, I did add in the new Matrox Millennium P650 PCI Express. I went with PCI-E because of the new mother boards out there, they seem to be putting the premium specs with PCI-E in them. And in my humble opinion, Matrox leans more on video, and not bloatware such as Nvidia.

You can see my case here http://droptodesign.com/test/case.jpg

I did get the NeoPower from Antec. The computer case had triple ply sides.

So far 'she's' been running for a week and no problems. I've been doing some minor editing, but haven't rendered yet so I'm not sure how it's supposed to perform. I read one NewEgg review, for what it's worth, that one user of the X2 chip was able to do two renders at the same time. Dunno, I'll test it with some junk footage.

Feel free to ask away if you have any questions.

Anthony, I asked about Vegas benefiting from Dual Core and after a week or so I got a reply from Sony. It took a while and I had to put them to the task a little. You might try writing Sony and asking. I posted my reply about Vegas in the Vegas section of this forum.

Nick Vaughan · August 23rd, 2005, 02:21 PM

Steven,

Looks like a pretty nice build. Did you already have a sound card?

~Nick Vaughan

Steven Davis · August 23rd, 2005, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Vaughan

Steven,

Looks like a pretty nice build. Did you already have a sound card?

~Nick Vaughan

Well, for now I'm using the line out on the motherboard, just speaker out, onboard sound.

This board does have an Audio RCA in and out, I haven't tried it yet.

Brent Ray · August 24th, 2005, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Vaughan

So, I picked up my XL2 yesterday. Great. Now I need to build the editing machine. I need some advice.

I want to go dual core athlon 64. If I'm only capturing video through IEEE1394, will there be any hardware compatibility issues? I read another post about some matrox board only supporting intel chipsets, but I guess that's only for analog capture.

Secondly, is it worth getting a mobo with PCI-E? I'm running an AGP Radeon 9500 Pro right now and it pretty much beats everything down. Obviously, if I get a PCI-E board, I'll drop another couple hundred on a new graphics card...but is it really worth it for editing video from an XL2?

Next, the hard disk question: is a 40GB system drive and a 250GB (SATA) storage drive enough?

Lastly, is it a necessity to have 2GB RAM? Can I get by with 1GB or maybe 1.5GB?

I see myself using Pinnacle to start off with, but eventually I'll move to Premiere. Any input on software would be appreciated as well.

If you folks have ANY input whatsoever, I'd be much abliged. Thank you in advance!

~Nick Vaughan

I made a thread in this forum recently about building a new editing station, and I was told by several people that AMD processors are not compatible with Matrox cards. Can someone clarify this mystery once and for all?

Glenn Chan · August 24th, 2005, 09:09 AM

The Matrox RTX100 is not compatible with many/all AMD64 chipsets. The RTX100 is not really a video card, it's easier to think of it as a hardware acceleration card. It speeds up specific effects in Premiere Pro.

Matrox video cards (video cards as in the same thing as Nvidia Geforces and ATI Radeons and on-board video) are compatible with AMD64 chipsets.

Anthony Lee · August 24th, 2005, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

Anthony, I asked about Vegas benefiting from Dual Core and after a week or so I got a reply from Sony. It took a while and I had to put them to the task a little. You might try writing Sony and asking. I posted my reply about Vegas in the Vegas section of this forum.

I was wondering about adobe. I cant really wait a week for a reply from them, hopefully they are quicker with their email than sony. Anyone else know about premiere and the other adobe programs working with dual processors?

