New PC for Video Editing

Hi

I need a new pc to use for video editing using Adobe Production Premium CS4 and would like some suggestions.
I am looking at spending about £800 but if needed can increase that amount to get a better pc. The budget also includes a monitor minimum 22 inches.

Thank you.

Are we talking a self-build, or a pre-built PC?

A pre-built PC, thanks

Anon,

One thing that you could do is order a low spec Dell desktop (not a slim case) with a good quad core CPU, decent PSU and loaded with the Windows 7 64bit OS. Then customise it yourself with a Nvida Cuda 1GB GPU, at least 8GB of RAM and fit a second SATA 1TB HDD to use for working on your video files. A blu-ray read/write drive might also be useful or a third HDD over usb3 for archiving your video files.

A 22" 1920x1080 Acer monitor, or similar, shouldn't be any more than £130.

Choose the best GPU that you can get within your budget�

Best of luck.

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx...

On the scrolling options, the i5 CPU is preferred (the i7 is not that better for the money in this instance).

You can add a second 500GB hard drive (unless you really need it, I wouldn't bother with the RAID options) for extra space and/or backups.

Depending on your editing needs, you might consider taking the 8GB RAM option (2 x 4096).


That lot comes in at £759.

Generally I would recommend a self-build for certain reasons, but in some ways it's easier this way. You can probably get a similar spare hard drive for much less than £140, but if you are not inclined to install it, then your options are limited.

Bear in mind there are no speakers, and no mention of sound on that system. Might be owrth a quick call to Dell to see if there's onboard sound on the motherboard. If not, add a sound card too, and it's £809.


For video editing you generally want lots of RAM and CPU, and probably HDD space. Unless dealing with really high-end 3D stuff, the graphics card is less of an issue.

I'm a PC user and make the odd video here and there, but to be honest, if your doing video's for any kind of semi professional reasons. You better get a MAC as the visual quality on video's and graphics is far much better.

If your doing anything else other then video's and graphics, then buy a pc.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I'm a PC user and make the odd video here and there, but to be honest, if your doing video's for any kind of semi professional reasons. You better get a MAC as the visual quality on video's and graphics is far much better.

If your doing anything else other then video's and graphics, then buy a pc.

Within an £800 budget?

camieabz,

That Dell deal looks pretty good - adding more RAM and the second HDD options look very expensive though!

It probably does have adequate onboard sound for editing purposes.

Prefer Nvidia Cuda GPU's myself especially for editing AVCHD and HD .mov/H.264 stuff though...

Wait a sec.

Those prices are Ex-VAT. Inc VAT it's closer to a grand in price. If it's for a business, then the Ex-VAT price may be ok.

I wouldn't have thought the Mac Mini was the best option for video editing.

camieabz,

I was thinking more in terms of one of these http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-620/fs i.e. the £349 deal and customise that oneself, plus add an Acer 22" monitor.

Guess a i3-2120 Processor may not be adequate though...however I edit HD stuff with a Core 2 Duo 2.93 GHz without too many problems...

Thanks guys for all the help. I shall have a look at the dell recommendations get back to you guys on what you think. The budget of amount excludes vat.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I'm a PC user and make the odd video here and there, but to be honest, if your doing video's for any kind of semi professional reasons. You better get a MAC as the visual quality on video's and graphics is far much better.

If your doing anything else other then video's and graphics, then buy a pc.

What a load of rubbish, where on earth did you hear that from

A windows based is as capable of doing video editing as a Apple mac, in fact a windows based PC have more choice of software.

I use Sony Vegas myself, a fantastic video editor and i can tell you what comes out is as good as what comes out of my friends Apple Mac.

video and graphics make little difference to the final video, in fact ti don't make any difference at all, even if you say about the quality being better.

Apple Macs uses AMD video chips, so no different to what a lot of P.C runs.

People do come out with some trash

I do a fair bit of video editing, both SD and HD, I do use Sony Vegas and not Adobe lets see how much processing power we can take to run our software premier, but I do like After effects mind you.

Anyway, memory, as much memory as you can get, lots of hard drive space, because if you are going to go into Hd, you will need it.

My set up is AMD Phenom II quad core 3.5 CPU with 8GB of ram. My video card is a bit old a Nvidia 9400GT, but it does the job as the video card is not a major thing.

I can edit HD up to about 3 or 4 tracks depending on the effects in use.

A lot of people will say go for a Intel CPU, I like AMD.


Monitor wise I got a Hanns-G HH221, fully HD, it was just over the £100, but the latest model is under the ton now

Bad time to buy because of HD prices. ot sure if it has affected pre-builds yet, but something to keep in mind.

You make some very good points Adrian

Also a lot of money can be saved simply by using a good intermediate codec for editing: some folks spend a fortune on hardware just to edit native HD H.264 camera files directly when they could spend much less on a codec such as CineForm neoscene, use free codecs such as Matrox and DNxHD or even use proxies.

A modest pc can very easily be used for efficiently editing HD stuff.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

You make some very good points Adrian

Also a lot of money can be saved simply by using a good intermediate codec for editing: some folks spend a fortune on hardware just to edit native HD H.264 camera files directly when they could spend much less on a codec such as CineForm neoscene, use free codecs such as Matrox and DNxHD or even use proxies.

A modest pc can very easily be used for efficiently editing HD stuff.

I presume by proxy you mean editing with Sd and then replacing them with HD footage. I have done that.

To prove a point, a mate of mine have just edited a video with Vegas, using a AMD athlon II 3Ghz and 2GB of ram.

Here is the video


Some clips are from my mates Camera, some are from mine, The studio shots are mine. A couple are stock footage from Russia today
so some HD and some Sd
Nice to see my name up on credits

In reply to a post by 12eason:

Bad time to buy because of HD prices. ot sure if it has affected pre-builds yet, but something to keep in mind.

