HD video editing -- need new PC!!!

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Hi,

I'm in England, and want to make some professional looking short films (PAL).

I recently purchased a Canon HD and Pinnacle 14 Studio HD editing software. My current PC isn't powerful enough to edit HD footage, but I can't record or output the footage in anything but HD.

I've tried some conversion programmes, but have come to the conclusion that I'm wasting my time, so I'm now in the market for a good PC for this job.

What I'd like to have advice on is:

-- which processor would you recommend to handle HD video editing
-- and how much memory do I need (to be safe)

My budget is about £450.

Thanks.
 
Hoping not to build my own. Have done previously but am a busier person now and don't want to worry about incompatibilities, upgrading BIOSes etc...
 
Incompatibilities with what?

With a tiny bit of research (i.e. asking us) you won't get any, plus BIOS updates are a 5 minute job.

I REALLY wouldn't get AMD for HD video editing - Core i5s crush AMD in video editing benches, and if you want a system with a good few years life in it go i7 9xx

Just shipped out the door a Core i7 920 system overclocked to 3.6GHz, 6GB RAM and a 1.5TB RAID 0 for heavy Photoshop work and editing Canon 5D footage (stupid, stupid, gorgeous file format) and she's beautiful - didn't want to give her back!

All in she cost a few pennies shy of £1,000 all from Overclockers UK, but you can shave a fair few quid off that mixing things up between Overclockers, Scan and eBuyer (and others if you have a look at Google Shopping - deals to be had).
 
I agree with LePhuronn but add in a scratch disk. Video editing loves to have a scratch disk!! A seperate system disk would help also but not as much as a scratch disk. Do not partition the Main drive/array if the system and storage are the same: you loose performance. keep just 1 large partition.

Also, I dont know if your programs can use the GPU's processing power but if you plan on going Adobe at some point then your GPU selection is important also (esp in the upcoming release).
 



There's a little more detailed advice there.

For reference, here's the full spec of the machine I built which illustrates popatim's points above:

Core i7 920 (OC to 3.6GHz)
Asus P6T SE motherboard
6GB Patriot Viper 1600MHz CAS8 DDR3 RAM
Titan Fenrir CPU Cooler
Radeon 5570 1024MB graphics card (DisplayPort version)
Seagate Barracuda 250GB system drive
1x Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB static/low bandwidth data drive + scratch disk
3x Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB RAID 0 video footage drive
Sony DVD Rewriter
Corsair VX450 PSU
NZXT Beta Evo case (added Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000 exhaust fan)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

All in a few pennies off £1,000


Designed to run Adobe Creative Suite CS4 with full HD footage (Canon 5D and Sony XDCAM EX) and she's a dream. The client was very tight on budget though so there's a few concessions I had to make. If I were to do it again I'd make the following changes


Core i7 930 - apparently the 920's 20x multiplier can be unstable when overclocking (I've had to use 19 to get anything past 3.2GHz stable on acceptable voltage), but the 930 is stock at 21 and it's fine

P6TD Delxue motherboard - the P6T SE is a nice board but BIOS options are limited for overclocking so I couldn't get too much control to properly tweak. As a result I've ended up with some weird RAM and QPI values, but it's all good. Only 8 power phases too so I wouldn't want to push it too hard (I've left it at 3.61GHz using 1.23 volts).


I'd also not use a direct heat pipe CPU cooler because I'm not impressed with the build quality of the concept - on my Fenrir the aluminium blocks wedged between the heatpipes are in places noticeably taller than the heatpipes and roughly machined so contact with the CPU is shoddy and thermal grease doesn't spread out properly. I have one core consistently 3 degrees warmer than the others because it's not getting proper contact.

As a result I'm getting temps 3 degrees above what I know this cooler can do (idle at 38, 3.6GHz OC 100% load at 69), but I just ran out of time with the build.


I did try the scratch disk on the RAID but it made no noticeable difference in overall performance.
 


Can I use adjectives like 'crush' when comparing the Propus 630 and Phenom 965 with the i5-650?

Maybe by 'crush' you mean the Intel i5-650 will CRUSH your wallet?

picing-can.jpg


Or maybe by 'crush' you mean the Intel i5-650 (while costing 85% more) will lose 2 video encoding benchmarks to the Propus 630 and effectively break even on another 3?

propus630-i5650.jpg


Or I guess you mean the Intel i5-650 will 'crush' your heart when it is CRUSHED by processor which costs less?

phenom965-i5650.jpg



I'm in a wagering mood. I'll bet I can build a video encoding rig that will go toe-to-toe with that £1,000 i7 rig, fly from North Carolina to London, deliver the rig, have a pint (or 12), and fly back to North Carolina all for less than £1,000.

Man up, Intel fanboys. I can use a free trip to London 😀




 
Thanks for the comparison - next time I'm on a budget I'll get the Phenom. That being said I'm not really sure why you compared to a dual-core i5, other than the price/performance comparison of course.
 




Could this be it ?


OP you may be able to find a Propus 630 pre-built rig from an e-tailer on Ebay-UK.



 
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