August 23rd, 2005, 07:36 AM	#1
Nick Vaughan Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 141	Athlon 64 X2 So, I picked up my XL2 yesterday. Great. Now I need to build the editing machine. I need some advice. I want to go dual core athlon 64. If I'm only capturing video through IEEE1394, will there be any hardware compatibility issues? I read another post about some matrox board only supporting intel chipsets, but I guess that's only for analog capture. Secondly, is it worth getting a mobo with PCI-E? I'm running an AGP Radeon 9500 Pro right now and it pretty much beats everything down. Obviously, if I get a PCI-E board, I'll drop another couple hundred on a new graphics card...but is it really worth it for editing video from an XL2? Next, the hard disk question: is a 40GB system drive and a 250GB (SATA) storage drive enough? Lastly, is it a necessity to have 2GB RAM? Can I get by with 1GB or maybe 1.5GB? I see myself using Pinnacle to start off with, but eventually I'll move to Premiere. Any input on software would be appreciated as well. If you folks have ANY input whatsoever, I'd be much abliged. Thank you in advance! ~Nick Vaughan

August 23rd, 2005, 10:19 AM	#2
Andrew Petrie Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 484	If you don't play games, PCI-E won't benefit you. Infact, the AGP ceiling has not been reached yet, there's no performance gain from going to PCI-E, unless you were going to buy an SLI video card solution (but...why?...) You'd also probably need a new power supply. Unless you NEED to go PCI-E, stick with the AGP motherboard. If you find your current motherboard will not support the Athlon X2 core, then upgrading to PCI-E based might be the better option, since their chipsets are more likely to be newer than what you have now. An inexpensive replacement for your aging 9500 can easily be found. You should not have trouble using Firewire. However, some makers have the Firewire IRQ shared with another storage device (typically a SATA or RAID controller) which can result in poor transfer performance (dropouts,etc). This is really stupid on the manufacturer's part, but what can you do. I've had 2 motherboards designed this way, so I use my onboard SuondBlaster firewire port instead, and I don't have any issues. Your storage solution seems fine to me. I've got 440 GB, but my PC is not only for editing. The extra space comes in handy. RAM - 1 GB minimum, if you go 2GB try and get two 1GB sticks, instead of four 512Mbs, as not all motherboards support twin Dual Channel slots (4 DDR slots). 3 slots are common, but only 2 can be used for Dual channel... Extras: - Buy a good case, keep that baby cool. - Do not cheap out on the power supply, buy something decent. The high quality supplies tend to weigh twice, if not more, than the cheap $20 ones. It's the lifeline for your expensive components, get something reliable. __________________ Andrew \| Canon XL1s, ME66, Vinten Vision 3, GlideCam V16 (for sale!)

August 23rd, 2005, 02:09 PM	#5
Steven Davis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 3,065	I just build my machine Athlon x2 http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/...=AMD+DUAL+CORE Minus a monitor, I did add in the new Matrox Millennium P650 PCI Express. I went with PCI-E because of the new mother boards out there, they seem to be putting the premium specs with PCI-E in them. And in my humble opinion, Matrox leans more on video, and not bloatware such as Nvidia. You can see my case here http://droptodesign.com/test/case.jpg I did get the NeoPower from Antec. The computer case had triple ply sides. So far 'she's' been running for a week and no problems. I've been doing some minor editing, but haven't rendered yet so I'm not sure how it's supposed to perform. I read one NewEgg review, for what it's worth, that one user of the X2 chip was able to do two renders at the same time. Dunno, I'll test it with some junk footage. Feel free to ask away if you have any questions. Anthony, I asked about Vegas benefiting from Dual Core and after a week or so I got a reply from Sony. It took a while and I had to put them to the task a little. You might try writing Sony and asking. I posted my reply about Vegas in the Vegas section of this forum. __________________ What happens if I push the 'Red' button?

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August 23rd, 2005, 11:34 AM	#4
Anthony Lee New Boot Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Kalispell Montana Posts: 22	I'm building a system as well, I will also be using Premiere. Does the adobe line of products benefit much from dual processors or dual core?

August 23rd, 2005, 02:21 PM	#6
Nick Vaughan Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 141	Steven, Looks like a pretty nice build. Did you already have a sound card? ~Nick Vaughan

August 24th, 2005, 09:09 AM	#9
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	The Matrox RTX100 is not compatible with many/all AMD64 chipsets. The RTX100 is not really a video card, it's easier to think of it as a hardware acceleration card. It speeds up specific effects in Premiere Pro. Matrox video cards (video cards as in the same thing as Nvidia Geforces and ATI Radeons and on-board video) are compatible with AMD64 chipsets.