I want a new computer, but...

[phatphunky]

I don't want to waste my money on something I'll regret later, so I'm hoping you can help me. What I really want to do is edit videos which I know needs a lot of memory as well as CPU speed. I've read some of your specs and they seem really impressive.

This is my current system (please don't laugh) which I've had for the past 6 years (slowly upgrading here and there). I'm going to give this one to my sister who just started her own business (I'm so nice) because I know it can handle business applications no problem.

Current Specs:

Asus P5A
AMD K6-2 475MHZ
SIS Savage4 AGP 16MB
192MB PC100 SDRAM
Quantum FireBall KA 18.2
Quantum FireBall PA 15.1
KDS VS7-i 17" Monitor
PlexWriter 12/10/32A
Panasonic DVD-ROM 16X
SB Live! Value
AverMedia TV98
SohoWare 10/100
HP 722C DeskJet
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Mouse
Motorola Cable Modem

Windows XP runs on this system without a glitch, and I would like the new system to be the same. I would welcome any ideas and suggestions; ask me some questions as well.

Thanks in advance... pHat & pHunky

 

[Bootsy]

u want vid, go with mac...sorry to say, as much as I hate macs, they are better at rendering...
otherwise look at:
www.pricewatch.com
GREAT for finding deals. Buy from their references all the time

 

[xsivforce]

Originally posted by Bootsy
u want vid, go with mac...

Would have to agree. Depends on how much editing you are talking about. If you are heavy into it, I would go Mac. If you just diddle in it, Windows is fine. If you go peecee wait on the "hammer" cpu and go with DDR ram. Just My Opinion!

 

[Geffy]

are you looking to build or buy a pre made one?

on the pricey end IBM have made a new system that is really good for graphics and video editing and things like that.

 

[phatphunky]

Thanks for the response...

I'm actually looking to build the system myself... As for video editing, I want to create and edit MPEG-2 files. I've seen some systems available for puchase, but they only come with an 8MB AGP card and it's intergrated into the Motherboard. I would also like the system to be upgradeable for future use.

 

[Geffy]

So basically you would need

Mobo
Athlon or P4
about 512 to 1G RAM, DDR (if Athlon)
ATA 133
Fairly large hard drive I think Western Digital do a 120GB drive
the hard drive needs to be 7200rpm, and ata 133
floppy drive
cd/dvd/cdrw drive(s)
GeForce 2/3 or Raedon 8500 (maybe GeForce 4, but I dont think any of the video editting packages would be able to use it to its full yet)
SB Audigy Platinum (EX if you have the cash)
Some Video In/Out card, not sure what you would call it
Modem (dialup/ADSL/Cable)
Mouse and Keyboard, cordless can be quite useful
Speakers
WinXP Pro
VideoWave, Adobe Premier, something like that.

You can check through the Microsoft Windows Catalog goto hardware and check through to make sure that everything will work with XP and that the system will be stable.
I did this and got new hardware for an unstable system, system is stable now. It is better to use this as it will save you hassle (and money) in the long term.

 

[Geffy]

Found this earlier today
Issue 165 of PCPLUS Mag
For Video Editting you need a video capture card, the ones that they recommended were
DIGITAL ORIGIN Moto DV
FAST Av Master
FAST Clip Master
FAST DV.Now
PINNACLE Studio DV
PINNACLE Studio MP10

software
MGI VideoWave
Adobe Premier
Speed Razor
ULead Media Studio Pro
ULead Video Studio

They also say that DV runs at about 3.6MB per second so that is about 216MB per minute of video. So a 30 minute video including shots you dont use will need about a 32GB hard drive.
If you do it scene by scene you can cut it down a bit, as long as you move the finished scenes off the drive and onto CD/DVD/VHS something like that

This PCPLUS Article is from July 2000, so there will be beter stuff availible now