Tell us your High Specced Spec

irishmark · #1 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 01:53 PM

The idea behind this is for people looking to build their own systems. They can look at the spec of proven systems and ask about them directly and copy the specs if they so wish.

My Current Machine's Spec is as follows, This spec is 2 years old less the CPU. Originally i only had a single core CPU but last September i upgraded to Dual Core.

Motherboard: Asus A8N SLI Deluxe.
Ram: 2GB = 4 x 512 3200 Sitcks DDR
CPU: AMD Athlon DualCore 3800
Hard Drives: 2 x 36BG 10k RPM Wester Digital Raptors - Operating System Raid. 2 x 120GB 7200RPM Western Digital Caviars - Media Raid
GFX Card: MSI NVidea 6600 SLI ready
DVD Burner: Pioneer
PSU: Antec 600W
Case: Antec TX1010a

Software used:

Sony Vegas 6 & 7
Adobe Premier Pro1 & 2
Adobe After Effects 6.5 Pro & 7 Pro
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Adobe Encore
Sony DVD Architect
Sorensen Squeeze
Windows Media Encoder
Quicktime Pro

Mark W · #2 (**permalink**) 02-10-2007, 02:29 PM

Motherboard: Gigabyte 965p
Ram: 2GB = 2 x 1 gig sticks, 664Mhz
CPU: Intel core duo 2.16 Ghz
Hard Drives: 1 x 36BG 10k RPM Wester Digital Raptor - Operating System. 1 x 320GB, 1 x 400GB 7200RPM Western Digital Caviars - Media. Removable HD caddy for backups to 3 other drives.
G card: Low spec dx9 radeon - I dont play games and my s ware does not use g card for much.
DVD Burner: Writemaster (?) 18x
PSU: Generic 450w
Case: El Cheapo.
Monitors - 4 x 19 inch CRT all at 1600x1200 - I like a big desk top as it makes editing easier.
Sound monitoring - Cambridge audio A5 amp, JBL mini monitors with matched sub.

Software used:
Sony Vegas 7
Sony DVD Architect
Windows Media Encoder
VirtualDub

I recently had this system built and it performs flawlessly. Dual core is a must for editing if you can afford it. I regret not speccing 'safe' raid for the media drives but swapping a zillion gigs of media about now would be a pain so I aint going to do it. The caddy is great, having off line backups keeps the paranoia at bay, some stuff is even backed up twice on different drives. Also note other esssentials for me, coffee, fags, very comfy chair.

noa · #3 (**permalink**) 03-08-2007, 09:28 PM

A 1,5 year old system but perfect for those that don't want to spend too much on an editing machine wich handles sd material like a breeze. Mind you that this system costed 1500euro then but you can get it now a lot cheaper.

Motherboard: Dell own brand
Ram: 1024mb ddr2 400 (2x512)
CPU: P4 640 (3,2gig, 800fsb, 2mb cache)
INternal Hard Drives: 1 x 74Gb 10k RPM Wester Digital Raptor - 1 x 250GB Western Digital Sata disk - 1 x 250GB Maxtor ata disk
EXternal Hard Drives: 1 x 160gb western digital - 1 x 250gb western digital
GFX Card: 256mb ATI X850XT PE
DVD Burner: Philips
Soundcard: none, integrated 5.1 on motherboard
Screen: a 19 inch medion crt

Software used:

Windows xp home
Premiere Pro 1.5
Adobe After Effects 7 Pro
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Adobe Encore 1,5
Canopus procoder 2.0
Sorensen Squeeze
Abrosoft Fantamorph
Sony Cincescore 1.0
Photozoom professional
Nero 6

Some DELL systems can be very tricky to upgrade, Since only 2 harddrives were possible to build in I had to disconnect the dvd reader to connect an additional internal 250 gig ata disk.
The 74gb WD contains only windows and all programs
The 250gig internal maxtor is for personal data
The 250g internal wd is dedicated for editing footage.
The 160g external wd is also dedicated for editing footage
The 250g external wd is for backup

Some tweaking settings:

The pc is not connected to the internet, has no firewall or virusscanner.
When windows starts and if nothing else is opened windows consumes 140mb memory. (26 processes in total)
I used xplite professional to delete as much as possible unwanted programs from the system.
The paging file has been set to a fixed size of 2,5gig
Visual effects was set to best performance
System restore has been turned of on all drives
windows update has been disabled
With the "run" and "services.msc" command some services were disabled, don't remember which but I used some settings that were advised on a videoeditingsite.
I use ccleaner regular to delete temporary files and some more not necessary files.
I use pagedefrag from sysinternals to defragment paging and other files were windows defragmentation doens't have access to.
At least once a month I defragment my drives.
Norton ghost has been used to back up the entire system, in case some serious goes wrong I have windows complete with all programs up and running in 15 minutes.

