I don't believe PT LE and DSP cards mix.

TheReal7 wrote: I don't believe PT LE and DSP cards mix.

no first hand experience, but i hear the same rumors... could anyone confirm this?

Also, I've heard conflicting suggestions from people. Maybe you all could help.

Should I run my programs off the faster 10,000 RPM drive, and keep my 7200 drive for my sound files... or vice versa.

I've heard the your programs need the most speed and so your programs should be on your fastest drive. But I've also heard that your program continually accesses your sound files, while you're tracking and editing, so you need to keep those files on your faster drive. Any suggestions?

The 10k RPM disk will give you better performance as your audio drive (especially if its SCSI as a 74GB looks like) if the machine is primarily used as a DAW. If you have other apps on there then you may feel a benefit the other way round. Although I can't see this being much of an issue really. Unless of course you want lots and lots of tracks running then the bigger drive would be a more efficient choice of space.

Proprietory (Digi) cards won't function at all with PTLE. The problem with the other mfs cards is while they may not affect PTLE, they certainly won't do anything to help it either due to the fact that the software will ignore it.

Since all the work is performed by the host CPU/Memory in LE systems, this is the only way to beef up the performance. First step would be to get that RAM doubled.

Should I run my programs off the faster 10,000 RPM drive, and keep my 7200 drive for my sound files... or vice versa.

You didn't mention whether the 250 GB drive is SATA or IDE. Normally the fastest drive is used for audio but in your case (if the 250 GB is SATA) the 74 GB will be fine for programs/OS and use the 250 GB for audio.

One reason for having the 10k drive for OS/Programs is if you intend to run alot of samples from it.

Since PT-LE is limited to (I think) 36 tracks you should have no problem using the 250 GB for audio as long as it's SATA.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

There are lots of OS tweaks that can make your system more robust for ProTools use. I'd recommend you search around for and implement them.

Don't turn your DAW into a 'everyday' PC, either. Keep its job focused on music production and it will be more reliable.

There are lots of OS tweaks that can make your system more robust for ProTools use. I'd recommend you search around for and implement them.

Don't turn your DAW into a 'everyday' PC, either. Keep its job focused on music production and it will be more reliable.

Cool, I'll look around for some tweaks. Anyone know a good website? If not, I'll see what I can dig up. And this PC with absolutly not be for anything but a DAW. I'm not even hooking it up to the internet. This thing will stay clean. Got to get many years out of it.

Since PT-LE is limited to (I think) 36 tracks you should have no problem using the 250 GB for audio as long as it's SATA.

It's an IDE drive, I believe. Thanks for addressing the HD issue. I plan on using the 10,000 RPM for PT.

mrbwnstn wrote: So I took the plung and just went for my first computer based system. Tell me if you think I'm going to have any pitfalls. Also, do you think I need to add a DSP card or not for my Plug-ins. Here's what I'm running...

Pro Tools LE 6.7

AMD Athlon64 3000+ (1.8 GHz) 939 Pin 1600 FSB
Western Digital Raptor 74 GB 10,000 RPM
Seagate 250 GB 7200 RPM
1024 mb RAM
Giga-Byte K8NF-9 939 Motherboard
OS - XP Home
Liteon Dual Layer 16x DVD-RW

Check this out;

http://www.uaudio.com/support/software/UAD-1/compatibility.html

Save money on the hard drives and get a faster CPU.

80GB ATA-100 system drive (that particular board likes to see an IDE system drive).

160 SATA-150 audio drive. Use the 74GB 10,000RPM Raptor if high track numbers at 96K are required.

Get as much CPU power as you can afford.

Guy Cefalu.
SONICA-X

Oooo that UA adaptor looks like something loads of people on here (Kurt included) would be interested in.

Anyone tried one yet??

I agree with Big D here. Use the 10K RPM Raptor for Win XP and PT LE because any 7.2K RPM PATA or SATA should be more than fast enough to stream digital audio.

Using http://www.sesa.es/en/dskbench.htm I can't remember the last time I've seen a 7.2K RPM HDD not capable of 150+ mono tracks at 16/44.1. Most are capable of much more.

Nice job Blade, excellent link for the benchmark tool. Everyone should download it and use it. 8-)