Need input on new computer(s)

[balamuthia]

I'm currently looking to upgrade my setup and I need some advice. I will be purchasing a new computer and basically I need to know how powerful I need that computer to be.

I am writing primarily for film at the moment, so I will need the ability to run a large number of software instruments simultaneously. Many of these are orchestral and very high-quality, so they take up quite a bit of RAM. Many film composers nowadays run a main computer for hosting their DAW, then a slave computer (or four) for running all of the software instruments.

My question boils down to this: how powerful should I make the main computer? I don't want to spend all my money on a blazing fast main computer if that money would be better spent on a slave computer that can handle most of the workload.

Also, I am set on using the Mac platform for my main computer. I would be open to running a PC as the slave if that is the most cost-effective option.

Any ideas or feedback would be much appreciated!

 

[gecko zzed]

I don't know much about Macs, not using them.

I do a lot of audio and video work using a PC. I am still running Windows XP, with 4gb Ram (XP can only use about 3.5gb of that) and an i7 CPU.

These days I use Reaper for audio and Vegas for video.

I make use of VST instruments extensively and intensively.

I just did a quick check of a recent Reaper project.

With 19 tracks and 12 FX, I was using 7% CPU and 358mb of RAM

That will give you an indication of what you might need.