best new computer for home editing

[Dash1]

I am planning on buying a computer set tup
that will be used 50% of the time for basic video editing
and some photoshop use.
I have ~1500 to spend excluding the softs.
Please direct me to agood setuo . I have seen videoguys DIY 5
and lconsidering duo with 2G

Also, do I need regular 19" or a wide 22 is bete ?[I am not planning
on
lots of DVD's watching]
Thanks a lot

[edDV]

You could find a perfectly adequate model for under $600. Favor a system with a Core2Duo processor and add RAM (1GB for XP or 2GB for Vista).

Define your needs in more detail and you will get more detail.

[redwudz]

And several hard drives and lots of hard drive space. And if you have the spare $$, consider two video monitors, even if they are smaller. Especially with PS, it's nice to have the menus on one screen and the photo on the other.

[Soopafresh]

Spend $500 on a 24" widescreen monitor. The Samsung 245BW is great for the the price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234

I use one in the office, and people were so impressed they bought ones for themselves for home use.

And as redwudz said - lotsa drive space.

[edDV]

Spend $500 on a 24" widescreen monitor. The Samsung 245BW is great for the the price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234

I use one in the office, and people were so impressed they bought ones for themselves for home use.

And as redwudz said - lotsa drive space.

I got the 22" Samsung 226BW (~$300) and now covet the 24". It would require less leaning forward to read the small print but that is the majority of my exercise these days .

[Dash1]

Thank you guys, any coments on this list ?


Mother Board Asus - P5W DH Deluxe $210.00
CPUDual Core Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6600 $300.00
Memory (2GB) Kingston 1GB 240pin DDR2 PC2 6400 (x2) KHX6400D2/1G $170.00
System Drive 120G SATAII $70.00
SATAII Video Storage WD2500KS 250GB SATAII $80.00
Or RAID is a must ?
Case +Power Supply 500W $125.00
Graphics Card ATI Radeon X1950PRO 512MB $275.00
DVD Burner Pioneer DVR-710 $55.00
Stereo speakers 2.1 $50.00
Logitec Keyboard and lazer cordless Mouse $110.00


And now, Should I get 2 x19" LCD's or one 24"/22 WIDE[and which] ???

[tinker]

Specs look good except your storage.
I would recommend 300 to 500 GB drive. Specially for editing AVI video files from DV camera and will work on few at the time. Software, like Premier, recommend two drives for faster access during editing.
If you use RAID, depends what level, it will cut your storage also. Personally, I would not worry about RAID.

[greymalkin]

yep..get a bigger drive. You'll be surprised how quickly video will suck up the precioussss space.

Also you can get the E6600 for $230 at newegg. You might be able to get alot of those parts for cheaper there. I would definitely check it out before you throw down the dough.

Here are newegg's prices on the similar or better items (I have added shipping costs as well):

Mother Board Asus - P5W DH Deluxe 200
CPUDual Core Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6600 239
Memory (2GB) Corsair 1GB 240pin DDR2 PC2 6400 (x2) 100
System Drive 250GB SATAII 70
SATAII Video Storage Seagate 320GB SATAII 80

Case +Power Supply 500W 90
Graphics Card ATI Radeon X1950PRO 512MB 200
Lite-On DVD Burner 35
Stereo speakers 2.1 50
Logitec Keyboard and lazer cordless Mouse 50


This gives you $331 extra to go towards the monitor.

[Dash1]

Thanks a lot.

I stil not shure re:
- should I get a simpler graphics card?

- Are 2 19" LCD's better then one 24" ? and if I get the 19"'s should both be the same ?

[edDV]

Graphics card depends on need for games or high definition video.

Monitor choice is personal preference. I use a 22" wideLCD +19" 4:3 LCD + CRT HDTV display.

[creakndale]

If you go with 2 monitors then they should both be the same make and model. I started video editing with a single NEC 1960NX monitor. A year later, I wanted to upgrade to dual monitors but the NEC 1960NX was obsolete and replaced by the 1960NXi so that's what I purchased. The exterior case/frame of the two monitors are identical however the color profiles do not match. It took a lot of messing with various controls to get "similar" colors on both monitors.

[anosis]

You could get the following setup (all prices from newegg.com)

CPU: Q6600 Quad core (280USD)
MOBO: Gigabyte P35 DS3L (95USD)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (160USD)
HDD: 2 x Samsung 500GB (2x110USD)
GFX: XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB (140 USD)
MONITOR: SAMSUNG 245BW Black High Glossy 24" (500USD)

CASE+PSU: APEVIA X-ALIEN-BK/500 Black Steel ATX Full Tower (100)

This brings the total to just below 1500 before taxes and shipping.

Mouse and keyboard I did not include since I hope you have that anyway. And unless you want suround sound and are happy with stereo speakers they can be had for less then 50buck.

[retexan599]

I am planning on buying a computer set tup
that will be used 50% of the time for basic video editing
and some photoshop use.
I have ~1500 to spend excluding the softs.
Please direct me to agood setuo . I have seen videoguys DIY 5
and lconsidering duo with 2G

Also, do I need regular 19" or a wide 22 is bete ?[I am not planning
on lots of DVD's watching]
Thanks a lot

I find that converting/rendering video files takes every ounce of resources that my computer has. The sidebar gadget for RAM usage and for both cores sit at 100% for the 30 minutes or so that Windows Movie Maker is 'Publishing' a 15 minute .wmv product. I also find that I use all of the real estate on my 22 inch LCD monitor with multiple windows during editing and working with the videos. If I were doing it over, I would buy the next higher speed Intel processor. I don't know whether I could make use of more than the 2 GB RAM I have, but could possibly have added 1 GB more (there are other posts on how much RAM Vista 32-bit can make use of). Still, it is working ok for me; I just find something else to do while the machine is chugging away on the rendering.

My specs are: HP Pavilion d4890y VISTA desktop.....Intel Core 2 Duo processor E6420 (2.13GHz)
2GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024).....250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE graphics card.....HP w2207 22-inch Widescreen Flat-Panel Monitor
Power supply 350 watts