The IT dept has finished setting up my new PC:

Dell Precision 690
Processors: 2 x (Dual Core Xeon 5160 3.0GHz)
Memory: 4GB, DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory 667MHz, 4x1GB
Video Cards: SLI config w/2x512MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX4500 cards in graphics riser
Hard Drives (4): 80GB SATA 3.0Gb/x, 7200 RPM, 8MB DataBurst Cache

They want me to "put it through the ringer" today and make sure it's living up to its capabilities, as far as video is concerned, before they replace my old machine.

I have a bunch of raw (non-HD) video and the Adobe Video Suite. Any suggestions as far as a few excercises I could run in Permiere or After Effects to make sure this workstation is configured right, and what type of results I should expect on a $10,000 machine?

My old machine is a Precision 370, 2.8 GHz, so I guess I could just compare rendering times. Also, I haven't used After Effects too much because my current machine would crash in the middle of a lot of the tutorials I started.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Note: I also have a Matrox RT.X2

Nahh, looks rubbish that PC, I will take it off your hands for a fiver.

I am sure it will be bloody fantastic.

I would think about the drives maybe - get those nice it people to put a raptor 10,000 in for the system drive and 2 huge (cost seems not to be a factor) (500 -750 gig) drives configured as a 'safe' raid and how about a removable hard drive caddy for back ups ?

As for testing it - sisoft sandra has a few soak test built in that give any pc a good going over.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Mark is right about the storage thing.
A machine like that should have lots of more hard drive space than 320 GBs.

I offer a tenner (euro ofcourse )

Dude, with specs like that you can start up your own broadcastcompany, Take Marks advice seriously though if you want to have the picture complete. Especially the WD raptors which run at 10K do kick *ss. I know because I own one. Do add sufficient cooling thoug as the tend to get quite hot.)

About your "old" machine not being able to handle after effects can only be a problem with your hardware. I run AE7 on a 3,2 gig single processor and I never made it crash, only the 1 gig memory I have is not sufficient for decent preview capabilities. 4gig however is the max amount of memory AE allocates I believe.

Yeah, I figure I can always swap out the HDDs, but my main concern right now is making sure what's there is configured properly. Not sure if anyone's used the Matrox RT.X2, but it seems like there's a lot that could go wrong with Premiere if it's not set up right.

The only testing I did so far was with a gigantic 1 GB Photoshop file, and that took nearly 4 minutes to open. I expected more, which is why I'm worried about similar tasks I can throw at it for video. I'll have to try out that Sisoft option, too.

As for cooling, I'll be pretty warm while I'm sitting at my desk at least. I know it was throwing some heat at first, but I think it's under control now.

Side note - if you had about $1200 to spend on a camera to go along with this, would you go with a DV with a lot of good features, or get a lower-end HD? Supposedly, HD editing with Matrox/Premiere is a breeze in real-time...

Raptors do rule - I was amazed at how more responsive my pc was when i Raptorised it. When I got mine they were samll and super expensive so I only have a 37 gig one, get a 150 if it are paying, heck get 2 and safe raid those aswel.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

If I would have 1200 aside? I would not use the 10G's on a pc but buy a Panasonic HVX200 and 2 big P2 cards instead and the 1200$ I would use to buy a pc. With 1200 I could get a core 2 duo pc that would handle the same as the 10.000$ machine, just a bit slower.

For 1200$, either sd or hdv you get lower end cams. Depends for what it will be used for.

The responsivness is indeed the first thing I noticed with it, my editing pc is not connected to the internet so it doesnt have a virusscanner and firewall. Compared to my wife's pc (a packard bell with similar processor - I have a Dell 8400) mine starts up 3 times as fast. I bought a 75gig disk which supposed to be a bit more quite. Actually I almost don't hear it. Only when I am defragmenting, then it sounds like a diesel engine.

Same here - but maybe not that cam- I would have a jvc hd110 and a hc1 too.

The PC cant do anything to improve what you shoot - the camera (after the operator and the subject) is the more imprtant thing by a parsec.

__________________
Lowering the tone of video since 2004.

www.zaskarfilms.com You tube channel 'zaskarfilms'
JVC DV5001e (big cam), Sony PC6E (tiny cam), Vinten pro5, PAG light, SM58, Sony ECM50, Sony C-76, 0.5x convertors for sony, Rode video mic, Vegas 7.

Think were daydreaming a bit here About a year ago I had the oportunity to play half a day with the hd110, I don't know what it was, but I was not able to keep it stable on my shoulder. I did like the depth of field though I was able to get from it . Now I have a Sony vx2100 and a Pana dvx100b and plan to wait for my next (hdv) investment around mid or end 2008. The Sony will be sold and the Pana will be kept because it has more possibilities. For weddings I don't see the reason in investing into hdv right now because the customers are not ready for it yet. For this year f.i. with all my bookings not 1 client is asking for it. Probably it wil be something like the Canon xh a or g1. Depends on how the hdv maket evolves.