First Time Build Video Editing Computer $800-1200

philipmichaelsmith

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Feb 16, 2012
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Hello everyone,
I'm new here and this is my first post.

Approximate Purchase Date: Next month or so

Budget Range: 800-1200

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Video Editing, Surfing the net, common use.

Parts Not Required:

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Which ever you think is best. I've used Intel in the past

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: no monitor yet

Additional Comments:

I am looking to build a new system with it's main focus to be video editing and would like to run the latest Adobe CS and possibly Sony Vegas.
I would also like to be able to go on the internet, do some gaming and any other casual computer tasks.

I don't know to much about computers and I was hoping I could get some pointers, advice, and possible computer builds to go with. I would also like a computer that I can upgrade so I can learn while my system grows for my needs. One of my fears is buying a computer for $1000 that doesn't perform well when I'm editing or doesn't have space to upgrade on.

For example I don't know;
If I should go with AMD or Intel
Which graphics card to go with, because I've heard that if you get a graphics card used for gaming it wont be that great for video editing.
Which computer brand is good or bad.
Which site I should by a computer from.

Thanks
Phil
 

tlmck

Distinguished
A couple of questions before I can try to answer yours.

First, is this for professional video editing, or more of the home movie variety?

When you say gaming, which games?

These will determine which end of the budget I land on or exceed.
 

mediaseth

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Feb 17, 2012
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I'm in the same boat, with a budget closer to the $800 side. I'm leaning towards intel, though, and I'm going to use Premiere instead of Vegas - just a preference thing. I'd be saving up longer for a MAC if they didn't effectively kill Final Cut Pro.

Keeping in mind I know next to nothing and I'm forever paranoid about future proofing for at least six years - I think I'm going with:

GA-Z68AP-D3 LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
Core i7 2600K LGA 1155
MSI R6770-MD1GD5 AMD Radeon
Silencer 760 Watt ATX Power Supply
16gb of DDR3, not yet selected
Boot drive not yet selected
I already have two 1tb and one 2tb drives for media
case not selected - will go with bang for buck and easy drive swap

Good for Adobe software, video compression, streaming media?

I don't know if it's worth it to spring for the 79 series intel boards or not, yet..



 

philipmichaelsmith

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Feb 16, 2012
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tlmck,

Thanks for the response. Yes, it would be for more professional editing using Adobe CS 5.5

The gaming side isn't to important, because I'm not into computer games to much, but I'm assuming a descent editing computer should be able to support most games.....or am I completely wrong on that.

In short lets focus on a video editing machine.

Thanks and mediaseth, I'm going to check out the components you have selected..thanks for the reply dude.
 

tlmck

Distinguished
Gaming is more video card dependent whereas video editing is more CPU and ram.

Basically, the rig mediaseth posted is good, but I would change the video card to a 2gb AMD 6950 card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562

The advantage of this card, besides gaming, is you can offload some of the video processing onto the video card itself. http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-app/Pages/eyespeed.aspx

The Silencer PSU is excellent for a dual video card rig. A good quality 550w will be fine for single card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013

edit: Just thought I'd throw this in. It was made with Sony Vegas Pro. http://www.videobash.com/video_show/split-screen-bohemian-rhapsody-239583
 

philipmichaelsmith

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Feb 16, 2012
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Thanks for the info. I will check out these links.

Quick question, if a video editing is more CPU and RAM does that also include doing high end graphics, or should you have a good video card to do high end graphics?

Thanks again.
 

kev921hs

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Feb 17, 2012
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10,510
All - I'm in a similar budget range, similar needs. I want to start getting into video editing, just home movies and such, as a hobby. Beyond that we're talking surfing the web and maybe very basic photo editing. Never going to play any games.

I've been thinking about an AMD Phenom II x4 over an Intel i5 to save a few bucks; the IT guy at work says the Intel would be faster - he showed me benchmarks that back it up. But he figures the AMD is better bang for the buck, and for my needs he doesn't think I'd need the extra power. Any thoughts?

