My Solution

LOL I got a mac cause, my wife back then came from tribeca film festival years ago, they gave directors free fcp studio. The box sat there for half a year, with a mac to run it. Then I got a macbook pro from a project, and then a mac pro.
I was hooked. But same story here then onwards as all you folks.
Time to stop bitchin and move on.
. using adobe premiere cs 5.5 now., when you look into the prices and performance for quadro for mac, it's the same story. Looks like PC is the way to go.
 
That does sound a like good deal Hunter! What are people doing for monitors, or, better yet, what budget conscious, but good enough for editing, dual monitor setup would people recommend?

Still bummed about lack of DaVinci Resolve support on PCs....


Here ya go Matt-

I spent the past week looking into the intel 980x vs the 2600k and realized I could get plenty bang out of the 2600k for less money, also realized I could get plenty of juice from a GTX580 vs a Quadro 4000 in Premiere Pro for a heck of a lot less (see GPU benchmarks at ppbm5.com)- so the final build came in under $2000 from cyberpowerPC.com (with 5% discount coupon "INSTANT")

Specs:

NXTZ silent white mid-tower case (w/ silent liquid cooling)
Intel i7-2600k quad core (3.4Ghz)
16GB (1600MHz) Ram
120GB Intel SSD (for boot and apps)
500GB x2 raid 0 (for temp working drive- I have an external raid 1 for back-up)
NVIDIA GTX580
12x Blu-ray multi writer
wifi card
12 in one flashmedia reader
Win7

$1968 Built and shipped

ZSseBaJUxj6FnFJniqUSlWHMPEHfhJg2XsamKnp-W08Z11WktGZPKTXoq7AdN46676HQLfNM8nRw_bPxTu-ARNtOxyi7H1t_Kte_F4Oj6aBzmT4LsQf9ZlyOVD1ZD5zlwByQlHrRee1S4Iv6gsJfrde9OCZCLRGpZW9H6aIVXQLZGsVcYzLb6kFPMnzUCQ

I priced out a Macpro with similar specs for fun and it came to $4600 once you added the GTX580 and intel ssd (and you would be getting the older generation of intel CPU) Price it out and see for yourself.

Now Im going to take advantage of the 50% off adobe switch program and ill be rocking : )
 
I bought a view sonic vp2365wb this week to try- about 300 bucks and supposedly good color for the price- will let you know.
Btw- the i7-2600k was made by intel to be overclocked- as long as you get the right motherboard, cooling and memory you can oc this baby to almost 5ghz... I'm planning on running mine at around 4.5ghz or so.
 
Thanks sir!

MG

Here ya go Matt-

I spent the past week looking into the intel 980x vs the 2600k and realized I could get plenty bang out of the 2600k for less money, also realized I could get plenty of juice from a GTX580 vs a Quadro 4000 in Premiere Pro for a heck of a lot less (see GPU benchmarks at ppbm5.com)- so the final build came in under $2000 from cyberpowerPC.com (with 5% discount coupon "INSTANT")

Specs:

NXTZ silent white mid-tower case (w/ silent liquid cooling)
Intel i7-2600k quad core (3.4Ghz)
16GB (1600MHz) Ram
120GB Intel SSD (for boot and apps)
500GB x2 raid 0 (for temp working drive- I have an external raid 1 for back-up)
NVIDIA GTX580
12x Blu-ray multi writer
wifi card
12 in one flashmedia reader
Win7

$1968 Built and shipped

ZSseBaJUxj6FnFJniqUSlWHMPEHfhJg2XsamKnp-W08Z11WktGZPKTXoq7AdN46676HQLfNM8nRw_bPxTu-ARNtOxyi7H1t_Kte_F4Oj6aBzmT4LsQf9ZlyOVD1ZD5zlwByQlHrRee1S4Iv6gsJfrde9OCZCLRGpZW9H6aIVXQLZGsVcYzLb6kFPMnzUCQ

I priced out a Macpro with similar specs for fun and it came to $4600 once you added the GTX580 and intel ssd (and you would be getting the older generation of intel CPU) Price it out and see for yourself.

Now Im going to take advantage of the 50% off adobe switch program and ill be rocking : )
 
You Rock Hunter! Let us know how your system runs CS5.5--on DSLR, RED footage, compositing, rendering, compression, etc... if you can :) :) ;)
 
We have been have the Mac VS PC Video Editing debate for over 10 years now. I think we all know the disadvantages and advantages of each platform.

If your a PC guy maybe it's time to start posting in a PC thread.

Me personally I will keep using FCP 7 for now and start learning FCP X for the future. No way I am going back to Premiere or Avid that feels like taking a step back for me. The whole reason switched to FCP was to get far away from Premiere and Windows as I could.

Face it a lot of you have been PC guy's the whole time, you just didn't know it.
 
If your a PC guy maybe it's time to start posting in a PC thread.

Face it a lot of you have been PC guy's the whole time, you just didn't know it.

I am not a "PC guy" or a "mac guy".

I have been telling my client's stories for over 22 years and use the tools that are the best one for the job.

I've owned and used both Mac and PCs for this and they have both worked just fine.

This Mac elitism is getting old, and some of us are just considering other options, so this thread is very pertinent to the discussion at hand.
 
Here ya go Matt-

I spent the past week looking into the intel 980x vs the 2600k and realized I could get plenty bang out of the 2600k for less money, also realized I could get plenty of juice from a GTX580 vs a Quadro 4000 in Premiere Pro for a heck of a lot less (see GPU benchmarks at ppbm5.com)- so the final build came in under $2000 from cyberpowerPC.com (with 5% discount coupon "INSTANT")

Looking at building something similar for my next workstation. Definitely like to know how well it handles RED footage. Going with CS5.5 because my wife needs the other graphics apps for her work too.
 
