Help Building Video Editing PC

[DrMik3y2]

Hi all. I'm just starting to get into video editing, been doing a little here and there on my current PC and have enjoyed it so much that I'm looking to seriously get into it. I've tried researching around the forums and on the net and after much debate of whether to buy a Mac or PC I decided to go with PC due to cost. Then after debating whether to buy a premade or build it myself I figured (and am hoping) that building my own will be more cost effective.

I have been out of the loop for a while where hardware is concerned, as the last time I built a PC was three years ago. I'm wondering if anyone here would be able to point me in the right direction. I'm looking to spend up to $1500 (just the PC, no monitors, etc). I will be mostly using Sony Vegas and possibly some Adobe products and from what I've read that means I should go with an nvidia card. Barring that I pretty much have no clue what I should be getting for an entry level system. I'm not looking for a machine that is going to edit in HD or anything. Right now I'm using a DV camera (Canon Elura 100) and for the moment that will be my main source of video until I save enough for a Canon GL1. Anyways, any help you guys can give would be greatly appreciated. (sorry for the long winded-ness of my post!)

Motherboard: ???
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor or Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor or is it better to go with something different?
Memory: ???
Case: LIAN LI PC-61 USB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: ???
Graphics Card: should i spend extra money on a Quadro card or not? Needs to support dual dvi, or preferably dual dvi, dual vga and dvi/vga
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card is this card worth the money?
Boot Drive: Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Extra HDDs: 3x250 or 2x500 or something? haha

I think that's it. Anyways, I look forward to hearing any advice you guys can give. Thanks!!!

 

[engiNURD]

E6600
P5B-E (use onboard optical out)
2GB G.Skill 2GBNQ
520W Corsair
7600GT
WD740ADFD
WD5000YS x2

 

[DrMik3y2]

Thanks for the advice engiNURD. Would I notice a large performance gain in going from the E6400 to the E6600, as it seems the ASUS board is good at overclocking, so do I really need to spend that extra money? Same thing with the power supply; is there a cheaper version or is there a reason I should be spending that much on one? $1500 is my max, but if I can get it closer to $1000 that would be awesome. Though that might just mean waiting on the third hdd and holding off on the soundcard. Would bringing the RAM down to 1gb be a big deal, or should I really be using 2gb+ for video editing?

 

[bob4432]

i use adobe premier with rig in sig and here are my suggestions -
m/b - something stable - the gigabyte 965p-s3 comes to mind and can o/c very good and stable
cpu - 6400 - o/c when you want
memroy - ddr2 800 - easy o/c
case - your decisoin
psu - good brand, 80plus rating is a nice bonus - pc&p, seasonic, enhance, fortron (fsp) even the new antecs seem ok -~500W
gpu - 7600 will do the job unless you want realtime preview then you will need a more specialized card - i would do the 7600gt
hdds - i would do a dedicated os/app drive and then multiple large storage hdds - those d@mn video files take up a ton of space - get how many you can afford and fit in the case

 

[jkresh]

definitely go for 2gigs (or more), video editing is one of the few things (along with gaming and 3d rendering) where you cant have to much ram. The extra 2megs cache on the 6600 is probably worth it as well. Do not skimp on the powersupply (and make sure it has enough amps on the 5v) as if you keep adding hard drives (common for video editing especially hd) you will need a beefy power supply just to boot. In terms of sound you are better off buying an xfi then an audigy 4 (though you could stick with onboard for now and add something better later). If you plan on working in hd then 3x250 in a raid 5 array might be a good idea for you work drives (you could raid 0, but thats somewhat risky). If you wont be working in hd for a while then raid wont be as important. If you haven't already bought the 74gig raptor, 150's are fairly close in price now and it might be worth the extra $50 or so for twice the space.

 

[BlahSajiMos]

Seeing as how that is pretty much the EXACT video editing machine I am about to build, I would have to agree with bob4432

For less than $1100 shipped Im building:
Intel E6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3
G.Skill 2X1gb ddr2 800
EVGA 7600gt
Seagate Barracda 400gb sata
FSP 400w ps
Rosewill case
Lite-on lightscribe dvd burner


Im waiting on my taxes then this will be my new editing station(current is barton 2500@3200, 1gb ddr400)

The only thing I wasnt 100% on is if Intel is the way to go with video editing... I have heard good things about the amd chips, should I look into those? or price vs price, I should still go intel?

Blah

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: BlahSajiMos
Seeing as how that is pretty much the EXACT video editing machine I am about to build, I would have to agree with bob4432

For less than $1100 shipped Im building:
Intel E6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3
G.Skill 2X1gb ddr2 800
EVGA 7600gt
Seagate Barracda 400gb sata
FSP 400w ps
Rosewill case
Lite-on lightscribe dvd burner


Im waiting on my taxes then this will be my new editing station(current is barton 2500@3200, 1gb ddr400)

The only thing I wasnt 100% on is if Intel is the way to go with video editing... I have heard good things about the amd chips, should I look into those? or price vs price, I should still go intel?

