Avid media composer/Adobe computer setup

Hello, i have worked with a few video editors in my local area and have worked with all of Adobe products in the Master collection.

CPU: The I7 is a great CPU but runs hot and is exspencive.
you can get phenom2 for a cheaper price and get close to the same preformance.

Mobo: Is there any reason your doing with 3 way SLI Mobo? I have used CF and SLI and believe its better to save the money and buy a new card sense they change all the time.

Video Card: Why did you pick the GTX 260? Kinda a over kill for a video editing box.

Other: What HD movies are you going to be doing 720i/p or 1080i/p?

Thanks for the feedback.

I chose that mobo because I figured the AsusP6T would be better than the SE edition offered, only $20 to bump up.

The GTX260 was my second choice. I am considering the GTS250 as well, but I am open for any video card suggestions you or anyone else have

I hope to work with 1080i/p down the road and want the computer to be prepared for it. Down the road meaning in the next few months.

I'll have to look into the Phenom2 cpu you mentioned as well.

Even a GTS250 is a massive overkill.
Video doesn't take that much out of a video card or help much with editing. Even if your using a lot of CUDA filters a 9600GT would be more than enough for 1080i/p editing. if you plan on playing a few games than go with it.

If your going to be editing uncompressed 1080i/p you will need 2 or more drives in RAID0 for smooth 1080i/p playback.

If your going to stick with the i7 than get the cheapest board with a X58 chip set and you will be fine.
If your going with the phenom2 you may want something like a 790GX chip set.
Also the AMD doesn't use true DDR3 yet not that the advantage of DDR3 are even that great right now.  
brings us back to the classic Latency VS Bandwidth argument basically for what your doing using DDR2 or DDR3 wouldn't make a noticeable difference.
DDR2-667 (5-5-5-15) = DDR3-1333 (10-10-10-30) Easy math sure you can figure it out.

Have you looked into a blu-ray burner you might want it if your editing HD videos sense it holds 25-50gigs!

I think I'm going to stick with the i7 processor.

I put a blue ray burner in, good call.

I bumped the gfx down to a 9400gt as well since it should do the trick. Eventually I'd like to get a quadro fx but for now it's not necessary, nor do I have the capital for it at the moment. I will invest in raid sometime soon when I begin shooting/editing in HD often.

For now I have a 500gb external that I store SD footage on which is most likely what I'll be shooting/editing within the next couple months.

If there's anything else you'd like to suggest I'm all ears.

Also, just to ask, do you think that an Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad processor with DDR2 will run just as smoothly as the configuration I have chosen?

It seems that the raid setup is really what helps in the end.

I want this computer to last me for a while which is why I was going above and beyond.

if you think there may be a bottleneck in your system DDR3 will be more effected than DDR2 this is where the Latency VS Bandwidth issue happens. like a slow FSB would affect the bandwidth not so much the lat, so DDR2 (lat) and DDR3 (bandwidth) depends on your system. I use DDR2 more because its cheaper and much more predictable speed wise. The DDR3 is hit and miss but if done right can be very nice.

A mobo with DDR3 will be more upgradeable in the future if you plan on keeping it for a while DDR3 might be the way to go.
if your going Intel get x58 chip set hands down, its great! it uses DDR3, don't worry about the deluxe with the extra PCI-e slots you don't need it.

CPU will be used when decoding and encoding. to make the file easier to edit it get decoded and saved as a raw video so when adding effect the CPU can render the effect and prevent the system from decode > render > encode for every edit so when working in raw or uncompressed video the hard drive is the weak point.

WD Black hard drives are the fastest on the market and in my tests beat the 10,000RPM drives.

you might want to look at some test targeting video decoding and encoding for the CPUs you are looking at it might be tricky to find but there out there. Ignore how well they do at playing games like crysis.

Ok cool thanks. I've heard that cache plays a part when it comes to video encoding/rendinger etc.

I was looking at the intel Q9550, quad core 2.83 with 12mb cache, 1333fsb.

If I were to get that processor with an Asus P5Q3 Intel P45 motherboard and DDR3 1333 PC3 10666 6-7-6-18 memory, would that be a smart buy?

ibuypower offers the Intel x48 mobo but it's by MSI and I've heard they're iffy.

i wouldn't run the x48 chipset and the p45 are the same only the x48 has SLI (pcie 2.0) not really needed for video editing.
the p35 chip set i still better but harder to find... see if you can get an nforce 700 class chip set or something i haven't been impressed with the new Intel chip sets except for the x58.

the cache matters of course but reviews can be a lot of help also
here is a good site a found
http://www.behardware.com/articles/746-7/amd-phenom-ii-...

looks like after reading any reviews the i7 is beating everything amazing!

anyways like your i7 build over everything so far, no idea where i got the idea phenom2 was better than the i7 I know i am running a Phenom2 but its Liquid cooled and the i7 i have been pushing out are stock with out being OC. I am glad I went out to read the reviews and will edit the above post where i commented on the i7.

I would stick with the 1st build, i don't know about the heat sync i never used that brand. just make sure your running WD black in RAID 0 and get a different video card and it should be good.

Sounds good to me. I might bump up to ddr3 1600 memory because of the lower latency offered. Is it worth it to pay $30 more for a 7-7-7-24 as opposed to 9-9-9-24 for what I'm doing?

No the last number is called CAS and has the highest impact on speed.
its tRAS-tRP-tRCD-CAS

tRAS= precharge delay doesnt affect much
tRP = precharge Row to Row delay doesnt matter sense column is use more than rows, matter on large files.
tRCD= how long it takes to find a row, doesnt affect much because column is used most.
CAS = Colum acesss how long it takes to recive and acess and acting on a command.

Video editing tRP is used a bit but not worth the money CAS (the last number) is all you should care about

Dont know if you made the purchase but Avid MC wont support any other graphic card than Quadro. Better buy Quadro FX 1800 to keep CPU and GPU processing speeds in proportion.

sridharrreddy is 100% correct.
But you dont "need" Quadro to run Avid, its just supper nice. Geforce class cards will not allow avid to take advantage of it, though Adobe will useing by useing CUDA. Best of luck and let us know how the build goes, along with any pointer, not many video editing builds come through.