This is the problem at the moment, Hard prices are pretty high.

I just had a look as i have not really noticed the prices and yes, they are high.

Actually for the £140 for the extra HDD, it would be better to buy a 2TB external for half of that from somewhere like Ebuyer or Dabs (or a place of one's own preference).

You wan't get a 2TB external drive for that price now. More like £110. But the cheapest way to get a bare drive would probably be to buy an external one, take the disk out, and throw away the enclosure.

Mmm. I keep forgetting that google's prices are "from £xx". I wish the dodgy price companies could get filtered out.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Mmm. I keep forgetting that google's prices are "from £xx". I wish the dodgy price companies could get filtered out.

Dell yuk, loss leader is all they are, and they charge over the odds for what hardware they throw in their boxes,and most are limited when it comes to upgrading them, best would option would be a custom built

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Mmm. I keep forgetting that google's prices are "from £xx". I wish the dodgy price companies could get filtered out.

Dell yuk, loss leader is all they are, and they charge over the odds for what hardware they throw in their boxes,and most are limited when it comes to upgrading them, best would option would be a custom built

Did you read?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

A pre-built PC, thanks

That's an excellent 1080p video Adrian - what form of compression did you use for rendering it, i.e. codec and bit rate?

Possibly a few problems with de-interlacing, although barely noticeable

12eason,

I didn't realise how the prices of internal HDD's have escalated - looks like they have nearly doubled in price during the past year!

Nice vid. Must have missed that post earlier. Handy TBB meter tester too at 1080p. Getting line speeds after midnight.

I believe that the flooding in Thailand has seriously affected production.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/thailand-floods-cou...

In reply to a post by 4M2:

That's an excellent 1080p video Adrian - what form of compression did you use for rendering it, i.e. codec and bit rate?

Possibly a few problems with de-interlacing, although barely noticeable

I did not render or edit it, my mate done that, I just done a tiny bit of camera work. He would have used the codec in Vegas which is the mainconcept one, I presume he left it at default with is 25Mbps.

I noticed a couple of interlace problems, but I can't remember where i seen them. I will have to go over and sort it out at the weekend, just have to change the settings in Vegas.

My mate is getting good at video editing now, but then I suppose being a singer/song writer helps as you get that flair for artistic stuff.

The main problem we both have is our Cameras, not because they are no good, but they are so light that it can sometimes be difficult to keep them still.

Both are JVCs, fantastic little cameras, mine amazes me as it cost £200 for a full Hd camcorder and the quality is amazing.

The next thing I want is a Zoom, the built in microphones are fine on the camcorder, but there is no stereo separation because they are too close together and mine is mono anyway.

Most of the time for John it don't matter as he shoots music videos so use audio from the studio.

I can't play HD from You tube without buffering it first, my broadband speed is not fast enough. that is about the only time I do get annoyed with my broadband speed.


thanks for the comments,

In reply to a post by 4M2:

12eason,

I didn't realise how the prices of internal HDD's have escalated - looks like they have nearly doubled in price during the past year!

I did not realise either until I looked yesterday, I think I will put my 1GB drive on hold for a while.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Nice vid. Must have missed that post earlier. Handy TBB meter tester too at 1080p. Getting line speeds after midnight.

cheers, I can't play the 1080p from you tube unless i buffer.

I did have a look on you tube to see what it was like.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

cheers, I can't play the 1080p from you tube unless i buffer.

I had to buffer too. Not by much though, but it's another reminder that the minimum speeds required for an enjoyable online experience are moving and will continue to do so. Should we jump the gun and call for a 100% 20Meg coverage by 2013?

Adrian,

Yes, you are certainly getting very good quality footage from the JVC - is that the one you got from QVC several months ago?

I find that Vegas doesn't deinterlace particularly well even when using "interpolation" rather than "blend". For best results I use an AviSynth script with VirtualDub: the QTGMC deinterlacer plug-in for AviSynth really is exceptionally good, i.e. this script for 1080 50i AVCHD stuff etc.:

DirectShowSource("My_Video.mts")
AssumeTFF()
QTGMC( Preset="Slow" )

Camera shake can also be removed very effectively with the VirtualDub Deshaker plug-in - one can stabilise with Vegas 10 pro and platinum also but, like with deinterlacing, the free apps (AviSynth and VirtualDub) and plug-ins are better.

Best of luck choosing a good microphone - if you can get a "deadcat" to eliminate wind noise that would be very handy for outdoor work...

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Adrian,

Yes, you are certainly getting very good quality footage from the JVC - is that the one you got from QVC several months ago?

Only the shots in the studio are mine. the ones outside with Shari, and at the airport was done by my mate on his JVC Sd camcorder, but that is pretty good as well to be honest.


Yes, the Camcorder was the one I got from QVC, I am amazed at the quality for the price of it, My mates studio is not that brightly lit as you can see, only a few lamps stuck around and it is only a small studio in the cellar.

I done a video of our Cathedral a few days back just for a bit of fun, used the zoom with anti-sake and was amazed at how good it was even at full zoom.

Not going to use anti-shake that much as it does have a couple of issues, but still impressive and the detail it got from parts of the building I would never see close up.


I was chatting to another mate last night, well more of a acquaintance than a mate, I built is his computer that he uses for video editing, he does it as a business and makes his money from it. Anyway, he been so impressed by my little camcorder that his next camcorder will be a JVC, but the pro end of the market, have have had enough of Sony.

