Video Editing Rig - Need to Cut $200

[Carp1812]

I'm building a video editing rig for someone. She's already got the editing software - using Adobe products such as Premiere mostly. As the title says, I need to cut about $200 from the total to meet the budget. Here's what I have so far. Please make suggestions to help me meet the budget. Thanks in advance.
CARP ><>

ANTEC Performance Plus Metallic Gray SOHO File Server Case without Power Supply, Model "PlusView1000AMG" $69
ASUS "P5GD2 Premium" 915P Chipset Motherboard For Intel LGA 775 CPU -RETAIL $216
XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, Dual DVI, PCI-Express, Model "PVT43GND" -RETAIL $186
Antec 550 Watt Power Supply With 2 Fans 5.25 Control Panel, Model "TRUE CONTROL 550W" - Retail $116
Intel LGA 775 Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache w/ Hyper Threading Technology - Retail $215
2x Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200C2PT - OEM $199
3x Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model HDS722525VLSA80 Part# 13G0255, OEM Drive Only $395
US Robotics 56K V.92 PCI Fax Modem, Model 5699B - Retail $32
Lite-On Black 52X32X52X16 Combo Drive, Model SOHC-5235K BLACK, OEM $39
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Silver, Model ND-3520A, OEM $63
M-AUDIO 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "Revolution 7.1" -RETAIL $92
Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Certified Speaker System -RETAIL $144
Windows XP Pro w/ service pack 2 $147
Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition 1 Pack with Service Pack 3 ? OEM $190
Nero 6 Ultra Edition for Windows, All-In-One Digital Media Solution V6.3 ? RETAIL $88
Shipping $75
Total $2300

 

[ts3433]

I'm sure you'll have some recommend that you go with an AMD system, but I know Premiere is optimized for Intel.

The first thing you can do is go to Corsair value RAM (2x512MB for $140), shaving $60 from the total.

Instead of the Revo 7.1, try a $25 Chaintech AV710, which IIRC uses the same VIA Envy chip. That's another $65.

That motherboard also seems quite expensive, though I don't know off-hand what 775 boards average. (You'll have to ask others about better-priced Intel boards; I'm much more familiar with AMD. Perhaps this will do, but again, seek others' confirmation.)

I doubt you'll need something quite as big as an Antec 550W, but you'll still want something beefy. A sufficient PSU from Fortron or Seasonic should be available for around $85, $30 less than your current selection.

 

[neuralfx]

What do you want a 56K modem for? Well get a cheaper one, find one for $10, they are everywhere. Do you need that sound card?

Soundblaster 7.1 Soundcard -- $27
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=29-102-177&amp;depa=0


You may as well get just a Lite-On 52x CDRW instead of one that is also a DVD reader and save about $10. You already have a DVD burner. If it is a must cut price or nothing deal; that dvd burner burns CDR/Ws as well.

Well, I won't mess with your core hardware. But I would say at least rethink the soundcard and that particular CDRW (or getting an extra cdrw at all)

You could also save a little money by getting a ~$70 power supply.
-neural

 

[Carp1812]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. The modem - I know - this lady is willing to spend a couple grand on a video editing rig but won't spring for DSL or cable access.... Any other suggestions?
CARP ><>

 

[neuralfx]

Well you could get a MS Action pack subscription for $299 and save $50 on all that software (except the Nero). You could maybe step back to a 3.0Ghz cpu. Ultimately you will have to cut corners somewhere if you want to get rid of $200...
-neural

 

[ts3433]

Actually, you could cut $190 very quickly--I don't know why I didn't mention this before, but OpenOffice.org (free, full-featured, compatibile with MS formats) would make a fine substitute for MS Office. Since she's going to be on dial-up, if you have a broadband connection I'd burn that and other useful freeware to a CD for her.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'd drop XP Pro and use XP Home instead. Unless you're building an dual processor system or need to connect to a domain controller, you really don't need XP Pro. And, YES, Hyperthreading works in XP Home.

You could also substitute a slightly slower Pentium 4 530 for the 540, and only install two 250 GB drives initally. Bingo, that should save at least $200.

 

[thirdlegstump]

You probably don't need that big azz video card for editing. 2nd the ram. You can use any valueram for that rig since I would dare not overclock a workstation. Although not cost cutting, I'd recommend going Seagates instead.

 

[stevty2889]

Yeah, you could cut the price some by going with value ram. Also, do you really need the 5.1 THX speakers for a video editing system?

