Quad Pro Nehalem?

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I am considering to buy a new Mac Pro but I find it quite expensive. Anyway, if it is upgradeable and worth the money, I would buy one. I need the machine for video capturing (using Canopus 110), video-editing, Photoshop, Quark and converting video to DVD. I want a fast Mac.
My dream is the Quad Pro Nehalem 2,66 , with 6 GB RAM and a good videocard. I have read the Geoforce 120 is rather slow. I don't play games. But if the Radeon 4570 is also faster with video-editing, I would go for it.
The new Macs have only 800 firewire ports. Are these compatible with the Canopus firewire 400 using an adaptor? And would the Geoforce 120 be sufficient for video-editing on a Cinema Dislplay 30 inch?
Or is it better to buy a Harpertown Mac?
Can I get significant better results if I build a Raid0 with 2 drives?
Thanks in advance for all the advice.

 

[zmttoxics]

The quad is a fine machine, and the 4870 is a good video card upgrade. There are FW800 to FW400 cables and they work fine (I have one). The GT120 I believe can drive the 30". Its also not terrible as video editing is mostly CPU intensive work. If its a big issue, the new 24" iMac with the 4850 is an excellent performer and cheaper.

 

[gavin83209]

Yes, the GT 120 can drive two 24" (I think) or two 30" displays or a combination thereof, although if you need two 30" displays, you need to buy a Mini Display Port to Dual link DVI adaptor. I can't comment on the GT 120's performance, however. If you have the money, a 4870 is the best you can get without actually hunting down the Mac version of the GTX 285.

Correct me if I am wrong, but a RAID 0 is a striped scheme. You should experience double the performance with two drives, but backup frequently. If even one of the drives in a striped RAID dies, you will lose everything.