I find that Vegas doesn't deinterlace particularly well even when using "interpolation" rather than "blend". For best results I use an AviSynth script with VirtualDub: the QTGMC deinterlacer plug-in for AviSynth really is exceptionally good, i.e. this script for 1080 50i AVCHD stuff etc.:

DirectShowSource("My_Video.mts")
AssumeTFF()
QTGMC( Preset="Slow" )

I found that Vegas is a bit iffy on deinterlace, but you confused me with the above, I downloaded the stuff, installed AVIsynth and that is as far as I have got so far, I got a few things to do this morning, but will have a look tonight.

Saying that I can't seem to find the part that had the problem now.

Camera shake can also be removed very effectively with the VirtualDub Deshaker plug-in - one can stabilise with Vegas 10 pro and platinum also but, like with deinterlacing, the free apps (AviSynth and VirtualDub) and plug-ins are better.

Got some newblue plugins that helps with camera shake, but the video was made to be a documentary rough type thing anyway, so a bit of camera shake is not ia problem. which is why he did not cut me out completely when I was trying to get down to sound level in t he studio.,
[quote[

Best of luck choosing a good microphone - if you can get a "deadcat" to eliminate wind noise that would be very handy for outdoor work...
[/quote]


i am looking at the Zoom H1 or Zoom H2, H1 is cheaper and I have heard the quality form it, pretty good, not sure what the stereo separation is like, the H2 certainly got stereo separation, how they do it considering how close the mics are I don't know.

We seem to be taking over this thread in the wrong forum.

To be honest I also wouldn't touch Dell as their built quality have dropped off a cliff recently and a friend of mine says that the large company he works for is so annoyed at Dell due to this and poor business support they are dropping them when the contract is up next year.

If you want a pre built PC look around for a local independant PC shop, my computer was built by one near me with my specifications and parts and they put it all together for me.

They even put a 1 year warrenty onto it as well.

As for videos 8 gig minimum is required and you may have to bite the bullet and go for a big drive which is essential if you are doing any form of video capturing.

Top end Processors and video cards are not so essential, I have a Core2 quad core at 2.83 GHz and a mid range graphics card and can still render in HD, it just takes a bit longer to process.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

To be honest I also wouldn't touch Dell as their built quality have dropped off a cliff recently and a friend of mine says that the large company he works for is so annoyed at Dell due to this and poor business support they are dropping them when the contract is up next year.

I have never been that impressed with Dell products, always thought they was over priced for what they offered.

If you want a pre built PC look around for a local independant PC shop, my computer was built by one near me with my specifications and parts and they put it all together for me.

They even put a 1 year warrenty onto it as well.

Good idea if there is a decent independent PC store around where the OP lives. None around here, they all seem to want to rip people off and muck up computers they have in for repairs.

If the Op wants to go for prebuilt, then try something like Acer or go from something from Scan.

As for videos 8 gig minimum is required and you may have to bite the bullet and go for a big drive which is essential if you are doing any form of video capturing.

8Gig?

If the price is right then fine, but my mates get by on a lot less than that, true more is better, but 4Gig will do the job.,

Top end Processors and video cards are not so essential, I have a Core2 quad core at 2.83 GHz and a mid range graphics card and can still render in HD, it just takes a bit longer to process.

Graphics cards don't render, most of it is done by the CPU, true, that some software do use certain hardware acceleration on graphic cards.

Hard drive as already been said the larger the better, certainly when dealing with HD footage.

Adrian,

Rather than take over this thread with our discussion and if you are interested in working with AviSynth for deinterlacing AVCHD etc. then you will need the VirtualDub app plus the FFMS2 (if you don't have the CoreAVC codec) and QTGMC-3.32 AviSynth plug-ins. Then the Matrox or CineForm codecs as "editor friendly" AVI export formats for Vegas.

Plenty of discussions about this on the net - particularly in the Doom9 forums etc. - http://code.google.com/p/ffmpegsource/ & http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156028 & http://www.matrox.com/video/en/support/windows/vfw_s...

Edited by 4M2 (Sun 20-Nov-11 16:24:19)

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Adrian,

Rather than take over this thread with our discussion and if you are interested in working with AviSynth for deinterlacing AVCHD etc. then you will need the VirtualDub app plus the FFMS2 (if you don't have the CoreAVC codec) and QTGMC-3.32 AviSynth plug-ins. Then the Matrox or CineForm codecs as "editor friendly" AVI export formats for Vegas.

Plenty of discussions about this on the net - particularly in the Doom9 forums etc. - http://code.google.com/p/ffmpegsource/ & http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156028 & http://www.matrox.com/video/en/support/windows/vfw_s...

Thanks I will have a look later or tomorrow. Having a play around with the trial version of Vegas 11, looks good, but out of my price range

Hi guys,

Have been away for a while hence the silence. I was going to have a look at the dell suggestions but most the comments here seem to suggest those pcs are not good enough. I am now thinking of contacting a local pc shop to compare.
Will you guys be able to come up with a list of components for the system if I should go down that route.

Thanks

Anon,

Try a local computer shop by all means, but I feel a basic Dell low spec, quad core Win7 64bit desktop in to which you can add a graphics card, more RAM and a second HDD might still be your best bet...

Have a look at www.pcspecialist.co.uk, you specify and they build. Spec below would be a very decent PC for video editing, £893 delivered including VAT. Highlights include 8GB RAM, quality Corsair PSU for quietness, upgraded CPU cooler and 24" IIYAMA monitor and all with a 3yr warranty.

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN R3 - BLACK PEARL CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core�i5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON� HD6450 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES� TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£159)

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

sjr,

That looks OK, but does it include an OS? Also the 1TB HDD would probably be best used as a second internal HDD and have another smaller HDD as a first drive for the OS and apps (perhaps maybe a solid state drive?) Also it does not have usb3 connectivity nor SATA III. Nvidia CUDA graphics would also future proof the system if the Adobe video editing software were to be upgraded at a later date, i.e.CS5 for easy handling of HD H.264 stuff.

