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Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Talk about computer software/hardware problems, related to digital video or otherwise.

Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby alaskamovieguy » Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:34 pm

Thanks John. Havent settled on anything yet but do have a full 'wish list'' now at newegg using most of Jacks recommendations with some changes. The case is a ( RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEB 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB) with a thermaltake 750w PSU. The case looks adequate but guess work on my part.
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby jackfalbey » Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:39 am

First, to address the i7-970 test review: there's nothing wrong with choosing a 6-core chip, but if you look at the Photoshop & Windows Media Encoder tests (which are really the ones that best represent what you'll be doing) you have to decide if it's worth twice the price for a marginal increase in speed. And there' s always overclocking if you need extra performance from a quad-core CPU...

The Raidmax Smilodon ATX-612WBP I recommended in your Newegg wishlist comes with a 500W PSU for the same price as the one you mentioned without a PSU. Unless you plan to have a lot of internal drives, multiple video cards, or something else that will draw a lot of power, you probably won't need the 750W Thermaltake. Nothing against Thermaltake - they make great PSUs - but the extra $150 or so isn't necessary in my opinion. On the other hand, if you do add more components later, you're more than covered with 750W, but you can always add this later if you need it. Having a good case for cooling is very important, but the Smilodon is highly rated for that, so you should be fine there. You can always add a few extra fans later if you need to, but you probably won't.

Newegg sells Intel CPUs 2 ways: OEM, meaning you get a bare chip; and Retail Box, which comes with a stock CPU fan/cooling assembly. The stock fan should be just fine unless you intend to overclock, in which case you'll need an aftermarket CPU cooler (Zalman is a good brand)

As far as size goes, the Smilodon has 4x 5.25" bays for optical drives and 6x 3.5" bays for HDDs. With 1TB HDDs going for $60, that should be plenty. Unless you want to use a server-sized motherboard or extra-long PCI cards, you probably won't need a bigger case.
(FYI, my case is a CoolerMaster Stacker 810 which is so big I could rent out some of the drive bays as low-income housing, but I needed to fit a Matrox RT.X2 card which is 13.5 inches long, so I had to go with a giant server case.)

Hard Drives... Ideally, I'd recommend one drive (a 10k Velociraptor or SSD if you can afford it) for Windows and other software; a 2-drive RAID0 (10k Velociraptors if you're doing multi-track multi-layered HD video; 7200 RPM if not) for your video & audio files, a dedicated drive (7200RPM is fine) for Adobe Scratch disks and the Windows Pagefile, and a removable or external drive for backing up your projects and documents, just in case.

Compatibility issues... yes, some components don't work or play well with others. The big issue usually is the motherboard/RAM relationship, so researching the mobo you choose will show which types & brands of RAM have worked well for other users in that mobo. The CPU, HDDs and Video Card ought to pretty much work with anything.

When you say "multi-media card" for photography, I'm guessing you mean a flash card reader? You can get a good multi-format USB reader like this one for about $15, and it's portable so you can use it anywhere.

Extras... the mobo & case should come with just about everything you'll need. Cables, brackets, screws, etc. ought to be included. An anti-static wrist strap is a good investment.

Keep in mind, what I've suggested here is only if you can afford it and you can justify the expense (i.e. you're going to be earning a living as a professional video editor and your work involves a lot of HD & special effects.) For most people, spending $1500 plus a good monitor will suit all but the most extreme needs for video/photo editing.