That does sound a like good deal Hunter! What are people doing for monitors, or, better yet, what budget conscious, but good enough for editing, dual monitor setup would people recommend?

Still bummed about lack of DaVinci Resolve support on PCs....


I use a current gen ISF certified 10 bit LCD TV , a 32" LG, for my second monitor. Better than any under $1k computer monitor for HD video reference IMO. Very sophisticated expert calibration tools for reference setup with a colorimeter. You can toggle through all the standard calibrations too to see how your video will look on typical out of the box consumer TV settings. Cost about $400.00
A similar plasma is even better than an LCD for reference for a couple hundred more if you have room for a 42".
 
Recently i finished a 13 chapter animated series edited with Premiere Cs5 and After Effects CS5, right now i´m doing some editings with FCPX but using the software for a week already has hanged two times daily, no editing has lost. I don´t feel any faster (MacPro dual QuadCore 14GB Ram), i kind of like the interface.

Nothing against FCPX for me is not better than Premiere CS5.5.
 
ok guys, if you build your computer yourself, just understand it is a long way to unreachable perfection (or quality/price ratio).
There are so many combination and the devil is in the details.
So here is some advices from somebody building pc for 30 years now.

1) spend the bucks needed to get a decent oversized power supply. Many unstable PC are solely due to cheap power supply.
2) always prefer the specs above instead overcloking. Overcloking is fine for teens and nerds who like to spend their nights and weekends fine tuning hardware they will
never use more than 30min anyway to get screen capture of their victory. For example it was told about the cpu i7 2600k, so for few buck more get the the 2700k and run it
at native speed or just slightly overclocked.
3) take also RAM with specs above the one you need (take 2000 if 1600 needed)
4) Get a decent mothermoard, forget about Asrock , prefer Asus, Intel or at worst MSI.
5) get a BIG case.
6) Get a small , recent SSD for OS, put all TEMP folders on another disk
7) cut all unused services (file sharing, network stuff you do not need, interface gadgets ), do not link the computer to internet unless you need (updates) and do not install firewall or anti-virus.
refrain from using it to look at your email or surf the web, you can purchase a small netbook for $300 that will do that perfectly (or use your old mac).
8) include backup into you config (supplemental harddisk and software, a small 2.5" e-sata drives for example).
9) prefer 2 big lcd instead a huge one (2x24 instead a 30) and use a cheap one for window (any TN ACER will fit) but try to get a decent technology (IPS or MVA) for
the preview and color correction. IPS and MVA are usually found only in big brand name DELL-HP-APPLE.
 
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Interesting thread guys. I have a very fast and stable Hackintosh that I'm considering dual-booting with Win7 and Premier... I was considering ditching my Hackintosh but this is making me think about saving it, especially if there's a way to output my FCP project into Premier. I guess the real question is how big of a difference in speed will I experience running Premier 5.5 on Win7 vs. OSX 10.7.... seems a LOT easier to deal with only Mac HSF+ than making a half-commitment to NTFS and HSF+... I guess if I just went NTFS all the way, it would be fine. Man I'm so on the fence!
 
...do not link the computer to internet unless you need (updates) and do not install firewall or anti-virus.
refrain from using it to look at your email or surf the web, you can purchase a small netbook for $300 that will do that perfectly (or use your old mac).

Is this because of viruses? I had this issue before switching to mac. if i used the internet for anything, the computer became unusable.... granted the last time i owned a pc, winXP had just come out. this one bothers me as i need to be connected all the time. clients constantly sending me stuff via email or dropbox and i wouldn't want to have to always be transferring from one comp to another...
 
I have been telling my client's stories for over 22 years and use the tools that are the best one for the job.

this is my feeling, exactly. It's not about FCP "classic" vs FCP-X, FCP vs Avid or Premiere or PC vs Mac. It's about getting the work done. Sometimes that's one tool, sometimes it's another. As pros, we should be looking to widen our toolsets, not change them.
 

Wow, I'm sorry didn't see this thread earlier. Thanks for the link Hunter, I hadn't seen Cyberpower PCs before, but I will check them out. In the spirit of sharing, I wanted to pass along my favored (for the moment) PC integrator; http://www.boldata.com/workstations. These guys use Supermicro motherboards and cases, and SuperTalent ram. You also have the option of configuring your machine with Intel or AMD processors along with nVidia or ATI video cards. I can also vouch for their tech support; every workstation comes with a 1 year, on site warranty and 24/7 phone support, you can buy a longer warranty if needed. So far, I've purchased two of these for home use, and four for work. I haven't regretted moving from Dell and HP to these guys in the three years I've dealt with them. If anyone is considering buying a new PC, I strongly advise you to go to Bold Data's site and configure one of these machines for yourself (along with every other PC builder you can think of). :-)

Thanks,

Shawn Miller
 
Update: I was away on a job for about 40-days and just got home- sorry for the delay. I had cyberpower hold my order and I upgraded to a i7-980x (6-core) and a bit faster ssd and 24gb ram total price was under $2500. I just hooked it up last night and downloaded cs5.5. Going to do some testing today with dslr and red footage to see how it stacks up : )
 
Tagged for updates. Now that Adobe has a controlling interest in Iridas and Resolve is coming out for pc, my interest is peaked even further.
 
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