This a Good Custom Video System You'd Build?

[timers]

I was given the task by a friend of mine to build him a video editing system. He will be using this system for all ordinary tasks (Ie. Internet, Office XP, etc), but mainly it was be used for his hobbie, which is video editing. I told him I could built a damn good system, and his budget is about 1500.

After going over some things with him, I told him that he could either go the route of AMD, or the route of INTEL.
I have looked at each chip pricewise, in comparison to the other, and judging off of TomsHardware.com, based that the cpus in the same price range, generally surpass eachother on one or more tests. Meaning that, the XP 2400+ might do better then the 2.4 ghz on one test, and then the pentium might do better, etc. I told him to just tell me that BEST Athlon he wanted, and the BEST PENTIUM he wanted, well more, could afford.

He said Athlon XP 2600, and the Pentium 2.66Ghz.
He wants 2 pricelists, for each route, but in the end, this is useless since same price range cpus, generally have same price mobos, etc.

I would imagine that the only different between the 2 systems is the CPU, MOBO, and maybe Heatsink.

Anyways, my main concern or question is this. What would you build? What products would you select? What route would you go? AMD or Intel?

Everything around each system, I will probably use this...
(Let me know if I should use something else....)

This case is in favor of the Athlon setup...

CASE - Lian-Li PC60
RAM - 2x512MB Kingston HyperX DDR370 PC3000 CL2
PSU - Enermax Whisper 350W
HD - WD 180GB 7200RPM 8MB Buffer
VIDEO - ATI AiW Radeon 8500DV 64MB
ZIP(he wants) - Iomega 250Mb Internal
CD-Drive - TDK IndiDVD 420N DVD+RW & CD-RW Drive (Basically 4 in 1)
CPU - AMD Athlon XP 2600+
MOBO - Asus (New one with nforce2) Deluxe, dual channel ddr..
HEATSINK/FAN - Thermaltake Volcano 9
Samsung Floppy
Windows XP Professional

Some more questions...

What's the difference between Home and Professional Edition? I feel as if Professional is more of what he needs, maybe Im wrong.
Should he go with the 2400+ instead?
What MOBO is best?
Would you use that heatsink?
Videocard wise, is that enough? I liked the DV aspect of it.

Basically, please critique my list. All the above comes in pretty expensive, at around 17-18 hundred.

I appreciate any help. Thanks.

-Jake

 

[TonyB]

i'd check out the 3.06GHz with HT benchmarks if you're doing digital video.

 

[Chaotic42]

If the app supports it, you'd want to go SMP. I'd find out if it does before you build him a system that can't get the most out of his application.

 

[Matt]

Well... in office performance benchmarks the Athlon XP is slightly faster eventhough you can't really see any difference in real life performance between the different systems. Likewise, the P4 is slightly faster in current video editing benchmarks. For what I know that small difference (about 5-10%) doesn't really equate to much difference when actually doing editing.
In summary: IMHO both the XP and the P4 would probably fit your friends needs.

When it comes to WinXP I would go for the home edition since the two versions are pretty similar except for minor differences when it comes to network and database applications which basically doesn't matter for 99% of the users.

When it comes to graphics cards I would go for a Radeon with 128Mb on it or a similar Geforce 4 solution. It is probably smart to put a few more bucks into a good graphics card.

You are getting a DVD-burner? No wonder the system is expensive. I wouldn't get it just yet, rather wait about a year or so and buy it when prices have come down a bit unless of course your friend really needs it.

Just my opinion... I'm sure that there are some other ones out there too...


/Matt

 

[Duvie]

I agree p4 when it comes to video editing and basically most multimeda encoding, editing etc...Programs are starting to take advantage of the p4 sse2...

I like the 2.66ghz w/ 2x 512mb of good pc2100 in a Granite Bay or soon to be released sis655 dual ddr mobo....Nothing more then pc2100 is needed at default fsb...In this case pc2700 is wasteful unless you plan on ocing the p4 to 166fsb (666 total)....

Also list prices cause I don't think you are getting a good deal on that TDK dvd-rw....Pioneer's dvr-105 is a great buy and comes with great software....


The only think I see with winxp pro is mainly remote acees and more networking type features...I do tons of video editing and encoding and even have same vid card and I have never been limited by home edition in anything I do...Buy oem only (sub 100.00) and could say at least 50 bucks or pro version....


