my configuration/moving low end to high end-viable plan?

[ATP]

I plan to have a rig built with the following configuration:-

CPU: Intel Q6600 quad core 2.4 GHz
Memory: (x2) 2G DDR2800 (=4G)
Graphic card: ATI 4850 512M
Harddisk: (x2) Western Digital 640G SATA (=1.28 terabyte?)
Motherboard: (Gigabyte) Intel P45/LGA 775
OS: XP Pro 32bit
Editing software: Premiere Pro 2.0

There has been a lot of other things going on in the background in preparation, and I am now ready to give the ‘green light’ so to speak, to the company to put the rig together.

Some questions:

i) PRICING
The initial quotation was given in October 2008, and the updated quotation now is 5% cheaper, due to falling prices of hardware (and the software).

Does this figure of around 5% price reduction in CPU and graphic card in 5 months sound right?

ii) CPU
Will this cpu be able to handle all forms of editing- DV/HDV/SD/HD/other?


iii) STRATEGY/PLAN
Originally, I planned a 2-step procedure as reflected in my configuration:

-start off 'low end' as I learn the ropes, and put in a 'low end' set up for consumer/home video

-then gradually move into the 'high end' set up like that above

This plan has been suggested in the following way:

Low end.
software--Adobe Production Premium for home DV
configuration--single dual core processor, single video drive

High end.
the configuration listed above perhaps w/ an additional HDD

Is this a viable or cost-effective plan? Or will the presently listed configuration enable me to cater to low end and high end without having to make the hardware changes?

Thanks.

 

[Alter Ego Productions]

The only thing I would mention is that I used Good ATI GFX cards with a couple of setups that I built. I wished that I would have invested in Nvidia FX series cards. Some NLE's and compositing apps like Avid MC and Toxik need Nvidia cards to work properly. I will be updating my ATI setups to Nvidia FX cards in the near future....

 

[ATP]

The only thing I would mention is that I used Good ATI GFX cards with a couple of setups that I built. I wished that I would have invested in Nvidia FX series cards. Some NLE's and compositing apps like Avid MC and Toxik need Nvidia cards to work properly. I will be updating my ATI setups to Nvidia FX cards in the near future....

Hmmm...thanks. I am very interested in your view concerning:

- my configuration and the CPU's ability to handle different formats: DV/HDV/SD/HD/AVCHD?

- whether my configuration is suitable for doing 'low end' work _as well_ ??

 

[Alter Ego Productions]

The simple answer is yes. Your plan will be good for this point in time. Your proposed system will handle SD and HD editing. For SD DV in Premiere Pro 2 it is more than enough. A single quad core CPU will certainly give you SD real time performance with a a decent GFX card and realtime capable software. The Q6600 2.4 Ghz can be overclocked to 3 Ghz as well. For HD editing your hard drives should be used in a "Raid 0" configuration. HD data stream is 100 Mbs opposed to DV at only 25 Mbs. The average 7200 rpm drive is capable of about 105 Mbs throughput. When you put 2 drives in a "Raid 0" configuration it actually gives you aprox 1.75 times the speed of just a single drive. So if you have 2 drives rated at 105 Mbs, the "Raid 0" will yield 1.7 x 105 Mbs for 178.5 Mbs throughput. I would recommend a Nvidia FX card as I said before. They are made specifically for compositing/graphics and editing stations, as opposed to gaming usage. I hope this helps out.

 

[ATP]

Yes. Thanks very much indeed.