Killer Video Editing Machine

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Apotherix

Senior member
Mar 6, 2003
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All right, so I just spent the weekend editing a video on the university mutimedia machines, and I need a setup like for myself. What would you recommend as far as motherboards, and also cpus and ram? I already know I want dual 19 or 21 inch flat panel monitors, any particular brand?

Oh yeah, and I need a board that supports scsi or serial ata at least...
 
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Apotherix

Senior member
Mar 6, 2003
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Here's the setup I've got so far -

MB: Soltek K8TPro 939
CPU: Athlon 64 3500+
RAM: 2x1 GB OCZ
VID: ATI X800 XT
HD: 2x160 GB WD SATA
DVD/RW: Sony 16x DVD+R
Case: Thermaltake VA3000 Dream
Monitors: 2x19" Viewsonic LCD

Whatta ya think?
 
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manko

Golden Member
May 27, 2001
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What type of projects are you working on? Are you working with DV or another format? Do you plan to output to DVD or something else? And what's your budget?

For something basic like DV editing to DVD, your current system is powerful enough. You just need to add some fast drives (with or without a SCSI card) and another 512MB RAM.

If you really want to build a new system, or if you want to work with HD (or HDV) or if you want multiple layers of real-time effects, you may need a dedicated hardware capture board.

I don't think Xerox makes workstation CPUs, but a dual Xeon or Opteron setup is at the high end of the price and performance scale. The benefits would be mainly in effects processing and faster encoding. Otherwise, depending on your budget a P4 3.0GHz or socket 939 A64 3500+ or higher would be a give you solid performance for a basic editing machine.

It would help if you give us more details about what formats and software you're using and your budget.
 
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thirdlegstump

Banned
Feb 12, 2001
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I think you're headed in the wrong direction. The Intel P4's will outperform AMD in video editing. Go with SCSI drives instead as they are still faster and will give you the mature performance you need. The video card is a 3D gaming card and won't give you any performance boost in video. If you want realtime encoded capturing and realtime effects preview, you'll need a Canopus or a Matrox.
 
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manko

Golden Member
May 27, 2001
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Originally posted by: Apotherix
Here's the setup I've got so far -

MB: Soltek K8TPro 939
CPU: Athlon 64 3500+
RAM: 2x1 GB OCZ
VID: ATI X800 XT
HD: 2x160 GB WD SATA
DVD/RW: Sony 16x DVD+R
Case: Thermaltake VA3000 Dream
Monitors: 2x19" Viewsonic LCD

Whatta ya think?
Click to expand...

I can't comment on the motherboard, but otherwise the specs are fine. That should give you plenty of performance for video editing and encoding.

 
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Apotherix

Senior member
Mar 6, 2003
229
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Unlimited budget - I'll be able to write most of it off on the company account (after all it'll be for work mostly anyway). I want it to be able to handle pretty much any kind of format I throw at it...I'll be working with any and everything.

Which Matrox card would you suggest? I looked at the TYAN dual opteron boards...looks promising. Is there any kind of specific memory that is better for editing?
 
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Lemodular

Senior member
Sep 15, 2004
521
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Originally posted by: deathkoba
I think you're headed in the wrong direction. The Intel P4's will outperform AMD in video editing. Go with SCSI drives instead as they are still faster and will give you the mature performance you need. The video card is a 3D gaming card and won't give you any performance boost in video. If you want realtime encoded capturing and realtime effects preview, you'll need a Canopus or a Matrox.
Click to expand...

deathkoba is correct, and if $$ no object, go for twin Xeons and Canopus, Matrox and 3Dlabs used to make the best cards for your application.

AMD's are good performers except for multimedia/graphics applications.
 
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Apotherix

Senior member
Mar 6, 2003
229
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So what you're saying is that dual xeons would be a better option than dual opterons? The system I was using yesterday had dual 3.2 xeons and it was waaay smooth. I'm not sure what it had in the way of video, though.
 
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jose

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
2,079
2
81
Unlimited Budget ???? Sweet........

