System for FCP5

Hi, i've been on a course to learn FCP 5 and i'd like to buy a system to keep my eye in. It doesn't have to be terribly quick, just needs to work.

I'm editing some soccer matches in to one dvd for a local club as practise. No rush, just has to be done at some point.

Spec:
2 x 2.0Ghz G5 Processors (Dual)
512Kb L2 Cache
1Ghz Bus Speed
1.5GB RAM
SuperDrive (Burn CD & DVD)
Firewire and USB
160GB Hardrive
Airport Extreme Card

Will this system suffice? What should I invest in to help run it. Thanks for any help.
Ebay seems to be the best site for 2nd hand systems unless someone knows any better - I'm based in the UK.

That system should more than do that job... The only thing I might consider is bumping it up to 2 full gigs of RAM. And over time I'm sure you will want to pick up firewire drives for extra storage. But it will run just fine as is.

you will w ant more ram and more hard drive space but that system should run just fine
-chris

See my system specs to left side? That works OK with FCP5. I'm not a pro or heavy user. So I'd say the system you mention is more than enough.

The ram you mention should be fine to. You can check via a monitor to see how much ram your using when you have apps open. I can't remember its name, but it is in the Utilities folder.

The better the video card, the better the realtime effects review will work.

Thank's for the replies and help.
I'm getting way too carried away now! I'm thinking of going nuts and bidding for this:

APPLE POWER MACINTOSH DUAL 2.0 GHZ G5

SPEC:

DUAL (TWO PROCESSORS) 2.0 GHZ G5 PROCESSORS.

4GB DDR RAM

1 X 160GB HARD DRIVE AND 1 X 80GB HARD DRIVE

DUAL DVI VIDEO CARD (TO SUPPORT BOTH MONITORS)

2 X APPLE 20 INCH STUDIO DISPLAYS

APPLE SUPERDRIVE (PIONEER 109 - WITH BIOS UPDATE SO REGION FREE!) WHICH WILL BURN DVDS AT 16 SPEED (ALSO CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW).

Should I be concerned by this:

THOUGH I'M AFRAID I NO LONGER HAVE THE APPLE RESTORE DISKS

Thanks again

mattpoker said:

THOUGH I'M AFRAID I NO LONGER HAVE THE APPLE RESTORE DISKS

Click to expand...

Phone Apple UK to see if you can order them as a package.

you will be fine im running fcp on a g3 with 600mhz

I would go with at least a 500GB Hard Drive. I have an iMac G5 2.1GHz with 1.5 GB ram with a 250 gb hard drive and another 500gb external.

Is it easy to add more gb to your hard drive? Or once you start adding that do you have to increase on others things too to help support it?

You can't add GB's to your Hard Drive. You can only get a bigger hard drive. And no, bigger hardrives don't require hardware upgrades in other areas. Currently you can get up to 750GB in a single drive, and you can fit a couple of those in your G5. However, I've worked for a year and a half with 350GB. If your only doing a couple of projects you probably wont have to upgrade anything, especially if you get the one with 4GB of RAM. THat's all you will ever need with FCP.

That's great, appreciate everyones input.

If you buy a system with only 160 GB, then just take it to the apple store and see how much it is for a bigger drive then get them to install it...

just buy a nice external

but apple charges too much for HD and RAM.

thelox714 said:

but apple charges too much for HD and RAM.

Click to expand...

agreed.. i bought my imac with very little research and bought all my 1.5 gb from apple. it added about $400