Unless you're doing 3D modelling, the graphics card shouldn't have much effect on video work. I'd get the cheaper one myself, or get a consumer card with 256MB rather than a Quadro.

Quad cores would certainly be useful for HD editing, but probably won't make any difference for DV editing; I can already handle four picture-in-picture effects simultaneously on a 3GHz Pentium-4.

One thing to be sure of is to get as much RAM as you can. 2GB is good, but 4GB might be better if you're going to be running a 64-bit operating system (32-bit Windows has various issues with >2GB).

So it'd be better to go for an inexpensive video card, just a basic dual core intel processor, and then spend lots on RAM

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

Probably... though at current prices if you spend lots on RAM you'll end up with 64 GB :).

2GB and some big hard disks may be a better bet, unless you plan to use a 64-bit operating system.

Guess I phrased that wrong. I'd be fine with just say an E6300 Intel Core 2 Duo and 2-4GB RAM, and lots of storage space? Even western digital drives are pretty inexpensive now. How much do you think I'll need? I plan to use this machine almost entirely for editing, though I will most likely do a few other things on it. Will I really be needing lots, say 500GB, of hard drive space? I'm thinking I'll probably want to save every step of everything, as I've had some problems with lost media before. What is an approximate range for hard drive space?

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

Well, to give an example, I have:

P4-3.06 with hyperthreading on Intel-845 motherboard.
2GB PC2700 RAM.
Nvidia 7800GS AGP4x graphics card.
2.2 terabytes of ATA and SATA disks.

And I have no problem at all with DV editing using real-time effects and it's OK for HD editing. Your suggested system should be substantially faster than mine.

So for DV you should be plenty fast enough with that system. DV is around 13GB per hour, so a 500GB hard disk would give you space for over thirty hours of footage; that's enough for a typical DV feature.

Do be sure to get a second disk just for video and audio, so that Windows won't be fighting with the editing program. You can capture video onto the system disk but it gets fragmented and Windows tries to access it at the same time as your editing program.

Another option is to budget to buy a USB or Firewire external drive for each project, then you can stick all the footage on there and put the disk in a box when you finish the edit. The last shorts I edited, the director brought along a Lacie Firewire disk that I captured the footage to, and took it away after I was done... amongst other things, that meant the sound mixer had all the original footage on disk and the editing timeline, so he could easily adjust it for the final mix.

One other thing: check that the editing program you plan to use will work with the graphics card. Avid, for example, only really works with Nvidia cards, whereas the Pinnacle software used to prefer ATI.

quote:

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Originally posted by danstin studios

So it'd be better to go for an inexpensive video card, just a basic dual core intel processor, and then spend lots on RAM

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And be sure to get lots and lots of storage space, fast SATA type drives. I have four Samsung SATA drives, 400GB each, they have 3GB/sec transfer rates, cost $99 each, and I consider this setup minimal for now. Video editing esp with filters and effects really demands huge amounts of hard drive data access, thus fast and large drives. I was going to do RAID0 (striped array) but was advised it is not really needed with such fast transfer rates on the SATA drives I have.

Independent Filmmaking
http://borealpictures.com

quote:

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Originally posted by danstin studios

So it'd be better to go for an inexpensive video card, just a basic dual core intel processor, and then spend lots on RAM

---

And be sure to get lots and lots of storage space, fast SATA type drives. I have four Samsung SATA drives, 400GB each, they have 3GB/sec transfer rates, cost $99 each, and I consider this setup minimal for now. Video editing esp with filters and effects really demands huge amounts of hard drive data access, thus fast and large drives. I was going to do RAID0 (striped array) but was advised it is not really needed with such fast transfer rates on the SATA drives I have.

Independent Filmmaking
http://borealpictures.com

quote:

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Originally posted by danstin studios

So it'd be better to go for an inexpensive video card, just a basic dual core intel processor, and then spend lots on RAM

---

I will add that I tried a SLI setup with two identicle nvidia GeForce 7900 graphics cards, 256MB each, and I did not notice any appreciable difference in performance over just one card when editing HDV using Sony Vegas.

Independent Filmmaking
http://borealpictures.com

I'm glad to hear that I don't need to spend lots a video card. I'm looking at editing systems, and have budgeted $3,000 for the computer and software. I'm really tempted to go with an apple, but then I'll end up spending more on the computer itself, even though Final Cut is less than Adobe Production Standard. I gave myself about $2,000 for the computer, and I wasn't sure if that was enough for an apple, and looking at some of the stuff out there, was starting to think that it wouldn't be enough for a pc. I like the idea of having an external drive for each project, but I don't see myself doing a lot of editing sharing with other people, as I'll likely do everything myself. Here's my basic idea of what I think my setup will be. I have a complete list with prices on my other computer, so I'll just give a basic run down.
A $120 dollar video card with dual outputs, forget everything else.
A $180 Mobo
A $180 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
2 $90 2 GB RAM
A $180 Creative Soundblaster video editor
I've got a case, power supply, and 80 GB drive for software
2 $70 WD 250 GB hard drives

I know I'm forgetting some stuff, and I have a much more complete list I'd like some input on, put I don't have access to that for a week, so just tell me any suggestions you have.

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

i'm looking for a new 500GB hard disk drive,
can anyone help me to find the best one?

kinjo

i found this article on google
?url? http://www.deskdecode.com/top-best-500gb-hard-disk-drive-monthly/?/url?
and they suggest me to buy Seagate Barracuda ST500LM030.
how about that?

kinjo

That's a good one. I suggest you get that Seagate.