Computer for HD Editing Primarily

Status
Not open for further replies.

j_young_06

Solid State Member
Messages
6
I am looking at building a PC so I can edit HD footage with my Canon HV30. I am trying to spend as little amount of money as possible without purchasing crap quality parts. I would like help on what type of processor, motherboard, video card, power supply, and cooling options to get. I want something that will be quick and not give me problems when doing HD editing in Sony Vegas 8 Pro. I am not a gamer, don't overclock, and the only other thing I use my computer for is editing HD video, listening to music, watching videos, and surfing the internet.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
I decided to go with the Intel Q8200. Can anyone help me with the rest?

Edit: Also leaning towards this motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
 
I'd recommend something like this:

AMD 780G motherboard - $80, with onboard DirectX 10 GPU, which has plenty of GPU power for a non-gamer (you're basically getting it free with the motherboard, and it's capable of actually running Crysis)
Newegg.com - ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
If you are watching HD videoes on it (especially blu-ray), the 780G GPU can be used to do the decoding

AMD Phenom II 920 - $189, and it rivals the more expensive Intel Q9550/Q9650 in Sony Vegas Pro
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

4GB DDR2-1066 - $55
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
having plenty of RAM can make a big difference to encoding. And RAM is pretty cheap at the moment. So you may as well get at least 4GB (note that if you use a 32-bit OS, you won't be able to use more than 4GB)

*edit*
Corsair 400W PSU - $60, Corsair PSU's are pretty good quality. And this one would outperform many higher wattage PSU's.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

You said you want to listen to music on it, so it would be worth getting a descent sound card
the Asus Xonar DX is a very good value card:
Newegg.com - ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards
I own a D2X, which is more expensive, but a bit better. If you pair it with a good set of speakers/headphones (I have a pair of ATH-AD900 headphones) it really will sound nice.
 
So I don't need a separate video card for doing HD editing and watching videos? Also how hot is all of this going to run? Will I need anything for additional cooling?
 
So I don't need a separate video card for doing HD editing and watching videos?
From what I've read, Sony Vegas Pro 8 isn't GPU bound, so it will be the CPU doing the processing there. And benchmarks show the Phenom II 920 to perform very well in it (between the Q9550 and Q9650 according to Anandtech)
For playback, you can find programs (such as Media Player classic Home Cinema, which is small, and free) that use the GPU. And for that, the 780G has more than enough power.

the 780G does have a descent amount of power for an onboard GPU. If you wanted to, you could run Crysis on it (only a few onboard GPU's can really do that, and this is one of them).
The only onboard GPU more powerful than the 780G at the moment is the 790GX.
I mean, you can get much faster dedicated video cards, but they'll add significantly more cost. And in this case, you really don't need to.
Also how hot is all of this going to run? Will I need anything for additional cooling?
the CPU comes with a heatsink and fan, and the 780G GPU is passively cooled, and they'll do perfectly fine at stock speeds.
If you wanted to overclock them (both the CPU and the onboard GPU can be overclocked), I'd recommend better cooling
 
You can get blu-ray drives/burners. I've got a blu-ray reader in my PC (which is this model, which also reads HD-DVD's).
They obviously cost more though.

For playback of blu-ray movies, I'd try looking for a program that uses the GPU (again, the 780G is more than powerful enough for it)

But if you just want to read/burn DVD's, you don't need anything fancy. And they're pretty much all cheap.

Have you got a monitor to use? and what speakers/headphones do you have, if any?
 
You can get blu-ray drives/burners. I've got a blu-ray reader in my PC (which is this model, which also reads HD-DVD's).
They obviously cost more though.

For playback of blu-ray movies, I'd try looking for a program that uses the GPU (again, the 780G is more than powerful enough for it)

But if you just want to read/burn DVD's, you don't need anything fancy. And they're pretty much all cheap.

Have you got a monitor to use? and what speakers/headphones do you have, if any?

Im not planning on using blue rays on my computer, so basic dvd/cd burner will work....ill look around. EDIT: FOUND ONE:
Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

I have a monitor that will do and a surround sound setup in my bedroom that will go with it.

I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything for putting the computer together. I havent built a pc in about 6 years and am a little rusty.

Also I need firewire to transfer from the HV30....Should I just get a Firewire to DVI adapter? (those exist right? lol)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom