Fantasy or reality? - Final Cut Hack-Pro workstation and Windows

[btimpaler]

Okay, I've done a bit of researching on the site for a while and I wanted to get some recommendations on making this dream become a reality.

 

The Plan

1 hdd dedicated to Windows OS

1 hdd dedicated to Mac OS

3 hdd raided for final cut pro media storage

8 GB of ram

 

Now for my myriad of questions:

 

Question 1: Which would be better for video editing - a q6600 overclocked or a nehalem 2.66 ghz (I haven't researched overclocking the nehalems yet)?

 

Question 2: The 8800 GT gfx cards seem to be the most common and successful from what I've read, but many of the threads I've been reading are close to a year old. Do the 9800GTs work as well and do they work with final cut?

 

Question 3: Would a computer with these hardware specs be able to edit HD footage in real time? Specifically, would it be able to edit sony ex1 footage without a hitch?

 

Quesiton 4: If anyone has put together anything similar in design or has created a stable final cut workstation, can I get a list of what hardware you used?

 

Question 5: How would a computer of similar specs stack up against a mac mini or one of the new mac pro 8 cores?

 

Question 6: Is raiding possible with hackintosh?

 

Overall, I'm looking at spending around $1000. I've always been a Windows guy and will do everything outside of video editing in windows, but with the pressing need to run Final Cut for work reasons, I need to make the switch.

 

The wealth of information on here is staggering and I mean that the most literal sense. I've been searching through the forums and as soon as I have one thing answered a new question pops up, then I see that the answer to the question is now outdated or someone has a conflicting opinion. My head got spinning, so I figured I'd just ask. Thanks in advance.

[justyup]

I'm looking to do the same as you. I've got a MBP, but want to have a more powerful machine for Final Cut, Color and Motion, so I'm looking into building one.

 

All I can say is you should be great with having a Hackintosh - but as far as your specs, I'm uncertain. I've got my own thread where I'm trying to find out some of these details. People have been kind - feel free to check it out and see if anything said helps you out. It's below.

 

Oh, and honestly, I doubt you'll "keep using Windows" once you have this thing built. OSX is a great operating system and is ridiculously useful. Expose and Spaces are so slick and second-nature that going back to Windows will feel archaic and antiquated.

[btimpaler]

Thanks for responding. I actually read your thread earlier today and was following some of the information in there. I'd say the only differences between what you want and what I want are that I want a dedicated windows drive (the horror!) and a group of harddrives that I'll raid into one (never done this before so I'm trying to learn as much as possible about that as well).

 

The necessity of raiding I gleaned from this thread:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=143257

 

One poster responds about how he needed like 15 drives to handle 4:4:4 HD footage (not that I'd be ediitng 4:4:4 footage but I'd like the capability just in case).

 

As far as Windows, old habits die hard. I grew up on dos and then windows 3.1, the to 95, and now XP (never made the transition to Vista). At work I use a mac mini and find my screen looking sloppy in a hurry - I just love the need little bars at the bottom of the screen that allow me to multitask cleanly in Windows.

 

What windows lacks that I love in the mac is Final cut - man is it intuitive. It makes so much more sense than Avid and is rapidly gaining popularity in the entertainment industry. The one thing it lacks when compared to avid is the media sharing capability - avid has the lock on that. But considering I'm going to be a one man show who will more than likely have to coordinate with other FCP users - FCP is the way to go.

 

One last reason for needing that windows drive - I play counterstrike with my brother on thursday nights!

 

I'm looking to do the same as you. I've got a MBP, but want to have a more powerful machine for Final Cut, Color and Motion, so I'm looking into building one.

 

All I can say is you should be great with having a Hackintosh - but as far as your specs, I'm uncertain. I've got my own thread where I'm trying to find out some of these details. People have been kind - feel free to check it out and see if anything said helps you out. It's below.

 

Oh, and honestly, I doubt you'll "keep using Windows" once you have this thing built. OSX is a great operating system and is ridiculously useful. Expose and Spaces are so slick and second-nature that going back to Windows will feel archaic and antiquated.

[Synaesthesia]

Question 1: Which would be better for video editing - a q6600 overclocked or a nehalem 2.66 ghz (I haven't researched overclocking the nehalems yet)?

Nehalem is the best. Overclocks like a dream too. Bit more pricey though.

Question 2: The 8800 GT gfx cards seem to be the most common and successful from what I've read, but many of the threads I've been reading are close to a year old. Do the 9800GTs work as well and do they work with final cut?

Yep. 9800GT/9800GTX works. Actually, for final cut, an ATI 3870 is slightly faster.

Question 3: Would a computer with these hardware specs be able to edit HD footage in real time? Specifically, would it be able to edit sony ex1 footage without a hitch?

Should be able to edit HD without a hitch.

 

Quesiton 4: If anyone has put together anything similar in design or has created a stable final cut workstation, can I get a list of what hardware you used?

Dude, just search the forum. -You can use google - LOTS of guides for final cut builds, and answers to all your questions. Quick example:

http://www.google.co.za/search?q=9800gt+si...lient=firefox-a

 

Question 5: How would a computer of similar specs stack up against a mac mini or one of the new mac pro 8 cores?

It should beat a Mac Mini, but that's limited by it's Hard Drive & Graphics - It's not really a Video editing Mac. An 8-core Mac Pro is faster for heavily multithreaded apps, but in real life, the fastest is still an overclocked quad core. An Overclocked Core i7 is even faster though. It's amazing.

Question 6: Is raiding possible with hackintosh?

mmm...research yourself..

-> http://www.google.co.za/search?hl=en&c...earch&meta=

-> Native RAID Guide (first thing I saw on the search page)

BTW the fastest hard drive right now is an SSD - the Intel X-25 range. Quite expensive though & low capacity - not so great for HD, but the performance is amazing!

 

Good luck!

[justyup]

Synasthesia - do you know which card in particular is better for MOTION and COLOR?

 

I've done a Google search of the board, but the problem is the words "color" and "motion" are so ambiguous you get mostly threads that aren't about those programs.

[Synaesthesia]

Yeah - the 3870. , 8800GT/9800GT are fast - in fact they're faster in Windows but in OS X - the 3870 has better written drivers and so is faster.

http://www.barefeats.com/harper16.html - in Core Image 3870 is fastest (this is what Motion & Color use)

http://www.barefeats.com/harper17.html - Mac Gaming - close but the nVidia wins

 

So you can see for games the nVidia is better, for Mac & Core Image apps the ATI is better. Although they're both great all-round cards.

 

The 3870 is quite cheap these days too, making it a good buy!

[justyup]

Thank you so much! I've been pretty worried about my graphics card addition, to make sure I get the most out of the system for the software I'm building it fore.

 

Another question if you don't mind answering -

 

I'm trying to decide between Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz + GA-EP45-UD3R and the Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz + GA-EX58-UD5 combinations.

 

Will I get significantly better performance if I go with Nehalem at 2.66GHz vs Yorkfield 2.83GHz? If the gain is marginal or nothing at all, then it's not worth the $300+ it costs to go from Yorkfield to Nehalem. However, if I'm going to see and feel a performance increase in FCP, Motion * Color, then it's worth it.

 

The faster Nehalem's are a LITTLE out of my price range, but IF I'd see a massively wonderful, earth-shattering difference going with the Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz - then that could be worth the additional $$.

 

I think this is my FINAL decision to make, since you've already helped tremendously with choosing the right graphics card.

[JBLanteigne]

I have a similar computer with a Q9300 (I would go with Q6600 or Q9450 but I'm stuck with the 9300) 4gb of ram a 500gb hdd for os x and a 1.5tb hdd for data with a 3870 hd video card. All that in a EP45 DS3R mobo

 

it works well with hd editing I have even done some editing with footage that was twice has big as full hd, it was not fast but it did the job.

[Synaesthesia]

mmm...Nehalem is faster. Especially in well-threaded applications. The thing is, I don't think Final Cut Pro is that well threaded! So in summary, it's probably not worth the extra $300. Rather save it for other stuff. A Q9550 is plenty fast, especially if you overclock it a bit.

