I am a professional video editor with over 20 years of experience. I edit on HP 8100 dual 3ghz using Avid Xpress. I am going to build my own system to cut a feature I am working on in HD. Again budget is a major detail and I was looking at the HP Pavillion 530n. 512ram, 200gr hard drive, athlon64 and gfoce 3200 128 video mem-$800 with rebates. I really want to stay with the 64 bit format because Avid is writing code for the 64 bit like everybody else. It is going top be a 64 bit world very fast and every and everybody will have to change over or die. I was wondering if anybody has had experience with the 530n and Avid Xpress software and will the Avid run faster on a 64 bit system which Avid only qualifies a few Hp and Dell systems with p4 chips. Thank You-Videosmith Digital Production- Laguna Beach California

I've worked with Avid Xpress, but it was on a 32-bit platform. Actually, it was a Mac G4 to be exact. But i prefer the PC format. The Avid will run faster on the AMD 64 if the code is written for 64-bit, that's for sure. In fact, benchmarks have shown significant improvement on video editing features on Windows 64-bit beta, and that's with 32-bit programs. If there is a 64-bit Avid, then that would fly on the AMD 64. Personally, I'd recommend a dual AMD Opteron solution for Avid, perhaps a dual opty 244. I'd also increase the RAM to at least 1 GB, and it doesn't need to have fast timings, just good bandwidth. And if you're going to cut a feature in HD, then 200 GB might be cutting it close. 200 GB was good for my project which was 2 hours in length and at 720 X 480. Since HD is at 1080 X whatever, then you'll probably need a little more room.

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Even though some older version have been certified in P4 machines, I assume the 64 bits version will be certified on Opterons....