What woudl be a good computer for editing...

laxster08 · Post by **laxster08** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 7:07 pm

ok...i'm gonna purchase a new computer for editing...my budget is prob 800 tops...and thats kinda strechin it..i'm only in High School haha...n e ways...does n e one know what would be a good computer...thanks

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 7:15 pm

What would probably be your best beat would be to go to a computer show, and buy parts and major upgrade on your computer. Buy a new motherboard, or prosseser, if you have a good motherboard. Get more ram, and a new video card. What kind of computer do you have now.

mark_essex_87 · Post by **mark_essex_87** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 7:56 pm

a lot of RAM...

btw shudnt this be in the computer section?

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 8:25 pm

Ya probably, I'm sure it will end up there when a mod apperes.

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:08 am

Didn't we have a thread like this just recently???

A good computer for editing has to have a fast hard-drive system, seeing that the hard drive runs about a million times slower than the processor. If you can dump data onto the hard drive quickly, the rest of the computer will seem much faster. do a search for RAID on here, for more information about a very fast, but affordable hard drive system.

A good processor with lots of memory is needed if you're doing a lot of rendering work, compression, or anything that needs to be "worked" out.

Don't worry about the graphics card too much, although do make sure you've got good 2D accelleration built in, otherwise it'll steal processor time for it's own use. A dual-monitor support card is a good idea, so that you can hook up the second monitor output to a conventional TV and VCR.

Don't worry about dual-processoir systems on a low budget, they only work when you have software that's especially written for them, otherwise the second processor just sits there idle.

Hope that helps.

Jerry Jones · Post by **Jerry Jones** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 12:33 am

Here's a computer that would work for video editing that seems to be close to your budget:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/desktop.php?symbol=s

As you know, workstation class computers are the best for video editing.

Jan Ozer wrote a nice article about workstation class computers.

The article is a little old.

It still applies, however:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1160719,00.asp

Hope this helps,

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

Originally posted by laxster08
ok...i'm gonna purchase a new computer for editing...my budget is prob 800 tops...and thats kinda strechin it..i'm only in High School haha...n e ways...does n e one know what would be a good computer...thanks

mark_essex_87 · Post by **mark_essex_87** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 6:58 pm

the hard drive would need to be alot bigger and is it me or doesnt it even have a cdrw? onboard sound wouldnt be very good also. a pc with this spec could be bought much cheaper im sure - altho i work in Ã‚Â£'s.

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 7:36 pm

Ya, that HD is way to small, I almost have that much space on my comp filled with video.

pugetsystems · Post by **pugetsystems** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 11:03 pm

Thanks so much for the referral Jerry, a significant portion of our sales is through word of mouth just like this. We REALLY appreciate it.

Puget Custom Computers

[Edited on 14-11-2003 by pugetsystems]

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 11:19 pm

as powerful and as fast as u can afford!

Jass Films · Post by **Jass Films** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 1:25 am

You'll need as large hard drive space you can afford... Then ram to match.

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Sun Nov 16, 2003 10:28 am

Jerry, weren't you booted off this forum for seemingly just plugging products? Now the manufacturer is posting to thank for your plug, so what's the deal now?

You'll need as large hard drive space you can afford... Then ram to match.

... and 2 small drives hooked together work faster and are cheaper than 1 big one!!! You can get a RAID controller card for under Ã‚Â£20! Also, some motherboards do 'av 'em!

[Edited on 16-11-2003 by CamClub]

Jerry Jones · Post by **Jerry Jones** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 6:40 pm

Laxster08 posted a question asking if somebody could refer him to a computer that he might consider in the $800 price range.

I used the Google search engine to find the Puget computer - simply as a means to assist Laxster08.

I have no connection with the Puget firm.

However, I did read the specifications on that particular computer.

I am an experienced assembler of workstation-class computers.

The Asus A7N8X-Deluxe motherboard is one of the finest AMD Athlon boards on the market.

Laxster08 would be able to edit video - as a newbie - with that particular computer.

The hard drive is small.

However, one can easily add significant hard drive capacity to that model of computer because the Asus A7N8X-Deluxe motherboard features an integrated IEEE 1394 controller.

One could purchase an inexpensive external Firewire hard drive.

I've done this and it works very, very well.

I have three workstation class computers here in my studio.

Two of them have external Firewire hard disks with more than 200gb of storage capacity.

I have no connection with Puget whatsoever.

I never heard of them prior to doing a simple Google search.

But I am familiar with the components in that computer I referenced.

They would work just fine for a newbie.

I would warn, however, that the onboard IEEE 1394 controller of that motherboard should only be used for connecting external peripherals.

The onboard Firewire of the Asus A7N8X does not work well for video transfer, according to numerous posts on the Web from users of that board.

However, one can install a $40 Firewire PCI card with a Texas Instruments chipset and get around that issue at very little added expense.

Somebody commented that the onboard audio would not be good.

Ordinarily this would be true.

However, this is far from true where the Asus A7N8X-Deluxe motherboard is concerned.

That motherboard has SUPERB onboard audio features.

If you doubt that - then read the independent reviews:

1. http://hightekpc.com/reviews/a7n8x.html

"I want to state that I think this motherboard is of very high quality. Asus has produced another great product that will only raise the bar for other manufacturers."

2. http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/a7n8x/default.asp

"Not only did NVIDIA fuse a compelling graphics core to its chipset, they also broke all the rules when it came to integrated audio by incorporating Dolby Digital support."

"And not only was nForce capable of playing back Dolby Digital streams, it was also the only audio solution on the market capable of Dolby Digital encoding, a distinction it holds to this day."

3. http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_a7n8x/

"6-channel Dolby directional sound is implemented on the board level which saves the ACR slot and add-on card."

I have used the non-deluxe version of the Asus A7N8X motherboard now for several months in one of my video workstations.

It has provided me with outstanding service.

In conclusion, I can recommend the system based on...

- personal experience assembling and using the motherboard used in that particular model;

- independent reviews praising that particular motherboard model;

Sincerely,

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Edited on 20-11-2003 by Jerry Jones]

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 4:20 pm

Fair enough, but it just seemed weird that they should suddenly post onto the forum to thank you for the referral. We always refer companies, none of them ever come on here thank us.

Be carefull of drives over 200GB, because they are still unreliable, and prone to developing sector errors. If you're going for single fast drives, SCSI is still the best route.

If you've got a new motherboard, it may have Serial ATA RAID, which absolutely rocks!