Video/audio editing rig......help and suggestions needed

FanadMan

Hi

I was asked to price a machine for video and audio editing that will also be used for home stuff. Know that it will really need plenty of ram 8 - 12GB would be best, a good CPU and GPU and plenty of fast storage. So, any expert help would be great.

1. What is your budget? [€1500 or thereabouts but as low as possible]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [video and audio editing]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Got a good mouse - thats all tho. Was using a laptop before]

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19 - 22 would be fine. As it's for video editing it doesn't need anything massive]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard but can get an English one local if needed/NIC/Wireless Card]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No if it works really well, otherwise could try it to speed things up]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer or Credit Card]

9. When are you purchasing? [anytime in next 3 months]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [No need - might even pay for Hardwareversand to build it ]

Monotype

Would any of your video editing benefit from a graphics card?

What about something liiike this:

Item|Price
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€17.79
4 x LogiLink SATA 0.3m Kabel mit Sicherungslasche|€2.76
Crucial M4 256GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")|€164.90
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Define Mini|€85.27
Super-Flower SF450P14XE Golden Green Pro 80plus gold|€63.38
2 x 16GB-Kit G.Skill Ares PC3-12800U CL10-10-10-30|€135.26
4 x WD Red RD1000S 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB|€508.04
Thermalright True Spirit 120|€25.77
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€208.05
ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, Sockel 1155, mATX|€85.04
MS Windows 7 Pro 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€129.00
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1444.25

Edit: Oops, that's 32GB of RAM. Probably over your needs. I can adjust that if you want, or just switch to one set and you'll have upgradability.

Edit 2: Forgot completely about the monitor. Something like the 2412M would be grand and maybe someone could pick out a sound card for you as that isn't my area of expertise. How much storage were you thinking of? I just threw 4 drives in there for RAID 10, if you wanted to go down that route.

IrishMetalhead

i would vouche for an i7 instead tbh, the extra threads does wonders for the encoding process but depends on what software he's using, efinatly for either adobe premiere and sony vegas

FanadMan

Thanks guys. Don't think he'd need to go the RAID route - know it's handy but it wouldn't really be used. Was talking to him about the RAM - for the price, 32GB is worth it for the price.

@Monotype - think a decent but not excessive video card would be worth it. Doesn't really need HD quality but would prob speed up the whole rendering process.
No need for a monitor - he has a couple already.

@IrishMetalhead - do you think an i7 would make a difference? Can't rememeber what editing software he's using but is industry level. And does a lot of sound mixing/mastering so has specialist software for that too.

frozenfrozen

FanadMan wrote: »

Thanks guys. Don't think he'd need to go the RAID route - know it's handy but it wouldn't really be used. Was talking to him about the RAM - for the price, 32GB is worth it for the price.

@Monotype - think a decent but not excessive video card would be worth it. Doesn't really need HD quality but would prob speed up the whole rendering process.
No need for a monitor - he has a couple already.

@IrishMetalhead - do you think an i7 would make a difference? Can't rememeber what editing software he's using but is industry level. And does a lot of sound mixing/mastering so has specialist software for that too.

Of course raid would be used..!

Any decent nvidia card with cuda would be a good option. Can you find out what editing programs are being used.. You may not have the ability to use gpu accelerated anything.

Also a good sound card would probably be needed if he's doing a lot of mixing and mastering

FanadMan

Well,for the video editing he's using PowerDirector 10 at the minute but is upgrading to PowerDirector 11 soon and that needs decent power to run effectivly. Also uses Avid Studio 2 now and again but don't know much about it.

For audio work he uses a Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL and Presonus Studio One.

Think needs a decent graphics card as frozenfrozen suggested - here is the link to the system requirements for PowerDirector

http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/product-requirements.do?ProductId=4&prodId=4&prodVerId=977

For the Studio One, don't think a high spec audio card is really needed but fast hdd access is. Again, here's the specs...

http://www.presonus.com/products/AudioBox-1818VSL/techspecs

Dont think will need the RAID 10 setup - just a large (2TB) fast drive would be fine.


So, any suggestions based on Monotypes config?

Thanks

J