I'd get regardless if it's overkill the following
Dual Opteron's 250's w/ 4 gigs of ram.
A new NForce4 SLI Opetron mobo ie. Tyan or Iwill
With either a LSI u320-2x scsi raid controller or a 12port sata 3Ware controller both in the $600 range.
Hard drives either 15k/10k scsi or 74g raptors. You'll probably need 5-6 of them.
Audigy2 LS, 550-660w ps
and dual sli 6800GT/Ultras.

this system could do anything fast... It would cost ~$6k

Regards,
Jose
 
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imported_michaelpatrick33

Platinum Member
Jun 19, 2004
2,364
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Originally posted by: deathkoba
Originally posted by: Anubis
you should really read This review of the dual opteron 250s vs dual Xeon 3.4s

the Opteron beats it on just about everything even the media encodeing benches
Click to expand...

I don't know what you're smoking there Anubis, but in every test where it counts for this gentleman's application, the Xeon outperforms, not to also mention that the Xeon will actually be cheaper than an Opteron rig.
Click to expand...


and I don't know what you are smoking as has been said "one trillion times" it all depends on the application used. Some encoding frontends run better on Intel some run better on AMD Xvid is much faster on the AMD while Divx is faster on the Intel platform.

What encoding program do you plan on using? Look up on the internet for benchmarks for the encoding program you are going to use
 
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imported_zenwhen

Senior member
Jun 5, 2002
302
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Um, Xvid is primarily a pirate's format. I think this guy is looking to do legit video editing. AMD loses handily in MPEG2 encoding, which is what ACTUAL video junkies use.
 
Markfw

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
27,131
16,032
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I vote for the dual Opterons. Also, bag that tiger motherboard, as it doesn;t support PCI-X 64 bit. If you want a fast disk subsystem, get 4-5 15k SCSI U320 drives and an LSI megaraid 320-2 controller with 512 meg ram cache. The Tyan Thunder K8 2885 will support that (I have it) and if your software supports SMP, it will beat the Xeon's on average and in many it will crush them.
 
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thirdlegstump

Banned
Feb 12, 2001
8,713
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You guys are not understanding what VIDEO EDITING needs are.

He is not primarily using this box for XVID, DIVX encoding. Editing and encoding are two COMPLETELY different things.

He will be slicing and dicing clips of video, composing, rendering, effects handling etc. and outputing to a standard format where the fastest drives and Xeons rule by far.

Only during that last output conversion will the encoding part come in which is not disk intensive. Most likely he'll be working in various mpeg formats as well as DV stream. For this purpose, Xeons with tons of memory and fast SCSI drives RULE.

It is also quite a bit cheaper than Opteron. What is he going to do with a 6800 SLI rig with no realtime effects handling, lack of hardware encoded capture and limited physical output jacks? It's not going to help AT ALL. Zilch.

Also if Apple's Finalcut Pro looks like a good software package for you, get a Dual G5 and a Matrox RT series board or again a Canopus. I've got a client who handles editing in big time commercial cuts (Britney, Blueman etc.) with Finalcut and a dual G4. It's not trouble-free but she gets the job done on time with me there.
 
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Apotherix

Senior member
Mar 6, 2003
229
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I was looking at some of the hardware on newegg, and I came across a tyan motherboard with QUAD CPU SUPPORT?! WTF? How does this stand up?
 
Lyfer

Lyfer

Diamond Member
May 28, 2003
5,842
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Dude, get a PowerMac G5 with FinalCut Pro.:) Now thats a killer video editing machine.
 
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Apotherix

Senior member
Mar 6, 2003
229
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a G5...I don't think so. I can't stand the bloody one-button mouse, and everything else. I'm just born and bred a pc-user. Not that I have any particular bias, I just can't seem to get my mind around a mac. It's so simple its useless ;)
 
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xxsk8er101xx

Senior member
Aug 13, 2000
298
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video has nothing to do with video editing. If you do not plan on playing games on that computer just get a video card that supports dual DVI. Max ram you can get is 4gigs on most machines.

Go with what you are familiar with. If the system you worked on had a dual xeon 3.2gig then get that. If i was you i'd try and match that system and maybe even get one better then that. Most of these people here never touched a video editing program.

Sounds like you are doing heavy video editing for some company. Very Interesting. So ya my suggestion would be to match the system you tried.

good luck!
 
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