And finally, here's a great step-by-step guide on building a PC from scratch!
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby alaskamovieguy » Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:05 am

Thanks so much for all the great input Jack, very helpful for my first build. I have dropped the box without the PSU for the one that has a 500W supply, heard so much from folks about now having adequate watts but like you said, I can always add a bigger one later so get the free one now. I have also gone with the i7 quad 960 since it sounds like it will be more than adequate for my needs. I did change the SSD to intels 120GB model as it seems the reviews were much better for only about 80 bucks more. I have also gone with the 2 WD 10000 300GB drives in Raid0. Went with the Mobo you suggested with 12GB RAM. You had 24GB on your list. Do you think that extra 12GB would make much difference? Also, other than the price and reduced GB any reason not to go with a couple of SSD's in Raid0 (240GB total) instead of the WD 10000's? Also went with a 500GB Seagate drive instead of the WD 1 TB just because I've always understood them to be better drives? Here's a link to my list so far. https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySa ... D=13453251
I'll check out that site you linked for building a computor. I'm sure it will answer a lot of questions.
Thanks again.
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby jangrammy » Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:17 pm

Hi Chuck,

I will be taking and editing videos for a home based pattern designer (in the sewing/quilting field). These will be instructional videos for people to view online when they are using the patterns. As I mentioned earlier, the camera takes AVCHD video. She purchased Adobe Premier 9 to handle the editing. The designer is willing to buy a new computer since mine is not able to handle the job. Her preference would be HP. Could you tell me what the minimum requirements on an HP desktop computer would be to process AVCHD videos. Or would it be better to consider the option of buying software to process the video in a different form?

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.
Jan
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby Chuck Engels » Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:12 pm

Hi Jan,
Whether you convert the AVCHD files or simply edit them you will need a computer able to handle the task.
So a new computer will probably be necessary either way you go.

I would recommend the following;

CPU - Quad Core i7

RAM - 4GB

Video Card: anything with 1gb of Video Memory

As an example, this one would work;
HpE560Z

Hope that helps. If you have any other questions just let us know :)
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby jangrammy » Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:31 pm

Thanks so much for the prompt reply.
Time to go shopping!
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby Chuck Engels » Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:42 am

If you are buying from HP please use the Muvipix Affiliate link to go there. That way we get a small commission on your purchase and it doesn't cost you a thing. The HP Store links are on our Muvipix Store page
1. Thinkpad W530 Laptop, Core i7-3820QM Processor 8M Cache 3.70 GHz, 16 GB DDR3, NVIDIA Quadro K1000M 2GB Memory.

2. Cybertron PC - Liquid Cooled AMD FX6300, 6 cores, 3.50ghz - 32GB DDR3 - MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 4G, 4GB Video Ram, 1024 Cuda Cores.
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby alaskamovieguy » Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:02 pm

Given my new system build specs, before I start editing I would like to know the best way to utilize my HDD's for optimal avchd editing. I may use the cineform conversion for avchd later but would like to try what I have first. I have my OS ( win 7 pro ) on the SSD along with my programs. I assuming I would place my project files, scratch disks etc. on the RAID 0 drives. My source files are stored on extenal drives. Should I make copies of my source files (MT2) and place them on the RAID 0 drives for the smoothest editing possible? By the way Jack, thanks for convinceing me to build my own, I'll never do anything but that from now on!
Azus Sabertooth X58 1366 MB, 12GB DDR3 1600 RAM, Intel i7 960 CPU, Nividia GTX 470 Graphics, Intel 120GB SSD Primary Drive, 2- 10,000 RPM 300GB Velicoraptors in RAID 0, Seagate 500GB internal, 750W PSU, Win 7 Pro, BDH 20 burner, Canon HF20 HD camera.
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby Chuck Engels » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:16 pm

RAID 0 is fine but not necessary, you gain a little bit of file access speed.
It is always best to copy your files to internal drives while editing, no USB bottleneck that way.
But even still, todays drives are so fast that it probably doesnt' make that much difference anymore.
I do still copy all of my working files to my internal drive for editing, then back to the external drives for storage only.
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby alaskamovieguy » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:34 pm

So in my case, you would copy the source files to my RAID 0 array and put the project files etc. on the RAID 0 as well for maximum effieciency? After the project is complete save it to another HDD and delete all files from the RAID 0 leaving it clean for the next job?
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby jackfalbey » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:04 am

On my system, I have the OS and software on one drive (C:), the Adobe projects and all media files - video, audio, stills, graphics, etc. - on the RAID (D:), with a backup copy of the original media files on an external drive as insurance, and Adobe scratch disks and Windows Page File on a different internal 7200RPM drive (G:). Keeping the scratch disks and page file on a different drive from the software and projects seems to improve drive efficiency, and this is reinforced with the results from Bill Gehrke and Harm Millaard's Premiere Pro CS5 benchmarking test.

