Building a PC for video editing - please comment.

[Pro]

Hey all.

I'm trying to get back into the world of system building. I've built all my previous PCs and right now I'm using a AMD64 3200+ overclocked to a 3800+ system. Runs your everyday stuff fine but I need a boost for some video editing.

The computer I want to build will take over as my main system and be using for browsing, HD video editing, etc. and maybe some minor gaming. I have been looking over a lot of threads and found from great information. Just hooking to get some help a little more focused on what I will be building.

Budget is approx. $600

Things I need are CPU, Motherboard, and Ram. I'll be using my old hard drive and maybe pick up a new HD solely for the OS. I'll also be using my old case (ATX) and PSU. The system I would like to build must be an INTEL. I was looking at a build that Oversized Rooster posted and thought it looked pretty good.

CPU: i5 750 Quad Core
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
Ram: unsure
Heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus

My questions are; what type of motherboard do I truly need? I don't care for SLI or Xfire so if I can save a bit without sacrificing the strong foundation I would like that. What type of RAM and how much (8GB??) should suffice for a very snappy/responsive system running Windows 7? Oh and I would like to leave the possibility to do some overclocking in the near future too.

Please...NO AMD!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[terrybear]

Hey all.

I'm trying to get back into the world of system building. I've built all my previous PCs and right now I'm using a AMD64 3200+ overclocked to a 3800+ system. Runs your everyday stuff fine but I need a boost for some video editing.

The computer I want to build will take over as my main system and be using for browsing, HD video editing, etc. and maybe some minor gaming. I have been looking over a lot of threads and found from great information. Just hooking to get some help a little more focused on what I will be building.

Budget is approx. $600

Things I need are CPU, Motherboard, and Ram. I'll be using my old hard drive and maybe pick up a new HD solely for the OS. I'll also be using my old case (ATX) and PSU. The system I would like to build must be an INTEL. I was looking at a build that Oversized Rooster posted and thought it looked pretty good.

CPU: i5 750 Quad Core
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
Ram: unsure
Heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus

My questions are; what type of motherboard do I truly need? I don't care for SLI or Xfire so if I can save a bit without sacrificing the strong foundation I would like that. What type of RAM and how much (8GB??) should suffice for a very snappy/responsive system running Windows 7? Oh and I would like to leave the possibility to do some overclocking in the near future too.

Please...NO AMD!

Thanks in advance for your help!

You lost me when you said whats in bold. How else ya supost to get close to i5 750 preformance then

Not saying what your asking ISN'T doable, BUT a AMD quad with as close to as preformance for video editing CAN be done. Otherwise thought your probly next looking at a Core i3 setup then.

Now IF you had about another $1200 you could have the best with a Core i7 980x that would be perfect for video editing then ..

[Pro]

You lost me when you said whats in bold. How else ya supost to get close to i5 750 preformance then

Not saying what your asking ISN'T doable, BUT a AMD quad with as close to as preformance for video editing CAN be done. Otherwise thought your probly next looking at a Core i3 setup then.

Now IF you had about another $1200 you could have the best with a Core i7 980x that would be perfect for video editing then ..

Hmmm, I just figured that the Intel would be best or video editing. I thought Windows 7 does well with Intel chips. I could be wrong. Daaamn, $1200 for the i7 980x?! Not trying to build a supercomputer Just want an excellent machine. Maybe I should consider AMD but I really want to try out an Intel desktop chip.

[Pro]

bump this up for some more insight

[tritium4ever]

Since you don't intend to use SLI/CrossFire, you can step down to the GA-P55A-UD3P (only thing you lose is SLI certification and the second ethernet port). As far as RAM goes, video editing isn't particularly RAM-hungry so 4GB should be plenty.

As a side note, I'm currently running an i5 750 in a GA-P55A-UD4P with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus, exactly the same as your proposed configuration. Works nicely for me. FWIW, I picked the OCZ DDR3-1600 Platinum LV (2x2GB) as my RAM...I'm not heavily overclocking so it works for me.

[Pro]

Since you don't intend to use SLI/CrossFire, you can step down to the GA-P55A-UD3P (only thing you lose is SLI certification and the second ethernet port). As far as RAM goes, video editing isn't particularly RAM-hungry so 4GB should be plenty.

As a side note, I'm currently running an i5 750 in a GA-P55A-UD4P with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus, exactly the same as your proposed configuration. Works nicely for me. FWIW, I picked the OCZ DDR3-1600 Platinum LV (2x2GB) as my RAM...I'm not heavily overclocking so it works for me.

Nice! Thanks for the input.

Anyone have any experiences overclocking this chip on air? I have read some good results about the i5 750 hitting 4ghz on air cooling.

[jed]

I built 3 video editing machines a couple of mos back. But I did it with few budget limitations.

I used an i7, nVidia vid card, fast OS HDD and a reliable large data drive as video editing is better when you are putting your data on a seperate drive. These were meant to work with HD stuff, so major horsepower was a must, and let me tell you, they scream.