It has 2 Sata 3, and 2 USB 3 connectors on the motherboard so I have no idea why you say otherwise.

Also with a 1TB drive I would just partition up the drive to have a large partition for data and a smaller one for windows and programs rather than just muck about with a smaller drive in there.

If the OP gets more money and when drive prices become more reasonable another large drive can be ran as an external drive at a later date.

Anon,

Yes, it does have usb3 and SATA III connections on the motherboard but the external usb ports are usb2 and the supplied drive is SATA II.

You obviously don't understand the need for a second drive for video editing: partitioning a single drive would give absolutely no advantage.

And what are those prices in brackets? I assume those are extras on top of the quoted price.

Price includes an OS. Mobo has USB 3.0 and SATA III see http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8...

That spec was a sample, the good thing about pcspecialist.co.uk is that you specify what you want and they build it with quality, standard components rather than the unknown parts the big box shifters use, and their prices are fairly competitive too.

The prices in brackets are the additional cost of the selected option over the default spec and are included in the total price i.e. they have already been added on.

Thanks for that sjr. What do you guys think about the setup? Any other suggestions would really be appreciated.

My mate has said he will build it for me if I am able to get the components together when returns from holiday in a couple of weeks time, will also be get discounted windows 7 (student).

Thank you.

sjr,

If that was just a sample spec, that's fair enough, but I would want external usb3 ports, a SATA III OS hard drive (maybe solid state ~80GB) and use the SATA II 1TB HDD as a second internal for working on video files. The PSU's power and cooling quoted might be more suitable for a gamer perhaps?

4M2,

What will be your suggested spec then? Any other suggestions guys?

Thanks.

Better still buy a cheap solid state and ignore disk drives until the supply has recovered?

I have done plenty of video editing and capturing on SATA II drives with an empty partition with windows sitting on the other.

It is perfectly doable and the way everybody is saying that you NEED sata 3 and SSD's make me laugh as I have been getting great results for years now this way.

The OP did say he was on a budget and until HDD prices fall again and he can get an external 2TB it would work perf3ectly well.

The Phrase Cheap and SSD doesn't really compare, it is still about £1 per Gigabyte for SSD's.

No matter how expensive regular drives are at the moment SSD's still have a lot of price to fall to compare with them.

I see the price for HDs is actually starting to recover a little now. Ebuyer have 'save £xx.xx' on most of their drives. For a while SSDs represented good value.

eta: There are some good deals on SSDs too for that matter: http://www.ebuyer.com/268693-corsair-120gb-force-3-s...

Edited by deleted (Wed 23-Nov-11 09:43:25)

Anon,

I think will have to agree to disagree regarding partitioning of a HDD

The mobo in the spec quoted by srj has SATA III and usb3 functionality but it is not being utilized, hence my suggestion to possibly use a solid state SATA III drive for the OS and apps and the addition of external usb3 connectivity - usb3 being on a par with eSATA for transfer speed.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

Better still buy a cheap solid state and ignore disk drives until the supply has recovered?

Write speed may not be sufficient for video editing but read speed would be great for the OS and apps.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

Better still buy a cheap solid state and ignore disk drives until the supply has recovered?

A SSD unit in a video editing machine is a waste of money unless you also got a mechanical as well.
You need space and plenty of it to store the video files and then the final video.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

4M2,

What will be your suggested spec then? Any other suggestions guys?

Thanks.

Two SATA II drives: one for the OS and apps and the other for working on video files (a SATA III solid state drive could be used for the OS and apps.) At least 8GB of RAM if using Win7 64bit. Nvidia CUDA graphics with 1 GB memory if using Adobe CS4. i5 Quad core processor. usb3 or eSATA for the potential of connecting external drives in the future.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Thanks for that sjr. What do you guys think about the setup? Any other suggestions would really be appreciated.

My mate has said he will build it for me if I am able to get the components together when returns from holiday in a couple of weeks time, will also be get discounted windows 7 (student).

Thank you.

If your mate is going to build one then that is even better, because you can get parts you want, not what someone else think you might want.


Get yourself a decent case and power supply to start with, a decent case will give you room to expand and will last for upgrading.


A decent powersupply will give you reliability, well it should do4, I got myself a thermaltake875 modular, form ebuyer, great value for money, there are smaller wattages if you don't need 800watts.

Corsair are good as well, but the thermaltake for the money is really good.

Asus motherboard, socket AM3, the model I got have now gone discontinued, Asrock also do some good boards. Go for a AM3+ socket if you are going for a AMD set up. I can't help you on Intel as I tend to stay away from Intel, so no very little about them

Asus M5A99X EVO 990X Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard 270698 52 in stock £98.37 £98.37


Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.65V 247677 22 in stock £40.49 £40.49


AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Cache 125W Retail Boxed Processor 186428 34 in stock £111.99 £111.99


Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Case 164961 21 in stock £85.10 £85.10


Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM 173804 > 25 in stock £104.93 £104.93

Thermaltake Toughpower XT 875W Modular PSU - 4x PCI-E 8x SATA 234916 23 in stock £89.99 £89.99


LG BH10LS30 10x BD-RE with DVD±RW SATA Blu-Ray Drive - Retail Box with Software 195145 69 in stock £69.99 £69.99

Cart Cart total inc vat: £600.86



Just something I put together quick from ebuyer., still need to add video card,m but the one built in will do the job, I used my built in one for a couple of months with video editing.


Monitor a Hanns-G £113, this is the one that replaced the one I got, I am happy with mine.

blue-ray writer is useful, but disks are still a bit pricey, per Gigabyte they can work out cheaper than DVDs for storing data on.