RAM: figuring 8 GB, maybe 12 GB because it's so cheap.

Any guidance on motherboard?

No idea what software I'm going to use; going to start with what came with my camcorder - $400 Canon HD camcorder - and upgrade later this year. I figure I'll stick with onboard video, or a cheap card to start, and consider buying a better one that matches well with whatever software package I decide on.

Any advice, especially on the CPU/mobo, would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

tlmck

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Adobe CS benefits from Nvidia graphics cards. maybe even a little better than AMD. Most recommend the GTX 570 on a combo rig, or a Quadro 4000 for a dedicated editing workstation. Sony can use either AMD or Nvidia effectively.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130622
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133324

Of course on the Quadro card rigs, they often use dual 6 core Xeon processors, and 32gb ram is not uncommon either.
 

tlmck

Distinguished


You might look into the AMD A8 APU. It has good integrated graphics so no need for a video card. It can even handle light gaming.

This ought to get you started.

APU - $129.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103942
Motherboard - $94.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131768
ram - $39.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104262
 

Harm Millaard

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Feb 23, 2012
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You may want to have a look at http://forums.adobe.com/thread/947698?tstart=0

I have given several options, but look specifically at the 'Bugdet' model. It is at the upper range of the budget indicated, but should do well. Notice that the overview for the 'Warrior' model is corrected in a later post #17.

General notice to Adobe CS5.x users:

No AMD CPU's because of the lacking support for SSE 4.1+. Intel is way faster.
No ATI video cards, since they do not support hardware accelerated MPE. Only nVidia cards with 1+ GB VRAM
 

Harm Millaard

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Feb 23, 2012
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THE AMD 6950 card is ill advised for use with Adobe CS5.x. All AMD cards lack hardware accelerated MPE, only nVidia cards with 1+ GB VRAM support hardware acceleration and offer a 10+ fold performance improvement over AMD cards while rendering. The minimum suggested card is the nVidia GTX 550 Ti
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.835887 $514.98 save: $20.00
Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820
ASRock X79 Extreme4 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=X79%20Extreme4 <----- more on that board

or....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157279 $104.99
ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Pro3%20Gen3 <----- more on that board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070 $329.99 FREE SHIPPING
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I72600K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231497 $89.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBZL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401 $209.99
GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 $69.99
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236 $142.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
 

padraigm_02

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Feb 21, 2012
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Harm,

Thank you very much for the Adobe link and all the other information and advise you have given. I am planning an upgrade right now and already determined that my planned 750W PSU needs to be boosted to 850W. I am using CS3 with plans to upgrade to CS5 in the future. I am also a heavy user of Lightroom3 soon to be LR4. My current dual core PC with 4 meg is inadequate for either. I will add video editing in the future. My question is in regards to LR3/4. Are you familiar with any special needs for this program that would not be covered by a rig that can handle CS5 and Video? I will spend more time on Adobe to understand the issue in the context of all the information you have provided.

Again, thanks for all the help and advise you have provided here and on the Adobe site.

Regards,

Pat
 

Harm Millaard

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Feb 23, 2012
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Pat, have a look at post #28 here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4221891?tstart=0#4221891

It clearly shows how important the PSU is. Something Why_Me does not yet uderstand with a 550W PSU.

Lightroom is a very easy application, that does not demand many resources. Even a dual core would cope, it is video applications that demand way more horse-power. But in your case extra memory even with LR would be welcome, I think the base amount for a LR or any Adobe machine is 12 or 16 GB, depending on the mobo in use, but there is a definite trend towards 24/32 GB.
 

The guy on those Adobe forums needs a new wattage calculator. I know very well how important a psu is hence the reason I posted that XFX which is manufactured by Seaonic.

That psu can easily push that 560 ti I posted with room to spare and if the OP wanted to go with SLI then a 750w psu would do it with juice left over.

+3.3V@24A, +5V@24A, +12V@44A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@2.5A

If the OP was to go with a LGA2011 build and seeing how those cpu's use a little more juice than the LGA1155's then he would always step up to a 650w to give him plenty of head room.