I'd change to SSD drives for the OS if I were building today. As far as OC'ing etc, I just wanted them to work out of the box with no fooling around. I hate when things don't work.

Some of the video sites have some good insights into what peeps have been using for machines. I just googled a bit to find some.

[tritium4ever]

Nice! Thanks for the input.

Anyone have any experiences overclocking this chip on air? I have read some good results about the i5 750 hitting 4ghz on air cooling.

I'm currently running my system at 3.6GHz (18 x 200) at 1.3V. It's not a particularly aggressive overclock and I'm sure there's a bit more room, but like I said I'm not a heavy overclocker these days so I haven't really tried exploring the boundaries.

[achc]

Budget is approx. $600

CPU: i5 750 Quad Core
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
Ram: unsure
Heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus

My questions are; what type of motherboard do I truly need? I don't care for SLI or Xfire so if I can save a bit without sacrificing the strong foundation I would like that. What type of RAM and how much (8GB??) should suffice for a very snappy/responsive system running Windows 7? Oh and I would like to leave the possibility to do some overclocking in the near future too.

It sounds like you are looking for something similar to what I am looking for.

$600 should do. You don't need the UDP4 if you don't need SLi. The UDP3 has CrossFire as well which is the one I am going to get.

CPU: i5 750 Quad Core - ~$200
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3P - ~$150
Ram: 4GB ~$120
Heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus - ~$25
Your build should come out to no more then $600 tax included.

Personally, I will go with 8GB RAM but many rfder has been telling me that is overkill.

[Pro]

Really appreciate all the help, fellas.

I think I may have to go with an i7. I have been reading that the Hyperthreading really helps with the video encoding, winrar, etc. May have to pick up the i7 920! I guess 6GBs of ram should do too right?

If I were to use an SSD just for the OS, which one would be good? Really not sure on the SSD stuff. I would like to have the OS on the SSD, program installs on 2x120GB RAID 0 drive, downloads on a 500GB drive and videos on the 1TB drive. *OR* ...! Ahhh so many choices.

[tritium4ever]

Really appreciate all the help, fellas.

I think I may have to go with an i7. I have been reading that the Hyperthreading really helps with the video encoding, winrar, etc. May have to pick up the i7 920! I guess 6GBs of ram should do too right?

See here for a direct comparison between the i5 750, i7 860, and i7 920 as it relates to video editing:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3641&p=4

HT provides up to 25% improvement, at about a 50% increase in CPU cost. Whether or not that's worthwhile depends entirely on how much you perform those kinds of multithreaded tasks.

As a side note, you can always go with the i7 860 if you want HT but would rather not spend the premium on the LGA-1366 platform and its triple channel requirements.

[Pro]

Hmmm After looking at that link it seems the i5 750 is pretty much right up there with the i7 CPUs. Sure there's a difference but I'm not sure it's totally worth it. One thing is I was thinking to somehat futureproof my system by going with the 1366 platform but that definitely adds to the costs. From what I've read it doesn't seem like there wil be any new chips for the 1566 platform.

Guess I could skip out on the whole HT and just get more ram.

Thanks for the link bud!

[flyz]

Hmmm After looking at that link it seems the i5 750 is pretty much right up there with the i7 CPUs. Sure there's a difference but I'm not sure it's totally worth it. One thing is I was thinking to somehat futureproof my system by going with the 1366 platform but that definitely adds to the costs. From what I've read it doesn't seem like there wil be any new chips for the 1566 platform.

Guess I could skip out on the whole HT and just get more ram.

Thanks for the link bud!

i5 750 is a great bang for buck chip and will be fine for most. The only chips that are really new will come in a years time when Intel does its 'Tock' and releases Sandy Bridge. Anything between now and then are just speed bumps of existing chips (which you could do by overclocking yourself...).

I don't know if you should go into SSD with that budget. The cheapest SSD I would get is an Intel X25v 40GB.

[Pro]

i5 750 is a great bang for buck chip and will be fine for most. The only chips that are really new will come in a years time when Intel does its 'Tock' and releases Sandy Bridge. Anything between now and then are just speed bumps of existing chips (which you could do by overclocking yourself...).

I don't know if you should go into SSD with that budget. The cheapest SSD I would get is an Intel X25v 40GB.

I think I'll increase the budget a bit to get a good SSD. I really don't know which one to get though. Don't wanna break bank for one too much and don't require a really big one. Just want really fast speed at a nice price. Can you recommend a good drive?

[terrybear]

You probly want to shoot of course for a 30-64 gig one. with probly reads close to the mid 200's & writes in the upper 100's. As well as if you plan to put Win 7 on it you'll also want one that will support "Trim".

OCZ Vertex is a solid line of SSD's to choose from. Kinston's I believe 2nd generation V series that has just came out has "Trim" support as well though not the high preformance of say the OCZ Vertex in the same size.

There is a thread in here by another user whom suposivly reviews SSD drives for a site, you probly are best to post in there & ask his advice on what to get with how much & what size of drive you'd like to buy for a OS drive.