Need Help with Editing Computer

[techies05]

Hi all,
I am pretty new to this forum and computer, but my parents wants me to build an editing computer for their new professional camcorder (I think they got it for cheap). Anyway I looked up couples of editing computer specs and I found that it is increably expensive (over 5k). My parents gives me a budget of $3200 or under (include tax). So do you guys have any idea what is a good specs and affordable? I was thinking of that Pentium D 3 ghz and the matrox editing card. I'm already have the Adobe Creative Suite and Premier.
Thank You for your time.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

I posted this somewhere else:

DFI LanParty Ultra-D $130
4200+ $500 (estimate, not sure)
OCZ Modstream 520 $100
Raptor 74GB $180
WD 120GB $85
Some case: $80
DVD Burner: $40
7800GTX $500
2GB OCZ Value VX: $175

Change the 7800GTX with your "Matrox Editing Card" or whatever.
$1790 - you've got some money to spare. But I'm not sure about all the tools required for editing, etc and the costs associated with that.

Note on the Athlon64 4200+<-- You can overclock this beast and get it faster than 4800+ speeds. This'll beat the Pentium D 3ghz any day.

-The Pentium Guy

 

[Some1ne]

Why not go with the 4400+ just to get the extra cache? It might actually come in handy with video editing.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Good point. I'd do that, you've got plenty of budget. Spend the rest on a good monitor (big, for plenty of space while editing), keyboard/mouse (cheap mice piss me off, even in MS Paint ), and other peripherals/software you need.

-TPG

 

[techies05]

 

[techies05]

Sorry for not being clear the budget is for Everything Monitor keyboard etc. Hmm and I thought Intel are better for editing

 

[Some1ne]

Sorry for not being clear the budget is for Everything Monitor keyboard etc. Hmm and I thought Intel are better for editing

Not since AMD's dual-core chips came out, unless you go for the extra expensive Pentium Extreme Edition 840, and then the advantage is only because it still has HyperThreading, and the advantage still is only going to apply in a very limited number of scenarios. If you place a Pentium D against an Athlon X2, the X2 will win pretty much all the time.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

X2'll win most of the time. besides you don't want to bear the increasing heat/powerload of the new dualcores (2prescotts in 1).

1 is hot enough but 2 is impossible to handle, you'll be paying lots for cooling.

 

[cryptonomicon]

must be true since he is the pentium guy

 

[The Pentium Guy]

=-o That was mean .
See quote on sig: "Blind devotion to any hardware company is your enemy"

-TPG

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: techies05
Hi all,
I am pretty new to this forum and computer, but my parents wants me to build an editing computer for their new professional camcorder (I think they got it for cheap). Anyway I looked up couples of editing computer specs and I found that it is increably expensive (over 5k). My parents gives me a budget of $3200 or under (include tax). So do you guys have any idea what is a good specs and affordable? I was thinking of that Pentium D 3 ghz and the matrox editing card. I'm already have the Adobe Creative Suite and Premier.
Thank You for your time.

You're on the right track. :laugh:

Check out the Video Guys for more system recommendations.
The only issue I see is that I think all the Matrox video cards are AGP rather than PCI Express.

Your budget will dictate if you can reach for an X2 or not.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: techies05
Hmm and I thought Intel are better for editing

not since AMD X2

 

[gsellis]

Read the link Blain supplied (videoguys) and look at DIY 2 and 3. A 4400+ could replace the dual system as could a 4600+. NOTE - They recommend a workstation graphics card. That is good for this system as Premiere likes OpenGL performance. A 7800 would be overkill in possibly the wrong direction for Premiere. Also, if you keep the budget down, you can get Boris 8 for $199 at Videoguys (or Aftereffects). Maybe get Adobe Audition too for audio edits.

I would go with some 250GB HDs also.

If you can keep the hardware down, you can get additional software. I use DVD-Lab, Sound Forge, Animation:Master. I wish I also had Boris/AfterEffects, ProCoder (MPEG conversion), DVD-Lab Pro. Later, you may want to add the HD add-ons or the Premiere 1.51 upgrade (if you don't have it) and the CineHD add-in (for the next camera).

 

[techies05]

I read couples of other forums discussion and it seems like the Video card doesn't do much in video editing, except for projecting the images/video clips I'm editing, is that true?

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: techies05
I read couples of other forums discussion and it seems like the Video card doesn't do much in video editing, except for projecting the images/video clips I'm editing, is that true?

Depends on the editor. I use Pinnacle's Liquid Edition, which has a whole suite of GPU rendered effects (DX9 calls - uses the GPU instead of the CPU for rendering the frames). I think Boris or AfterEffects (latest version) is starting to do this too. I think Adobe, Sony, and Avid do recommend OpenGL performance, but it is not as critical as with the Pinnacle software. Pinnacle Studio 9 has some limited GPU usage. Version 10 or was it 11 (which will be an Avid product) will be based off of the Liquid engine, so expect more GPU usage along with video memory. Liquid wants 256MB of memory on the video card to do HDV at 1080i.