So I built my current rig myself which is:
asus m2n mobo
amd 5200
4 gigs of ocz platinum
evga 7950 gt overclocked
plus some other tinkerings and what nots
Windows XP

Now with my pursuits in HDV leaving me wanting more processing power from my computer I am at a crossroads for my next build.

I have gone form premiere to starting avid but really don't want to buy mojo so I can preview my work on a broadcast monitor. I am learning final cut pro right now and have a pretty good knack for it. So this brought me to the conclusion of just buying a mac pro and putting final cut 6 on it. Yet I can't help but feel like I am getting ripped off when it comes to configuring it.

My other road would be the one that seems to be less traveled, building a dual processor pc. I was thinking about using the amd fx 74 in this configuration. Perhaps I would grab the new Barcelona chip but who knows. Of course with this option I would be running avid over premiere pro. Yet Vista doesn't seem like it would know what to do with all this computer because XP sure doesn't.

I am a student though and want to be well suited for a real work enviroment and while it seems like a lot of jobs in my area are using final cut but I know that real big places use avid if not things that I have never seen or touched before.

I guess I have to really think about is what editing software do I want to use, I know avid is cross platform, since avid seems to need mojo. Also what operating system I want, I am leaning towards the new operating system that apple is coming out with.

P.S. How easy is it to upgrade a mac pro? I know you can buy ram from newegg for cheaper but it takes the same video cards and what not my pc takes correct? If this is true I may just get the low end mac pro, minus upgrading the processors, and then adding ram and a video card via newegg.
Also I have heard about buying a tuner for the apple cine displays and making them color correct so you don't need a side broadcast monitor. Is this true?

Anyone? I want to make the purchase soon since I plan on making a commercial for my school for broadcast.

Another thing I didn't mention is will it be worth it to wait for leopard to come on all the new macs or should I just get tiger?

May I suggest you dive into here and see if the answer lies within:

http://dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=63



CS

What was the question?

AHA! Finally - a topic I'm the answerer and not the asker...er...

Here's one of the problems on the PC front, and to me is one of the most compelling reasons to get a mac.

Windows XP can't use more than 3.5 gigs of RAM - well, at least 32-bit Windows XP anyway.

Windows XP 64-bit and Vista 64-bit CAN, but both have big driver problems and may not work with your hardware and/or software.

If you keep your current config, you can certainly swap out for a higher dual-core chip - I believe both Socket 939 and Socket AM2 have upgrade slots. Just use the same machine, swap out the chip. You lose a bit because you don't take advantage of higher bus speeds, but a chip is a hell of alot less expensive than a computer, and you can use that as a student and get your parents to chip in for a Mac Pro as a graduation gift. :)

Well I have been okay'd for a good portion of money to make a new workstation with a mac pro and I am gonna save up for the matrox mxo. I plan to just buy the dual 3.0 and get the video card upgrade to the 1900xt but get everything like ram and hard drives off of newegg. I realize avid is a bit too much for me right now and final cut is a lot better than premiere pro 2.0 but I plan to keep my current pc.

Maybe later I will do a big pc build and make an avid station.

I think Vegas will be 64 bit sometime in the future, they had a demo using AMD Quad Core, so the memory limit will go away then. By the time you need to upgrade again I expect most NLE's may have gone that way. Who knows Premiere Pro may be the dominant NLE on the MAC!!!

Ron Evans

I think Vegas will be 64 bit sometime in the future, they had a demo using AMD Quad Core, so the memory limit will go away then. By the time you need to upgrade again I expect most NLE's may have gone that way. Who knows Premiere Pro may be the dominant NLE on the MAC!!!

Ron Evans

The memory limit will not go away; Any 32-bit operating system, from Linux to MacOS 9 to Windows XP "standard" to Windows Vista Home Premium will simply not be able to handle more than 4 gigs of memory. You just run out of address space.

Brian, when Vegas with 64bit capability becomes available it will then run on one of the Win 64 OS's and the memory limit will go away. The problem to date is that popular windows NLE's are 32bit and there is little point running on any of the Win 64 OS's.

Ron Evans

My suggestion is to build a dual xeon box. I love mine, and am building another for a client. Here's whats in mine:
Tyan s2696A2NRF (has the 5000x chipset, which is important)
Antec Titan 560 case (SSI CEB/EEB form factor is mandatory for Tyan board)
2 x 5130 dual core (I would get 5335 quad core today, price dropped by half)
Seagate 160GB SATA 7200.10 system drive
3x Seagate 320GB SATA NCQ in RAID 0
Black Magic Intensity Pro for HDMI and component I/O
4x1GB SST FB-DIMM D2 667 RAM
The one thing you must be very careful about is to install the AHCI/RAID drivers for the Intel ESB2 controller at the beginning of the XP install (using the F6 method), you won't get another chance, and your SATA drives will not work properly without the driver (they will go into slow 'legacy' mode). Even if you're not using RAID, you must install these drivers, and do it at the start of XP install.
In my opinion, this is the best platform available today for NLE. You can save money by starting with the minumum (for instance, you don't need both CPU's, and the RAID controller will let you add disks to existing arrays without even disturbing the data already there).

If you are doing this project for no (or little) pay, why burn money doing it?
Unless you're a senior I doubt what you buy now will be adequate for post college.

If you must upgrade, cheapest option is likely amd dual core cpu. I doubt you'll run the thing outta memory on a commercial no matter what NLE you use.

Perhaps what you should do is keep your money in your pocket and determine the acceptable platform(s) a future employer would want experience on. With that knowledge, you can make a better informed decision.

Perhaps what you should do is keep your money in your pocket and determine the acceptable platform(s) a future employer would want experience on. With that knowledge, you can make a better informed decision.

What I have seen is places that have mac's run final cut and places that have pc's are running avid. At least where I live everyone seems to be using macs. This is why I decided to keep my pc and do avid with it and get a mac pro to do final cut which I will probably use more than anything.