New Computer for Audio Video Production

[MISdad]

Hello all. I'm getting ready to put a new computer together that I'll be using mainly for Audio Video production. I have digital multitrack audio software for recording and producing CDs and also have Sony software for caturing video and creating DVDs. Here are the specs on what I'm going to put together. Give me your thoughts, suggestions, changes, etc. Thanks.

Intel P4 3.0ghz LGA775 2mb cache 800mhz FSB
TR2TT Heatsink and Fan
MSI 915P Combo-F Motherboard
2gb dual channel DDR2 533 ram
Radeon 9250 256mb 128bit video card w/ DVI
Seagate 80gb Barracuda SATA 150 hard drive for OS
Seagate 300gb Barracuda SATA 150 hard drive for captured files
52x CD Rom
16x Dual Layer DVD Burner
PCI Video Capture Card w/ S-Video, Composite Video, Cable, and Firewire inputs
19" LCD monitor DVI
OS will be Windows XP Pro

 

[rvnguy]

MISdad,

I do not know about nor have any friends that are involved in Audio Visual Production. I do have experience with 3d rendering CAD applications (similar???} and have spec'd out and built workstations for individuals for this end purpose.
See this article

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040927/index.html

Rendering with a single proc appeared to be a bottle neck not sure if this was RAM access or what. Have not built around the newer PCI-express video cards yet but this could be a GPU problem instead. At any rate High Performance workstations for 3d CAD perform very well on a dual proc platform (INTEL or AMD). Hopefully someone else has more experience with Audio Visual....

rvnguy

 

[Nelviticus]

The main requisites for doing AV work are:

- huge number-crunching power;
- loads of space on a fast drive;
- huge amounts of memory;
- a way of getting your work on/off your PC;
- powerful software.

You have all of those. You could have even more memory but the performance gain would be slight - the main factor will be CPU speed. I don't know whether the highly-rated Sony software supports multi-threading but if it does I'd go for a dual-core CPU or dual CPUs, with an appropriate motherboard. If it doesn't support multi-threading then stick with the one fast single-core CPU.

Oh, don't forget a high-quality, beefy power supply. It'd be a shame to have an expensive system like that randomly crashing due to power problems.

Regards

Nelviticus