OT: Is this configuration good?

dpvollmer wrote on 5/2/2008, 12:24 PM

I am thinking about purchasing this HP computer configuration. What do you think?

HP Computer specs:

Genuine Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q9550

Memory 8GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x2048)

Graphics Card 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT, 2 DVI, TV-Out

Networking 802.11 a/b/g/n Wireless LAN card

Hard Drive 1TB 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s dual hard drives (2x500GB)

Primary CD/DVD Drive Blu-ray writer / HD DVD player & Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD burner

Secondary CD/DVD Drive 16x max. DVD-ROM

Front Productivity Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB, 1394, audio

TV & Entertainment Experience No TV Tuner w/remote control

Sound Card Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio

Keyboard and Mouse HP keyboard and HP optical mouse

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 5/2/2008, 12:40 PM

Overall a powerful machine but there are a few things I would change:

1) The hard drive configuration is wrong for video editing. I would get a 250GB boot drive just for the OS and applications and use the 1TB RAID for video editing. You don't want to edit video on your boot drive.

2) Don't waste money on the SoundBlaster game card. For the same price you can get a nice audio interface from M-Audio or Echo that won't color the sound (e.g., M-Audio Firewire-.410 or Firewire Solo, Echo Gina 3G, Presonus Firebox)

You didn't give a model number. Are you ordering this from the Home or Workstation side of HP? I would get a Workstation. It will have less junk software and use better quality parts. I saw some killer HP Workstations with 8 CPU's at NAB. Really sweet!

You also didn't say what speakers you will be using. Get a pair of reference speakers that don't color the sound. Something like the M-Audio DX4's should be fine for near-field monitoring.

Good luck with it.

~jr

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 5/2/2008, 12:58 PM

Hi,

How much does this system (as presented) set you back??

Christian

dpvollmer wrote on 5/2/2008, 1:03 PM

Thank you for your suggestions, JohnnyRoy. I will have to go and see if I configured this from the Home or Workstation side of HP and if Home, change to Workstation. I'll repost as soon as I find out.

I will use my Presonus Firebox and my JBL 4328 monitors along with my Apple Cinema 23"(?) DVI monitor which I was using with my Macbook Pro since I have decided to stick with Vegas, Sound Forge, etc. instead of FCP and Logic Pro. Configuring a Mac Pro like the HP would cost a lot more.

David

dpvollmer wrote on 5/2/2008, 1:04 PM

It was a little over $3000 but I will make some changes and repost along with the price.

dpvollmer wrote on 5/2/2008, 1:25 PM

JohnnyRoy,

I didn't find any PCs on the HP Workstation site that would give me any Quad processors, Blu-Ray drive, or the NVIDIA 8800 graphics card that I need for my Apple monitor.

The model number is d4999t series. The SoundBlaster card is only costing me $30. I can get an on board 7.1 card and save that money though.

The price as configured in my first post is $2,729.99. They don't offer the hard drive configuration you suggested but what I configured is 2 500GB drives. I don't believe they are configured with any of the RAID formats.

DV