I am looking to upgrade my system so that I can record and edit game play videos. I am not looking to do this professionally, it is purely just for my own enjoyment. That being said I need some advice about what parts to buy in order to upgrade my computer.
Currently these are the current specs of my computer (I built it this past May):
- Asus Z97-A Motherboard
- Intel i5-4670k overclocked @ 4.4 GHZ
- 8 GB G.Skill Memory - DDR3 @ 2133 MHZ
- Gigabyte Windforce GTX 760 OC (2 GB GDDR5)
- 120 GB Samsung Evo SSD (as boot drive, only has OS and a handful of programs on it)
- 1 TB WD Black (for everything else)
- 600 Watt Corsair CX Series PSU
- Corsair H60 cooler for the CPU
- TP Link N600 Wireless Card
- Some fancy NZXT lights
Now I have 2 things that I need some advice for: 1 - the setup for recording and 2 - the setup for editing. (when reading please note that I live in Canada and parts are a bit more expensive up here than in the USA)
For recording I was thinking of getting a dedicated capture card (thinking of a AVerMedia Live Gamer HD or a AVermedia Live Gamer Portable) with a new dedicated hard drive to record to (I was thinking of just getting a 1 TB WD Green cause it's cheep). Also my current headset is terrible so I would like a new one, preferably one with a good built in mic around the $100 - $150 price point (I was thinking a Logitech G35). If some people could give me some advice on if I should go with a dedicated capture card (and if so than what's a good one to go with) or if I should just go with fraps that would be much appreciated (note: I'm not willing to upgrade to an i7, I wouldn't be able to sell off my i5 so it would end up being a $400 upgrade to get an i7 ). I'd like to record at 60fps but I would be just fine with 720p video, I don't need to do 1080p but it would be nice if I could. And to give some context, yes the majority of what I will be recording is Minecraft so unfortunately Shadowplay is not an option. Also if some people could recommend headsets to me that would be great, is the G35 a good choice or are there better options in my price range (once again focusing more on the mic than on the sound quality of the drivers)?
For editing, I currently do not have any editing software and I was thinking about getting Sony Movie Studio Platinum (because it's cheep and because it seems pretty user friendly. I'm new so I need something that is easy to work with) and also getting a dedicated hard drive for encoding the videos to (I read somewhere that it helps encoding times if you encode to a different drive than the original videos are stored on, so once again I'd probably go with another WD Green drive here). Now I'd like to hear if Sony Movie Studio is a good idea or is there a better entry level video editor out there, if a second hard drive used as a destination drive for encoded videos would help my setup, if more RAM would be beneficial (I could buy 8 more gigs of the same RAM I currently have for about $100), and any other advice anyone might have for me about editing (once again, as I said above, an i7 is out of my price range even though I know it is likely the single best thing I could upgrade in my computer with regards to editing .
Oh ya, just in case anyone needs to know this, total budget I have for these upgrades is about $650 CAD but I would prefer to spend less than that if possible. Also since I live in Canada, buying from Canada Computers or NCIX is preferable (Newegg.ca and Amazon.ca would also work but I would have to pay for shipping with them whereas Canada Computers and NCIX I can have them ship to store which saves me some money).
Any help people can provide me would be much appreciated (even if you can only help me out with part of my situation). This is my first post on the Tomshardware forum so hopefully I didn't do anything wrong with my post
Currently these are the current specs of my computer (I built it this past May):
- Asus Z97-A Motherboard
- Intel i5-4670k overclocked @ 4.4 GHZ
- 8 GB G.Skill Memory - DDR3 @ 2133 MHZ
- Gigabyte Windforce GTX 760 OC (2 GB GDDR5)
- 120 GB Samsung Evo SSD (as boot drive, only has OS and a handful of programs on it)
- 1 TB WD Black (for everything else)
- 600 Watt Corsair CX Series PSU
- Corsair H60 cooler for the CPU
- TP Link N600 Wireless Card
- Some fancy NZXT lights
Now I have 2 things that I need some advice for: 1 - the setup for recording and 2 - the setup for editing. (when reading please note that I live in Canada and parts are a bit more expensive up here than in the USA)
For recording I was thinking of getting a dedicated capture card (thinking of a AVerMedia Live Gamer HD or a AVermedia Live Gamer Portable) with a new dedicated hard drive to record to (I was thinking of just getting a 1 TB WD Green cause it's cheep). Also my current headset is terrible so I would like a new one, preferably one with a good built in mic around the $100 - $150 price point (I was thinking a Logitech G35). If some people could give me some advice on if I should go with a dedicated capture card (and if so than what's a good one to go with) or if I should just go with fraps that would be much appreciated (note: I'm not willing to upgrade to an i7, I wouldn't be able to sell off my i5 so it would end up being a $400 upgrade to get an i7 ). I'd like to record at 60fps but I would be just fine with 720p video, I don't need to do 1080p but it would be nice if I could. And to give some context, yes the majority of what I will be recording is Minecraft so unfortunately Shadowplay is not an option. Also if some people could recommend headsets to me that would be great, is the G35 a good choice or are there better options in my price range (once again focusing more on the mic than on the sound quality of the drivers)?
For editing, I currently do not have any editing software and I was thinking about getting Sony Movie Studio Platinum (because it's cheep and because it seems pretty user friendly. I'm new so I need something that is easy to work with) and also getting a dedicated hard drive for encoding the videos to (I read somewhere that it helps encoding times if you encode to a different drive than the original videos are stored on, so once again I'd probably go with another WD Green drive here). Now I'd like to hear if Sony Movie Studio is a good idea or is there a better entry level video editor out there, if a second hard drive used as a destination drive for encoded videos would help my setup, if more RAM would be beneficial (I could buy 8 more gigs of the same RAM I currently have for about $100), and any other advice anyone might have for me about editing (once again, as I said above, an i7 is out of my price range even though I know it is likely the single best thing I could upgrade in my computer with regards to editing .
Oh ya, just in case anyone needs to know this, total budget I have for these upgrades is about $650 CAD but I would prefer to spend less than that if possible. Also since I live in Canada, buying from Canada Computers or NCIX is preferable (Newegg.ca and Amazon.ca would also work but I would have to pay for shipping with them whereas Canada Computers and NCIX I can have them ship to store which saves me some money).
Any help people can provide me would be much appreciated (even if you can only help me out with part of my situation). This is my first post on the Tomshardware forum so hopefully I didn't do anything wrong with my post