Cheap HD recording(capturing)/editing PC (500 GBP)

matt101

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I posted a thread a while back that got one response that wasn't so useful for the build i wanted so i've decided to repost but in more detail.

Firstly i have 500 GBP to spend on this build - Oh yeah and the reason why i'm not using the pound sign is because i have arch linux setup and can't remember the key for pounds on it :)

That 500 GBP HAS to include a capture card and a monitor.

The capture card must be able to capture footage from the xbox 360, so from what i have found out the blackmagic intensity pro is a good capture card- although I don't know where to get it cheapest so it would help if you could find that out.

And this as a monitor:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168144

So basically the left over money is for the build, I just want it to be able to use the capture card (The blackmagic uses a x1 pci-e slot so most motherboards will be OK), have a slot for a graphics card later on. Also it needs to be capable of playing HD video and editing in sony vegas. I don't mind using intergrated graphics as long as your sure it will do the job i want it to.

If you have any reccomendations on a different capture card or monitor go ahead- But it must be cheaper or the same price. (or only a small amount over budget). Although i want the capture card to be able to capture at least 720p, it would be a bonus if it could capture 1080p like the blackmagic (Bear in mind it must capture via HDMI as that is all the monitor has other than dvi and vga, but if you reccomend a different monitor with the right inputs then that would be fine). As for the monitor, it needs to have a vga,dvi and hdmi port as i need to plug my xbox 360 into the hdmi (Unless of course you find a different caputure card that uses different inputs-just as long as it works with xbox360), and then my PC into the vga/dvi. Lastly the monitor needs to be full HD 1920x1080.

Thanks in advance. :)
 

matt101

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monitor = 130
cap card = 150-160 depending on where i get it.

So....
I have about 210 GBP

Edit: unless you know a cheaper capture card that would be better and a cheaper monitor? The sort of thing i will be doing with it is making machinimas etc.
 
assuming 300 GBP left, there's this:

Qty Product QuickFind Stock Price Line Total
AMD Athlon II X3 440 3GHz Socket AM3 1.5MB (3x512KB) L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor: £57.89
MSI 770-C45 AMD 770 AM3 DDR3 Support 8 channel Blu-ray Audio GB LAN ATX Motherboard : £49.00
EXTRA VALUE 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit 1.5V CL9: £55.48
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM: £47.99
Antec 380W EarthWatts Green PSU - 80plus Bronze Certified: £35.74
Casecom KB-7760 Black ATX Midi Tower Case - No PSU, No Case Fans Included £10.99
3x 120mm Blue LED Fan - 4pin Molex Connection: £2.87ea £8.61
XFX HD 5450 512MB DDR2 VGA DVI HDMI Out PCI-E Graphics Card: £32.96
Cart total inc vat: £298.66

i'd improve the gpu if you have more
 

matt101

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U know what.... screw what i said, i'll build a PC instead, it costs stupid money for a capture card when i could just be using a gaming pc.

So what can i build for 500 GBP that is capable of running the latest games on the highest settings at the resolution of my current monitor which is 1440x900.

I already have monitor as mentioned above, already have a logitech g15 for keyboard and mx518 for mouse.

So all i need is computer parts oh and take off £38.95 for the OS - It's windows 7 pro- but an educational license.

so i got 461.05 GBP
 
you might try the Hauppage cards for video capture. They run around 30 pounds

the build I already suggested with a HD 5770 or GTX 460 would work wonderully for a gaming PC at your resolution. And could even afford the fancier monitor you were looking at.

With either of those, you'd also need a 550W power supply instead of 380.
 

matt101

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Would this be a good build for my monitors resolution? (1440x900)

MOBO:MSI 770-C45 AMD 770 AM3 DDR3 Support 8 channel Blu-ray Audio GB LAN ATX Motherboard

HDD: Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM

PSU: XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular PSU - 13.5cm Fan 6x SATA 4x PCI-E

CASE: Casecom KB-7760 Black ATX Midi Tower Case - No PSU, No Case Fans Included

GFX CARD: XFX HD 5770 1GB DDR5 DUAL DVI DISPLAYPORT HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card

RAM:Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit Unbuffered CL9

PROCESSOR:AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

All up £496.97 , i would just by the OS after that for 40 quid.(windows 7 pro 64bit) So it'll cost about 536 GBP in all, does that seem like a good build?

Also if i had a 19" monitor that had 1920x1080 resolution would i notice much difference from my 1440x900 one, because surely trying to cram all that detail on a small monitor would lead to similar quality?

Also, i would like to spend a bit of extra money for a better quality mobo- as i have had bad experiences with cheap motherboards before, so could you reccomend me a slightly higher end one? -Not to much more expensive though. Thanks.
 

matt101

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Ok then i will use the MSI, but I'm still wondering about the monitor- I currently have a monitor which is 19" at 1440x900. I could get a new monitor also in the near future, but I'm unsure whether to get one or not. The thing is i prefer gaming on a smaller monitor, like a 19" to a larger one. So would it be worth getting a 19" monitor with 1920x1080 resolution, or will I not notice much difference due to it's small size?