In addition, when I encode the final files for distribution, I use the G: drive as the destination for the encode so it's not trying to write back to the RAID as it's reading the project from it. I also have a removable internal drive (E:) that is an exact copy of the D: drive using Second Copy that runs every time I finish an editing session, just in case the RAID fails (Second Copy is great backup software and $29 very well spent for peace of mind!).
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby alaskamovieguy » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:45 am

Thanks Chuck & Jack. Makes perfect sense. Now I'll give it a whirl and see how this dog and pony show goes. ;)
Azus Sabertooth X58 1366 MB, 12GB DDR3 1600 RAM, Intel i7 960 CPU, Nividia GTX 470 Graphics, Intel 120GB SSD Primary Drive, 2- 10,000 RPM 300GB Velicoraptors in RAID 0, Seagate 500GB internal, 750W PSU, Win 7 Pro, BDH 20 burner, Canon HF20 HD camera.
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby decolb » Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:55 pm

After a few year's layoff, I am restarting. Will get PRE/PSE 11 and need a new box. Will probably not do much HD or AVCHD to start. Looking at a box with the following specs: Intel i5-3450, B75 Express chipset, 2T SATA (5900rpm) drive,12GB DDR3, 22X DVD +/- R/RW, Int Intel HD graphics (dual monitor Capable), and 350W power supply. Since the 5900 HD will probably be too slow, I'm thinking of getting a SSD for the main drive. Will the 5900 be useful as a second drive? Any reccommendations for the SSD? I have a Diamond Viper X1650 Graphics card in the old box which I can put in the new. 350W power supply may not be enough as the card calls for 550W.

Any comments or reccommendations would be appreciated.

Dave
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby jackfalbey » Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:04 am

That system is more than capable if you're just doing standard video (720x480) right now, and will do fine if you need to edit HD down the road. Here's my $0.02 for what it's worth:

I would recommend using a 7200rpm drive for your video storage instead of the 5900rpm model. You definitely want to have at least 2 hard drives: 1 for Windows & programs, and 1 for audio/video files. SSDs are great for the OS & programs, but figure on at least a 60GB model to allow enough room for everything. Stick with known brands and check user reviews for good quality ones. 12GB of RAM is an odd configuration... the LGA 1155 socket uses dual-channel RAM so it should be 8, 16 or 32GB, not 12. If this is a pre-built system, that tells me they are using 2x4GB sticks and 2x2GB sticks to get to 12GB. It's always better to use RAM in matched sets of the same size and model. The B75 chipset is pretty bargain-basement and may limit your expansion in the future, so you may want to look for a Zxx chipset (more connectors, greater PCI bandwidth, overclockability, etc.) You won't need the X1650 video card; it's tech is so old that the Intel HD graphics built into the i5 CPU are much better. All together, you should be able to build the system below for about $750, and you'll have plenty of power for HD, AVCHD, etc:

Core i5 "Ivy Bridge" CPU $200
Intel Z77 Motherboard $100
16GB RAM $80
60GB SSD $50
2TB 7200RPM HD $110
Case/PSU $80
DVD Burner $20
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit $100
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Re: Recommended System Specs for Video Editing

Postby decolb » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:26 am

Jack: Thanks very much for your input. I will probably not build it myself, but "build" it at Dell or HP or someplace else. Any suggestions on base models to start with at those sites? Of course will go through the Muvipix store.

Thanks, Dave
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