Input Wanted: Video Editing System

[bhanson]

Okay, so I'm designing a video editing system, I know that Pentiums are better for these sort of tasks. Besides that, I know I need alot of RAM. That's about it, for my home systems I have AMD rigs so I don't really know where to start. If someone could give me some guildlines to go by it would be greatful.

I kind of want 3 different systems configured for these prices (This includes monitor, etc. - no software):

$2000
$1500
$1000

It will be running Adobe Premier Pro, etc.

Our existing system is a P4 2.4Ghz with 1GB of PC2700 and a GeForce 5700Ultra. Not sure how much a video card plays into this... or if it's mostly CPU, so any input on how to build this system properly would be appricated.

 

[Lyfer]

Let me be the first to ask you, have you considered getting an Apple G5? You can get FinalCut Pro for a great price if you get it with a G5.

 

[bhanson]

We already have a Final Cut Pro system, and 3 other i-macs, we only have one Adobe Premiere system, so we're looking to get another one of those.

 

[Vette73]

For a single CPU system get a P4 Northwood with HT/800FSB

For dual or more cpu go with a Opteron

 

[Soulkeeper]

you can really save money on the following config:
2500+ and abit nf7-s (well under 1000 if you get reasonable parts to go with it)

but i think a 2.8 P4 would prob do you better performance wise (HT and the high mem bandwidth should help alot for your needs, this could fit your midpriced system)

if you do go dual proc i would say opteron is a great choice (should be able to do this under 2000)
they just cut some prices too

 

[smahoney]

Agree with soulkeeper. You can pickup a 2.8C M0 stepping P4 (skip the 'E' Prescott) with a decent motherboard, memory, power supply and heatsink. You can run at 3.5GHz with 5:4 mem divider with tight timing PC3200 memory for a reasonable price. throw in a few SATA hard drives and get a decent video card. I would suggest the Abit IC7-G motherboard - less expensive than the Max 3 or P4C800 E Del and will not have any problems running at that FSB and has plenty of options for lots of hard drives connections. CPU is about $180, IC7-G is less than 150, Memory will depend on how much - I figure you will need at least a gig or more - the boards will support up to 4, but that will blow your budget. 2GB of Corsair PC3200 will eat up more than $500. The card you have isn't bad for video editing, and I am not sure what type of monitor you want. You can get a pretty good antec case with power supply for under $100 and then you just need some good drives - get at least two and separate the OS drive from the drive you are storing the video's. IC7-G has two separate RAID controllers so you can create separate RAID arrays for the OS and video storage.

 

[bhanson]

Okay, budget is back, I have $2000 to work with here. The best for $2000 is what I need to get, but of course, cheaper is better. Like if a part that's only a little bit better than another one, but costs alot more, then I'd rather go with the less expensive one. I don't really think I should be overclocking this system, I mean it needs to be 100% rock solid, nothing like video processing that would test it. For monitors, I think I'm looking at two 17"s, which should run about $300? I have total configuration abilities here, the only criteria being: 1. Better or equal to our other system, 2. Less than $2000. I was thinking 2GB of memory here might be helpful in rendering and with the work area. For HDDs, maybe 2x120 or 2x160GB SATA drives. Would tight memory timings be of great speed performence here? Or would it really be noticable?

@smahoney: When you mean keep the OS seperate from the storage drive, do you mean virtual drives (partitions)? Or physical drives..

Any input is totally welcome, even if you wanted to throw your dream [editing] system out here, that's fine also..

 

[Vette73]

If you have 2 grand go Dual Opteron.

Dual Opteron boards start at $220 and the chips start at the high 100's each. Can take OVER 4gb of ram, is just hitting its strid so there will be plenty of upgrades to come.

 

[bhanson]

Opteron are AMD, are they good for this? Does Intel P4's outperform them? Is it worth the extra money? (This system probably wouldn't be upgraded, another machine would probabably be added first)

 

[Vette73]

Opterons have SSE2, onboard memory controller, and can handle over 4gb of memory.

Go to newegg.com and look at the AMD opteron boards that support Dual Opterons and you can see why they would be a great choice for your budget.

 

[bhanson]

Newegg doesn't have any dual socket boards for Opterons it says, looking at the single CPU boards I don't see the advantage? Excessive raid configurations are not needed, just enough for two drives. Also, I don't think the $2000 could handle 8GB of ram. Am I overlooking the motherboards? I searched for dual socket 940.

 

[Soulkeeper]

your monitors will prob be the most expensive part
are you going crt or lcd ?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: bhanson
Newegg doesn't have any dual socket boards for Opterons it says, looking at the single CPU boards I don't see the advantage? Excessive raid configurations are not needed, just enough for two drives. Also, I don't think the $2000 could handle 8GB of ram. Am I overlooking the motherboards? I searched for dual socket 940.

Look in the server section, that is where newegg.com put all its 2 cpu board now.

Here is one that has TRUE sata, dual opterons, supports up to 8gig of Reg memory, giga Lan, comes with 2 copper heatsinks, and cost $204

Dual Opteron Board

Put a couple of Raptor 74gig drives on the Sata ports and get SCSI performance with dual CPU's = Great Editing system

Add 2 slabs of ram like these....

Reg Ram 1
Reg Ram 2

 

[myocardia]

Yeah, for video editing/creation, nothing beats a dual Opteron setup with raid. Just remember that with an Opteron system, you have to buy registered ram, which finally doesn't cost much more than non-registered ram. Oh, and make sure you order 2xx Opterons, the 1-series Opterons won't work in an SMP setup.

edit: Oh, and save yourself some money and headache, and get two crt monitors. You will more than likely be at least as happy with them as you would be with two lcd's, and will save ~$500 that you can put toward better, faster equipment.

 

[bhanson]

Yeah, two CRTs, LCD's would be waaay to expensive. If I go with an Opteron system, how fast should the CPU's be, I have zero experiance with them, so I don't know how fast they are. How fast of the CPUs would I need? And would it be ALOT (worth the cost) faster than a P4 system? (My jaw dropped when I saw the prices)

 

[Vette73]

A pair of 242's (oem $309) should do the trick, or even a pair of 244's (oem $442). Might be cheaper at other places I just used Newegg.com as a reference.

You can get OEM chips if you get the board I listed, as it comes with a pair of Heatsinks made to fit that board and cool a pair of opterons quietly.

 

[gsellis]

With the current Premiere, I would go with a P4, probably a 2.8-3.2e. Do not overclock it as some MPEG encoders are extremely fussy about timings. That may lead to audio sync issues on an MPEG outputs such as DVD.

Dual Xeons are also an option, such as a ASUS PC-DL board with 2.4 Xeon's. 2.66 is better, but with lots of storage, you will have to skimp on the monitor. That will also be true with an Opteron board as the boards tend to be pricy. If you are planning to roll to HDV, I would consider a dual board. As a cost savings, you would only buy one fast processor and add a second one later as the need arose.

I do not know what Adobe plans to do, but Pinnacle is now also using the GPU to render video. I don't think it will buy you anything today, but keep an eye on it.