Is there a video card that can handle both: gaming & video editing?

[randyannie]

Hey everyone. I'm building a new tower currently, and I'm wondering if there is a PCI Express Video Card that can handle the tasks of both gaming and video editing?

As far as gaming goes, I play Half Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, F.E.A.R., Far Cry, Painkiller and many more. Right now I'm using a XFX Nvida 7900 with 256MB ram onboard. This handles all of my gaming needs fine.

Now about video editing: I'm wanting to take all of my old VHS home video tapes and rip them to my Hard Drive and be able to edit them into smaller movies using something like Cyberlink Power Director software, and I also like to do a bit of Photoshop editiing etc.

Is there a video card out there that could possibly be good for both of my hobbies? I really value the opinions of the people here at VideoHelp.com so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch, Randy

[SCDVD]

You don't need anything special for video editing. Video editing is processor intensive but doesn't place heavy demands on your video board. Whatever video board that you choose for gaming will work just fine for video editing.

[randyannie]

Yes but won't I need special connectors on the vid card to allow me to do video editing?

[MJA]

DELETE

[yoda313]

Now about video editing: I'm wanting to take all of my old VHS home video tapes and rip them to my Hard Drive and be able to edit them into smaller movies using something like Cyberlink Power Director software, and I also like to do a bit of Photoshop editiing etc.

First of all you don't "rip" video tapes. You DUB them. You need either a digital camcorder with a firewire connection to your computer and use it to "passthrough" to the computer OR a capture card.

Any card will do. Or you can get a usb device if you don't want to take up an internal slot. You record to the computer in either avi or mpg format. From there you edit the file and then "author" the video to dvd format for burning.

The ati all in wonder cards are popular but probably not suitable to high end gaming. Another alternative are hauppauge mpeg capture cards. You get good quality recordings and a ready to use mpg file for authoring (though you'll still have to chop out commercials and stuff if you want to).

Check the site for capture cards and you'll get a lot choices. Start with your recording format (some are mpeg only so if you want to edit in avi pay attention to that). Set a budget and go from there. The cheapest no namers should be under 50.00 US these days.

[thecoalman]

Yes but won't I need special connectors on the vid card to allow me to do video editing?

As mentioned ATI AIW's or not mentioned Nvidia VIVO cards, not sure if they make any that fall within your gaming needs. I haven't looked recently but a few years back both the ATI and Nvidia offered these in the high end cards.

Personally I'd just get a pci based or extenal capture decvice.

[edDV]

Video cards are more about playing the encoded result of editing. They provide MPeg2 decompression, deinterlacing and frame resizing. There are always rumors about GPU chips providing encode assist but that never seems to happen.

Best way to preview is out the IEEE-1394 port not the video card.

If you are into HDTV resolution MPeg2 or Home Theater PC or MPeg4 AVC playpack, you will need a beefy display card and CPU but not necessarily a game card.

Pro editors favor the OpenGL cards because they are into heavy vector or polygon based effects or preview assists..

[buttzilla]

I would just get a gaming card with a lot of mem. I have a nvidia 7950 gt ko with 512 meg's but they now have ones with a gig.

[lordsmurf]

Buy two computers. One for video games, one for video editing. Otherwise, give up one activity, or understand you'll do both, but one or both will have performance at less than optimal conditions.

What you want does not exist.

ATI AIW Radeon AGP cards do video well, but it won't be a super whiz-bang graphics card for the newest video games.

[yoda313]

Actually lordsmurf is probably right about the two computer approach. Put aside the restraint on capture and gaming requirements you will also have the comptuer tied up a lot.

If you are planning on doing a lot of capturing and editing your computer will be tied down a lot. Sure you can do stuff while its working but unless you get a dual or quad core processor you won't be able to do two high end tasks simultaneously.

Actually you might want to look into dual core then you might possibly be able to get away with it...

[lordsmurf]

No matter what anybody says, playing a game while you encode or author always screws up the video quality. I always test these people who say "I have no problem" and I have not once seen a situation where all their discs turned out okay, there were glitches because of interruptions in the data streams while processing that audio/video.

Never do video and games at the same time.

[edDV]

Games aside, it is interesting how many things can be done on a Core2Duo machine at the same time such as DV capture and MPeg2_ts capture and tuner PVR and DVD Mpeg2 encoding and general web surfing at the same time.

I wouldn't risk this for critical projects but it works mostly. I watch for dropped frames in WinDV to indicate things are getting too stressed.



PS: Separate machines are getting so affordable. Last Friday I picked up a Core2Duo E4300 + motherboard for $99 at a Fry's sale. This will replace a P2.8 as a general encoding /PVR machine. I have leftover memory, hard drive and XP license. Got an Antec case+PS for $25 after $80 rebate. Watch for deals.