Help customizing a computer for video editing.

[vid83]

I use my computer for mostly surfing the internet, Microsoft Word for school, and Photoshop.
Once in a while I will use Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 to edit videos (I also have After Effects).
Therefore I want a minimum configuration that will allow me to edit videos without slowing down the computer.

Below is the link to the HP Desktop that I am going to customize. My budget is $900.
How would you customize it and keep it under $900?

On the link, click to customize the base configuration.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_s...=m9500t_series.

The only information I need is processor, memory, graphics card, and sound card.

[redwudz]

Just generalizations, but I would have two, or preferably three hard drives. With Vista 32, 4GB RAM is more than enough.

Unless you select a graphics card that has hardware encoding assistance, video cards don't matter much with encoding or editing.

If you also plan to encode with the PC, the fastest CPU you can afford would be a good idea. Quad core is also a good choice.

JMO, but the on-board sound cards are very good. I would put off that purchase until and if you really need it.

[vid83]

I just checked and the power supply is 350 watts.
The thing I am most concerned about is the graphics card. I have no idea which to choose.

[Soopafresh]

The default options are OK. As Redwudz mentioned, 2 drives would be a bit faster for video work. The graphics card doesn't matter much, unless you're doing really high end vid work. The default Nvidia is just fine.

Do you need a Wireless Networking Card ?

Have you thought about a monitor? This particular 22" Dell uses IPS technology, which makes it pretty color accurate for things like Photoshop:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=0...435f0fp0c0s558