RT2000 system advice?

[cathy]

I have bravely decided to build my own system. I decided on the Matrox RT2000 and had also decided upon an Athlon processor and the Abit KT7 RAID m/board. However, Matrox have just posted on their site that this board is incompatible with the RT2000. I am sure that I read somewhere that someone was using this combination. Did I imagine this?

Now I am wondering whether to get a m/board that supports DDR memory.

Any advice on the above or building your own video editing computer generally, would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

[duncan hancox]

i dont know about your specific problem, but i wouldnt go for ddr systems at the moment.

the ram is 3x the cost of pc133 ram, and the pentium iii chipsets are not quicker than pc133 chipsets, despite the potentially faster ram.

in the athlon arena, the kt133a chipset boards that run the chip at 266 with memory at 133 are just about as fast as athlon DDR solutions.

[Pierluigi]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by duncan hancox:
the ram is 3x the cost of pc133 ram, and the pentium iii chipsets are not quicker than pc133 chipsets, despite the potentially faster ram.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think you are getting confused with RDRAM, not DDR RAM as DDR RAM is only about 10-15% more expensive than SDRAM, and there are currently no Pentium motherboards that support it.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>in the athlon arena, the kt133a chipset boards that run the chip at 266 with memory at 133 are just about as fast as athlon DDR solutions.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

again a bit of confusion here, the Motherbaords that run at 266mhz are in fact the ones that use DDR RAM and cannot use the slower 133 mhz SDRAM.

Regards

Lui

[duncan hancox]

ddr ram at my trade supplier:

128megs pc133 = £34+vat
128megs ddr ram pc2100 = £97.50+vat
these are for generic memory.

for some branded memory, the pc1600 price is the same as pc133, but since you really need pc2100 ddr memory, and the premium price charged by certain brand names, then the 10-15%price difference you quote is not realistic

K7 motherboards based on the amd760 chipset use DDR, and run it at 133mhz doubled.(eg FIC AD11)

motherboards based on the kt133a chipset use sdram at 133mhz, and the socketA processor at a multiple of 133mhz x2=266 (abit kt7A-raid), as opposed to the kt133 chipset which runs the memory at 100 or 133mhz and the processor at 100x2.(abit kt7-raid)

the kt133a systems using pc133 sdram are almost as fast as the DDR motherboards

PIII boards using DDR are based on chipsets from via such as the Via apollo pro 266, but unfortunately, the memory controller isnt very fast, and an intel 815E running pc133 sdram has a faster memory system than the via ddr system (Chaintech 6VJD)

[stel]

I have to say, Duncan is right on the money concerning specs.

Anyway, to answer the original post.

I built my own system cnfigured around an RT2000 and because I paid attention to Matrox's specs meticulously, I have had remarkably few problems.

The odd niggle, one of which I just posted tonight, but overall - I would say, follow VERY closely all the hardware advice Matrox has posted about what dos and does not work with their card. If they say it can't work, then 9 times out of 10 it won't.

I agree, plum for a KT133a based system, the performance is almost identical to DDR. I was waiting patiently for DDR until that chipset came out, now know the direction I want to go in. And it saves money.

My system is based on the Microstr 6167 mobo with an AThlon 700 and 512 meg ram. 2 IBM Deskstar 37.5 gig hard drives and a sonic fury sound card.

My advice is also avoid any soundblaster sound card. It's very unhappy with the RT2000 since it eats up 3 flipping IRQs there is always a conflict somewhere.

Hope this helps a little.

Good luck

Stel

[duncan hancox]

i agree about the soundcard stuff - i use old isa soundblaster 64awe cards if i can get them, and dont have a problem, but the creative pci cards steal a lot of the pci bandwidth and cause no end of trouble with dv editing.

[cathy]

Thank you for all the replies so far.

Matrox told me this motherboard failed their "print to tape procedure". Anyone know exactly what this is and why a motherboard would fail a print to tape test?

[msvideo]

Cut your losses, and don't waste any time trying in vain getting your M/B to work.

If Matrox says it doesn't work, change it for one that does, or if you can afford it, buy a turnkey system from a RT2000 reseller near to you.

[Bob Gray]

Stel,

Interesting comment about sound cards. Trouble started on my system when I installed an SB Live 1024 Player. I removed most of the IRQ nonsense but still have problems.

Question: Is the sound fury a better board? How many IRQs does it use. I don't need DOS legacy drivers.

Many thanks

Bob G

[sepulcre]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by stel:
.....My advice is also avoid any soundblaster sound card. It's very unhappy with the RT2000 since it eats up 3 flipping IRQs there is always a conflict somewhere.

Hope this helps a little.

Good luck

Stel<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We have 2 rt2000 systems both built by a large supplier of nle kit.
Both have sblive platinum cards and work as well as any other rt2000 system i've seen.

You can cut down the number of irq's required for sblive cards by disabling legacy support .... system is stable if you do this.(well as stable as premiere 5.1c allows it to be http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif )

------------------
Gary MacKenzie
Audio Visual Technician
(email me if you want a quick reply)

[Bob Gray]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sepulcre:

You can cut down the number of irq's required for sblive cards by disabling legacy support .... system is stable if you do this.(well as stable as premiere 5.1c allows it to be http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif )

[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Garry,

I new about the legacy IRQ 5 and disabled it, my problem was with S3 mode suspend but I gave up.

Stel, if your around can you tell me how the Sonic Fury compares with the SB Live in both sound quality and ease of use

Many thanks

Bob G

[James Iles]

If you are going to use an RT2000 your consideration for DDR RAM is not really worthwhile. Already the RT2000 is a real time system, although there are things that do need rendering. So you don't need incredible amounts of processing power and high speed RAM because if you obeyed the 'rules' for realtime you just edit and then print to tape straight from the time line. Your question about print to tape - well, when you finish your project you want to put it back onto video tape, whether it be VHS or Digital the process is called Print to tape.

On building your own system, well, it's risky if you don't know what you are doing and already you've run into a problem. Even some system builders I do not trust because with each particular design there are many considerations. Some have been mentioned here for example the sound cards taking up too much PCI bandwidth. But things can get complex. With the DV300 on the type of machines available when they were new, you sometimes had to edit the system registry. It's not that complicated but you have to be ready to deal with these sorts of things if you choose to build yourself. But taking this path can be rewarding but it all comes down to extensive research about the hardware.

[James Iles]

There is a download at the Pinnacle website to increase PCI bandwidth for their editing boards with such sound cards as the Soundblaster live. But they do give their disclaimer warnings.

[gerbruggeman]

As an user of the RT2000 for more than a year now, I can say:

DON'T EVEN GO THERE !!!!!

The RT2000 isn't exactly the most stable system around, any many problems come from
harware incompatibility !
Not to mention software related problems
(use of other NLE's than premiere, drivers, etc).

My advice:
a)Low cost: Go for standard DV-card + Premiere6 and or MSP6.
b)Higher cost: if you want to use the RT2000 perse, go for a stable system ! No nibbling on a few dollars !
http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubb/wink.gif

grtz
Ger.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by cathy:
I have bravely decided to build my own system. I decided on the Matrox RT2000 and had also decided upon an Athlon processor and the Abit KT7 RAID m/board. However, Matrox have just posted on their site that this board is incompatible with the RT2000. I am sure that I read somewhere that someone was using this combination. Did I imagine this?

Now I am wondering whether to get a m/board that supports DDR memory.

Any advice on the above or building your own video editing computer generally, would be gratefully received.

Thanks.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>