Computer specs

shyguyfilms

shyguyfilms

Active member
Looking at building myself a computer for video editing and was hoping someone could tell me if this would be a decent system.

ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX6000CZBOX

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

SYBA PCI to Firewire 1394a 3+1 ports controller card Model SD-NEC-4F

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RP-550-PCAR 550W ATX from factor 12V V2.01 Power Supply

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model
DRW-2014L1T

Acer AL2016WBbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor

Rosewill R5604-TBK 0.8mm Japanese Cold Rolled Steel Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I've built computers before for my brothers company, but I've never had to deal with the ordering of the components. Basically I can put it all together, but I'm kinda lost on all the technical details.
 
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I'm not an AMD guy so I cannot comment on the processor but you will for sure need another HDD for your media files.

More importantly, what OS and NLE are you using?
 
I think the computer looks pretty decent for editing. It isn't going to be as fast as a multi-core Xeon system, but should give you some good bang for your buck.

I would definitely consider a second hard drive. Perhaps a WD Raptor to put your operating system on (c drive), and the 750GB for your media files.
 
Also, I don't have a video card specified at the moment. Will that be a problem or can I run this system as-is for now and wait a bit for that.

and to specify which OS I'll be running, It'll be Windoze XP pro, not that Vista crap they have now, if that makes a difference.

one more thing. Multi-core Xeon system - Intel multi-core processeor? I just looked that up at Newegg (where I'm planning on getting my parts) and those cost at least twice as much as the AMD 3.0 posted above.

How much more performance would I get out of a 2.0 quad-core vs. my standard 3.0?
 
shyguyfilms said:
Also, I don't have a video card specified at the moment. Will that be a problem or can I run this system as-is for now and wait a bit for that.

and to specify which OS I'll be running, It'll be Windoze XP pro, not that Vista crap they have now, if that makes a difference.

one more thing. Multi-core Xeon system - Intel multi-core processeor? I just looked that up at Newegg (where I'm planning on getting my parts) and those cost at least twice as much as the AMD 3.0 posted above.

How much more performance would I get out of a 2.0 quad-core vs. my standard 3.0?
Click to expand...

The 780G chipset is one of the better onboard graphics chips out there, it'll never be as good as a discrete graphics card though - it'll cope with premiere and after effects as they ship, but third party plugins may not work without a graphics card

You should invest in a smaller HDD (120-160GB) for your OS though - it'll help speed things up

Also, the quad-core thing - you'll get faster render times if your software supports multiprocessor rendering (which it will)

If you can go quad-core, do it :)
 
So the general consensus is that the above hardware is pretty good, although it would be better if I invested in a second HDD for the OS.

A graphics card should be added to the list in case I want to start adding on plugins to my NLE (Which is something I'll probably want to do).

The quad-core does sound nice. I'll have to shop around for MoBo's that will support that and compare the prices before I consider it.
 
Id go with Intel. I'm an AMD person, but Intel CPUs are just better right now. check Tomswarehouse.com i'm looking right now toward a Quad code 2.8GHz I encourage you to get the best core speed you can. Many programs can't use multi-cores, (I've seen it) so I'd encouage a multi-core cause they are better, but try to get the fastest one you can.

A Quad Core 2.4GHz/Graphics Card/ 2.5TB of Hard Drive Space with about 4GB or Ram should only run you a little over a grand. Use Wester Digital's 1TB Hard Drives - here they are $200 at Best Buy. I have 2 of them.
 
Okay, so I've made some changes to the list.

I'll be keeping the Case, RAM, Power Supply, and DVD Burner.

Here's what I've changed:

Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS 1TB 5400 to 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJB 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model HH80562PH0568M

EVGA 512-P3-N807-AR GeForce 8800GT AKIMBO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

So, I've got two HDD's, Better processor, Graphics card, and a MoBo that can handle it all. Price difference from the original setup is about $300, bringing me up to $961.91.

That's without a monitor.
 
You should get a motherboard that supports PCI express 2.0. 2.0 has twice the bandwidth of the original which will greatly lower rendering times. Also, look at Samsung Spinpoint hard drives. They are faster than 10,000 rpm Raptor hard drives because they have less platters. Also consider a SATA hard drive for your OS, it makes a huge difference in performance.
 
It's up to you, but I don't think you need anything faster than SATA2 which the Western Digital Green Power Hard Drives give you (The $200 for 1TB).

I use Cineform Prospect HD Quality "Film Scan 1" on 1920x1080 24p footage on a 2.0GHz AMD Chip and 2GB of RAM and I have no problem watching or importing or editing. So super fast hard drives to me are unnessasary (but that's my opinion) And your power is over twice what I have.

What I encouage is to use good Hard Drives (This is for super nobudget indies - not for those of you with small video collection type businesses holding massive amounts of data on digital for a long time). Once you finish a project /or every 9 months sell your old hard drive to somebody (plenty of people who need them) and buy another "fresh" one. Also buy a 250GB drive to store your footage digitally and just put the HD in the closet after you're done. My last 2 movies are sitting in my bedroom closet just in case I need to load them. (I have a tape version too.)

Hard drives are easy to install. Just open the computer, touch the side of the computer (make sure you do this to ground yourself. You need to touch a metal object), unscrew the drive, put the other on in and change the connectors. The SATAs are super easy - much better than the ATAs of yesteryear. Turn the computer on START->Control Panel->Administrative Tools ->Computer Management->Disc Management "Add Disk" "Quick Format"

On all Drives I encouage you to make partitions. Generally 2 to 4 partitions per hard disc.

(Unfortunately I went to school for Computers and not for Movies :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG) )
 
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