I need to buy a new system very soon was wondering if any of you could provide your
recommended specs for a SMP, RAID, dual monitor system
in the value to mid-price range. I will be using it
primarily for graphic design work: large images in
Photoshop, video editing, DVD playback, and possibly
3D Studio Max in the future.
After doing some research, these are some of the
issues I'm grappling with:
- For the future (i.e., when I have the money!) I am
considering adding the Matrox RT2500 video capture
card which allows for realtime editing but will still
need a regular video card in the meantime.
- The Matrox G550 is inexpensive (and
would therefore be a good choice if I end up buying
the RT2500 down the road) and appears to provide the
best dual monitor solution and is said to be quite
stable for 2D and vid editing but doesn't have OpenGL
which apparently is required by 3D Studio Max. Matrox
does poorly with 3D in general.
- Some people are claiming that Radeon 8500 DV or 7500
only work well with Intel chipsets. However, I would
prefer to go with AMD. I am also not sure of Radeon's dual monitor performance.
- On-board RAID is preferable for me from a cost
standpoint but do any of the SMP motherboards
receiving good reviews come with on-board RAID and not
break the bank?
- For my purposes, is SMP necessary or even desirable?
If I end up going the SMP route, an idea I have is to
buy just one CPU first, since a dualie motherboard
will still work with just one, and then buy the second
one when the price goes down.
This is not a cost-no-object system so please temper your recommendations accordingly.
recommended specs for a SMP, RAID, dual monitor system
in the value to mid-price range. I will be using it
primarily for graphic design work: large images in
Photoshop, video editing, DVD playback, and possibly
3D Studio Max in the future.
After doing some research, these are some of the
issues I'm grappling with:
- For the future (i.e., when I have the money!) I am
considering adding the Matrox RT2500 video capture
card which allows for realtime editing but will still
need a regular video card in the meantime.
- The Matrox G550 is inexpensive (and
would therefore be a good choice if I end up buying
the RT2500 down the road) and appears to provide the
best dual monitor solution and is said to be quite
stable for 2D and vid editing but doesn't have OpenGL
which apparently is required by 3D Studio Max. Matrox
does poorly with 3D in general.
- Some people are claiming that Radeon 8500 DV or 7500
only work well with Intel chipsets. However, I would
prefer to go with AMD. I am also not sure of Radeon's dual monitor performance.
- On-board RAID is preferable for me from a cost
standpoint but do any of the SMP motherboards
receiving good reviews come with on-board RAID and not
break the bank?
- For my purposes, is SMP necessary or even desirable?
If I end up going the SMP route, an idea I have is to
buy just one CPU first, since a dualie motherboard
will still work with just one, and then buy the second
one when the price goes down.
This is not a cost-no-object system so please temper your recommendations accordingly.