Which computer for video and DVD's?

[Marc Lurie]

Hi all,

I am looking at upgrading my current computer (1.3GHz Intel, with 512MB RAM, Radeon 9600 graphics card, and 180GB HDD) to use almost exclusively for film editing and DVD authoring.

I use a Dazzle DV capture card, Pinnacle V9 software or Adobe Premier, and I author DVD's as a part-time hobby/pocket money generator.

Currently my computer edits without hitches, but the rendering process takes ages. A 90 minute DVD can take upwards of 12 hours to render.

What should I upgrade to? I have been recommended a 3.4GHz Intel 775 machine with 1GB of DDR400 RAM, and 2 x 300GB HDD's. What do you think?

What actually determines the speed at which you can edit/render/author etc? Is it RAM, Processor, graphics card, or all three?

Regards,

Marc

[dynamited]

I`d say its a combination of CPU, RAM and Hard disk speed. I`d say Intel is better for high processing tasks... cause my AMD 2800 is crap when it comes to rendering. Maybe its a problem with my setup... so keep that on the side.

Try go for Serial ATA hard disks... which have decent cache... and access speeds. But dont go for a massive hard drive.. which would then be an IDE model with crap 2MB cache. Get your `working` drive to be a Serial ATA, with 8mb Cache. Also.. check its rpm.... 10,000rpm drives are surely going to help do it quicker. But usually... big massive hard drives are slower than their smaller counterparts.

You might also want to check if a dual processor setup would boost it further.... check on Adobe`s and Pinnacle`s websites if their products support that...

[jjsaul]

hard drive definately go for SATA, biggest cache you can afford and make sure its at least 7200 rpm, but pref 10,000.

cpu ram and graphics card also come into it yes.

[Marc Lurie]

Thanks for the advice guys. The recommended computer has 2 x SATA drives with 8MB cache and they're 7200RPM. I'll ask the vendor about 10,000RPM drives rather.

What do you think the following computer would cost in the UK?

Intel 3.4GHz 775 board, 800MHz (front end?) speed
1GB DDR400 RAM
Standard desktop case
2 x Seagate 300MB SATA drives
Windows XP Home
No monitor, keyboard, mouse, modem, etc.

Marc

[P00DLE]

id go for amd athlon in the shape of
AMD Athlon 64 4000 Clawhammer 130nm (Socket 939)
Gigabyte K8NXP-SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard
Crucial 1GB (2x512MB) DDR PC4000 Ballistix Dual Channel Kit
2 x Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache
Connect3D ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB DDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

unfortunatly the downside is the cost about 1000 Gbp ex vat