My dad does a lot of video editing as a part time job and is looking for a new machine. He uses Premiere and Photoshop primarily. Im curious what are going to be the best components for this comp, from the ground up. Motherboard, video card, amount of ram and what kind. I heard there is a video card out that specifically works very well with premiere. Is this true? Thanks for the input!!
Well, what kind of a budget do you have to work with? Off hand I don't know of a particular video card that's really specific for Premier, but there may be a capture card that would be a good idea. There's lotsa ideas I have, but that really depends on the budget for the rig itself and if you need/want to add monitors or not.
He wont be needeing anymore monitors, just a machine. I asked about the budget and said he is expecting to spend between 1500-2000. He wants close to top of the line stuff.
Okay, here's what I came up with that should make a good workstation for him. I'll explain the reasons why afterwords. All prices from Newegg and don't include shipping charges (if any) or any tax (for CA and NJ residents only). Motherboard: MSI 915P Combo-FR ---$106.00 CPU: Pentium 4 530 3GHz, LGA775, retail box ---$186.00 RAM: Geil Ultra Series 1GB kit (2x 512MB sticks) w blue heatspreader---$154.50 Video Card: ATi All-In-Wonder Radeon X600 w VIVO, 256MB ---$215.00 Hard Drives: --Western Digital Raptor 74GB, 10k RPM, SATA (for OS) --$179.89 --Seagate 7200.8 300GB SATA, 7200RPM x 3 (at $223.00 ea) ---$669.00 Optical Drive: Sony DRU710A 16x DVD +/-RW/R ---$88.50 Enermax EG75P-VE-SMFA, ATX 12V rev 1.3 470W ---$82.49 Case: Chenmeng CMUI 601AECB-U ---$55.00 Total: ---$1,736.38 I went with the Intel platform since the HyperThreading on the LGA775 socketed Pentium 4s 2.8GHz and up would be of value in this situation. While I did consider dual processors, I felt that having a large amount of storage was also something to look at. The NCQ feature of the ICH6/R part of the 915P chipset helps with hard drive speed. Additionally, there are 4 SATA ports, which I have made use of to give a large amount of fast storage without having to pay out the nose for SCSI. I picked that MSI 915Combo-FG because while it supports the newer DDR2, it also supports the cheaper DDR. You can go to DDR2, but you won't gain anything for the extra cost. You also cannot use both DDR and DDR2 on this board at the same time. Like I said, the Pentium 4 has HyperThreading, which isn't dual processors, but it's the next best thing. The retail box includes a heatsink and a 3-year warranty from Intel. If you decide to just get the CPU, you'll need to purchase an LGA775 compatible heatsink. Considering he's doing video editing, the extra RAM will help. If you need to cut something down here, don't go any less than 512MB. The video card has a bunch of Video In/Out connectors. If he needs a Firewire port, he'll need to get a Firewire card, but those are pretty cheap (~$30). With the new Pentium 4 boards, there's a new power supply requirement ATX 12V rev. 1.3 that specifies a 24-pin ATX connector for more even power distribution over the main power cord. That Enermax is a very good unit, but if you decide it's too expensive, be very careful about what you get, as you will need an ATX 12V rev 1.3 power supply (at least if you like a stable system). I popped in the DVD burner because of the video editing thing. That Sony unit is pretty good, but if you really have money to burn the Plextor PX712A is another good unit, but that runs about 2x the cost of the Sony listed. The case is nice to work with (I have a very similar unit), and flat out recommend it. As with pretty much all cases, the shipping is fairly high on this one ($15.99), but it's the only component that has that large of shipping fee on it---and some stuff doesnt. No OS was included, but if you need Windows XP, you'll need to tack on another $90-200 depending on what version you get (Home or Pro, upgrade or full).
Thanks a ton for the suggestions. Seems just about right. I personaly have the mobo you suggested and I love it, so far, its only about a month old. I dont know too much about macs at all. But i hear if you are in to the whole graphics and video thing they have a huge edge over intels. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for the reply!!!!
Your correct, the Macs are very popular for video editing, however they do take alot of getting used to - even on their latest OSX All the companies i've dealt with, including the one i work for at the moment, all have Mac OSX Dual CPU Machines or something similiar for marketing, video editing, advertising, graphics & presentations. They are very good, however Mac OSX from Windows is abit strange.. however ideal for what he is going to use it for.
Power Mac. The only thing I can see that might be an issue with video editing would be the 80GB drive, but you've got a dual 1.8 G5 unit within your price range. I've also heard very good things about Apple's video editing software---being that much of Hollywood is using it.