 

For detailed info, look at Anandtech's excellent & in-depth review of Nehalem.

 

If you do get a Nehalem, I wouldn't go for anything except the Core i7 920 seeing as people are overclocking it to 3.6ghz-4.0ghz. Absolute madness. The 940 & 965 aren't really worth it IMO.

[justyup]

Synasthesia - excellent! That was my answer

 

 

We're going to be working with HVX, EX-3 and RED camera footage at various resolutions. So power is what I'm looking for.

 

$345 difference isn't breaking my bank Here are my final specs: Do you see any issues (like with PowerSupply or DVD Burner compatibility with OSX86?)

 

 

 

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

RAM: 2x Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

DVD Burner: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30

Case: Thermaltake Spedo Advance Package VI90001W2Z Black 0.8 mm SECC Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Power Supply: Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W ATX12V v2.01

Bluetooth: Cirago BTA-3210 USB 2.0 Micro V2.0+EDR Bluetooth Dongle

Firewire: StarTech 2 Port FireWire 800 + 1 Port FireWire 400 PCI Express Card

eSATA: NORCO-4618 PCI-X / PCI eSATA / SATA II / SATA I Controller Card

[btimpaler]

Wow! I woke up this morning and signed on here and Synaesthesia and JBL you guys really answered my questions. Thanks so much! Justyup, also thanks for your additional questions. I'm probably going to follow your build (or at the very least be following up on you to see how your build turns out) because all the footage that you're working with is exactly the footage that I'd be handling. The ex-1, HVX, (RED - not yet, waiting for the Scarlet S35 to come out - I spent years deliberating on purchasing an adapter like the letus or brevis but now that the scarlet comes out this summer having a native 35mm sensor is way more awesome)

 

Justyup, are going to get several extra harddrives that you'll raid together to handle the HD footage? Also, how soon til you go ahead and buy and build?

 

Again, great help everyone - thanks!

 

Synasthesia - excellent! That was my answer

 

 

We're going to be working with HVX, EX-3 and RED camera footage at various resolutions. So power is what I'm looking for.

 

$345 difference isn't breaking my bank Here are my final specs: Do you see any issues (like with PowerSupply or DVD Burner compatibility with OSX86?)

 

 

 

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

RAM: 2x Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

DVD Burner: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30

Case: Thermaltake Spedo Advance Package VI90001W2Z Black 0.8 mm SECC Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Power Supply: Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W ATX12V v2.01

Bluetooth: Cirago BTA-3210 USB 2.0 Micro V2.0+EDR Bluetooth Dongle

[justyup]

I'm contemplating the RAID thing, but it's not something I need right away, due to the way project tend to work. Most of our storage is done on external drives and Blu-Ray, so we're only working with so much at a time.

 

I'm sure there will be a RAID system in the relatively near future, but not sure when.

 

As for purchase time, I'm thinking in the next few weeks.

[btimpaler]

I'm contemplating the RAID thing, but it's not something I need right away, due to the way project tend to work. Most of our storage is done on external drives and Blu-Ray, so we're only working with so much at a time.

 

I'm sure there will be a RAID system in the relatively near future, but not sure when.

 

As for purchase time, I'm thinking in the next few weeks.

 

Hmm... that was strange. It didn't put my post in there. Anyway, what I said was to Justyup, that I think I'm going to beat you to the punch. I did some research and I feel pretty confident about my machine. However, if there's anything there that looks problematic, please let me know. Here's my configuration:

 

Qty.Product DescriptionSavingsTotal Price1

 

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler

Item #:N82E16835186134

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

 

-$7.99 Saving

$36.99

$29.001

 

Nippon Labs 15 ft. USB2.0 A/male to B/male cable

Item #:N82E16812816019

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

 

 

$7.992

 

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Item #:N82E16820227289

Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

 

-$7.00 Instant

$20.00 Mail-in Rebate

$145.98

$131.981

 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor

Item #:N82E16819115017

Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

 

 

$194.991

 

ASUS WL-138g V2 PCI Wireless Adapter

Item #:N82E16833320022

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

 

$23.992

 

Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Item #:N82E16822136218

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

 

$149.981

 

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P ATX Intel Motherboard

Item #:N82E16813128358

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

$20.00 Mail-in Rebate

$134.991

 

LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model iHAS422-08

Item #:N82E16827106280

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

 

$27.991

 

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ PVT98WYDFU Video Card

Item #: N82E16814150341

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

 

 

Nvidia Gift

Item #: N82E16800999088

Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

 

-$49.99 Combo

$25.00 Mail-in Rebate

$239.98

$189.991

 

Antec Three Hundred Black Computer Case

Item #: N82E16811129042

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

 

 

Antec EA650 650W Power Supply

Item #: N82E16817371015

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

 

-$30.00 Instant

-$20.00 Combo

$169.94

$119.94Grand Total:$1,010.84

 

It ends up being a tad over $1100 with tax and shipping. Again, my goal is to run Final Cut and then have the other harddrive dedicated to Windows. I'll worry about getting the extra harddrives for the media storage raid array once I get it up and running. I'd like to bite the bullet on buying by the end of the week - help the economy out a little.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Oh yeah, and I plan to overclock the Q6600 to a 3.2 ghz hopefully (at least to a 3.0).

[Zaap]

Looks great to me. (Except I can't make out the actual prices on your items.)

 

The only thing I would say -and it's completely arbitrary- is you might consider the Q8300 in place of the Q6600. I've been messing with one since last week and am really impressed with this thing. It's a newer 45nm chip, runs cooler/uses less energy than the Q6600, and at stock its faster. It doesn't o.c. better than the Q6600, but it can easily be pushed to 3.2Ghz. Costs a few bucks less too.

 

From now on with my own builds, I'm dumping the Q6600 in favor of the Q8300- I think it may be the worthy successor to the throne.

[broken]

Yeah, looks solid to me too.

 

I am also running my EP45-UD3P in an Antec 300 as well. Excellent case with lots of potential.

 

I agree with Zaap that the Q6600 is getting a bit long in the tooth. The Q8300 or maybe Q9400

might be a bit better of a choice.

 

Also, unless you are wanting to play a bunch of games, perhaps swapping down to a less powerful

video card would be a good place to save some green. Like a 9500 or 9600 GT. Still very good 3d.

You could take that savings and put it into a faster cpu like the Q9550. Plus those faster cards tend to

dump lots of heat into the case and are typically on the noisy side. Something to consider.

[btimpaler]

Well, now I might be shifting my config again. The current setup came out to a little over $1100 after shipping. I like the idea of the Q8300 (it's cheaper so why not!), but my brother asked me how my newegg build from the ground up stacked up to a cyberpower.com config. My current computer is a pentium 4 cyberpowerpc computer that is still running great, and I've contacted a couple times for support and they've been good, so I figure I should at least check out their site again.

 

Well, as I suspected, they didn't offer the Q6600, but their lineup was a little cheaper, but I also didn't like the motherboard selection and the cases were a bit too tricked out for my tastes. Then for kicks I went through the core i7 config on their website. The setup came to be only $100 bucks more.

 

Well, without further ado... here's the setup:

 

• CASE: CoolerMaster Centurion 590 RC-590 Mid-Tower 420W Case
  
• Neon Light Upgrade: NONE
  
• Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Extra Case Cooling Fan (1 x Fan)
  
• POWER SUPPLY Upgrade: 600 Watts Power Supplies (Nzxt PP600 Watt Power Supply-SLI Supports)
  
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
  
• COOLING FAN : Thermaltake V1 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Excellent Overclocking + Silent Proof + Smart CPU & System Thermal Monitor)
  
• MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE X58 GA-EX58-UD3R 2 WAY CROSSFIRE/SLI DDR3
  
• MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Triple Channel Memory (Corsair Dominator)
  
• FREEBIES: None
  
• VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
  
• VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
  
• VIDEO CARD 3: NONE
  
• MULTIPLE VIDEO CARD SETTINGS: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor
  
• LCD Monitor: NONE
  
• 2nd Monitor: NONE
  
• HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
  
• Data Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
  
• USB PORTABLE DRIVE: NONE
  
• Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
  
• Optical Drive 2: NONE
  
• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
  
• SPEAKERS: NONE
  
• NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
  
• MODEM: NONE
  
• KEYBOARD: Logitech Deluxe 250 USB Keyboard (Black Color)
  
• MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
  
• Extra Thermal Display : NONE
  
• Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: NONE
  
• Flash Media Reader/Writer: None
  
• Cable Wiring: None
  
• Rounded Cable: None
  
• VIDEO CAMERA: NONE
  
• PRINTER: None
  
• PRINTER CABLE: None
  
• IEEE CARD: IEEE 1394 CARD AND DRIVER
  
• USB PORT: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
  
• FLOPPY: NONE
  
• OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY
  
• FREEBIES: None
  
• Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner: None
  
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
  
• RUSH SERVICE: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
  

 

Now, I tried researching the GIGABYTE X58 GA-EX58-UD3R and I couldn't find much info on it outside of a few mentions here and there. Most of the information out there is about the EX58-UD5, but it seems people had successes with that. The other motherboard options are:

 

• MSI X58 Platinum Intel X58
  
• GIGABYTE X58 GA-EX58-UD3R 2
  
• Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset
  
• Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58 Chipset
  
• (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-EX58-UD4P Intel
  
• (3-Way SLI Support) EVGA X58 3X SLI Intel
  

 

The GFX card checks out on here - people have had success with the EVGA 9800 GTX. I will only have 6GB of ram compared to 8GB with this setup, but it's DDR3, so I figure that'll make up for the 2GBs less. I got a 600 watt power supply thinking that should be enough power to overclock and provide power to the extra harddrives I intend to put in there eventually. I also need to contact cyberpower to make sure the optical drive is SATA and not IDE. Altogether after tax this comes out to $1284.93 and I don't have to pay for shipping because the place is just a 30 minute drive from my apartment.

 

 

Again, thanks for the input and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of this setup. Pricewise I like it - I'm just concerned about compatibility with OSX and most importantly Final Cut Studio. Thanks in advance.

[T-Rave]

I have been running a completely working system with the specs in my sig. Ok maybe not 100% but i would say 99% solid. I have not tried vanilla disk but iAtkos 10.5.4 is solid and I updated to 10.5.6 without any issues.

Issues:

Firewire drives and AV devices don't always mount so I have to run a command in terminal to load up the kext's if they were not plugged in on OS boot. Not an issue. Takes 2 secs to run the command and they work solid. My firewire Mackie Onyx is not seen when I run the those. Have not had it present at boot. Need to try that.

No audio in through mic on front panel. Have not tried from back or line in. i ordered a $8 usb mic and headphone adapter and it see's it fine if I ever need mic. Again, haven't tinkered with it.

 

Those are really the only things i can think of. I got all the info on getting it going from these forums. Most of the help from the huge i7 x58 board thread.

 

I do run 2 hd's. 1 with OSX and the other with Vista x64. The board on boot can have a selection of boot devices by f12. So it's as easy as doing that and picking the right OS. Mine goes to OSX by default.

 

My gtx+ 1gig card reads as 512 but no complaint here.

 

Here is what I run:

FCP Studio 2. Have edited fine and export is nice and snappy in FCP. Made some short music with Soundtrack Pro. Have not used other apps in the suite yet but will be here soon. Feel free to ask me to test any of them

Adobe CS4. Photoshop, Premeire Pro. They both run great

Logic Pro Studio 8. Have not recorded but ran loops. Seems to be running as it should.

iLife '09. This can only be installed on 10.5.6. Everything looks to run as it should.

 

I am completely satisfied. I broke the OS once with doing a dumb kext install for wrong kernel version. Won't be doing that again, ha Have been running it night and day solid for at least a week or so with no KP's. With the right setup in iAtkos you can have it up and going at 10.5.6 within 2 hours if not less. I may post an exact guide of my install so you can breeze through it, if time permits in my busy schedule. If anyone does want more info on what threads or kext's i have used feel free to ask. Also, if you want me to run any certain software let me know. Glad to help in any way.