Blah

at this time, the intel core2duo cpus are the way to go. plus that board supports the quad core intel cpus which is nice because a lot of video software is multi-processor aware, so you may want to bump up your psu to a 500W just in case you decide to get a quad when they become reasonably prices in 6mos

and honestly, i would do a 6400 and o/c it....the $$$ is not worth the extra cache imo

 

[DrMik3y2]

Awesome! Thanks for all the information guys, you've all been really helpful. The only question I have left is concerning the video card. bob4432, you said that I should go with a different video card if I want realtime preview. I plan on buying a 24" dell monitor at some point to use as my main monitor and then will have another monitor setup as a secondary for realtime preview. Will the 7600GT be able to handle this, or do I need to look at getting something different?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: DrMik3y2
Awesome! Thanks for all the information guys, you've all been really helpful. The only question I have left is concerning the video card. bob4432, you said that I should go with a different video card if I want realtime preview. I plan on buying a 24" dell monitor at some point to use as my main monitor and then will have another monitor setup as a secondary for realtime preview. Will the 7600GT be able to handle this, or do I need to look at getting something different?

i would go to whatever software you are going to use and see their forums card support/recommendation for a live card.

the cards that usually allow for realtime, no encoding live previews have some type of processor on the card and i do not think the 7600gt can handle this. i know that whenever i have done anything with my rig in sig editing wise, i always need to render first even to play it on the small in program windows, even using sd video.

 

[BlahSajiMos]

Originally posted by: bob4432
at this time, the intel core2duo cpus are the way to go. plus that board supports the quad core intel cpus which is nice because a lot of video software is multi-processor aware, so you may want to bump up your psu to a 500W just in case you decide to get a quad when they become reasonably prices in 6mos

and honestly, i would do a 6400 and o/c it....the $$$ is not worth the extra cache imo

Cool, dumped the 6600 for a 6400, bumped the 400w to 500w, and Im still under 1040.

I think I might throw in another gig...

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: BlahSajiMos

Originally posted by: bob4432
at this time, the intel core2duo cpus are the way to go. plus that board supports the quad core intel cpus which is nice because a lot of video software is multi-processor aware, so you may want to bump up your psu to a 500W just in case you decide to get a quad when they become reasonably prices in 6mos

and honestly, i would do a 6400 and o/c it....the $$$ is not worth the extra cache imo

Cool, dumped the 6600 for a 6400, bumped the 400w to 500w, and Im still under 1040.

I think I might throw in another gig...

before you add in another GB defiantely go to a forum for the software you are going to use to see if it is going to take adv of it. from what i recall with preire, it doesn't take all that much ram and i have never gotten over 2GB that is for sure, then again my videos are sd and i don't use a lot of effects, so that may be why...but i would check, or if you find yourself needing it, pick it up later.

 

[BlahSajiMos]

hmm hadnt heard that about premiere. I only use premiere to cut videos and add music, everything else is done with after effects. But I guess Id rather wait and go to 4gb later and sink the cash into other stuff now...

so..
I forgot I had an extra case also..

6400
gigabyte ga-965p-s3
geil 2gb(2X1gb) ddr2 800
xclio 500w
evga 7900gs
maxtor sata 500gb
lightscribe dvd burner
under $1050 to my door... I can handle that..

 

[mshan]

Have you thought about just getting a Mac and using iMovie and iDVD? (Mac OS X Leopord and iLife 07 should be released in the next couple months).

I built a powerful rig for my dad before with Adobe Premier Pro and it was just too difficult to learn.

I got him an Intel Core Duo iMac and now he makes excellent looking movies and dvds. Simple interface, but great results and easy to use.


If you have to go with one of these semi pro Windows apps, good resources are:
http://www.videoguys.com/system.htm
http://videoguys.com/DIY.html

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: BlahSajiMos
hmm hadnt heard that about premiere. I only use premiere to cut videos and add music, everything else is done with after effects. But I guess Id rather wait and go to 4gb later and sink the cash into other stuff now...

so..
I forgot I had an extra case also..

6400
gigabyte ga-965p-s3
geil 2gb(2X1gb) ddr2 800
xclio 500w
evga 7900gs
maxtor sata 500gb
lightscribe dvd burner
under $1050 to my door... I can handle that..

out of all the adobe software i know or use, after effects is the one that i never have used. i have a couple of books for it but never found the time, yet....sorry i can't help with its resource requirements

 

[Hulk]

No video editing apps are GPU accelerated so performance won't vary from one video card to the next. Okay, Liquid has a very few GPU accelerated FX.

2GB memory

As many Core 2 Duo processor cycles you can afford.

