PERFECT EDITING WORKSTATION!!!! Helppp!

[jagabo]

Do you know that Intel's new Core 2 Duo processors are coming out in about six weeks? They promise (and it looks like they will deliver) more performance with less power consumption. You're locking yourself into yesterday's technology by getting a P4D now. Although it may be hard for DIY'ers to get Core 2 Duo chips at introduction.

Regarding LCD speeds: there's no standard for rating the switching speed of LCDs. Different manufacturers measure it differently. Even different models from the same manufacturer measure it differently. It's even possible that the 12ms display will be better than the 8ms display. You should evaluate them with your own eyes before selecting.

[CrayonEater]

Scrap the idea of getting a "cheap IDE". You can get a cheap SATA for the same price.

But...

Get two SATA drives. It would be better for you to get 2 160Gbs rather than 1 320Gb. When you install your OS, make sure your swapfile is on the D: (second) drive if you're using Windows. And when you do your work, try to work between drives e.g. if your work requires simultaneous reading and writing to disk (like encoding), have your input file on your C: drive and your output file on D: The reason why is drives on two channels can be addressed separately and operate simultaneously. Makes a BIG difference.

[BogieV]

I think the choice of his drive sizes is fine.
No need of SATA (although it doesn't hurts to get it instead of IDE). Speedwise no difference. No need of small drive for OS - actually it is recomended to put the OS on the bigger drive as it is faster (higher density - higher read/write speed). Just make 20 GB partition on your bigger drive and use it for your OS and programs.
Don't put your swap (page) file on different drive, live it as Win XP set it - reading from the second physical drive page file while capturing on it for example might lead to dropped frames. This advise works only if you use single drive for page file ONLY!
You don't need capture card if you don't intend to capture analog video or if you don't need TV tuner.
People recomend you separate video card as it is always better not to use the onboard VGA that shares memory from the system RAM and reduces it's bandwith thus reducing somewhat performance.
The advice for the CPUs is valuable as Intel inend to discount it's old CPUs once the new ones hit the market.

[CrayonEater]

I don't work much with firewire but you shouldn't even need firewire card if your mobo already has firewire, which your specs imply. I believe you can capture straight to your video editing program. But a capture card will allow you to use composite or S-Video inputs, and may have hardware encoding, which'll take a load off the CPU and usually prevent dropped frames. It depends IF you want to spend the extra money. You get what you pay for. But, if you do, go for a decent one like a Hauppauge that has hardware encoding and don't do what I did and get an el-cheapo card.

The previous poster's advice regarding the swapfile only applies if you put the swapfile on the same drive; IOW you will get some benefit from having it on a separate physical drive if you have one. It also makes imaging your C: drive somewhat easier if you back up your system this way.

[DarrellS]

So your suggesting getting a cheap but reliable IDE hard drive just for the op system.

That's how I have mine set up. You don't need a very big drive for just the OS and all your software. It's better to do all your capturing, editing and storage on different drives.

Then getting a vid capture card? ...but I have a cheap firewire card wont that do exactly the same job as a vid cap card? Whats the difference.
It has on board video but I may get something else if needed, I wont be gaming at all just editing.

If all you're going to do is edit from your camera then no but if you want the perfect editing workstation then you want to be able to capture video from other sources and be able to capture TV and FM radio, straight from your card not to mention outputting to other sources.

As for the no need for an IDE drive, the manufacturer is giving you the capabilities for 6 IDE drives and 4 SATA drives. Might as well take advantage of what is offered to you.

[edDV]

Doesn't the Gigabyte mobo have a IEEE-1394 port? If not, go higher in their line. If not, a PCI card will work assuming you have a PCI slot.

What kind of video you you expect to capture? An IEEE-1394 port will work with DV camcorders or DV transcoders. USB2 will work with other capture devices.


PS: Sorry, I missed page 2.

[rallynavvie]

Don't get a VIVO card. Always get dedicated video output cards and dedicated capture cards. You run into problems when you go mucking about putting the two together. If you do want to capture non-HD video get yourself a Canopus ADVC to work with that FireWire port. If you aren't gaming you don't need a very powerful video card, just one that supports the display setup you want. But you probably wouldn't want to use onboard if only for the fact that it taps from other system resources.

[freedumb_youth]

First of all thanks to all you guys, so damn helpful I cant even begin to explain.
Now, I didnt end up getting it today as my CC would only give me a total of $1000 withdrawl haha completly forgot, so tommorows the day. ..i think.. what would be the prices of these new Core 2 Duo chips coming out? If this is the case I may just hold out..

..and

Yes it has onboard firewire which is what Ill be using for the moment and Ill see how I go.. however it doesnt have on board video, the dude at the store says it does but all the specs ive read else say it doesnt?!?!?!!??!

[jagabo]

It's not official yet but here's a link to expected Core 2 Duo (and other Intel CPU) pricing. It's in Chinese but the charts are in English. The E6xxx processors are Core 2 Duo:

http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/news.php?tid=604489

Here's the latest I've seen on AMD's response (~40 percent price cuts on A64 X2):

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2800

Note that a Core 2 Duo processore requires a different socket so you won't be able to use that Gigabyte motherboard. And we don't yet know about performance of the slower Core 2 Duo chips. At the high end they are completely blowing everything else away:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2771