Have a look and see what you think, This is what I would go for if I was getting a another computer now, maybe I would go for a six core chip.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

I see the price for HDs is actually starting to recover a little now. Ebuyer have 'save £xx.xx' on most of their drives. For a while SSDs represented good value.

eta: There are some good deals on SSDs too for that matter: http://www.ebuyer.com/268693-corsair-120gb-force-3-s...

SSD will only be good value when you can get a 500Gb for around the £100 mark.


Don't get me wrong I think my SSd unit is great and not a bad price, £120 for a 120Gb unit, but good value for money it was not.


thankfully i got a 500Gb drive as well, but do need a larger drive at some point, but got more important things to get, like a shoulder support for my cam corder and a zoom H1 or H2.

Then hopefully the prices of hard drives will be better.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Anon,

I think will have to agree to disagree regarding partitioning of a HDD

The mobo in the spec quoted by srj has SATA III and usb3 functionality but it is not being utilized, hence my suggestion to possibly use a solid state SATA III drive for the OS and apps and the addition of external usb3 connectivity - usb3 being on a par with eSATA for transfer speed.

A mate of mine was doing video editing on a p4 with a Sata one drive and did a good job most of the time, it was rendering and previewing that it fell down on, which is why I got him to spend a bit of money on a better machine, that is still only a 2Ghx Athlon with Sata II, but it does the trick

Yuk. Over-speced on most parts, and then no graphics card.

Use a good intermediate codec or proxies for editing and almost any machine will do

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Hi guys,

Have been away for a while hence the silence. I was going to have a look at the dell suggestions but most the comments here seem to suggest those pcs are not good enough. I am now thinking of contacting a local pc shop to compare.
Will you guys be able to come up with a list of components for the system if I should go down that route.

Thanks

Lots of RAM, decent CPU, large HDD. Pretty much what's been discussed already. Are Dell's good enough? If going for a pre-build, yes in my opinion. You get what you pay for, and you pay more for any pre-build system.

If self-build, then it's less expensive in some ways (operating system and other software (MS Office) can be expensive), and you should end up with a made to measure PC, however you also have no 'PC' warranty. Your warranty is parts-specific, so many points of contact, and can you trust your mate to bail you out if things go wrong? Does he have the spare kit to test and diagnose your kit? If so, then fine.

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't waste much time with SSD, as you want GB rather than speed. Many of the big HDDs have decent cache sizes, so they will be fast enough for your needs. There might be a reasonable argument for C: being SSD and data on another large drive, but I most of the people I speak to n SSDs aren't impressed enough (yet), due to the slow down factors. It's a speed/capacity/price balance that isn't favourable enough compared to standard HDDs, although the rising price of the latter does make SSDs more favourable at present. You could get a 1TB drive with 64MB cache for the price of a 120GB SSD.

Quad core CPU or better is pretty much all I recommend. Plenty of cache on the CPU is a good thing.

RAM should be 8GB or more, and in as few sticks as possible. It's preferable not to max out the motherboard mem slots from my experience, so two sticks in a four slot mobo is the way to go, but you might find that 4 x 4GB is better than 2 x 4GB if you need more than 8GB. Some motherboards don't care for all slots in use and problems have occurred in the past. If it's triple channel, then 3 x 4GB seems the best way to go (12GB).

The PSU wattage is probably overkill but the nice thing about Corsair PSUs is that they are quiet. I hate noisy PCs After market coolers are also likely to be quieter than stock coolers.
Building from scratch I'd probably go for a Corsair with a lower wattage for such a system but pcspecialist only have a limited range of PSU options and that seemed the best of the bunch. But at least there are PSU and cooler options, something you don't really get with the big box shifters like Dell, HP etc.

You can buy a system without the OS from pcspecialist.co.uk so if you get a student edition of Win7 that will save you a few pennies.

Personally I don't have a problem with PSU's and cooling - a CPU running at 100% usage for long periods when processing videos seems to be more an issue, so I always clean out the CPU's fan and heat sink regularly. A dirty fan and heat sink can cause real problems when editing and processing/rendering HD videos.

Having had a Dell PC that sounded like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier I now like my PCs to be quiet so my last one was a self build with a whisper quiet Antec PSU and after market cooler. The after market cooler means that my i5 CPU never goes above 60C even rendering video with all 4 cores going at 100%. Prior to that the weedy little stock cooler would let the CPU hit 80C and was quite noisy. The loudest thing now on my PC is the hard drive

Here you go op http://i.imgur.com/yTPmK.png You'll be able to get a better graphics card from amazon though, better still if you get the student version of 7.

My Dell Vostro is as quiet as a mouse, except when the DVD drive spins up with a multi-session data DVD disk loaded LOL!

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the input. Based on all the suggestions and other information gathered on the net here is what I have come up with so far. Please let me know if the various components are compatible or if better alternatives can be suggested.

Thanks


Asus P8H67 R3 H67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard - £68.23 (Quickfind - 260484)

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £138.06 (Quickfind - 251596)

Coolermaster Silencio 550 with GX 550W PSU - £79.15 (Quickfind - 267881)

PowerColor HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Dual Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card - £105.82 (Quickfind - 248745)

G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V - £31.80 (Quickfind - 264750)

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - £87.44 (Quickfind - 173804)

Pioneer DVRS19LBK 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM with Labelflash SATA Optical Drive - Retail Box Black with Software - £14.88 (Quickfind - 250228)

Benq G2420HD Full HD TFT LCD 24" HDMI Monitor - £108.11 (Quickfind - 169099)

Case?

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Case?

Coolermaster Silencio 550 with GX 550W PSU - £79.15 (Quickfind - 267881)

Ahh, my mistake. I saw that line and mistook the 'silencio' as the PSU itself.

