Building a new system - which version of Windows to choose?
 

I'm looking at getting a new system built to edit HDV. Now, currently I have PP 2.0 and CS2, and eventually I will be upgrading to CS3. This is the system I will be building:

Intel Core 2 Due Conroe 2.66 ghz processor
4GB DDR2 SDRAM memory
XFX GeForce 8600GT 512mb video card

If I am going to be editing on PP2.0 for the time being, and eventually upgrading down the road, which version of Windows is best for me? Also, someone told me for Windows to take advantage of 4gb of memory, the system needs to be 64-bit. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Thank you for your help.

I have a 32 bit windows xp machine with 4 gb of ram installed. when I do a systems check, it shows a little over 3.5gb of ram. if I only install 3gb, it shows a full 3 gb. I do not fully understand why, I only know what I see. I have no way of knowing if it is not able to use the rest, or if it just doesn't show it.

You need 64bit to address a full 4GB of Ram, or anything more than that. I reccommend XP over Vista, especially for PPro2.0. I just finally got XP64 and like it so far. Just make sure all of your hardware has supported drivers.

Mike, thank you very much for your input.

Does the Adobe software have any issues with 64-bit compatability?

I'm curious to know whether Premiere and After Effects can even use more than 2GB or RAM on Windows. Anyone have any idea?

The 3.25GB issue is described here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

As much as I like Vista (rarely use XP now), NLEs have yet to catch up and play well with Vista. Therefore, XP Pro is strongly recommend or XP x64 if you can get it.

On 64-bit Windows you can run 32-bit apps as per usual but you can have more of them running at the same time if you add extra RAM beyond 4GB.

XP x64 is a great OS.

According to Adobe, Premiere is only "certified" to run under a 32-bit OS, which I take to mean it'll probably work fine under 64-bit, but if it doesn't, don't come running to us, because we warned you.

According to Adobe, no. But as John points out it can help if you're running multiple apps.

The interesting thing about the logo certification is that it requires that 32-bit apps work properly* on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.

*Properly is very clearly specified by Microsoft. A company of Adobe's size really has no excuse to not get certification for their flagship products - unless they don't behave correctly.

John, I'm sure you're right and Adobe is just going the CYA route. Here's the response I got from them when I asked them directly:

"Thank you for contacting Adobe® Web Support for assistance with Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3.

"I understand that when using Premiere Pro, you would like to know if using Microsoft Windows® XP® 64-bit would improve performance. Unfortunately, due to irresolvable behavior on 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows®, Premiere is not supported on those platforms. While 64bit OS’ process much more ram, because Premiere is a 32 bit application it will not use it for the application beyond 3GB of Ram.

"I hope this information helps to answer your question."

Uh, thanks, guys.

Well that sucks... I thought it didn't use more than 2 Gigs so I guess it's better than I thought... but that still kinda sucks.

What about After Effects? How much RAM can that use? THAT app would benefit greatly from more RAM. I hate the limited amount of video you can render with RAM previews... :-(

Thanks for all your help. You guys are the best.