This Machine OK?

S

srproductions

Well-known member
Hey Guys!

I'm "inspecting" my computer to see if it's going to be OK for some complex editing jobs coming up. I need your thoughts.

iMac G5 17"
1.9GHz
Superdrive
450GB HDD (Internal)
(2) 500GB HDD (External)
ATI Radeon X600 Pro 128MB

OK. Right now I have 512MB of RAM. I WILL upgrade. Will adding 1GB be enough, bringing the total to 1.5GB? Or should I make it 2.5GB? Yeah I know, the more RAM, the better, but I am on a tight budget. Is it worth the extra $150?

Thanks!
 
Well... what exactly will you be editing? that's the question...

HD? SD? any graphics/compositing envolved?

If just sd editing in FCP, and minimal "extras", that machine would do fine.

I have 1.5g RAM on my powermac G5, and it works great. Would I like more ram? yes. Do I NEED it right now? no.
 
SD for the most part. Maybe a bit of HD, but not a full short film. Maybe just clips/spots. I do compositing, 3D, and color correction though.

So, do you think if I upgrade to 2.5GB of RAM I would do fine for bigger projects?
 
That machine is fine for DV and HDV as they have small bandwidth requirements and can be captured via firewire. Bandwidth low enough that you can connect a drive and camera to the firewire ports and not drop frames too often, due to the fact that the iMac has only one firewire bus. Because you cannot expand the iMac other than getting more RAM, you cannot reliably capture DVCPRO HD or XDCAM, other formats you can capture via firewire, and there is no way you can capture digibeta, betaSP, or any higher HD formats. You cannot install a capture card, or attach any drive type other than firewire.

So if you plan on editing DV and HDV, then this will work. Any other formats, this won't. You can edit uncompressed SD and DVCPRO HD with this system, just not capture it.
 
I have a 20" Imac with 1.5 gig ram and am able to capture and edit DVCproHD footage (720pn) just fine. Sometimes playback is a bit sluggish, but other wise works fine. At least with the short format projects I do.
 
mainstreetprod said:
I have a 20" Imac with 1.5 gig ram and am able to capture and edit DVCproHD footage (720pn) just fine. Sometimes playback is a bit sluggish, but other wise works fine. At least with the short format projects I do.
Click to expand...

Cool. It works for some, but not for others, so I don't recommend it. But if you get it working, more power to you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top