BML · #4 (**permalink**) 03-12-2007, 10:21 AM

None of you seem to use Pinnacle Studio 10.6 for editing. Should this tell me something and if so is there more consensus on what editing system a novice with limited editing ambitions should use than there is regarding what PC for editing?
My ambitions are simple:
1. To transfer VHS footage to DVDs editing it on the way.
2. To get rid of rubbish like watching a pond fill up.
3. To apply titles carrying comments.
4. To apply transitions to fade in and out.
5. To apply voice overs.

irishmark · #5 (**permalink**) 03-12-2007, 10:26 AM

Not at all dude! I am a professional editor and my spec is listed as a professional setup. These listings here are simple here as a guide to what we find works the best.

Obvously not everyone will want or be able to afford to build systems or purchase softwares that we use.

If your setup works for you and you are happy with it then keep going with it. However should you ever want to step up your game then you can start by looking at this thread to see what others who are very serious about editing use.

JUANOXX · #6 (**permalink**) 03-29-2007, 06:35 AM

asus striker extreme
intel kentsfiel (quad coreqx6700)
8gb ram 800 mhz ocz
sistem raid 2x80 or system
software raid 2x160 gb
editing raid 4 x 500 seagate barracudas
external 2x 250 seagate esata thing
monitor 3x 20 wide screen
matrox rt x2 video card
gpu 2xpny 8800 gtx 1.5gb video
thermaltake armor

sistem dual setup 32/64 bit win xp

aplications

adobe creative suite
combustion, digital fusion,maya 8.5, 3dsmax 9 (64 bit versions)

irishmark · #7 (**permalink**) 03-29-2007, 06:39 PM

Juan, that sounds delicious! - Can i have one? - What was the final cost of that setup?

Mihai · #8 (**permalink**) 03-29-2007, 09:22 PM

That's hell of an edit station!

Raj · #9 (**permalink**) 03-31-2007, 10:49 AM

Bit of advice/recommendations please guys.

Looks like I'm finaly in the market to build a pc just for me to use for editing (no kids allowed)

Definately getting a Core duo probably either the E6600 or E6400.

With regards to motherboards I'm willing to spend upto and around the £100 pound mark. At that price level is there much between the main manufacturers? I thought perhaps of this one

http://www.cocc.co.uk/Itemdesc.asp?CartId={F4D13F23-6AEVEREST67-4E40-AC9A-3CBE14C2860F}&ic=GA965PDQ6&eq=&Tp=

I have a gigabyte board in my current pc and have never had any problems with it at all but does anyone have any other recommendations or have found a board that works really well with the core duo's.

As well as that any other recommendations for the rest of the system other than lots of ram and HDD space which goes without saying.

michaeld · #10 (**permalink**) 04-01-2007, 11:26 AM

Hello all. New guy reporting in. I'm happy to be here and hope to learn a lot from all of you. I'm new to video editing but not new to PCs or networking; by trade, I'm a System Administrator for a 1K+ person company. Servers and PCs are my thing.

I'm a gaming geek and good gaming hardware pretty much falls in line with a good editing PC.

My PC's specs are as follows. This machine was built back in Nov 06. I use it daily for everything and am very happy with it.

Motherboard: Gigabyte DS-3 Rev1.0 (F10 BIOS).
Ram: 2GB = 2 x 1GB Corsair PC6400 DDR2 3200
CPU: Intel C2D E6400 @ 3.2GHz
Hard Drives: 3 x 320GB Seagate 7900.10 SATA:
- 1 partitioned out for OS/Programs/Games/Storage/Ghost
- 1 for raw DV capture
- 1 for destination/render to drive
- 1 external USB drive (Seagate 300GB IDE) for backups/storage
GFX Card: EVGA GeForce 7900GTO
Firewire Card: No name 1394 card...works great
DVD Burner: NEC 3550A
PSU: Antec 550W TruePower 2.0
Case: Antec P180
Monitor: Dell 2407WFP (RevA04)
Speakers: Old Labtec 2.1 set...old and crusty but work OK
Keyboard & Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Desktop Elite & IntelliMouse 2.0

Software used:

Sony Vegas Movie Studio 7 (just purchased this last week and am fairly lost!)
Sony DVD Architect
Windows Media Encoder
Windows Movie Maker (been using for awhile, but found it limiting)
Nero 7/Nerovision (same as WindowsMM)
WinXP Pro SP2 (with all latest updates/patches)