Dell Precision Workstation 670 Requirements

With Pro Tools 6.4/6.7/6.9.x and Pro Tools HD 7

Dell Product Information:

When configuring a system at the above links, please be aware of all of the additional system requirements and supported configurations for Pro Tools, AVoption|V10, Avid Mojo, or Avid Unity as listed on these Digidesign Compatibility Documents.

Supported Configurations

Supported Processors

Avid Interchange

AVoption|V10, Avid Mojo, and Media Station|PT are supported with Pro Tools 6.9 & Pro Tools HD 7 for Windows XP For details and System Requirements, see the following compatibility pages:

BIOS

  • BIOS version A01 or greater required

System Software

  • Windows XP Professional or Home Edition*
  • Service Pack 1 or 2 Required for 6.4 or 6.7**
  • Service Pack 2 Required for Pro Tools 6.9 and higher
  • Windows XP Settings & Requirements
  • Pro Tools 6.1 and higher can NOT be installed or used on systems running Windows 98, Me, 2000, NT, 95, or 3.1

*Windows XP Professional required for systems with AVoption|V10, Avid Mojo, Media Station|PT, or Avid Unity

**The Dell Procision Workstation 670 has been fully qualified with Windows XP SP1 and SP2. If you are upating from SP1 to SP2, please see the following information:

Windows XP SP2, Microsoft DEP and PACE InterLok Drivers Update

  • if you encounter unexplained blue screens, freezes or spontaneous reboots when launching Pro Tools with Windows XP Service Pack 2, please update your PACE InterLok drivers:
  • The current InterLok drivers solve the described problems without having to disable Microsoft's DEP (Data Execution Prevention) feature introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2.

PCI Express Graphics Cards

The Dell Precision Workstation 670 does not use AGP graphics cards. Instead they have 4 Performance PCIe Graphics (dual monitor capable) cards listed as options when configuring the 670. Avid has qualified the following cards for use with AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo:

  • NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 1300 or 1400 (PCIe x16 card, 128MB)

While there are no known issues with the other cards listed, they have not been tested with Pro Tools|HD systems, with or without AVoption|V10 or Avid Mojo.

Note – The Dell 670 has not been tested with Pro Tools 6.2 or earlier or with AVoption|XL

Card Slot Order for Pro Tools 6.4, 6.9, or 7.x Pro Tools|HD & Pro Tools|HD Accel Systems

When used without AVoption|V10

  • The HD Core card is followed by all HD Accel cards, then HD Process cards (if any)

Configuration using only CPU with only Pro Tools|HD or HD Accel system:

Slot Card
PCI-E (graphics) Monitor card
32-bit PCI Empty - Do Not Use
PCI-E Empty - Do Not Use
64-bit PCI HD Core
64-bit PCI HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty
64-bit PCI HD Accel or HD Process card or ATTO UL3D or FireWire card or Empty

Pro Tools 6.9.x & 7.x with AVoption|V10 or Avid Mojo

Configuration using only CPU with HD or HD Accel and AVoption|V10 or Avid Mojo:

For information on slot order with AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo:

Pro Tools 6.4 with AVoption|V10

Configuration using only CPU with HD or HD Accel and AVoption|V10:

For information on slot order with AVoption|V10, see the following:

PCI Expansion Chassis (Optional)

For more information on Qualified Expansion Chassis and Requirements, please see the following pages:

Supported Chassis For Use With Pro Tools 7.1 and higher with Pro Tools|HD or HD Accel systems:

Supported Chassis For Use With Pro Tools 6.9.x & 7.x with Pro Tools|HD or HD Accel systems:

  • Digidesign 64-bit 7 Slot Expansion Chassis
  • Magma 64-bit 7 slot expansion chassis - model P7R464 (current), model P7R464-D1 (discontinued)
  • For use with Avid Unity Shared Storage or AVoption|V10, these chassis have been qualified with Pro Tools 6.9.x & 7.x only
  • Other chassis have not been tested with Pro Tools 6.4 and higher

AVoption|V10 & Avid Mojo

Because AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo connect to the internal FireWire bus, a chassis is not required. However, AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo require the complete bandwidth of the FireWire bus, as well as the segment of the PCI bus which that FireWire bus utilizes. Therefore, no other devices can be attached to the same FireWire bus as the AVoption|V10 or Avid Mojo, and no PCI cards can be installed in the PCI slots that share that segment. This leaves the HP xw8000 and Dell 650 with only three available PCI slots for Pro Tools cards, SCSI HBAs, or additional FireWire PCI cards. For information on slot order with AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo:

Dell 670 CPU configuration using qualified expansion chassis:

Slot Card
PCI-E (graphics) Monitor card
32-bit PCI Empty - Do Not Use
PCI-E Empty - Do Not Use
64-bit PCI Digidesign or Magma 64-bit 7 Slot Chassis Host card
64-bit PCI Empty
64-bit PCI ATTO UL3D or FireWire card or Empty

Digidesign or Magma 64-bit 7 slot expansion chassis configuration:

Slot Card
Chassis Slot 1 HD Core card
Chassis Slot 2 HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty
Chassis Slot 3 HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty
Chassis Slot 4 HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty
Chassis Slot 5 HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty
Chassis Slot 6 HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty
Chassis Slot 7 HD Accel card or HD Process card or Empty

Slot orders in the chassis run from left (closest to the power supply) to right.

After the HD Core card which is always first, all Accel cards should go before any Process cards.

Please see PCI expansion chassis guidelines for correct slot order of Pro Tools|HD and HD Accel cards in the Digidesign or Magma chassis:

For information on slot order with AVoption|V10 and Avid Mojo and Pro Tools 6.9.x & 7.x:

For information on slot order with AVoption|V10 and Pro Tools 6.4:

Dell Product Information:

Digidesign Compatibility Documents Index