[btimpaler]

Dude, that sounds awesome! Your computer (outside your kick ass case) is exactly what I'm planning on getting, and it sounds like you're doing everything I need to do. Although, I do ahve some questions:

 

Did you get your computer from cyberpowerpc.com because they have your setup is exactly like one of the configurations they offer?

 

Did you have to go out and buy a SATA DVD drive to install or did you just use an adapter?

 

What type of firewire card do you have in there and have you tried any firewire 800 drives? (this something I might need to do because I was looking into possibly geting a graid - either that or setup a raid of 3 internal drives - if you've done any raiding at all I'd like to hear about that as well)

 

If you get a chance, can you test the line in/mic jack in the back because I have a nice non USB mic that I use for VO stuff- also does it work within FCP?

 

Have you tried Motion?

 

How about After Effects? (that's normally what i use anyway)

 

Have you tried digitizing any footage yet into FCP via firewire?

 

Have you burnt any DVDs with studio pro?

 

I guess those are all the questions I have about now. Again thanks for all the info. I am so psyched about this.

 

By the way, I enjoyed your T-Rave.com video blog - looks like you have a segment ready for G4 network. That case really is a beast!

 

I have been running a completely working system with the specs in my sig. Ok maybe not 100% but i would say 99% solid. I have not tried vanilla disk but iAtkos 10.5.4 is solid and I updated to 10.5.6 without any issues.

Issues:

Firewire drives and AV devices don't always mount so I have to run a command in terminal to load up the kext's if they were not plugged in on OS boot. Not an issue. Takes 2 secs to run the command and they work solid. My firewire Mackie Onyx is not seen when I run the those. Have not had it present at boot. Need to try that.

No audio in through mic on front panel. Have not tried from back or line in. i ordered a $8 usb mic and headphone adapter and it see's it fine if I ever need mic. Again, haven't tinkered with it.

 

Those are really the only things i can think of. I got all the info on getting it going from these forums. Most of the help from the huge i7 x58 board thread.

 

I do run 2 hd's. 1 with OSX and the other with Vista x64. The board on boot can have a selection of boot devices by f12. So it's as easy as doing that and picking the right OS. Mine goes to OSX by default.

 

My gtx+ 1gig card reads as 512 but no complaint here.

 

Here is what I run:

FCP Studio 2. Have edited fine and export is nice and snappy in FCP. Made some short music with Soundtrack Pro. Have not used other apps in the suite yet but will be here soon. Feel free to ask me to test any of them

Adobe CS4. Photoshop, Premeire Pro. They both run great

Logic Pro Studio 8. Have not recorded but ran loops. Seems to be running as it should.

iLife '09. This can only be installed on 10.5.6. Everything looks to run as it should.

 

I am completely satisfied. I broke the OS once with doing a dumb kext install for wrong kernel version. Won't be doing that again, ha Have been running it night and day solid for at least a week or so with no KP's. With the right setup in iAtkos you can have it up and going at 10.5.6 within 2 hours if not less. I may post an exact guide of my install so you can breeze through it, if time permits in my busy schedule. If anyone does want more info on what threads or kext's i have used feel free to ask. Also, if you want me to run any certain software let me know. Glad to help in any way.

[T-Rave]

Thought I would do a quick update before I forget to.

 

I did buy a sata drive. I sat on vista for about a week and then got the order in. Right now the Lite-on sata is doing great.

I did all my purchasing from newegg minus the processor. There is a microcenter by me and it was about 75 bucks less there.

Firewire is all onboard. I use the back one for my XL1s and front for a HD. Have not done any export through it. I haven't done that even on my real macs in 2+ years. I just go to dvd or a file for online. Sorry on the lack of info there.

Have done no raiding at this point.

Mic in works GREAT! Reads as the "internal mic" as well as the line in. So all good on that end. Looks on my case though not to see the front input. Back is all working like it should.

Ran all the apps you asked, at the same time and all had good response.

Have not had to burn with DVD studio yet though. I don't see an issue arising since I have used Toast with no complications.

