Upgrade help

[Smithyoffline]

I do mostly video editing and some gaming...

Which one will I get the best results from, this is 90% Video Editing, 5% gaming and 5% other applications.

My specs at the moment Upgrade Options

2.8CGhz 800FSB ----------------> 3.2G-E 800FSB Prescott or 3.2C 800FSB Norwood

2x 512mb pc3200 ram -------------> 4x 512mb pc3200 ram

120Gb 7200rpm 8mb cache -------> 2x 120gb 7200rpm 8mb cache (raid0)

I dont really wish to upgrade my video card until a later stage.

Please pick one that you believe will give me the best performance for the price. Also please explain the performance to what I would have now.... (eg faster boot times, faster loading in games, better performance in applications faster install, ect)

Thanks for your help

PS Do you think that this Question looks nicely set out he he he

 

[Thoreau]

That's a tought call given the choices. Any of the above options would certainly help, depending on what aspects of the editing come into play. If you do a lot of overlays, conversion/encoding, then I would say go for the CPU upgrade.

If the files you work with are massive, the RAM upgrade would help quite a bit by keeping the system from having to hit the disk too often.

I wouldn't even consider raid0 with 240 gigs of data, unless you have backups. Even then, the benefit wouldn't be quite as good as the first two options.

 

[Smithyoffline]

Thats what I believe myself but dont have the cash to get all three.

Lets try to narrow it down:

1. My videos are no longer than 10 - 20 minutes (usually only 5 minutes, just only once in a blue moon i have longer ones)

2. I encode alot, definately backing up dvds. Maybe twice a week or something. In video editing I use transitions alot and some effects. The program I use is movie maker and intervideo video editing but sometimes I use the good old adobe premiere pro for some more freedom.

3. I like to have fast startup times and installation times, but also some more room. Since video takes up alot of room I want to keep it stored on the computer for longer. I seem to be loading programs all the time and it takes a very long time to format and install windows. Takes about 30 minutes to install windows xp pro. If I was to have raid0 what do you believe this process will take?

 

[Thoreau]

1. How large are most of the video files (both the individual clips/audio tracks, as well as the final output stream)

2. Starting to sound like CPU is a good option, although I don't forsee *that* much of a difference in encoding speed comparing what you already have with what you're looking at. (BTW, Don't even think about the Prescott.. stick to Northwood at those clock speeds.)

3. An XP install Isn't usually limited the msot by HDD speed. Consider the data source, which is usually a CDROM and how much slower it is compared to any harddrive made in the last, eh, 5 years?

I would probably do a combo of the items you have listed. Add another half gig of ram, matching the speed of your existing ram, and grab $110 and pick up a Western Digital 36 gig raptor. Use the raptor for your system, swap, and your video editing programs. Leave all your raw vid files on the other larger drive.

Edit: If you have the money, pick up the 74 gig Raptor and use that drive to output your finished projects to so that the CPU can push the data out without being hindered by the HDD as much.

 

[Smithyoffline]

1. The files are about 800mb when they are finished. While editing I am unsure though. Raw footage is about 4 gig.

2. I may cancel the cpu out of the question as I think for the price/performance gain ratio Im not achieving much

3. The hdd is sounding like the better idea....

How much faster would programs load from going 1x 120gig ----> 2x 120gig on raid0 setup?

what kind of performance gain will I see if I have another hdd and run it on raid0

 

[Smithyoffline]

Can someone that does video editing please tell me what they class a nice pc system to do video editing and some recommendations on what the pc requirement for a really nice smooth system