looking to build a pc for video editing for under $600

[impreza]

any parts suggestions? it must have at least 2gb ram and a dual core cpu.
don't mine the brands. any help would be great thanks.

 

[1Tanker]

any parts suggestions? it must have at least 2gb ram and a dual core cpu.
don't mine the brands. any help would be great thanks.

$600 will be tight, when you figure that 2GB of decent RAM will eat up ~ 40% of your budget. :?

 

[impreza]

It would be cpu, motherboard, ram case, power supply and video card. do you need fast gpus for video editing?

 

[CaptRobertApril]

It would be cpu, motherboard, ram case, power supply and video card. do you need fast gpus for video editing?

No HD? You may find that the HD is the really critical element in vid edits. 7200.10 or Raptors are really the only way to go. You are really squeezing it if you wanna end up with a 2GB RAM sys on the short side of 6 C-notes. Do you already have your HD?

 

[Orac]

Yeah, I think $600 is tight. I have P4 3.0 & it does fine for converting vhs-c camcorder tapes to dvd speed wise. The PC has 200GB & I had to buy a 300GB external 'cause I nearly filled up the 200GB. It depends on how much you're going to do, one time or continuously. I end up with at least 3 files for each video I'm editing, the original, the copy of original that I actually edit, the final edited file, the mpeg file for buring to dvd. Maybe overkill for some but, having to input the tapes or re-edit again because of system freeze up, whew. (Nah, XP is stable as a rock. )

 

[impreza]

well i do have a 120gb I could use but it probably wont last long so i mau need a new hard drive too

 

[CaptRobertApril]

well i do have a 120gb I could use but it probably wont last long so i mau need a new hard drive too

Not to say that it can't be done with $600 but you will most likely end up with a system with so many shortcomings that you would rather have root canal surgery without anaesthetic than edit videos on it. I think you either have to cough up more cash or pass on this.

 

[Noya]

Browsing newegg I come up with the following:

$90 Intel Pentium D 805
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116001

$42 ECS Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135223

$180 Wintec 2gb RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820161670

$42 WD 7200rpm 80gb (use for Windows XP & programs)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144102

$110 for 2 7200 rpm WD 120gb SATA (set up as RAID 0 for speed)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144414

$20 Raidmax steel case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156053

$12 Firewire 1394 card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815265002

$27 Thermletake PSU 430 watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023

$32 DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136103

And there you have it (though I might be forgetting a few cheapies).

The total does come to $555 with rebates and without shipping :lol:

Dual core, 2gigs of RAM, and RAID 0 for your work HDDs...it should be the speediest you can do at that budget...this is really as cheap as you should go. For an extra $30 you could jump to 2x 250gb hard drives, which is double the space.

The mobo has onboard sound and video but was lacking 1394 for MiniDv so you need a card, though you might find a board that better suits you as I think this had PCI-e if you ever want to play games.

I use a P4 3.0ghz, 1.5 gb RAM, and two SATA hard disks with Adobe Premiere PRO and this dual core setup would absoluely kill my 2004 vintage Compaq.

 

[CaptRobertApril]

Noya, excellent research and build. Definitely props to ya. The only thing I question is the onboard vid. If the OP wants the rig for editing, onboard vid is gonna make him curse more than an Australian Sheep Shearer! :lol:

 

[Noya]

Noya, excellent research and build. Definitely props to ya. The only thing I question is the onboard vid. If the OP wants the rig for editing, onboard vid is gonna make him curse more than an Australian Sheep Shearer! :lol:

Actually, video editing uses mostly CPU power. I think I've read a video card will mostly just speed up rendering when applying complex transistions and special effects in programs like Adobe After Effects. A friend has an off the shelf Compaq (X2 3800, 1gb RAM, one SATA HD, onboard video) and it handles all the transistions in Adobe Premiere just fine with no lag. So unless impreza is adding lots of special effects I don't think it's a neccasity...unless he wants to run dual monitors which even a vintage $30 card can do.

Thanks for the advice BTW.

 

[CaptRobertApril]

Actually, video editing uses mostly CPU power. I think I've read a video card will mostly just speed up rendering when applying complex transistions and special effects in programs like Adobe After Effects. A friend has an off the shelf Compaq (X2 3800, 1gb RAM, one SATA HD, onboard video) and it handles all the transistions in Adobe Premiere just fine with no lag. So unless impreza is adding lots of special effects I don't think it's a neccasity...unless he wants to run dual monitors which even a vintage $30 card can do.

Thanks for the advice BTW.

No prob on the advice, I've edited my post too, so anyone reading this thread is likely scratching their heads right now... :lol:

I agree that if you're just displaying video on the monitor, any garden variety card should do. Also for basic A/B sort of linear editing you should be ok. But if you want to get to the fancy stuff that has become an integral part of vid edits these days, you're gonna need a vid card with cojones! 8)

 

[MarkG]

it must have at least 2gb ram and a dual core cpu.

What kind of video editing are you doing that must have 2GB of RAM and a dual-core CPU but you can't spend more than $600?

 

[CaptRobertApril]

it must have at least 2gb ram and a dual core cpu.

What kind of video editing are you doing that must have 2GB of RAM and a dual-core CPU but you can't spend more than $600?

I can pretty well guarantee he doesn't work at Pixar... :lol:

 

[CaptRobertApril]

it must have at least 2gb ram and a dual core cpu.

What kind of video editing are you doing that must have 2GB of RAM and a dual-core CPU but you can't spend more than $600?

I can pretty well guarantee he doesn't work at Pixar... :lol:

 

[MarkG]

Sure, but if you're editing DV you don't need anything like that much CPU power, and if you're editing HD, you should be able to afford to spend more than $600.

 

[Noya]

Sure, but if you're editing DV you don't need anything like that much CPU power, and if you're editing HD, you should be able to afford to spend more than $600.

You don't have to dis on his budget. Have you edited MiniDV on a single core versus dual-core...huge difference in speed, especially if the software is optimized for multiple CPUs. And 2gigs of memory will keep the system responsive.

 

[MarkG]

Have you edited MiniDV on a single core versus dual-core..

Let's see: four simultaneous picture-in-picture effects and color correction on DV footage in realtime on a P4-3.06... why do you need a dual-core CPU again?

I edited a DV feature on a PII-350 a few years back: DV just isn't very CPU-intensive.

 

[Noya]

So what, you think he should drop down to a single core P4 and 1gig? :roll:

 

[impreza]

well I know 1gb isn't enough it just keep slowing down when editing large video flies.