 

Again, feel free to ask any more questions. This post is being written on my machine now. Had no issues since the last post either. It is really solid!

[btimpaler]

Awesome, I'm sold! Just placed the order.

 

Here's the final specs of the computer I bought:

 

Gamer Xtreme XT (NO MONITOR) GXTZ, www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Xtreme_XT/detail

• *BASE_PRICE: [+1199]
  
• CAS: CoolerMaster Centurion 590 RC-590 Mid-Tower 420W Case
  
• CASUPGRADE: NONE
  
• CS_FAN: Default case fans
  
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
  
• CD: LG 20X Double Layer DVD+-RW Super Allwrite + Lightscribe Technology [+5] (Black Color)
  
• CD2: NONE [-15]
  
• CABLE: None
  
• FLASHMEDIA: None
  
• FREEBIE_CU1: FREE! (FarCry2) Game
  
• FREEBIE_CU2: FREE! CyberPower Multi-Purpose Carrying Briefcase ($19.99 Value)
  
• FREEBIE_CU3: FREE! Cyberpower Unleash The Power T-Shirt ($19 Value)
  
• FAN: Thermaltake V1 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Excellent Overclocking + Silent Proof + Smart CPU & System Thermal Monitor) [-2]
  
• FREEBIE_RM: None
  
• FREEBIE_VC: FREE! (Age of Conan) Game
  
• FLOPPY: NONE
  
• FREEBIE_OS: FREE! (Microsoft® Flight Simulator X Deluxe) Game
  
• HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [-40])
  
• HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+59]
  
• IEEE_CARD: NONE
  
• KEYBOARD: Logitech Deluxe 104 PS/2 Keyboard [+1] (Black Color)
  
• MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse [+2] (BLACK COLOR)
  
• MULTIVIEW: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor
  
• MONITOR: NONE
  
• MONITOR2: NONE
  
• MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE X58 GA-EX58-UD3R 2 WAY CROSSFIRE/SLI DDR3 [-10]
  
• MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Triple Channel Memory [+59] (Corsair Dominator [+19])
  
• MODEM: NONE
  
• NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
  
• OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
  
• PRO_WIRING: None
  
• PRINTER: None
  
• PRINTER_CABLE: None
  
• POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts Power Supplies (CyberPowerPC XF800S Performance ATX 2.0 Power - Quad SLI Ready)
  
• RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
  
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
  
• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
  
• SPEAKERS: NONE
  
• TEMP: NONE
  
• TVRC: None
  
• USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
  
• USBHD: NONE
  
• VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1GB 16X PCI Express [-55] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
  
• VIDEO2: NONE
  
• VIDEO3: NONE
  
• VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
  
• WNC: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card [+19]
  
• _PRICE: (+1241)
  
• _view_: detail
  

It should be ready in 2 weeks to pick up. I will check back in then to let you know how installing OSX goes and most likely be asking for help then too. I am fired up!

 

 

Thought I would do a quick update before I forget to.

 

I did buy a sata drive. I sat on vista for about a week and then got the order in. Right now the Lite-on sata is doing great.

I did all my purchasing from newegg minus the processor. There is a microcenter by me and it was about 75 bucks less there.

Firewire is all onboard. I use the back one for my XL1s and front for a HD. Have not done any export through it. I haven't done that even on my real macs in 2+ years. I just go to dvd or a file for online. Sorry on the lack of info there.

Have done no raiding at this point.

Mic in works GREAT! Reads as the "internal mic" as well as the line in. So all good on that end. Looks on my case though not to see the front input. Back is all working like it should.

Ran all the apps you asked, at the same time and all had good response.

Have not had to burn with DVD studio yet though. I don't see an issue arising since I have used Toast with no complications.

 

Again, feel free to ask any more questions. This post is being written on my machine now. Had no issues since the last post either. It is really solid!

[T-Rave]

Btw I got all my firewire devices running. I simply have to run a command in Terminal for both of them. So know my firewire audio interface works as well. It's a Mackie Oynx Satellite. Use logic to record some short vocals and it works great. If anyone needs the kext's I load for firewire video and firewire audio just ask.

