Music / Video Editing Build Recommendations

[RA1D]

It seems like we're getting a lot of new members with these questions lately (which is great). I came across this post in a basketball forum that I frequent and would like your suggestions so that I might point him in the right direction:

Im just starting to get into mixing music and serious video editing and realized... man my computer sucks.. the question i got is, would i be better off buying parts and building the computer or buying one from a store?

my budget i would say id go as much as 2500-3000.

i have my tv set up as my monitor, and i got a good enough speaker system and keyboard. just need the actual computer. if u could send me a list of parts thatd be great.

i just cut and pasted his replies to my questions at the end. anyways, here's what i came up with so your opinion would be welcome.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 $278
GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 640MB $365
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB DDR2-1066 $280
Mobo: EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 680i $210
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB $335
Soundcard: Creative X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 $260
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750w Silencer Quad $180
DVD: (2) Lite On 20x Burner $72
Case: CM RC-690-KKN1-GP $65
HSF: Zalman CNPS 9700NT $60
OS: MS Vista Ultimate x64 $180

Total ~ $2,500 with tax and shipping

I'm pretty sure someone could recommend a less expensive mobo that will do the job for what he needs. I just don't have that much experience with many boards and I know the EVGA A1 board gets lots of props. And I know he doesn't need the Tracers but they are just $10 more/pair than the regular Ballistix. He could also just get two 500GB drives and save $100.

[Yellowhello]

Nice recommendations Matt! You might want to point him at one of the new X38 motherboards though; either the ones form ASUS or from Gigabyte, since he's not running SLI.

Just a thought...

[polobunny]

Can I ask you why the video card though?
Is he intending to play games? If he's not, it's superfluous. The video card plays little importance in video editing.
Might I ask if you know what exactly is his TV set capable of? 1080p? A high resolution set would be interesting/needed if he thinks of editing high resolution feeds. Zooming isn't all that fun, besides it would speed up his work if he didn't have to do more processing only to visualize his work before compilation.

For the windows... did he check if the software he uses are compatible with a 64bit OS? Does he having any mixing hardware that needs a special driver? Those are things to check, you don't want to end up with a computer that won't even start the program for a reason or another. :S

I think we might need an idea what exact software (and their versions) he uses or plans to use not to recommend him something that could create a problem. I've seen plenty of very specific audio mixing hardware and video editing software that were incompatible with quite a few pieces of hardware and other softwares. Recently I sold a computer with a X1950 Pro to someone doing video editing with an AVID product. AVID wouldn't even preview his videos, no matter what drivers we used (some people experienced similar problems). We ended up giving him a 7600GT that worked perfectly.

[RA1D]

Thanks Nate. I was looking at the X38 boards and decided that he would actually benefit from having a quad cpu with his music/video editing.

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by RAID

Thanks Nate. I was looking at the X38 boards and decided that he would actually benefit from having a quad cpu with his music/video editing.

He can't have a quad-core on an X38 board?

[Reloadron]

The polobunny writes in part:

I think we might need an idea what exact software (and their versions) he uses or plans to use not to recommend him something that could create a problem. I've seen plenty of very specific audio mixing hardware and video editing software that were incompatible with quite a few pieces of hardware and other softwares. Recently I sold a computer with a X1950 Pro to someone doing video editing with an AVID product. AVID wouldn't even preview his videos, no matter what drivers we used (some people experienced similar problems). We ended up giving him a 7600GT that worked perfectly.

Absolutely! A good higher end editing station is built frequently around the software it will run. Average home user? Professional? I would start with that and run from there.

Ron

[RA1D]

I believe the only 1333Mhz Quad available is the QX6850 which would hog half of his budget so my line of thought was to go with the Q6600 and a 1066Mhz FSB board. But that is just from my limited understanding of it, maybe you can pair an X38 with a Q6600 and underclock the FSB, I don't really know for sure.

As far as programs, I sent him a PM and will post more as he responds. Thanks everybody.

[sean126]

I'm starting to get into video editing, so I've been reading up on it. I'd get a 150 Raptor and then a 500 or 1T for video storage. They say you'd want to keep your video on a separate drive.
I know some say video cards don't really play a part in video editing...but the high end video editing machines I saw have either an Ultra or dual Ultras in them. (Still haven't asked the video editing guys why.)

I don't remember the prices off hand...but many have 2 Quad Xeon's on a server board. I think that would put him out of budget though. The next generation Intel's are supposed to be even better for video stuff.

I've got Sony Vegas Pro 8 now and using it on my current computer and it's doing me fine so far....I haven't rendered and burned anything to speak of yet though.

[polobunny]

It really depends what program he uses Sean. Some programs use the video card to speedup the rendering of certain effects. It's becoming less true with the years however as most if not all tasks are processed on the CPU.

Besides if he's very serious about his work, he probably should get a card with better color rendition or something supporting a high resolution (which a 8800GTS would do but might be overkill depending on his needs)

[Yellowhello]

If he's not doing any gaming, this build screams Matrox. Just a thought.