Need help on an inexpensive build for a media/work PC

[nythus]

I'm building a computer for a friend of mine, but I'm not quite so keen as to what parts he needs, and any help on what would be optimal to use for minimal cost would be great. He's in need of a powerful PC that will primarily be used for heavy video editing, video rendering & burning. It needs to be capable of using multiple monitors and playing multiple video, as well as stream lining video online and having multiple tasks going on at once. I know he will want to have an i7 processor for multi-threading, but that's about as far as my computer hardware knowledge goes.

Any tips are greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance!

 

[malbluff]

The slight problem here is you use the word inepensive, and then go on to suggest one of the more expensive solutions, which your friend may, or may not, need, depending on his exact requirements.
If you can give and idea of actual budget, what software your friend intends to use, for video work, and where you are (country), we can design the most suitable system, within budget, for your friend's use. Is video editing his only special need. Does he want any gaming capability. Is his video work "enthusiastic amateur" or professional? What needs to be included, does he have operating system, monitor etc?

 

[Wisecracker]

AMD FX-8320 Vishera & Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 AM3

AMD FirePro V4900

Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866

$500

 

[malbluff]

That may be a decent solution, assuming OP has little or no gaming need, although suspect he will need more than 8GB, if doing serious work. Would still like to know WHAT editing software is being used, to confirm it is BEST solution.

 

[Wisecracker]

That may be a decent solution, assuming OP has little or no gaming need, although suspect he will need more than 8GB, if doing serious work. Would still like to know WHAT editing software is being used, to confirm it is BEST solution.

AMD FX-8320 Vishera & Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 AM3

AMD FirePro V4900

Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866 x2

$550

Fixed it for you :lol:

I suspect a more likely question is whether the 1GB V4900 is holding him back as opposed to the +$270 additional cost of a 2GB V5900. Likely not as the V4900 is quite a high-flyer in compute OpenGL/CL.

Check out the GPU compute and OpenCL/GL benchies in Tom's All Workstation Graphics 2012.

 

[malbluff]

Would agree that is PROBABLY the best value solution. Would still like to know what software is being used, and what else system is to be used for, to confirm it IS the best solution, over i7 and/or quadro, or even consumer graphics. When OP says "primarily" it does beg the question ....?