Any comments on the spec?

All looks pretty decent even though if you're not gaming the graphics card is perhaps a bit of overkill. I'd also be tempted to add a 3rd party CPU cooler as a cool PC is a quiet PC; this is the one I have in my own PC and it does a fantastic job for not a lot of cash
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

CPU is certainly good enough.

Graphics card is (as already mentioned) overkill if not gaming, but certainly up to the job of anything your might want, considering the other kit. It'll handle video and gaming no end.

Decent HDD. I have a 1TB F1 myself (although not as boot, as I had a velociraptor already), and use it for installing games to and keeping backups. Nice and fast for a 7200rpm drive.

8GB Memory - fine! No idea about G-skill though. I tend to use Crucial or Corsair RAM personally, so can't comment.

Not that familiar with the other kit, other than Asus is reputable, as is Coolermaster.


All that of £633 (including VAT?). Remember delivery prices (plus VAT again) too. Not bad at all. It tromps all over my 2+ year old system (velociraptor perhaps wins the HDD category) and it cost more than a grand. I haven't done a search on your mobo, but have you swotted up on the mobo vs RAM vs CPU etc, so you'll be getting the most from all? No point in getting overly slow or fast RAM for a given system. Better to get the RAM just right and save cash or hassle.

Also recommend you consider the extra 120mm fan for that case or reconsider the graphics card. Silent computing isn't always condusive with high-end graphics. Either the cards are noisy, or under cooled. Something to swot on is that card, and if it's likely to suffer from overheating. Sealed silent case + gaming card seems kind of a contradiction (imho). I've used silent cards (with big heat sinks and spreaders). You have to setup plenty of airflow in the case if gaming with them.

Just a heads up. I'm not saying I'm right. Never used the card or the case, so can't do anything other than speculate.

G-skill are good, powercolor.. not so much. The monitor might be a bit lacking for professional work too.

Thanks guys, shall look into the suggested items mentioned.

The spec I came up with was based on reaving the reviews on ebuyer and doing a few searches so not sure if a component is too much for what I need or less. The prices exclude vat (not paying vat).

12season

What monitor would you recommend?

LG or Samsung. Benq is a value brand.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

Yuk. Over-speced on most parts, and then no graphics card.

Why is it over speced? apart from the motherboard it is almost the same system I use now. Buy something with less spec and give it a couple of years or so and you wi9ll be thinking of replacing again and don't forget the OP is going to use Adobe premier and believe me that bit of software is resource hungry. I used a evaluation version, never gain.

The reason I did not put a graphic card is because I know very little about them as there are so many different models it is difficult to choose one.

I will need a new one at some point, but finding it hard to know what to get, I expect I will go for a AMD one next time

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Use a good intermediate codec or proxies for editing and almost any machine will do

I use proxies for HD editing if I editing a few tracks.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Lots of RAM, decent CPU, large HDD. Pretty much what's been discussed already. Are Dell's good enough? If going for a pre-build, yes in my opinion. You get what you pay for, and you pay more for any pre-build system.

There is better machines than Dell around even pre-built. Never been fond on Dell machines, but they seem to be worse than ever now.

If self-build, then it's less expensive in some ways (operating system and other software (MS Office) can be expensive), and you should end up with a made to measure PC, however you also have no 'PC' warranty. Your warranty is parts-specific, so many points of contact, and can you trust your mate to bail you out if things go wrong? Does he have the spare kit to test and diagnose your kit? If so, then fine.

How often do things go wrong? Hardware wise anyway. I have been putting PCs together for about 12 years now, maybe a bit longer and in all that time I think I
have built 30 or more machines for different people and have only sent a 4-5 bits back and most of them was DOA. But as you said he does need someone to bail him out if something do go wrong.

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't waste much time with SSD, as you want GB rather than speed. Many of the big HDDs have decent cache sizes, so they will be fast enough for your needs. There might be a reasonable argument for C: being SSD and data on another large drive, but I most of the people I speak to n SSDs aren't impressed enough (yet), due to the slow down factors. It's a speed/capacity/price balance that isn't favourable enough compared to standard HDDs, although the rising price of the latter does make SSDs more favourable at present. You could get a 1TB drive with 64MB cache for the price of a 120GB SSD.

I agree, i love my SSD unit, but it is not much of a advantage for what I use the machine for. Sure the computer boots up faster, but since most of the time it is in sleep mode, I don't really notice it. Vegas and other software like Paintshop loads in quicker, so it is nice for that.
But you are right a large normal drive is the way to go.

Quad core CPU or better is pretty much all I recommend. Plenty of cache on the CPU is a good thing.

Yep, or maybe six core since most video editing software will use all the cores when needed.
I done a trace of my quad core when using Vegas and I could see that the cores was being used for different things, then when they was needed for rendering they all came into action.

RAM should be 8GB or more, and in as few sticks as possible. It's preferable not to max out the motherboard mem slots from my experience, so two sticks in a four slot mobo is the way to go, but you might find that 4 x 4GB is better than 2 x 4GB if you need more than 8GB. Some motherboards don't care for all slots in use and problems have occurred in the past. If it's triple channel, then 3 x 4GB seems the best way to go (12GB).

Again agree, the reason why I got four sticks in mine is because the last 4Gb was a after thought. i got 4Gb, then realised after that with memory being so cheap I may as well have gone for 8. so I just got another 2 sticks. There is no problem, it is just less to go wrong with two sticks

In reply to a post by sjr:

The PSU wattage is probably overkill but the nice thing about Corsair PSUs is that they are quiet. I hate noisy PCs After market coolers are also likely to be quieter than stock coolers.
Building from scratch I'd probably go for a Corsair with a lower wattage for such a system but pcspecialist only have a limited range of PSU options and that seemed the best of the bunch. But at least there are PSU and cooler options, something you don't really get with the big box shifters like Dell, HP etc.

