Hi,

We have an old Xpress Pro Suite that was upgraded to MC. I remember a couple of years ago I didn't upgrade to the latest MC or ProTools because of compatability issues. Has this been resolved?

Well, went to turn on the system (an xw8200) a couple of weeks ago and the power supply was bad. Installed a new factory replacement...and apparently it took out the motherboard/cpu's when it went. Getting an error message of red flashes that according to hp mean "no CPU installed".

So, repair will cost minimum $500, I have convinced them to just buy a new xw4600 for $1000. Does this strike you as the sane thing to do?

Thanks in advance. Appreciate any constructive input.

Yes, the Pro Tools compatibility issue has been resolved in the MC 4.x versions. And as long as you're OK with the particulars and configuration guidelines you'll find here, the xw4600 should do just fine.

My system is close to an xw4600 as for chipset/architecture and it outperforms an xw8200, perhaps because of the 8 GB ram and the 64 bit OS, still $1k for an almost obsolete system... if a current approved system is not an option I'd consider $2k on a videoguys like box.

Revisiting the issue now. Turns out the system was on sale for $1,000. Keyword being WAS.

Now to configure the same way is $400 more. Also, just noted that there is no onboard IEEE on the spec sheet? So to operate the Digi002 and Mojo I need second PCI firewire card (preferably PCIe?)

Now on my Avid at home I added a Firewire card that spec'ed out as faster than the on board. I connected my Mojo and Digi002 and the software insisted that the video had to be on the internal IEEE port. Okay, whatever. BUT it makes me wonder if I can run both the Mojo and Digi002 when there is no onboard IEEE and both are provided by cards. Anyone?

According to the xw4600 configuration guidelines (LINK) the workstation can be fitted with two FW expansion cards (PCI-E slot 3 and PCI/32 slot 7, the latter being an HP board, and who knows if a Pyro card would do the job as well), and my best guess is that if You don't have an Atto card You can even use a third any brand FW 400/800 controller (on PCI-E slot 4) for external disks too, that is if Windows doesn't get mad with too many FW cards...