Also, I got my hands on a Canon HG20 and tried loading clips up in FCP. After about 30 seconds FCP just quits. So does iMovie. Premiere Pro runs it fine. Just thought I would give the heads up

[btimpaler]

I just signed on today to update that I have to wait until the 28th til I get my computer. The waiting is killing me. But then I saw that you had trouble loading clips with the HG20 into FCP. You said that the your XL1 worked without a hitch loading video in - I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact that the HG20 records to a hard drive or is it the HD video. I've never worked with the HG20 - how does that load in? Have you tried loading any HD video in yet from a minidv camera like the canon XH-A1 or XL-H1?

 

After reading your post about FCP crapping out after 30 seconds made a wave of anxiety shoot through my body because using FCP is why I'm building the computer in the first place. Then again, the i7 and motherboard you're using (what I'll soon be using) are pretty new to the OSX world, so maybe there's some kinks that need be fleshed out yet. Anyway - thanks again for the info!

 

You planning on doing any more updates on the beast on t-rave.com soon?

 

 

Btw I got all my firewire devices running. I simply have to run a command in Terminal for both of them. So know my firewire audio interface works as well. It's a Mackie Oynx Satellite. Use logic to record some short vocals and it works great. If anyone needs the kext's I load for firewire video and firewire audio just ask.

Also, I got my hands on a Canon HG20 and tried loading clips up in FCP. After about 30 seconds FCP just quits. So does iMovie. Premiere Pro runs it fine. Just thought I would give the heads up

[T-Rave]

The HG20 loads through usb. It is the newer AVCHD format which FCP needs to 'Log and Transfer.' Kind of a doopy way of doing it. What I did was transfer the clip to my hard drive then convert it then import it into FCP. Premeire ran it as smooth as it could. Kind of a weird hickup if you ask me.

If I could get my hands on a firewire hd cam I would totally run that through. Should work fine though.

Now thinking of this it might have to do with h.264 acceleration? I know I read somewhere in the forums that the newest quicktime had it built in and made the mouse jumpy.

Everything is running good on my system minus the hd stuff. I haven't moved to it yet so right now I am fine.

As for any more shows on the beast I have not thought about it. I am looking for some more Tech Tuesday gear to get my hands on and do a show about.

[rschultz101]

good choice, couple of thoughts,...

 

since I got my ssd for my laptop, and boots in 15sec,... I'd say, get an 64gb ssd, and do 32gb osx, 32gb win,

have a couple of 1tb disks, only get 1TB drives,... smallest disks 640gb, with 2 plattern,

with a partitions, for scratch, swap,

don't forget backup drives

add a blu-ray drive

got an nvidia msi 9500gt, fanless,... with dual dvi and hdmi out, since you going video, it's nice,...

have dual monitor setup, and one of them with hdmi,

add an firewire 800 card, have a 1tb firewire 800 , to be portable, for those edits,...

post how your install went, prefferably stay vanilla,

[btimpaler]

TRave - once again, thanks for the response. I most likely won't ever use that camera, so I'm not too worried about it. The one I'd use more than anything is the EX-1 (a friend of mine owns it) which despite being a hard drive camera, there's a whole conversion process you have to do with EX-1 software prior to loading it into FCP so there probably won't be an issue. Although, if I ever find the cash to get my own camera, I'd get a mini-dv based one. I'm not huge on the hard drive cameras. I feel like if you're in the field and you need to shoot lots and lots of footage, the hard drive style camera becomes very limiting.

 

RSchultz - That must be wicked fast with the solid state drives. But I just looked up their pricing - YIKES! I'm going to try to do a vanilla install, so we'll see. And I do plan on getting the 1 TB drives raided together for scratch disks as soon as I'm up and running. As for the dual monitors, that might be something I do down the road, but for now I was looking at this monitor:

 

http://www.buy.com/prod/westinghouse-26-in.../207540840.html

 

Although, now that I look at it today, the price is now jacked up to $300 - before it was $250. Either way, $300 for a 26" seems pretty good.

 

I will definitely let you all know how the install goes. I'll try to be as detailed as possible.