This chip is working well for me:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0331303

I have a Core i7 950 and a Phenom II quad 965 both are very fast and stable. I have tested both with my own render test (i call jump cat) anyway the core i7 is faster but only by alittle bit, the AMD holds its own, so any one would e great. The new Sandy Bridge is really fast. my next build will be a sandy bridge.

I appreciate the responses. My current desktop is from 2003 and is a Pentium 4 2.66. It will have to be replaced before the upgrade to HD.

I tend to upgrade about every ... hmmmm ... 4 years or so i guess. I usually do a very budget build, often with year-old parts at a huge bargain. I don't get bleeding-edge top of the line stuff, but tend to spend under $300. What do i get for that kind of minimal spending? A computer that runs 5 times faster than the previous one.

I'm happy.

I could spend $1200 and get something that runs 7 times faster instead of 5, but will be just as obsolete in a few months anyway. Not worth it in my opinion.

I'm looking at upgrading my 6 year old system. Unlike the pro's on here I don't have $2,000 plus to invest in video. Right now my $4,000 investment in restoring a 1962 Cushman scooter has my funds tied up. Then I have a 1955 one to do for my wife another $2,000. So its not like I don't have money, I have priority's.

I'm shopping for a used processor, and looking at a new motherboard of course (ASUS or Gigabyte) and 4 Gb memory . One is on eBay a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz CPU E6600 SL9ZL the other on local Craigslist. Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86 GHz CPU this one has the OEM heat sink and fan included.

So has anyone used either one of these and can offer a suggestion or two?

Using VMS 10.0 Windows XP Pro, doing SD for now.

Hi, Hoping to answer your question, although I am not very experienced in Video editing, I have been recording my own audio (have recording studio) and building my own PCs for many years. I recently took the plunge and bought an HD Sony camera. I found out that a dual core at 2 ghz is not sufficient for HD video even with a good graphics card. It will work, but be very slow in rendering, and previewing will be problematic. I will be builidng a quad core machine in the near future. Maybe some people out there have better luck, but this is my experience.

Well I ended up with this one, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz CPU E6600 SL9ZL the price was $65 to my door. But I will get a MB capabile of taking in a faster and quad core processor. Thanks for the reply, learning as I go. We have some smart people on here.

I've never purchased from Micro Center before, are they as good as or better than New Egg on customer service and returns? I had a issue with a MB from (would not boot up) New Egg they eventually give me a refund but it took a while.

The same type of MB a ASUS brand is $20 cheaper at Micro Center, I need just one IDE connection the rest of my stuff is SATA.

That sounds a bit dated to me. My previous upgrade was a Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz 6600 chip, and that was about 4 years ago. I got it with motherboard, heat sink, fan, and 1GB RAM for about $320.

I've never purchased from Micro Center before, are they as good as or better than New Egg on customer service and returns?

Micro Center always takes returns; on Tech Support they are pretty good, better than the big box retailers. Their off-the-shelf prices on CPUs and Motherboards are very good.

Well the motherboard at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131616 I am planning on getting will take a Quad core processor and better. If I go with DDR3 1333 memory I think it can run slower for the 1060 bus for this processor. I will find out before I order.

So if I need it later I can do a processor change out. As in my other post, my funds and time, more important time is tied up for a another few weeks.

I will check with Micro Center, thanks for the tip!

Its my opinion that if a user upgrades every three years or more, either brand will provide a new chip technology that will provide a significant performance increase.

Because they are usually less expensive I have leaned towards supportuing AMD processors and have had good experience with Gigabyte motherboards.

Chad

So are the on-board Intel graphics any good? Should I waste my my money on a digital video output connection (as I have now) on the MB vs analog. VGA.

I now have a ATI AGP add on card on my old setup.

I guess I don't see HD in the immediate future, just digital or DVD quality.

Best to get a decent video card as VMS can now render with the help of ATI and NVidia cards. Processor speed still apears to be much more important though. You should be bale to get a reasonably inexpensive videocard ($50-$100) with 512+MB memory and GPU rendering capability at either Newegg or microcenter. Many of them come pre-equipped with HDMI, You don't need a "gamer's card", and truthfully, all it will really do is speed up your rendering (you can do a search in this forum for gains). See my profile for my setup with a 2.66GHz C2D (4+ years old) with NVidia GT 240, 512 MB. The only reason I picked that GPU is because I had an older power supply so I was constrained by power usage. Still, it gives me ~15% gain (IIRC) using CUDA for rendering (in VMS 10) with HD footage relative to processor only. You might get some gains with SD footage rendering, but perhaps not as high since the processor can take most of the load (just a guess).