Computer for a friend

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MonsterMac

Senior member
Jun 27, 2005
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hey guys,

a friend of mine wants me to build him a computer that will be used for those three things, and i know what i'd need/should get him as far as for the gaming and school use, but i really know nothing about video editing, as far as what hardware I should look for for that. anyone have any ideas or hints or tips?
 
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halfadder

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2004
1,190
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Video editing these days does not require much power, unless he plans on doing HD, which is unlikely unless he has plunked down $5000 or more (usually WAY more) on a HDV, DVCProHD, or HDCAM camcorder.

If he's doing regular DV25 video, then he literally can get by with a Pentium 3. Upgrade to an AthlonXP or Pentium 4, combined with a modern graphics card, and most of the editing/effects/titles become realtime.

For Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas (both Windows), Avid DV Xpress (Windows and Mac), or Final Cut Pro / Final Cut Express (Mac), my recommendations would be the same...

Dual core CPU, X1400 or X1600 graphics, 1 or 2 GB RAM, 7200 RPM hard drive. You don't really need a 10K or 15K RPM drive unless you're going to be scrubbing back and forth across a very long video clip. I know road warriors who edit documentaries on 5400 RPM notebook drives. Get what you can afford, basicly.

As for how much hard drive space, DV and HDV both consume 3.125 MB/sec. DVCProHD consumes 12.5 MB/sec. HDCAM is in the neighborhood of 125 - 150 MB/sec.

Consider buying some external storage and maybe a pair of fast DVD burners.
 
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stevty2889

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2003
7,036
8
81
A budget would be helpful. A lot of video encoding apps take advantage of dual cores. Video card is more important for gaming, again need a budget. 1gb of ram is plenty for the video encoding, some of the newer games like 2gb of ram.
 
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pkme2

Diamond Member
Sep 30, 2005
3,896
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What's your budget?
What's your friend's experience?
It will determine what version, low to mid-range computer system is best suited for your friend.
 
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PhoenixOrion

Diamond Member
May 4, 2004
4,312
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definite must nowadays for video editing and gaming:
dual core cpu
2 GB ram
largest hard drive 16mb cache that you can afford
 
bamacre

bamacre

Lifer
Jul 1, 2004
21,029
2
81
Originally posted by: MonsterMac
the budget is going to sit around 1750 and 2000 dollars.
Click to expand...

That's quite a large budget. Does he need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, OS?

Can he wait until Conroe and/or AM2?
 
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Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,508
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Video editing pretty much comes down to a strong CPU and a large amount of RAM, a big and fast hard drive helps too. Media encoding is one benchmark where the X2 dose pretty well when compared to Conroe, so unless you really want to wait AMD is the way to go.

For gamming it really comes down to the GPU, since you will already have a very fast CPU, and lots of RAM for the video editing requirements. The rest of it comes down to choosing solid components.

MB: Asus A8R32-MVP - Quality board, tons of features, passive chipset.
CPU: AMD X2 3800+ - Start there and work your way up according to your budget.
RAM: 2GB of Crucial, Corsair - Stick with the reputable names.
PSU: Seasonic S12 380 watt - Don't skimp on the PSU, and quality is far more important then output. 380 watts is enough for any single CPU non-SLI system you could put together.
GPU: nVidia 7900 GT, ATi 1800XT - Consider something higher if you still have room in your budget.
Case: Get a good case. I'm partial to Lian Li, check out the V1100.

Lastly, if low noise is a consideration you may want to checkout aftermarket HS/Fs for the CPU and GPU. The Thermalright XP-90, Ultra-90 and Zalman VF-700/900 get my recommendations.

 
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pkme2

Diamond Member
Sep 30, 2005
3,896
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0
My video rig cost under $1500 to build. (excluding the LCDs)
My Vantec has been a little twitchy, so a new Seasonic S-12 600W will cure that.
Getting a X2 4800+ replacing present 3500+, to render faster.
Other than that, my computer will end up costing around $2000 with Sony Vegas 6.0, when finished.
You can go with a FireGL or Quadro video card instead of Matrox, for dual monitors.

If you use similar components, you will be around $1750 and have a great video rig.
Good building.
 
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halfadder

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2004
1,190
0
0
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: MonsterMac
the budget is going to sit around 1750 and 2000 dollars.
Click to expand...

That's quite a large budget.
Click to expand...

Except that the editing software is going to eat into to that dearly.

The cheapest version of Adobe Premiere Pro is $849. The cheapest version of Avid DV Xpress is $499.
 
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MonsterMac

Senior member
Jun 27, 2005
233
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0
how necessary is a dual core cpu, i've just heard of people who game having probleems with dual cores.
 
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MonsterMac

Senior member
Jun 27, 2005
233
0
0
how necessary is a dual core cpu, i've just heard of people who game having probleems with dual cores.
 
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