High Def video editing computer - Need help.

[techinfo_aa]

I`m interested to purchase a computer for high definition video editing. I will be editing music videos, documentaries and small interviews. All this will be high definition video. This is the system that I have in mind. Please advise, I really need your help.

Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5
1TB - 7200RPM HDD

I will also get a couple of externals where I will store all the files, the primary HDD will not for any storage. For now I will be using Sony Vegas, but later I will go to adobe premier.
Please advise.

 

[xaira]

that looks gr8, good luck, im guessing you have a board in mind already

 

[themuffinmanm]

Thats plenty of power for HD video editing. I'm using a core 2 duo e7400,geforce 250,8gbs of DDR2, and it gets the job done. So you should be fine

 

[techinfo_aa]

that looks gr8, good luck, im guessing you have a board in mind already

Hey Xaira, thnks for replying to my post. I`m actually thinking to get this machine customized by dell. I don`t know which board they will be putting in it.

 

[techinfo_aa]

Thats plenty of power for HD video editing. I'm using a core 2 duo e7400,geforce 250,8gbs of DDR2, and it gets the job done. So you should be fine

Hey the muffinman, thanks for your reply.

Wow, if you`re using a core 2 duo with a geforce card for HD video editing, so I guess this guy should not give me any issues. But now I`m thinking am I spending too much money here. I mean 12 gb memory looks great, but should I save some bucks with i7 and go with a i5 or something?

 

[themuffinmanm]

I'm thinkin maybe a core quad, 6gb of DDR3 at really high speeds, and a geforce 260. In video editing video cards mean VERY LITTLE. Also a good sound card helps.

 

[MarkG]

Wow, if you`re using a core 2 duo with a geforce card for HD video editing, so I guess this guy should not give me any issues. But now I`m thinking am I spending too much money here.

There's HD editing and there's HD editing. I've been editing HDV on my Pentium-4, but it would choke if I tried to edit uncompressed HD on that system.

 

[warmon6]

I'm thinkin maybe a core quad, 6gb of DDR3 at really high speeds, and a geforce 260. In video editing video cards mean VERY LITTLE. Also a good sound card helps.

Well video card does means very little if the program doesn't have gpgpu abilities (general processing on a graphic processing unit) (with gpgpu it classified by Nvidia as "cuda" or ATI as "stream")



Now if your video editing software you have/chosing does have such abilities, you can do video editing very very quickly.

Examples with vreveal with nvidia cuda:

http://www.vreveal.com/video_demos


Just though i would though that info in.

@OP Now which sony vegas are you using? I was just looking in the vegas pro 9 and saw this.

Multiprocessor Support
Vegas Pro 9 software takes advantage of cutting-edge parallel processing architectures, significantly reducing complex project-render times on multiprocessor, HT, and multicore systems.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/videoediting

Which would mean if you have vegas pro 9, it should run very well with the core i7's. although i would think they have the same thing for the variants of the pro 9. I see nothing of gpgpu support though.



Although the adobe premier "cs5 with the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine" does have gpgpu support but only with nvidia cuda though (if you're looking into that)

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance/


So if you do chose to have gpgpu, i would recommend to get a nvidia card instead. if not, the gpu part doesn't matter.

Although with gpgpu, you wont need as powerful of a cpu. Although the money can be transfered to a faster gpu.


Sorry to throw a monkey wrench into thing but i though i would mention it.

 

[techinfo_aa]

@warmon6`` oKaY``I`m confused. The nvidia cards are pretty expensive. Adobe premiere cs5 is also very expensive thts why I`ve decided to go with sony. A ati radeon 1 gb Hd card with 12 gb memory running with a i7 sounds pretty strong to me though, but ofcourse there are so many technicalities in things. Also, I really dont know about uncompressed HD video, all I know is that I`ll import everything from a camera through a firewire and start editing.

 

[MarkG]

Also, I really dont know about uncompressed HD video, all I know is that I`ll import everything from a camera through a firewire and start editing.

In that case, an i7 with 12GB of RAM is probably overkill.

 

[HEAT81]

If you are using Adobe Premier CS5 i recommend this:

dont buy from dell they are over priced. they only really offer support. if you spend $2000 with them you are basically buying an $800 computer.

i use CS5 now and absolutly love it, here is what i am beginning to purchase.

i7-875k - this cpu can be over clocked to 4 ghz and runs smooth, it cannot be purchase from dell if i am correct. CPU is used more than RAM with these programs during rendering

FX 3800 - this video card is specific for CS5 premier and AE, it actually helps with the CPU when rendering frames, it is exspensive but worth it.

6GB RAM - get the 1600 mhz ram of any brand you wish in three sticks of 2 GB for tri channel, Dell only really sells 1333 and its twice as much cost wise. the CPU and GPU do all of the work, i rarely max my 12 GB RAM right now. its always the four CPUS maxing out

RAID 5 - buy three samsung spinpoints that are 1 Terabyte, 6.0 gbs and 64 mb cache. with this RAID you will have striping and mirroring so your HD's will run very fast. SSD is not worth it yet cost wise and if you buy three 1 GB HD's from dell your looking at nearly $1000 for them and they are 3.0 gbs 16 mb cache drives

now you just have to buy a tower, power supply, and mother board. that will be about $200+$200+$200 +$1700 from before = $2300 for a near future proof computer. you'll never future proof but this is what i would recommend from what ive done thus far.

tip - have a college friend buy you Windows 7 pro 64 bit or higher and Creative Suite 5 Production Premium. the 64 bit is an absolutle must AND with their Discount it will save you almost a thousand buxs.

super tip - enroll in one college class a year so you can have student status !