 

[mrgoblin]

Originally posted by: Carp1812
I'm building a video editing rig for someone. She's already got the editing software - using Adobe products such as Premiere mostly. As the title says, I need to cut about $200 from the total to meet the budget. Here's what I have so far. Please make suggestions to help me meet the budget. Thanks in advance.
CARP ><>

ANTEC Performance Plus Metallic Gray SOHO File Server Case without Power Supply, Model "PlusView1000AMG" $69
ASUS "P5GD2 Premium" 915P Chipset Motherboard For Intel LGA 775 CPU -RETAIL $216
XFX nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, Dual DVI, PCI-Express, Model "PVT43GND" -RETAIL $186
Antec 550 Watt Power Supply With 2 Fans 5.25 Control Panel, Model "TRUE CONTROL 550W" - Retail $116
Intel LGA 775 Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache w/ Hyper Threading Technology - Retail $215
2x Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200C2PT - OEM $199
3x Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model HDS722525VLSA80 Part# 13G0255, OEM Drive Only $395
US Robotics 56K V.92 PCI Fax Modem, Model 5699B - Retail $32
Lite-On Black 52X32X52X16 Combo Drive, Model SOHC-5235K BLACK, OEM $39
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Silver, Model ND-3520A, OEM $63
M-AUDIO 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "Revolution 7.1" -RETAIL $92
Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Certified Speaker System -RETAIL $144
Windows XP Pro w/ service pack 2 $147
Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition 1 Pack with Service Pack 3 ? OEM $190
Nero 6 Ultra Edition for Windows, All-In-One Digital Media Solution V6.3 ? RETAIL $88
Shipping $75
Total $2300

You need to take that entire rig back to the drawing board.

You dont need that kind of memory, you dont need an maudio crapolution, you dont need xp pro, you dont need nero 6 for sure.

Personally if you wouldnt waste your money on those extras you could get an athlon64 FX, 2 gigs of ram and still be under 2100

 

[biostud]

just get a 9600 instead of the 6600GT, you don't really need the 3D acceleration for video editing.

 

[jose]

Check the Compucase LX61-19 case at directron $37 this is a real good case.
I'd get a Asus p4c800e mobo $175 w/ a P4C 3.2 $204 and value pc3200 ram $140 for a gig.

scratch one cdrom -$39 &amp; use on board audio for now -$92

That's a total diff. of $205

Regards,
Jose

 

[Carp1812]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm down to $2050 and happy with it.

 

[DozerFan]

The memory you choose will not work with the motherboard. The motherboard needs DDR2. I am running the p5gd2 with Kingston Hyper-X DDR2 667 @ 600mhz. I could go alot higher but it is completely stable. I use the rig for editing HD content from a JVC GR-HD1. Lovin' it.

 

[DozerFan]

....and the p5gd2 has built in Intel High Def 7.1 sound. No need for the sound card. Save yourself the $100 bucks and put it toward the memory. Cut out that cd burner and go with the 530 CPU, with that Kingston memory you can run @ 3.34 w/ 900 FSB very stable. I have mine setup this way. Idle temp - 36C, full load 48C (fan cooled!)

Drives: I don't know how much room you need but the 915P chipset has Intel's Raid Matrix built in. Basically you can configure multiple arrays on ONE drive with a 1+0 RAID setup. Drop one of those drives off you list and save some more $$.

 

[Edward Lee]

If you're paying $200 for a Motherboard it will come with great built in sound so you probably won't need a sound card. But I would still opt for a cheaper motherboard with built in sound.

Some thoughts on RAM. She might need 2 Gigs for Video editing. +$140.00

You could get a good PSU for $80.00/ -$40.00

Here are some suggestions for cheaper Motherboards. I would get one of these and drop the sound card. These boards all come with built in sound. If she ever needs to buy a sound card she can always add one later. But the sound on these boards are great even without a sound card.

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=13-180-063&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=13-127-182&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=13-131-511&depa=0

-$150.00-$200.00

 

[gsellis]

Before you dump the sound card, check the specs on the Adobe software. You may need ASIO if you are doing certain software apps such as Audition or PP 1.5 with HDV. I need it for my video capture in Liquid Edition and SoundForge uses it. From Adobe PP 1.5 System Reqs - "Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound support recommended)"

Adobe is 2D graphics, so an ATI X300 might suit (Pinnacle needs DirectX 9 performance with memory, but not Adobe). Adobe recommends OpenGL performance (ATI is working on boosting OpenGL perf, but nVidia has been ahead here).

Keep the HDDs as is. I have filled 600GB editing. Also, PS CS likes a scratch drive.

Unless you have the room setup for audio, THX is overkill, so you could cut there. I end up with headphones on half the time to help isolate exactly what I am trying to fix anyway.

Consider a Vantec VAN-520A at $92.50 from newegg for the PSU. I use that in my system. That PSU has a 24-20 pin connector and can do Xeon or P4. But, that only saves $25.

Like a few other said, lose the CD drive.

I have a $50 Chenming case that rocks. Newegg link It also has a front Firewire port so I can use my 6pin to 4pin cable on multiple systems without crawling on the floor! I have 5 HDDs and 2 DVD drives in it!