And as with any system a high quality power supply.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Hulk
No video editing apps are GPU accelerated so performance won't vary from one video card to the next. Okay, Liquid has a very few GPU accelerated FX.

2GB memory

As many Core 2 Duo processor cycles you can afford.

And as with any system a high quality power supply.

there are some cards that do handle the realtime previewing and actually allow it to be done in realtiem withtout the need for a full render. canopus, pinnacle and matrox come to mind but i am not sure which ones

 

[DrMik3y2]

Again thanks for all the input guys. Over the past few days I have been looking at all of the suggestions you've put forth, as well as scouring these boards and the internet for reviews and other ideas, etc. I have to admit I've been a bit overwhelmed with all the new technology. I've been debating whether or not I should spend the extra money and get a mac, since you are now able to run windows through OSX using the program Parallels. So I was getting a little frustrated since I didn't know what to do. Then this morning, I sat down and asked myself exactly what I would be using the computer for. My original reason for building it was simply as a video editing machine, however, I soon came to realize that another huge factor in building a new computer is simply that my three year old system is outdated and needs to be replaced. I, like many others, am first and foremost a gamer, so when I asked myself what my reasons were I realized that gaming was not a part of that reason. This is obviously a problem, as I am not planning to stop gaming. So, in short, I decided to continue building a PC, but am going to attempt to build it for both gaming and video editing.

With that being said, I have a couple questions concerning graphics cards and power supplies. But first, here is what I have settled on for my PC:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
Memory: G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Case: Lian-Li PC-61
Boot Drive: Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Sound Card: Gonna stick with on-board sound for now until I can upgrade

So that leaves a Power Supply and Graphics Card which brings us to my questions.

I am thinking of getting an EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card. Now I know this has no effect on my video editing, save for the dual DVI support, but that's fine as this would be for gaming. Is it worth picking one of these up now? I would think it is, as I'm sure other cards will come out soon and this will drop in price, but probably only $100 or so, and to me that doesn't really matter. Thoughts?

And if I do go with the above GC, which of the following PSUs would you recommend?

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick
SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC

or something cheaper like

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick
SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V / EPS12V 550W Power Supply

I'm assuming that going with a more powerful PSU is a better idea for this particular graphics card, but figured I'd ask first and see what you guys recommend.



And if I don't go with the 8800GTS I am planning on going with an EVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[bob4432]

personally i would go a x1950xt 256MB card if you don't go the 8800gts or even a 8800gtx. you are currently in a weird spot because there is no competition for the 8800gts and gtx, so they can kind of charge whatever they want, until amd/ati comes out with something. but i think i remember you saying you were gong with a large lcd, so the 880gts/gtx may be a necessity as the new games come out or you happen to play some of the current games that bring everything to their knees at even 1600x1200 (oblivion).

as far as a psu, i would check out johnny guru's site - very good on psus. his site may shed some light on psus that you are looking at. imho, anything over 500W is going to be fine but i don't remember the quad core cpus power needs off the top of my head so going a bit more is a good idea as the current quad cores are basically just 2 conroes on the same chip.

hope this helps

 

[DrMik3y2]

Thanks bob, I will check out johnny guru's site. Right now I'm only playing WoW and Oblivion, so I don't NEED the 8800GTS at this time, but I'm more looking toward the future. I'm tempted to get the x1950xt as I've always used ATI, but I KNOW I've read somewhere that vegas works better with nvidia cards. I don't know where I read that, but that is why I am hesitant to go with an ATI card, even though from what I understand the graphics card shouldn't have any affect on vegas or premiere, so I dunno. Although at this point I haven't done too much video editing, so switching from Vegas to Premiere won't be that big of a deal if I have to. I'm thinking of getting either a BenQ or Dell 24" LCD and the max resoluation on those are 1920x1200, so do you think the x1950xt would be able to handle games well at that resoluation? The way I'm looking at it is if I'm going to notice a big jump in performance I might as well spend the extra $100 and go with the big guns. I HATE making these decisions, haha.

 

[bob4432]

oblivion is one of the hardest games on a gpu currently. i honestly don't think a x1950xt would do oblivion justice at that resolution. definately take a look at the benchmarks under video to make sure the gts will do oblvion ok at that resolution and that you don't need the gtx...

good luck

 

[gsellis]

I would avoid the 8800. It is having issues with Avid Liquid (which prefers ATI for the DX performance - the 19xx series with 512MB kick serious HDV butt) and MS Vista. Not to sure that it is quite baked right. They should have had a working driver by now and kind of wondering what is going on.

What you are really missing is storage. The Raptor is ok, but as you noted, you want 2-3 drives for storage. With a 3 drive system, you store video on one and use the other for your render/workarea. This gives you the OS, video, and render drive during playback so you do not have a single bottleneck. I have over 600GB in system and another 1.2TB external...

