hey all i'm upgrading my PC, atm i'm running prem pro 2 with no probs ( truthfully ) editing SD DV video. though i will be ugrading my cpu, ram and video card soon ( once the funds come in lol) Heres the current specs:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-8pe667 PRO
RAM: 1Ghz
CPU: P4 2.4
Video card: 128 Radeon 9000 Pro AGP
Firewire IEEE1394 for SD DV capture

What i will be upgrading to:

Mobo: same as above, i am keeping the same mobo so the graphics card with HAVE to be AGP, not PCI-E.

RAM: 2Ghz (Max supported by Mobo)
CPU: P4 3.06 (Max supported by Mobo)

Video card: Now this will be a toss up between the :

ATI Radeon X1950 PRO Turbo 512MB AGP

or the

Nvidia 7800 GS 512 MB AGP

Both cards come in 256MB and 512MB variants, with video editing would i notice the difference with the 512 over the 256 ? is it worth it ? i am upgrading the cpu and ram regardless but i thought i would ask the expert on the video card.

With the following upgrades what can i expect, a big jump ? noticable redering/video saving times ??

Be kind i'm a newb ( this is a hobby pc, and will not be for pro editing )

Thanks regards Marty.

If you plan to upgrade to vista and want all the visual effects, 256mb is required for your graphics card, don't know how much price difference there is between the 256 or 512mb version but you won't notice any difference in the speed when editing or rendering your footage. If you plan to play games then only it would be a benefit because some games allready require 512mb memory, but then the graphics card would be limited by the speed of your upgraded processor. You need a real fast processor if you want to utilize the graphics card completely when playing graphic intensive games.
My advise would be to stick with the 256mb version as you probably will save some money and won't notice the difference.

Don't expect too much from an 2,4 to 3gig processor upgrade though, ok, you will notice faster rendering times but nothing mindblowing, if you would go from a 2,4 to an core 2 duo extreme then it would blow you away but then you needed to buy a new pc and you had to sell your house to fund it.

Also with your current settings stick with sd material, once you switch to hdv your upgrader won't cut it, it is possible but your system will have a tough time.
The 2gig memory in your system is plenty to work with sd material, also for after effects.

i wont be upgrading to visa, as XP is doing me fine.The card is not for playing games ( maybe some if i get bored ) but for SD DV video editing. I had a feeling the GFX card may be limited by the cpu, but every bit helps. So i will go with the 256mb GFX card i'm leaning towards the HIS Hightech ATI Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ 3 Turbo 256MB AGP.
i know going from 2.4 to 3ghz is not the biggest boost but like i said every bit helps ( and its the most powerful cpu the board can handle ). i wont be editing HD with this box, and have no plans to in the near future ( all my cams are SD DV ) so i dont have to worry about that. Thanks for the advice should be fine and even better to edit SD with no probs with the upgrades. Thanks NOA.

PS: anyone else have any views/advice ?

Computers have been a hobby of mine since a very young age. I like to do just about everything with them including build them.

Trust me when I say that it's not the speed of the processor, it's how the information is handled. Very true a Intel Duo Extreme would break the bank... but an Intel Duo (just the Duo not the Extreme version) will be by far faster in rendering then hyper threading processor (I'm assuming that's what your talking about).

Instead of dropping the cash to get a new video card I would get a new motherboard and processor. You would see much better results. The video cards you're talking about will only really help with gaming. It does cost a little more but you won't be disappointed.

If you need to stay in a budget with your RAM you can go with AMD's Athlon 64 x2 939 pin processor and still use your RAM. I would advise to save your pennies and get the Intel Duo and DDR2 however. It will allow for more upgrade ability in the future (that X2 939 will fade out) and still give you a real decent system.

Also, I would try to get a motherboard that supports both AGP and PCIe. That will allow for you to upgrade in the future without throwing away your video card. Video cards are going towards PCIe for a reason. I made the mistake of building a system the way you are thinking about... and now I regret it.

Not to put a plug in or anything... but I like to go through TigerDirect.com Super Buys - Computer Parts, PC Components, Desktop Computers, Laptops, Notebooks. I've never had a problem ordering through them in the last 5 years of dealing with them. Prices are competitive... but don't forget to include shipping in overall cost.

Hope this helps.

Actually I would just buy a new pc every 3 years instead of upgrading, because upgrading an older pc costs a lot en the speed gain you get from it is not that much, further you often have to deal with compatibility problems, memorytypes you can't find anymore because there not manufactured anymore and so on.
I do agree that a good mixture of quality hardware makes the difference, not necesarily the fastest components.
F.i. my pc is now 2 years old, back then it was a high end DELL pc, my wife bought a new lowend pc some weeks ago, which was very cheap (1/3 of what I paid back then) and this pc (a HP) has the same specs as mine.
Now my pc reacts much faster then the HP, it doesnt' matter if you open, let's say, photoshop or just start up the pc, in every aspect it "feels" like the DELL has a much faster processor while it doens't.
Pc's have become quite cheap compared to 2 years ago, especially amd dualcores pc's are a "bargain", even if they can't match the intel processor speeds you get a decent and cheaper system which is a bit slower, especially in the X2 4600 range were prices are very competitive.

For video editing often is said that the processor speed makes the difference, if your working with hdv, then you need a dualcore but will the fastest available processor compared to an entry core duo make that much difference? It all comes down to how you handle your projects. The projects I work with involve 3 hours of footage resulting in a 50 minute 'movie'. During normal editing you won't notice a difference with different speeds of processors. I allways split my projects into different sequences and render those seperately into dv-avi',s, there you will notice a difference but maybe a few minutes all together. If I make a mistake I don't have to re-render a 50 minute movie again but just a small chapter of it and in adobe encore I can combine all different avis to one 50 minute movie again.

Therefore, even the slowest core 2 duo or a x2 amd processor is fast enough and compared to 2 years ago, very cheap if you take the speed difference into consideration when handling hdv.

I'd go for more RAM... when I use a few of the beefy programs 1GB of RAM is not enough... try and go for 2GB.