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Movin’ on up (to MB Extreme)
I am going to upgrade my aging (but chugging-along-just-fine-thank-you) SD system (G5+DL Pro). Here’s what I’m thinking:
PM Quad 2.5
4GB RAM
Multibridge Extreme
Sonnet E4P SATA II controller
8x300GB Seageate 7200.9Questions:
1. The Sonnet E4P is a port-muliplier aware card with 4 external ports leading to up to 20 drives in the right enclosures. I am actually going to try to avoid this feature and maybe go with 2 cards for the 8 drives. Any thoughts on that? Is there any advantage to the HighPoint Infiniband setup with their X4 enclosures? (my research shows that there is the same bandwidth over regular Infiniband as SATA II — 300 Gbit/sec) The Highpoint card (PCIe version of their RR 2240) should be out soon.
2. As you’ve noticed, there’s no HD reference monitor included here, so I won’t be doing any HD color correction, unless the downconvert to my SD monitor is of sufficient quality. How’s that working out for people?
3. I did want to have an HD monitor of some sort, and not rely wholly on downconversion. Since I won’t be doing color correction over the DVI-D port(s), what are the reletive advantages of the Apple 30″ monitor vs. say a wall-mounted Phillips 50″ plasma? (only 720 resolution, but much bigger for clients to see).
Any other advice appreciated.
TIA.
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3 Replies
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replies below –
1. The Sonnet E4P is a port-muliplier aware card with 4 external ports leading to up to 20 drives in the right enclosures. I am actually going to try to avoid this feature and maybe go with 2 cards for the 8 drives. Any thoughts on that? Is there any advantage to the HighPoint Infiniband setup with their X4 enclosures? (my research shows that there is the same bandwidth over regular Infiniband as SATA II — 300 Gbit/sec) The Highpoint card (PCIe version of their RR 2240) should be out soon.
REPLY – the Sonnet E4P is a GREAT product, and the Sonnet Fusion 500 is not out yet (at least they didn’t send me one) – but the port multiplier feature will be fantastic. You can certainly go with 2 4 port cards and 8 drives, but make sure you get HI QUALITY SATA enclosures like Firmtek, or Kano Technologies – not junk. Some of the cheap SATA enclosures will give you bad connections to your SATA drives, and you will think that you made the wrong decision. I use Firmtek exclusively, and they are FANTASTIC. I am anxious for Sonnet to send me a Fusion 500 to try out. I hate Highpoint products.
2. As you’ve noticed, there’s no HD reference monitor included here, so I won’t be doing any HD color correction, unless the downconvert to my SD monitor is of sufficient quality. How’s that working out for people?
REPLY – if you are lucky enough to have the “old” Sony PVM-20L5/1, this is the perfect montitor, but they don’t make it anymore. You can’t do an HD project just judging on a SD monitor, but if you have to, the PVM-20L2 is still availabled, and it’s very good. Used PVM-20M2 and PVM20M4U monitors are excellent for SD also.
3. I did want to have an HD monitor of some sort, and not rely wholly on downconversion. Since I won’t be doing color correction over the DVI-D port(s), what are the reletive advantages of the Apple 30″ monitor vs. say a wall-mounted Phillips 50″ plasma? (only 720 resolution, but much bigger for clients to see).
REPLY – the resolution of the 23″ and 30″ Cinema displays (and others from Dell, HP and Sony) will be dramatically better than the consumer monitors from Phillips, Pioneer, and the like, but I cannot deny that clients love the newer Plasma or LCD “super bright” or backlit monitors that you see in stereo stores. Most non technical clients will go “wow” with any 50″ TV, but yawn at a hi res 23″ Apple Cinema display. I just saw this happen at a Disney conference room, where they had a HORRIBLE Zenith 50″ Plasma (what a piece of crap) – and everyone said “wow”.
Bob Zelin
Any other advice appreciated.
REPLY – Editing while wearing women’s underware brings out your feminine side. If you decide to do this, please post pictures on this forum, so we can all see.
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[Bob Zelin] “REPLY – the Sonnet E4P is a GREAT product, and the Sonnet Fusion 500 is not out yet (at least they didn’t send me one) – but the port multiplier feature will be fantastic. You can certainly go with 2 4 port cards and 8 drives, but make sure you get HI QUALITY SATA enclosures like Firmtek, or Kano Technologies – not junk. Some of the cheap SATA enclosures will give you bad connections to your SATA drives, and you will think that you made the wrong decision. I use Firmtek exclusively, and they are FANTASTIC. I am anxious for Sonnet to send me a Fusion 500 to try out. I hate Highpoint products.”
Why no love for Highpoint? I’ve been running a RR 1820a since it came out and I’ve never had problem. Any opinion on the Burly port multiplier cases Rick at MacGurus is selling? FYI, according to Sonnet, there’s a max 220 MB/sec across each eSATA cable, so 2 cables->2 multipliers->8 drives would max out at 440, which is pretty decent, I guess. Still not sure on this whole port multiplier deal, seems like something for nothing, which never works out in the end.
[Bob Zelin] “You can’t do an HD project just judging on a SD monitor, but if you have to, the PVM-20L2 is still availabled, and it’s very good”
That’s what I have. Great monitor.
[Bob Zelin] “REPLY – the resolution of the 23″ and 30” Cinema displays (and others from Dell, HP and Sony) will be dramatically better than the consumer monitors from Phillips, Pioneer, and the like, but I cannot deny that clients love the newer Plasma or LCD “super bright” or backlit monitors that you see in stereo stores. Most non technical clients will go “wow” with any 50″ TV, but yawn at a hi res 23″ Apple Cinema display. I just saw this happen at a Disney conference room, where they had a HORRIBLE Zenith 50″ Plasma (what a piece of crap) – and everyone said “wow”.”
I know, it’s really a toss up. In the client area of my studio right now, I have a 14″ Panasonic reference monitor and a really crappy 20″ LCD which I got at Costco for $250. EVERYONE prefers the LCD. Anyway, things like that make me want to get the Phillips plasma (backlit, of course!), which is a pretty decent picture for what it is. I can’t do color correction on the Apple monitor anyway, so I’m not sure what the point is beyond technolust. Does the HDMI convertor come with the Multibridge?
[Bob Zelin] “REPLY – Editing while wearing women’s underware brings out your feminine side. If you decide to do this, please post pictures on this forum, so we can all see.”
Like I would ever show you guys!
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As for the SATA RAID, I have the Highpoint 2320 with 4 x 500 GB Seagate 7200.9 drives in my Quad.
Instead of waiting for the 4 internal and Infiniband external port PCIe card to ship, I choose this. There is also a PCI slot converter for those other 4 SATA 3 Gbps ports to an Infiniband connector available to really utilize all 8 of those ports.
The Highpoint X4 looks good, although I have never actually touched one.
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