View Full Version : Newbie with some simple ??'s
Michkid
10-22-2003, 12:28 PM
Hello everyone. I am a new DVX user. My brother came back from college with one and he is letting me use it for my indie film stuff. I am used to using Sonys consumer mini dv stuff, so you can imagine my excitement over the DVX! This is more of a question about my computer. I am an imovie wizard by now and I am about to dive into FCP4 after reading a few books on it. I am not the most computer saavy person, so I was wondering what upgrades would be recommended on my single G4 500mhz 256K 20gig system in order to get FCP4 to function decently. I know I need some more RAM and a harddrive, but I'm sure there is a line between necessary and overkill. I would prefer to spend under $500 on the upgrades if possible. There is an Apple store near my house but I'm not sure if I could get the best deal on my new hardware there or online. I've done some research on other boards but I wanted to see what you guys had to say. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!
justinsullivan
10-22-2003, 05:40 PM
DO NOT GO TO THE APPLE STORE. It's great to buy a computer there but Ram is very expensive there. Check out macmall.com or maczones.com . Really, you can never buy too much Ram. So, get all you can. Install an internal drive, maybe 120gb, and that should do it.
Hope it helps.
jsullivan
DVX100Shooter
10-22-2003, 09:08 PM
I learned the hard way! I bought 2 ram chips from Compusa where I bought my G5. Each chip was $144.89! I later found a place where I could have gotten them for $99.00! When I upgrade my memory to more gigs of ram I will get from there or www.ramjet.com. I just added a 120 gig hard drive to my system as well. I was told to capture your video to another drive and not the drive your system is on.
Michkid
10-23-2003, 10:20 AM
Thanks for the replies about the RAM! One more thing, I've heard differing opinions about using internal/external hard drives. I have no problem buying an internal, but I also have a mac laptop that I could use the external with. If it would make my g4 tower system run faster/better, I think I would go with the internal.
bgundu
10-23-2003, 03:13 PM
Save even more money and don't buy RAM from an apple store. Also, an internal Hard drive is cheaper and faster than getting an external firewire drive.
Yes, internal is faster. External drives just allow you the ability to take your work with you to another edit bay. If you'll only be working on one bay, internal should be fine. If you find yourself needing to move between bays sometime in the future, just buy an external enclosure and pop that drive in!
Internal is better than a FW drive, but FW works (at least for me) just fine. I have two internal 120gig RAID(ed) drives, but I've used the FW for actual capturing and editing with no problems.....that is not to say I won't have them eventually but up 'till now it works like a charm.
:)