I think the 180gb may be overkill but list price so I can see what you are spending on this. I would go bigger then 100gb but I would to save in that category as he can always buy another 80 to 100gb later and add it on...

 

[Duvie]

The pioneer dv-104 and 105 can be had for right around 200 bucks....

Also the 8500DV is different to the 128mb version of the radeon 8500 in a couple of ways that are important to be mentioned...

1) the DV stands for Digtal Video and has 2 different firewire ports that are availble for downloading DV camcorder info, etc...

2) The 8500DV using a digital tuner instead of analog and some ppl may argue that is an advantage or disadvantage.....

3) the DV card only has 64mb of ddr though I don't either card does super well compared to standalone gf4 ti4400's or great and the 9500 or9700 cards. So if power gaming is the main issue neither card is well suited for it. If gamnig is light then it is unlikley you will take advantage of the extra 64mb. I hink the DV function is worth it...

 

[Matt]

Thanks for the clarifications Duvie. The DV function is good, I thought though that video encoding is a memory intensive (GPU memory) application?

/Matt

 

[Slapstick]

Just a few genral comments

1) Video editing and encoding are CPU dependant not GPU so just about any decent vid card will do. The 8500 DV is a good choice if he's not a die hard gamer.

2) Memory and hard drive speed make a bigger difference that a lot of people realise. I saved 15- 30 minutes encoding a 500 meg AVI file by going from 512MB to 786 MB. A fast hard drive that's defragged will save a few more minutes and a IDE Raid array maybe a little more.

3) XP Pro supports SMP, XP home doesn't. If he is thinking about going multiprocessor in the future then XP Pro is the choice. I still prefer Win2k for video editing since it's less resource hungry leaving more for my apps.

 

[timers]

Hey guys.
Thanks for all the replies

So lets say I go with Athlon for sure.
I guess Ill just forget about the Pentium.

If I went with a single Athlon, is the 2400+ enough, or should I step up to the 2600+, which is about 100 dollars more?
I would imagine the ASUS mobo is good for this.
Shouldn't the memory be CL2 at least? Doesnt it have to? No one really addressed that. I need some tips on what memory to get for it.

If I went with "dualies" as you like to call it, I do feel that, yes this would outperform the single cpu system, and be best for video, but isnt it A LOT more expensive? What 2 MP cpus would I be looking at? The 2000+'s? SO that nets, what, 1.67 x 2 = 3.33 Ghz?
Ive never really looked into MP mobos. Any recommendations there?

Whatever MOBO I get, I prefer one, that has ONboard sound, and Onboard LAN at least. RAID Is a plus too.

Im seriously considering getting either 2 harddrives now, like a 40 and a 120, or 3 drives, a 40, then the 2x80 in RAID striped.
I dont know much about RAID, but I understand how it works. Mirrored I dont want to use. But striped is used basically when you have 2 of the same drives, and it allows them to sort of work together and perform MUCH faster, better, etc, right? That sounds great.

As far as Video card goes, yes he will not do much gaming at all, so I will stay with this card.

Heatsink wise for the cpus. What do you guys recommend? It will get pretty hot in there I would imagine, I dont know how the Thermaltake Volcano 9 would hold up.

Windows XP Home Edition it is!

Ok THANKS GUYS. Please answer my last few questions here.
I appreciate your help.

IM AN ATHLON MAN....

 

[paralazarguer]

Dual CPUs are great for video editing. People will point out that dual CPUs are actually only usefull when the application is optomized for it and so aren't a good value. Of course, this is true but for video editing you will have programs meant to be run on dualies so get a couple of cheap athlon MPs and laugh.

 

[bocamojo]

How will he be getting the video into the system? Does he have a digital camcorder with firewire/usb, or is he using something like an 8mm camcorder or vcr? This is important to know, so you can make sure you have the right connections. I have an 8500DV, and it is fine for video capture from the TV, etc, but I don't use it for my home movies. Instead, I have a Pinnacle Studios DC10+, which you can get if you buy Pinnacle Studio 8 AV. It is a dedicated capture card, and works great with my 8mm camcorder (since I'm a cheapy and don't have a digital camcorder). Also, I have both a P4 system @ 2.1GHz and an older AMD system 1.33GHz, and I find that my video editing and encoding, dvd-rips, etc. all seem to be faster on my AMD system. It certainly doesn't make sense, but that's the way it is. I do love my P4, especially since it's so quiet. That's the main detractor of my AMD rig. Too loud.