Upgrading from G4 to G5

[arniemichael]

I am about to purchase a G5 and needed some advice on how to have it configured. I have read all the posts but still feel like I need some help. I have already purchased FCP 4.
I am upgrading from a G4 400 FCP3 with 4 internal HD's and 4 external FW, daisy chained HD's and dual display.
I am leaning towards getting the 160 HD for appications & a 250 HD for video. This computer will be used exclusively for FCP. My questions are, how much RAM. Can I get the system with "Panther" and is it recommended.
Thank you,
Arnie

[David]

That's my configuration.

I also bought a Hitachi/IBM 250 Gb SATA drive, and installed it in the spare bay.

I bought 4 512 Mb RAM sticks, DR400 and installed them in matched pairs to augment the 2 156 Mb sticks.

Make certain you buy from a good supplier of RAM.

Also, the 512 sticks are quite a bit cheaper than the 1 Gb sticks, and because you have to buy and install in pairs you'll be saving about $250.00 going with 4x512 rather than 2x1Gb.

I believe that all current G5s are shipping either with Panther installed or with upgrade Panther disks.

have fun.

[arniemichael]

David Thanks,
I got the extra Ram from Apple.
Do I need to add anything for the dual display?
Arnie

[David]

The Radeon's have dual monitor support, one ADC, and one DVI with an included VGA adapter I believe.

[arniemichael]

David hi,
I just got the G5 yesterday. so far so good.
I was reading in the FCP 4 manual, that it is not recommended to daisy chain FW HD's if you are using them as scratch disks. As mentioned earlier I have 4 Lacie's. my question is, is it better to assign each drive to a seperate FW port?
thanks
Arnie