AMD, Intel, windows for machinima

I would like to harness more horsepower for machinima video. I love Logic Studio and Soundtrack for audio, but for video I may build a budget PC gamer to supplement my macbook pro.
My goal is to record vid only, so I don't have to break the bank on silent heat sinks and such.
Which leads to a couple of common questions for you experienced machinimators:
1) Any recent experience on whether AMD Phenom II triple-cores run SL as well as Intel quad-cores?
2) Same question for ATI vs nvidia - any current leaning to one or the other? I know it changes like, every 2 months
3) Thoughts on which edition of Win 7 is needed, if I don't need the highest priced version?
Thanks!!!

Nvidia cards work better with SL simply because of Open GL, ATI does not play nice with it.

I only have a duo core. I know that SL maxes out both my cores all by its self without recording so I would assume that the more cores you have when recording the better off you would be. As important as multi cored cpus and high end Nvidia cards are for machinima so are high speed HDs. If you're only going to use one then get the fastest you can afford with atleast a 1TB cpacity. If you can mange 2 run your OS and SL on one and record to the other. If you can muster 3 HDs then I would still put the OS and SL on one and RAID 0 the other two for recording. Once you go over 3 HDs you can start running your OS on one SL on another and recording to the 3rd and 4th striped.

The lowliest of Win7 is more than adequate for machinima.

See these two threads for a lot more info.

"As important as multi cored cpus and high end Nvidia cards are for machinima so are high speed HDs. If you're only going to use one then get the fastest you can afford with at least a 1TB cpacity."

Thank you Rafe, I do run an external quad-interface 1Tb via FW800. I was thinking of an internal OS drive for the new PC, and linking the same HD via the SATA interface as my recording destination. It's already MS-DOS FAT32 so I wouldn't have to partition, which I understand can slow the drive.

It's so hard to isolate bottlenecks with SL (RAM? VRAM? CPU? Spacenav? Server lag?), esp when even a decent residential bandwidth fluctuates so unpredictably. No doubt it's very important to be just as dictatorial as RL directors - "Back in place everybody, we need another take!"

One more question: I assume by "high speed" you and AWM mean a well-buffered 7200 rpm, not SSD or the $2,000 gaming specials that run at 10 or 15k? Thanks again!

Thanks again!

I think your statement of building a budget PC just to make vids.. is out of proportion.. making movies requires a lot of CPU for rendering and editing. Whether you need multi cores, depends on the software, whether it can use multi cores. Some are only 32 bit and not 64 bit so having TB's of memory is going to be wasted.

You need to choose your software first, then if needed, create a machine that fits, with some excess. Fast HD's, powerful core(s), nVidia GC with a fast core and memory controllers and a good puddle of bespoke memory. nVidia, simply because its stable OpenGL drivers.
Reading from and to HD's require some serious controllers, use SATA II HD's, preferably ones for commercial servers. The run faster, cooler, longer. Setup a Raid configuration to get you speed, but watch for stability. 4 HD's on seperate controllers will run faster than 4 on 2, with 50% as slaves.
If you have loads of System Ram, consider setting up a ramdisc.

Run the OS and if possible SL on seperate HD's (I run a pair of Mastered IDEs for that purpose), each HD supporting its own cache, one for SL, one for the OS.

Keep the HD's defragmented.

Oh well thanks for the reality check Rafe and AWM!

Try iShowU -link for free test drive
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/ishowu.html

on your MacBookPro.

You'll need an external firewire drive. Doesn't need to be huge.