My machine is pretty quiet considering, the thermaltake power supply is quiet and as i said before is great value for a modular system. My heat sink is a Venom Nano, which is fine even if the CPU is working hard, the noise level only goes up a little bit, full pelt it is noisy, but it never at full pelt unless I muck around in the bios and switch off cool and quiet.

The case got two fans, front and back and they are really quiet, the loudest fan is the one I put in from a old power supply in the roof of the case and i am only running that at 5volts so it is not that bad.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

Here you go op http://i.imgur.com/yTPmK.png You'll be able to get a better graphics card from amazon though, better still if you get the student version of 7.

you said mine was over speced. I do agree with the card reader, My old one could not cope with my 16GB card from the camcorder, so I had to get another Akasa. I highly recommend the Akasa, because of reliability, my old one was over 6 years old and still works, but just can't cope with the newer cards

The new Akasa comes up as multiple drives, so you can copy from one card to another, a lot of the cheaper readers don't do that. Also the Akasa have a slot for transflash cards, sorry Micro Sd cards.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Any comments on the spec?

Looks good, not a Intel fan myself, but I been told the I5 is a pretty good chip.

One word of warning about your optical drive the Pioneer, if you are going to use Label flash which allows you to put designs on the label side of the disk, it is not very well supported. you can still use any disks, just not be able to etch pretty pictures on the back of the disk.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

LG or Samsung. Benq is a value brand.

My Hanns-G is suppose to be a value brand, but the quality is just as good as my mates Samsung, don't forget a lot of the panels are made by Samsung anyway it is only the electronics that process the picture that differs, sure if the electronics are naff then the picture will be naff.

Benq have been in the business for years, they know what they are doing. I seen some poor Samsung and poor LG monitors I can tell you, but I do like Samsung, but the higher price is just not worth paying for.

Before you say about pro use, someone I know that does video work for a living, uses a couple of BenQ monitors, true they are 27inch and they are the higher price range, but still Benq.


As he said what is the pint in paying over £300 for a Samsung when something that cost £90 less does the same job.

Adrian,

Are you using a solid state drive for the OS and Vegas and a second larger internal HDD for working on video files? Does your mobo support SATA III or are you using a SATA II connection for the solid state drive?

My mobo only supports SATA II but I still may be interested in using a solid state drive for the Windows OS and apps which include Sony Vegas 10.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Adrian,

Are you using a solid state drive for the OS and Vegas and a second larger internal HDD for working on video files? Does your mobo support SATA III or are you using a SATA II connection for the solid state drive?

My mobo only supports SATA II but I still may be interested in using a solid state drive for the Windows OS and apps which include Sony Vegas 10.

All software on my SSD and OS of cause. Video files and document folders all on the 500GB seagate XT drive

The SSD is Sata III and yes my motherboard does support Sata III. It certainly loads up faster, and if you got a load of plugins, Vegas can take a while normally to sort itself out with the SSD it is a lot quicker. even with SATA II you will notice the difference. but it is a luxury and only spend the money on one if you got it spare.

Thanks Adrian, sorry just one more question: do you save the Vegas SFK project files (I don't mean the rendered videos) to a folder on the SSD or to the Seagate?

Hi guys,

Away on a family trip so shall update on the final spec when I return. All the feedback has really been helpful.

Thanks

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by 12eason:

Yuk. Over-speced on most parts, and then no graphics card.

Why is it over speced?

£90 on a psu meant to run 3+ graphics cards for a start, and an extra £10 on 1600mhz memory. The case is huge and over priced (and ugly). I don't see the point in getting a pricey am3+ board with an am3 processor either. If you wanted to upgrade in future, you could just replace them both. The system is a mish-mash basically.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

true they are 27inch and they are the higher price range, but still Benq.

Size doesn't really matter, it's whether it can be calibrated well. If it can't, how does your friend know his video will look good on another screen?

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Thanks Adrian, sorry just one more question: do you save the Vegas SFK project files (I don't mean the rendered videos) to a folder on the SSD or to the Seagate?

SFK or VEG files?

SFK files are for the audio, they come originally from soundforge, I presume they are there for compatibility if you want to import the audio into soundforge and also helps to import the audio into Vegas quicker. I don't know where they are stored as they seem to vanish,

VEG files are the project files, I store them in a folder called Vegas project files on my segate drive, then at the end of the edit I transfer the whole lot to a external drive.

I have started to back some up to Blu-ray, save space on the external drive.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

£90 on a psu meant to run 3+ graphics cards for a start,

It is a good value power supply and for the price for a modular system is worth the money, I did also if you look at the links pointed to others in the range.

sure a 875watt PSU may seem like a over kill, but at least you got the power to use.

and an extra £10 on 1600mhz memory.

Why not? more head room if they want to oveclock or get a better CPU at some point.

The case is huge and over priced (and ugly)

Over priced and huge? It is small and a good price for what you get. Plenty of expansion and plenty of space for air to move around, the build quality is fantastic.

you think that is huge, look at this. A mate of mine got one of those, I was not going to pay that much and did not really want something that large which is why I went for the one I have got, some build quality, but at a cheaper price.

As for Ugly, I don't think it is ugly, it looks robust and should last for years.

I don't see the point in getting a pricey am3+ board with an am3 processor either. If you wanted to upgrade in future, you could just replace them both. The system is a mish-mash basically.

Better board, better chipset, so should get a bit better performance out of it than a AM3 board even if you are still using a AM3 chip.

