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  1. Hey everyone, Okay, so I saved up and just bought the New Canon 70D camera to shoot my first video and find out my (really old) computer can't handle it in video editing.

    I have to render all the clips to mpg4 before I can try to edit them.

    Finally accepted that I'm going to have to buy a new desktop (after taking it in to computer guy... almost busts out laughing). I've emailed some ebay sellers and asked the computer guy, but AS SOON as I mention "editing" the price goes up like 10x ... they know they can charge.

    I'm on a budget after spending 1300 on the Canon. I want a good computer but "best bank for buck". Right now

    I run 3VGA monitors and 1DVI monitor and this seems to be where it confuses the tech sellers as they all say it's going to be "expensive" but I bought the graphics card for this computer for 30 bucks and just plugged it in and windows found it and bam... I was good to go. Anyhow, what do you guys recommend as a affordable desktop (best bang for buck) or what I should tell my computer guy I want.

    I just need my 4 monitors as well as a good desktop. 3 are screens and 1 is hooked up to my TV. The screens can be VGA or DVI but my tv is only VGA. Whew... that was a lot and I thought buying a video camera was overwhelming ... this (desktops) is a WORLD of options with all different prices

    Ugh... I guess this is why they buy Apple (well it's pretty too lol)



    Links From My Research So Far:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/181332597434
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/271458656886?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/261457498492?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/181386143048?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/281241093103?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
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  2. It's obvious that the guys you consulted don't know a thing about video editing. You won't need something outlandishly expensive.

    1) A current quad-core CPU will do, and correct socket-type mobo to match.
    2) 8 GB of RAM should be adequate. To access that much, the OS must be 64-bit.
    3) Hard drives, big ones. You should keep working files off the OS drive. Best to have at least two besides the OS drive, one for capture, one for rendering.

    Good luck.
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  3. Originally Posted by fritzi93 View Post
    It's obvious that the guys you consulted don't know a thing about video editing. You won't need something outlandishly expensive.

    1) A current quad-core CPU will do, and correct socket-type mobo to match.
    2) 8 GB of RAM should be adequate. To access that much, the OS must be 64-bit.
    3) Hard drives, big ones. You should keep working files off the OS drive. Best to have at least two besides the OS drive, one for capture, one for rendering.

    Good luck.
    Out of the links... is there anything you recommend. I'm sooo clueless and I 100% agree with you ... they are over selling me and I'm feeling helpless cause I just spent 1300 on this camera for my 30th b-day and now I can't really use and and can't really afford a new computer but I figure I have to so I might as well by a "good" one not a 1400 one lol... grrr I had no idea.

    Thanks man
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  4. Let's see what other members think. I haven't bought a pre-built since 2003 (on the 6th assembled by myself).

    Dunno about value/money on current Intels. And someone else should advise about video cards.

    [EDIT] With Win8, you'll need something like StartisBack to get a more usable layout like Win7. I believe it's free, and there are others like it.
    Last edited by fritzi93; 20th Apr 2014 at 00:54.
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  5. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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  6. Member turk690's Avatar
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    For the nth time, with the possible exception of certain Intel processors, I don't have/ever owned anything whose name starts with "i".
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    I like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181386143048?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649&afsrc=1
    The graphics card looks like it could handle all of your monitors.

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    Originally Posted by CreativeEditing View Post
    The A series APUs are fine for general purpose computing and light gaming. Their computing power is comparable to an Intel i3, although the AMD APU's graphics are better. AMD's FX series processors are better for encoding and editing, and would require a video card to be installed. However, an Intel i5 or i7 would be more energy efficient.

    One problem you are likely to run into with typical pre-built computers is a reduced number of SATA ports on the motherboard over what the motherboard chipsets are capable of supporting and a limited number of hard drive bays. My sister just bought an HP desktop with a Haswell i3 CPU, and I looked over the specs for some of their machines before she did. The current consumer HP motherboards I saw only have 4 SATA connections. I think there are only 2 hard drive bays in the case they use, but I am not certain. This is good enough for general purpose computing, but not for video editing.

    johns0's suggestion is far more suitable for editing video and audio than the typical HP machine. It has enough hard drive bays too.

