Less than Perfect video editing PC

whatever_works · #1 (**permalink**) 10-28-2006, 11:46 PM

Due to my financial disposition I have decided to build myself a compromised system for video edditing. Not the latest parts but what is reasonably priced.

It will be based on the Core2 Duo E6400 processor,
I am looking at a 80 gig drive for the OS, a raid 0 of 2 sata II drives to provide video storage (both raw and finished), 2 Gig of memory will have to suffice but with expandability to 4, more than enough video card, win xp pro, and a power suply that is more than enough.
I'm really not that up on part specs and I'm trying to choose a motherboard so I can move on to the other parts.
A guy in a local shop (moving on from dell finally) who may be my assembler told me to consider these bellow.
anyone have an opinion ?
Thanks for your time

Rick

Asus P5B Deluxe w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, SATA II, 1394, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file& ... 7&SID=

Asus P5B-E w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file& ... 2&SID=

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file& ... 0&SID=

Intel Desktop Board D975XBXLKR w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, 1394, Crossfire Dual PCI-
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file& ... 4&SID=

Mark W · #2 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 12:50 AM

I am suprised you think that is a compromise !

The parts you mention make a killer editing system....

Going from 2 gig of ran to 4 isnt really needed and wont result in any great performance increase, unless you have apps open simultaneously, lots of them. I commonly have 2 editors running, word, 10 explorers, msn, virtual dub, music player, and more, and even when rendering in one editor everything is smooth.

Only thing i would suggest is a fast drive for the system, i have a 10000 rpm raptor and it defintitely improves system responsiveness. Going from 1 gig to 2 of ram only made a small improvement and only then when my commit charge was huge due to lots being open, I run 4 1600 x 1200 screens and keep lots open.

What you have is no compromise, dont worry.

GTWCMT · #3 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by whatever_works

It will be based on the Core2 Duo E6400 processor,
I am looking at a 80 gig drive for the OS, a raid 0 of 2 sata II drives to provide video storage (both raw and finished),

The processor is fine, what I would look at for your drives are a 40Gig SATA for the OS,
If you are reading and writing to the same RAID array, you wont benefit from speed boost,
You can write RAW to a Single SATA2 as you should be able to match the data rate with the disc's speed - I know that the WD2000JD will run at 50MB/s

As the disc performance from the read and the write drives will play a factor in the rendering and processing time, its best to use seperate arrays.

I would also consider not keeping your final work on a RAID array disc as if one should fail the whole array will fail and loss all the data.

2 Gig of memory will have to suffice but with expandability to 4,

Two Gigabytes are fine for most work, if you delve into more complex work then upgrade. Once you have installed and updated XP Pro you will find that most OS processes will fill around 715MB of the swapfile and Cached PF as well as your RAM (not equally). You should take a good look at the clock cycles on the RAM as the lower you get the faster you can work.

more than enough video card, win xp pro, and a power suply that is more than enough.

Check the motherboards site to ensure that the power supply is right for that board, We have read reports on some PSU which cannot run the board, You will need to check the amp's and the wattages, Most users had to upgrade their PSU's with 550 and 600 Watt PSUs to make the system run.

Asus P5B-E w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file& ... 2&SID=

I would take this one. It is a current board and has a good specification. With All Asus products, you will need to update the bios on a regular basis until they iron out the issues that they have.

Mark W · #4 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 12:13 PM

I would advide safe raids, not fast, not sure of the technocal term. Standard sata drives are fast enough for video editing in nearly all cases except uncompresed hd, and really you only use that in hollywood editng stuff of 100 grand cameras.

With safe raid you will nevr lose any video but you do need twice the drive capacity for the same amont avaialble.

edit- I have actually edited uncompressed sd footage of an ordinary sata and it worked fine.

Data rates - http://www.blackmagic-design.com/sup....asp?techID=30

My sata drives b mark at 55 mb/s so you can see from the table linked to that it is only uncompressed hd with a data rate of up to 200 mb/s that needs fast raid arrays. PAL SD is 'only' 26mb/s