On memory, 2GB is fine. It is a myth that video editing is a pig. It was designed to run large data off of the drives in sparse systems. 1GB for SD, 2GB for HDV is the sweet spot.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: gsellis
I would avoid the 8800. It is having issues with Avid Liquid (which prefers ATI for the DX performance - the 19xx series with 512MB kick serious HDV butt) and MS Vista. Not to sure that it is quite baked right. They should have had a working driver by now and kind of wondering what is going on.

What you are really missing is storage. The Raptor is ok, but as you noted, you want 2-3 drives for storage. With a 3 drive system, you store video on one and use the other for your render/workarea. This gives you the OS, video, and render drive during playback so you do not have a single bottleneck. I have over 600GB in system and another 1.2TB external...

On memory, 2GB is fine. It is a myth that video editing is a pig. It was designed to run large data off of the drives in sparse systems. 1GB for SD, 2GB for HDV is the sweet spot.

do the nvidia cards have any issues wth premier? also, since it sounds like you use avid, have you compared it to premiere? for me going premiere was kind of a no brainer as it is first overkill for what i use it for but it came as part of the suite but more importantly has the same adobe look that i am use to with my ps, ai, golive and all the other adobe software i am familiar with. how would avid work with ae? since that is what the op seems to be most interested in.

thanks in advance.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: bob4432

do the nvidia cards have any issues wth premier? also, since it sounds like you use avid, have you compared it to premiere? for me going premiere was kind of a no brainer as it is first overkill for what i use it for but it came as part of the suite but more importantly has the same adobe look that i am use to with my ps, ai, golive and all the other adobe software i am familiar with. how would avid work with ae? since that is what the op seems to be most interested in.

thanks in advance.

nVidia cards are great for Premiere and Vegas from what I see. If you go Avid Xpress, you actually want to use a Quadro. Premiere also works with the Matrox cards (designed for the Premiere suite). I just worry about why the 8800 is not working right yet.

AE works OK with Liquid, but it is an export thing. Boris Red is supposed to work better. Not too up on all the stuff in Xpress and Avid also has their own suite for Xpress and above (Liquid comes from the purchase of Pinnacle).

 

[DrMik3y2]

Thanks for the advice gsellis. I'm actually not planning to use Avid for some time. Right now I'm just starting to get into video editing and not sure if I really want to jump into Avid quite yet. I'm currently using Vegas on my current PC. I remember hearing that you want to get a Quadro card if you're going to use Avid. I was thinking about getting a Quadro card, but then found out that it isn't going to have much of an affect on Vegas or Premiere. That's why I decided to go with nvidia, because right now I'm going to be primarily using Vegas and Premiere (not sure which one I prefer just yet). I was looking at the 8800GTS because I'm looking to make this PC both my gaming machine as well as my editing workhorse. Do you think I should wait and get a lower end nvidia card and just wait for the price to drop on the 8800 series and/or wait for ATI to come out with their next line? And if so, if I'm going to use Vegas or Premiere should I got with a 7600GT or a comparable ATI card?

As for the extra hard drives, I must have forgot to mention those in my last post. I plan on getting either 2x320 drives or 2x500, not sure yet. Would you recommend perpendicular drives for a machine like mine?

Thanks again for the help

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: DrMik3y2
Thanks for the advice gsellis. I'm actually not planning to use Avid for some time. Right now I'm just starting to get into video editing and not sure if I really want to jump into Avid quite yet. I'm currently using Vegas on my current PC. I remember hearing that you want to get a Quadro card if you're going to use Avid. I was thinking about getting a Quadro card, but then found out that it isn't going to have much of an affect on Vegas or Premiere. That's why I decided to go with nvidia, because right now I'm going to be primarily using Vegas and Premiere (not sure which one I prefer just yet). I was looking at the 8800GTS because I'm looking to make this PC both my gaming machine as well as my editing workhorse. Do you think I should wait and get a lower end nvidia card and just wait for the price to drop on the 8800 series and/or wait for ATI to come out with their next line? And if so, if I'm going to use Vegas or Premiere should I got with a 7600GT or a comparable ATI card?

As for the extra hard drives, I must have forgot to mention those in my last post. I plan on getting either 2x320 drives or 2x500, not sure yet. Would you recommend perpendicular drives for a machine like mine?

Thanks again for the help

the perpendicular drives do give it a higher sustained transfer rate, but other than that they seek times are basically the same as other 7.2k hdds. i would personally get one with a 5yr warranty and go from their. i just ordered one of the maxtor maxline pro 500GB units for $140, i don't you can beat that price. i think i could have picked up a 7200.10 for $149 with a coupon code but they are basically the same in my eyes as they are just going to be transfering large data files and this about it. imho, since i have had a failure from every brand hdd there is they are all pretty much equal to me, except that bit of an edge the perp recording ones have in str.