I manage a municipal TV channel and we currently use PPCS3 on a Dell Optiplex 745 quite effectively. We are only 14 months into our operation but are learning the NLE game.

I have funds for a new editing PC with Windows7 and the CS4 Production Suite. I am looking for actual PC recommendations on makers: Dell, B&H house brand, anything you have had success with W7, Vista and CS4.

Also, how "loaded" does it need to be? How much RAM, is 8 gb enough or will 12 or 16 be better? Is 1024 on the video card adequate?

And if anyone has a link to the Adobe "white list" of accepted video cards for Production Suite CS4, I'd sure like to see it. I google it and all I see are lists for CS2.

Thanks in advance for any help.

O.C. Garza
Vtv15 - Victoria, Texas

Adobe Forums: How to get the best from a PC? Some... (http://forums.adobe.com/message/1979739#1979739)

I would get a Dell XPS w/ i7 920 which can be bought for $800 nowadays. Upgrade the ram yourself as Dell will rip you off for most upgrades. 12GB(2GB x 6) is plenty. If you can, keep using CS3 and wait for CS5 to be released next March or April because Premiere will finally be 64bit.

Also, get the pc with Vista x64 Business and you will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 x64 Professional so you can upgrade down the road once more drivers are released. I already received my free 7 x64 upgrade from purchasing just the software and am awaiting 3 more from Dell.

Video card: pretty much all current cards are supported since they all support OpenGL 2. I like nvidia due to CUDA and eventual mainstream implementation into Premiere. However, ATI's new 5xxx series are great as they support 3 monitors using 2 DVI, 1 HDMI & 1 Displayport, and they use very little power. Either way, 512MB is enough for Premiere but more is certainly better if you use AE.

Caveat: if you do upgrade to CS4, then look at nvidia's Quadro FX3800 with Elemental's H.264/MPEG2 accelerator plug-in. This can save 30-50% in encoding times.

What's your current storage setup and do you want to upgrade that also?

What other hardware do you have connected to the pc?

Just realize that the Dell XPS comes with a severely crippled BIOS, preventing overclocking. If you want more speed, you need to upgrade to the i7-975 at ridiculous prices.

Caveat: if you do upgrade to CS4, then look at nvidia's Quadro FX3800 with Elemental's H.264/MPEG2 accelerator plug-in. This can save 30-50% in encoding times.



Wont CS5 do this out of the box anyways?

I would get a Dell XPS w/ i7 920 which can be bought for $800 nowadays. Upgrade the ram yourself as Dell will rip you off for most upgrades. 12GB(2GB x 6) is plenty. If you can, keep using CS3 and wait for CS5 to be released next March or April because Premiere will finally be 64bit.

Also, get the pc with Vista x64 Business and you will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 x64 Professional so you can upgrade down the road once more drivers are released. I already received my free 7 x64 upgrade from purchasing just the software and am awaiting 3 more from Dell.

Video card: pretty much all current cards are supported since they all support OpenGL 2. I like nvidia due to CUDA and eventual mainstream implementation into Premiere. However, ATI's new 5xxx series are great as they support 3 monitors using 2 DVI, 1 HDMI & 1 Displayport, and they use very little power. Either way, 512MB is enough for Premiere but more is certainly better if you use AE.

Caveat: if you do upgrade to CS4, then look at nvidia's Quadro FX3800 with Elemental's H.264/MPEG2 accelerator plug-in. This can save 30-50% in encoding times.

What's your current storage setup and do you want to upgrade that also?

What other hardware do you have connected to the pc?

Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone, especially Steve.

Steve, I am fortunate to work for a city that has a "hot" IT dept. I have storage backup to a networked SAN drive at ESATA speed. This drive is backed up to a tape drive. This is where I store all official meetings (city council, planning commission, parks commission, etc.)

I archive our "informational programs" on several external drive Western Digital 1TB drives.

On our current editing computer (Dell Optiplex 745) , our IT guys installed a 1.5 TB Barricuda Segate "d" drive that is my working drive and bumped up the RAM to 4gb. We are using Windows XP Professional as the OS. This PS is basically used for editing only with all programs stored on other drives/machines.

O.C.

Hey David, could you please reference your source? If its true, you just saved me $900 as I am looking to get the FX 3800 w/accelerator.

Thanks

O.C., I am doing something similar to you as I am starting up an access channel for a large city just outside of chicago. If you don't mind, what kind of shows do you produce(besides events & meetings) and are they weekly, monthly or what? And is it through Comcast?

At the moment, we are building a website to host the videos until the access channel is ready.

Yeah yeah see

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attend-world-premiere/466368-premiere-quadro-elemental-h-264-mpeg2-accelerator.html#post1440337

Any questions please ask

Hey David, could you please reference your source? If its true, you just saved me $900 as I am looking to get the FX 3800 w/accelerator.

Thanks

O.C., I am doing something similar to you as I am starting up an access channel for a large city just outside of chicago. If you don't mind, what kind of shows do you produce(besides events & meetings) and are they weekly, monthly or what? And is it through Comcast?

At the moment, we are building a website to host the videos until the access channel is ready.

Steve: Disclaimer: I am just a one man shop and I have a lot of other duties besides our TV channel but we do air a variety of programs. I try to produce new programs every other month, but even that is hard in a one-man shop.Our channel is only available through SuddenLink - our cable provider; we reach a population of 66,000 through 21,000 households.

Our channel is a municipal governent channel. All our programs are available online at VTV15 - Featured Videos (http://www.vtv15.org/index.php) if you have time to check them out. Currently we air Council meetings, Parks Commission, and Planning Commission meetings. I do a program on our Library, the Victoria Report (other City department news and projects) and I am trying to begin a "First Responder Program" for Police and Fire. When time allows I do a "Performances and Exhibitions" program and a WWII veterans interveiw series. I am also in the editing stage of a "History of Victoria" project with local historians. You can also look here for program info: City of Victoria (http://www.victoriatx.org/pio/vtv15.asp).
Please email if you have any other questions: pio@victoriatx.org.