    If your current video card is not an AGP model and has 64-bit drivers for Windows 7 or Windows 8.X available, you may be able to keep using it for a while longer and postpone upgrading the video card until later.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 20th Apr 2014 at 11:22.
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  9. I'm way behind on how video cards operate in conjunction with motherboards with on-board graphics these days..... in respect to whether you can install a video card and use the onboard graphics as well (if the MB has them). Someone else would probably know. My old MB has no onboard video and doesn't run a CPU with intergated graphics. It has a motherboard with two full size PCI express slots so I can install two video cards. The cards I run are old Nvidia 8600GT's. Each will run two monitors (2 x VGA or 1 x DVI and 1 x VGA in the case of my cards), so I can run up to four monitors. You don't need top of the line cards for video editing.

    If you're going to be editing and moving large files around, I'd recommend at least a pair of hard drives running in a RAID-0 configuration (two drives doing the work of a single drive). Chances are all but the most budget of MBs support RAID these days. In my case I have four hard drives running in pairs as two RAID-0 volumes. I try to work by putting source files on one RAID-0 volume and save the output files to the other. That way the hard drives don't slow things down and I can keep using the PC without wanting to bang my head against the desk, even when it's busy doing other things. Even if you run a single RAID volume it can make things snappier (assuming you don't invest in a solid state drive for installing Windows and programs). I partitioned a section of the RAID volume for installing Windows and I use the second, large partition for storage and work space. I couldn't go back to running a single hard drive again.
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  10. Originally Posted by turk690 View Post

    I agree, I don't need "top of line picture" for video editing. How "I" see it on my screen does not matter to me as it will be in HD and those that do have good graphics will see it in HD. They all think I need some super HD card ... no need for that. Just need a super awsome desktop to power through videos ... fast ... fast and best bank for buck.


    This is so confusing....

    Business Idea: Anyone want to get RICH

    Find a way to make it REALLY EASY for the average consumer to find "excaclty" what he/she want's without under or overselling them as to maximize their dollar... and tell them this. In the end they save a ton of money not overbuying things they will never need or underbuying and having to deal with it.

    Take a small percentage from the computer seller via referral or charge the consumer $$$$

    ----------------------------------------------

    Most of these tech guys are not that friendly .... not at all.

    Granted ... I am clueless lmao


    Update:

    I'm running 3DVI monitors (my computer screens) and 1HDMI Monitor (my tv) so I would need 4 ports. That's where it usually confuses the tech guys and they jack the tab up 10x ... I'm like nooooooo!

    Side note: If anyone has not tried hooking up their tv to thier BIG SCREEN Tv ... you should try. It just may change your life
    Last edited by CreativeEditing; 20th Apr 2014 at 15:21.
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    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    I'm way behind on how video cards operate in conjunction with motherboards with on-board graphics these days..... in respect to whether you can install a video card and use the onboard graphics as well (if the MB has them). Someone else would probably know.
    You can run onboard graphics at the same time with pci-e video cards,i did it to test encoding speeds.
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  12. I wouldn't say you should avoid AMD. I'm happy with my newest AMD build (in computer details).

    As noted, the processor in that HP Envy is an APU, not a CPU. It's a CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) on one chip.

    Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if the APU's dedicated graphics won't cut it in the OP's situation (I confess I dunno), then it's something of a waste. He'll have to get discrete graphics card(s) anyway, and for the price of the APU, could get a CPU with higher clock for the same price.

    The suggestion by johns0 is good, as would be an FX series AMD (also already noted above).
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    Originally Posted by fritzi93 View Post
    Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if the APU's dedicated graphics won't cut it in the OP's situation (I confess I dunno), then it's something of a waste. He'll have to get discrete graphics card(s) anyway, and for the price of the APU, could get a CPU with higher clock for the same price.
    The AMD APU's onboard graphics definitely won't support 3 monitors and a TV by themselves. There are only 3 video ports on the FM2 and FM2+ motherboards that I looked at (VGA, HDMI, and DVI-D). I no longer remember if all three video ports can be used at once or if they have to be disabled if some discrete graphic cards are installed.
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    No, that is just another AMD A-series APU. You need to be prepared to spend closer to $700 to get a quad core machine that works significantly better than an Intel i3 dual core.

