Building new PC : the heart of it ?

mbo wrote on 6/28/2002, 11:43 PM
Hi,
I would like to build PC dedicated to video editing. I was looking
for dual P4 arrangement but I did not find any mboards to accommodate dual P4.
I've found however Intel's Xeon processors which could be used in dual
processor systems with no problems. As I understand, Xeon is even better for dual processing than P4.

However, I read also about Althon dual systems and I would like
to hear your experience/opinions in both arrangements. I'm rather
Intel oriented but not Intel blinded.
Any cons and pros, comparisons of above (as for video editing) highly
appreciated.

Thanks,
Michal

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 6/29/2002, 12:32 AM
The topic comes up a lot, so at least touched on in many threads. Basically there are two camps. Aside from the usual get a AMD verses get a Intel, some think having a dual processor helps. Well it does, but in my opinion not enough to justify the cost. I just built two seperate systems. I do all my editing on one, then offload via a removable drive to render on the second. I'm not overly worried how long rendering takes. To me, that's the last step, it takes as long as it takes, who cares. If you're running a business then perhaps a dual processor is the answer. I'm sure others will share their opinions.

To two most important things are CPU speed and having a BIG seperate hard drive. At least 80-100GB. Tons of RAM isn't really needed. I make really BIG projects, typically 40 minutes or more and I get by fine with 512 MB of RAM. Video card isn't critical either.

I'm going to suggest couple other "musts" if you want to do serious work. For sure a digital camera, and at least a 13-15" TV with video in. Vegas Video can feed the signal through the firewire port to your camera and from there it goes to your TV.

Making adjustments OFF THE TV MONITOR is vastly superior to trying to guess just looking at the preview window. Reason? NTSC and computer RGB colors are very different. Just be sure that TV is calibrated and has proper white point, etc. I wrote a article on the how-to some time back.
kkolbo wrote on 6/29/2002, 6:55 AM
I have to agree about the cost of the duals vs payback. I also 'off load to render'. That way I can keep on slicing while the final is rendering. I have even considered putting on multiple render machines. You can build a 1.6ghz P4 system here in Orlando for under $500. Then put on the software and you are hip. You could break up the project with markers and have each machine render its part. That would make the render less than real time if you wanted.

Duals maybe a good idea, but I just wanted to throw out a different option.

My primary machine is a 2ghz P4 with 1ghz ram, Gforce 4 video, 120gb drives and it was $1400 with O/S. When I looked at the cost of duals I could not justify it this week. A second 1.6mhz machine would make more sense to me if I had to have more speed.

K
JumboTech wrote on 6/29/2002, 7:41 PM
kkolbo

Where in Orlando can you get the deal you mentioned? Cheap Guys or whatever they're called?

Al
mbo wrote on 6/29/2002, 7:41 PM
hmmm... good point,
thanks,
Michal