The idea of getting a AM3+ board is that when the prices of the new AMD bulldozer chip goes down, it is supported. My board is a AM3 and as such can not support the new chip, so if I want to update, I once again have to get another board and chip.

Ok it does support the new chip, but only if Asus decide to update the bios and I can't see that happening and then it will not support some features of the chip

As I said it was a idea and the Op could take what he wanted or not, just something to get him started.

I am happy with my machine, ok I am a bit annoyed that the AM3+ sockets came out after I got my board, but it is not a huge problem.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

true they are 27inch and they are the higher price range, but still Benq.

Size doesn't really matter, it's whether it can be calibrated well. If it can't, how does your friend know his video will look good on another screen?

I think he knows what he is doing, he have been in the business for many years, working as a cameraman for the BBC, doing freelance camera work for other T.v stations. Decided to go it alone when he lost his job.


Calibrating a monitor cheap or expensive is the same, no difference, he calibrated mine for me as well.

anyway, i think you also forgetting that the OP is a armature at this and don't need to spend hundreds on a monitor he don't need unless he wants to.

I know what monitor I would like, but at over a grand I think it will stay where it is.

You are basically just admitting that i is overspeced. You just like the fact that it is overspeced. Personally, I'd prefer to save some of that money you are blowing on supporting kit and spend it on the things important to video editing work; processor, video ram and monitor.

Adrian,

Appreciate the correction: actually I meant to say .vf files (Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0 files) which are probably the same as your VEG files in the Vegas projects folder.

I always wondered what SKF files are, which are actually auto saved in the same folders as the source media on my pc - thanks for the info

12eason,

I like to use two monitors for editing: one for the editor interface which includes timelines, media, small preview window etc. etc. and the other for full screen preview. It is the quality and the accurate calibration of the second monitor, running full screen, that is more important for me - as long as there are no blown highlights, there is detail in shadows and the colours are true, when playing my template test clip, then I'm happy (a graphics driver update can mess all that up though!)

The first monitor's brightness can be turned down if editing for long periods but the second monitor can retain the correct level of brightness for preview continuously.

In reply to a post by 12eason:

You are basically just admitting that i is overspeced. You just like the fact that it is overspeced. Personally, I'd prefer to save some of that money you are blowing on supporting kit and spend it on the things important to video editing work; processor, video ram and monitor.

Video ram will not help that much to be honest, I have 512MB of ram in my video card and it does what it is suppose to do, My mates machines which is over specced have a ATI card in with 1GB of VDDR4 ram in and yet he notices no difference than when he had a older card in it.

Processor, in video editing is important, more cores are better for the rendering, but withhardware based rendering the CPU is becoming less important, thankfully sony have got on the bandwagon with their new Vegas 11.


what makes you think that the LG monitor is better than a BenQ for video editing?

the system I put together is made to last a few years, not for 12 months and then you have to think about updating again. I don't know what sort of video editing you do even if you do any at all, but i know that my machine will cope with what ever I can throw at it for the next five years or more, the case I will never have to buy again, I hope.

The PSU will take what ever I can throw at it if it lasts. I had a 450watt PSU from Corsair, It was just below what I needed and the machine would crash when ever the CPU started to render.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Adrian,

Appreciate the correction: actually I meant to say .vf files (Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0 files) which are probably the same as your VEG files in the Vegas projects folder.

Never knew that Vegas movie studio had different format, I wonder if they can be loaded into Vegas pro. someone wants me to do some bits on a video she is working on with VMS because i got some plug in with some effects she likes.

Um, have to have a look

Just had a look and it is in the list.

that is good news, mind you once it is imported into Vegas pro and changed, then it will not be able to go back into VMS I doubt and anyway she don't have the plug-ins I do.

I always wondered what SKF files are, which are actually auto saved in the same folders as the source media on my pc - thanks for the info

Or SFK files even

i have no idea what it stands for, I presume the first to letters is either Sonic foundry or Soundforge.

i must admit when I heard that Sony was taking over the development of Vegas, I had visions of them mucking it up, but to give them their due they have built into into a great video editing software and bringing out the cut down version is a fantastic idea.

The main problem with Vegas is that it if not what I call user friendly, the GUI is a bit strange, but I think it is one of the best editors on the market.

I know that Avid is better, but it costs a lot more and need one hell of a machine to run and is more for the broadcasting market than home/semi pro users.


I struggled with Premier for over 2 years, never again.

Adrian,

Best of luck with your friend's project

If you think Vegas is not exactly "user friendly" then just give the Lightworks editor http://www.lightworksbeta.com/ a try and you will think Vegas is in fact very user friendly in comparison!

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Video ram will not help that much to be honest, I have 512MB of ram in my video card and it does what it is suppose to do, My mates machines which is over specced have a ATI card in with 1GB of VDDR4 ram in and yet he notices no difference than when he had a older card in it.

That would be a surprise to me. Certainly any software using DXVA should be using it.

what makes you think that the LG monitor is better than a BenQ for video editing?

Like I said, colour calibration. Regrdless of the LCD screen, most of the control is done by the electronics. I've seen plenty of Benq and they have fairly basic OSDs.

the system I put together is made to last a few years, not for 12 months and then you have to think about updating again.

The spec of yours is inferior to the one I put together, so it would need updating sooner. You are basically sacrificing core spec for the ability to add 2+ graphics cards and a bulldozer chip. Pointless imo.

The PSU will take what ever I can throw at it if it lasts. I had a 450watt PSU from Corsair, It was just below what I needed and the machine would crash when ever the CPU started to render.

You had a faulty PSU then. Without a graphics card, even a fully loaded PC would not need more than 500W. And by fully loaded I mean 4+ hard drives and fans all over the place. Even a hexacore CPU will only use 140W max.

Post deleted by billford