    [Edit]eBay is only a good place to shop if you know something about the hardware being sold and have some idea about what it is actually worth.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 20th Apr 2014 at 16:52.
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    Originally Posted by johns0 View Post
    You can run onboard graphics at the same time with pci-e video cards,i did it to test encoding speeds.
    Many (perhaps most) MB/BIOS combinations will do this, but not all. On some, installing a pci-e graphics card disables the on-board graphics. An HP/Win7 machine at my church does exactly this, as I discovered when I installed a graphics card in order to get HDMI output. So beware.

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  16. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    You go into the bios to enable the onboard graphics,it's not that hard,if you need to run both graphics devices then you need to be a bit more computer savvy.
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    Originally Posted by johns0 View Post
    You go into the bios to enable the onboard graphics,it's not that hard,if you need to run both graphics devices then you need to be a bit more computer savvy.
    The manual for that system explicitly said that you cannot run built-in graphics and an add-in pci-e graphics card simultaneously.

    And you might want to turn down the snarkieness setting on your system. If you don't know how to do that, perhaps you need to be a bit more computer savvy.
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  18. First you need to consider what software you will be running. If you plan on using Intel Quick Sync to encode your videos you need an Intel processor. Look for an Ivy Bridge (3xxx), or better yet, Haswell (4xxx) based system. Other software may use Nvidia's CUDA or AMD's AVIVO or OpenCl. With thoie the graphics card becomes more important. In my opinion, all the consumer grade GPU encoders deliver mediocre h.264 quality compared to the better software encoder (like x264). And on a quad core or better CPU software can be just as fast. The exception is Intel's Quick Sync which is fastest overall but still lower quality than x264.

    Onboard graphics on all the CPU/GPU processors are fine for normal Desktop use. It's only when it comes to 3d games and GPU video encoding (and some specialized applications) that a PCIe card is needed. Most of the current system will allow two monitors connected to the onboard GPU (make sure the interfaces match your monitors, VGA, HDMI, DVI, DP). And most will allow use of the onboard graphics and an add-in card at the same time. For editing 1920x1080 video I'd prefer to have a big 2560x1440 monitor rather than 3 or 4 smaller monitors. We have a separate home theater PC for watching cable TV, streamed video, downloaded videos, etc.
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  19. Originally Posted by johns0 View Post
    You go into the bios to enable the onboard graphics,it's not that hard,if you need to run both graphics devices then you need to be a bit more computer savvy.
    I've owned several PC's in the past with onboard graphics which were disabled as soon as you inserted a video card, which is why I asked the question as I wasn't sure. Admittedly that was back in the days of AGP graphics.... I haven't owned a PC with onboard graphics since AGP was replaced with PCI Express and these days many MBs have multiple full size PCI Express slots even if they only tend to have one running at 16x.
    It might come down to how many PCI Express links a MB has and/or whether they're shared. For example my MB has 2 full size PCI Express slots and two 1x PCI Express slots. If I use both full size slots I'm pretty sure I can't use the 1x slots. Some motherboards with onboard graphics might work in a similar manner, I'm not sure.

    (Edit: Thinking about it, I think at one stage I was running a MB with onboard video and a PCI video card rather than an AGP card. That way, I could use both)

    For the OP's needs, a MB with two full size PCI Express slots shouldn't be hard to find. If it's got no onboard video adding a pair of cards to run four monitors shouldn't be too expensive as they wouldn't need to be expensive cards. If a MB with on-board graphics can run two monitors (is that common these days?) and they can be used with an add-on card you'd only need one, I assume.

    Edit: I just read jagabo's post. It looks like a MB with onboard graphics and an add-in card would do the job.
    Last edited by hello_hello; 21st Apr 2014 at 03:00.
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    @johns0

    Sorry: I was tired and impolite, and I apologise.

    But I'm pretty sure the manual for that system (which I don't have available to me right now) said that you can't do it. True, most you can. I'm running on-board graphics and an add-in card on my editing system, and it's not hard to do.
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