• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Video Editing PC configuration

K

kmrivers

Golden Member
Hello everyone. So today someone asks me to build them a video editing pc on a budget. A small budget of 1500. It is workable nevertheless.

So i start racking my brain. What sets a Video Editing PC apart from the pack? CPU, Vid card? We are obviously going to need a good amount of hard drive space. I am used to building overclocking machines for my personal use. I know my pcs could handle video editing, but is there something i should gear this PC toward to make it more capable?

First off, CPU... there are a plethora of options here. I am definetly going to take this one into the 64-bit age. I am partial to athlon cpu's but i am open to intel as well. As it seems the intel dual core's are a bit lower than the athlon x2 cpu's right now. For the same price however i could go dual opteron or xeon for about the same price.

So far we have these as the choices:
Athlon 64 (Single or dual core)
Dual CPU setup- any 2 responsibly priced
Opteron
Pentium 4
Xeon

Alright. Motherboard. I am not worried about. Once i know what CPU i am using i will do a lot of reading and make a good choice.

Memory. On this one i am not sure. Some say, that at some point you can have too much memory. I would say a gig would be plenty. 2 gigs is an option however. No value ram here. Quality performance memory only. OCZ, Corsair XMS, etc.

Video. This i think is the most important of all. I am not sure what direction to go? Standard gaming card? like the Geforce 6 series. Or do i go with a worksatition card, like a matrox or ati fire series?

That is really it. Everything else will be an easy choice. I am more concerned with the core of the system.

What else would you throw into a video editing PC? Are there special cards that have inputs geared for different types on input? I am thinking this person i going with a high end camera. Professional.


I am looking forward to discussing this with all of you. thanks in advance for your help.
 
4200 X2 $545

alternate
AMD 3700+ $323

EPoX motherboard $107
Antec Case $46
XClio 450w $53
6600gt $163
2x1GB memory $188
DVD burner $46
80GB o/s drive $54
$111 200GB x2 Seagate

$1421 total

alternate
$1300

and then i'd pick up a refurbished 21" trinitron like this

you could throw in a 6800gt(can be flashed to a quatro) but that would put you alittle over budget. what programs are you planning on using, some will use the the graphics card and other won't be affected. no need to get some "XTREME" series ram, its won't give you much performace increase if any at all.

**edited constantly**
 
the x2 is way too expensive. i can get dual opteron 244's for 300 bucks. The board would be very expensive though.
 
What software is your friend going to use for video editing?

Pinnacle, for example, supposedly works in close collaboration with ATI, so an ATI video card might be best if using Pinnacle Studio 9.

 
Originally posted by: kmrivers
the x2 is way too expensive. i can get dual opteron 244's for 300 bucks. The board would be very expensive though.
Click to expand...

Dual core X2's are awsome, well worth the price.

Forget the Opterons.

 
Originally posted by: kmrivers
the bugdet wont allow for x2's.
Click to expand...

if you went with 1gb of RAM you could. or if you didn't need the video card. what programs will you be using? video editing means different things to different ppl.
 
I guess if it's production level video workstation then you wont be oc'ing..

Otherwise something similar to my setup with more hdd space, better video card and a standalone a/d breakout box for conversion (something like Canopus ADVC-100). It'll be hard to beat for the money (mind you it's completely f@h, prime, cce and procoder stable) all on air cooling to boot.
 
i am not really sure what she will be using. adobe premiere maybe. do you like that asus board wfn? now do you have each of these xeons at 3.329 or is that total.
 
if it caught your eye at all here's the breakdown of prices:

matched pair 1.6lv d1 xeons - $130-150
asus pc-dl - $160
2gb corsair vs - $160
2 x 320gb wd sata - $280
good 550w psu - $80
eatx case - $60
nec nd3540 dvdrw - $45
3-4 quiet fans + coolermaster heatpipe coolers $90
---------
$1025

so $475 left for a vid card and monitor. keep in mind that most video encoders or editing applications are smp aware so you will really benefit from dual cpus as well as intel's HT
 
Originally posted by: kmrivers
i am not really sure what she will be using. adobe premiere maybe. do you like that asus board wfn? now do you have each of these xeons at 3.329 or is that total.
Click to expand...

no, that's each xeon working at 3.329GHz (it's a 108% OC from stock)

as far as the asus board, i'm pretty happy about it. it has 4 SATA ports and 3 ATA ports. the only possible downside is that it's AGP 8x but i beleive it hasn't been demonstrated yet that there's a significant difference in performance from pci-e.
 
there appears to be only one board for the x2 and thats the abit an8-ultra. at least that is the only one on newegg.
 
If you can afford the X2, get it. Otherwise, I would stick with a P4 above 3.0 for Premiere Pro. Also, PP likes OpenGL and a cheap workstation card is not a bad thing (nVidia chipset would be your best choice).

Above all, check the Adobe site and support forums for information from folks using it everyday. I have not tried Premiere since 6.5 and my NLE has different sweet spots.
 
Originally posted by: kmrivers
there appears to be only one board for the x2 and thats the abit an8-ultra. at least that is the only one on newegg.
Click to expand...

Any nForce3, nForce4 board will support X2. I suggest looking into the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top