For video editing....

[Zotin Khuma]

A friend has asked me to assemble an economy system for
video editing. Budget is around US$1000 (all-inclusive except
capture card), but not strictly limited. I'll appreciate answers
to some questions -

1. How noticeable would be the difference between RAM
amounts of 512MB and 1GB, and between 1GB and 2GB
- huge, significant, barely noticeable ?

2. Likewise for 100Mb/s and Gb LAN for occasional transfer
of video files. As far as port speed is concerned, the numbers
speak for themselves; but what is it like in real-life usage ?

3. I'm looking at several mobos for an A64 S754 system,
the cheapest of which is the MSI K8MM-ILSR. The limited
number of PCI and RAM slots is not a problem. How good
are the specs otherwise ? Is the S3 Unichrome IGP good
enough for video editing (no gaming involved here) ?

4. Has anyone used the Samsung 997DF monitor for this
kind of work ? What's your experience ?

I'll also be grateful for any suggestions, and will probably
have further questions.

 

[kony]

A friend has asked me to assemble an economy system for
video editing. Budget is around US$1000 (all-inclusive except
capture card), but not strictly limited. I'll appreciate answers
to some questions -

1. How noticeable would be the difference between RAM
amounts of 512MB and 1GB, and between 1GB and 2GB
- huge, significant, barely noticeable ?

Depends on exactly what's being done. Generally you should
shoot for 1GB at least, and more if the budget can
accomodate it after other areas are addressed first.

2. Likewise for 100Mb/s and Gb LAN for occasional transfer
of video files. As far as port speed is concerned, the numbers
speak for themselves; but what is it like in real-life usage ?

Depends on how often, what size, how impatient the friend
is. In general, Gb LAN is VERY desirable for video
transfer. Of course you have to have Gb at the other end of
the ethernet cable too, and probably a switch unless it's
just a 2 system peer to peer lan, but generally you can
expect a minimum of 3X faster throughput with newer systems,
and even more with the newest systems having faster HDDs and
the Gb controller not running on the PCI bus. So yes, it's
worthwhile even if you get a cheap low-end $15 Gb PCI NIC to
implement it.

3. I'm looking at several mobos for an A64 S754 system,
the cheapest of which is the MSI K8MM-ILSR. The limited
number of PCI and RAM slots is not a problem. How good
are the specs otherwise ? Is the S3 Unichrome IGP good
enough for video editing (no gaming involved here) ?

Video editing is memory throughput intensive, you don't want
integrated video which uses memory bus so much. Even a
cheap old card would be better but realistically a low-end
ATI card is probably the best alternative.

4. Has anyone used the Samsung 997DF monitor for this
kind of work ? What's your experience ?

NOthing in particular about video editing that would require
differnent monitor criteria, same old things apply. See the
monitor in person and compare to others to deterimine if
it's what you want.


2 hard drives if not more. When editing it helps to have
the source and destination files on different drives, often
even more than using a RAID0 array.

 

[Zotin Khuma]

Video editing is memory throughput intensive, you don't want
integrated video which uses memory bus so much. Even a
cheap old card would be better but realistically a low-end
ATI card is probably the best alternative.

Thanks. Which of these cards would be considered quite
good enough - GF4 MX440, FX5200 (64-bit), Radeon
7000, Radeon 9200SE ? Or is something still better
desireable if not essential ?

NOthing in particular about video editing that would require
differnent monitor criteria, same old things apply. See the
monitor in person and compare to others to deterimine if
it's what you want.

That's the problem. I live in such a remote place that no
local shop has 19" monitors in stock and I have to order
it from my regular supplier in a distant city. They have the
Samsung 997DF but not the 957MB. I've read some reviews
of the 997DF, many of which mention a noticeable amount
of moire and, to a lesser extent, some geometry problems.
I was hoping someone here would post his/her experience,
tailoring it to the purpose of my question. That would be
different from a general review where the reviewer feels
obligated to mention even minor + and - points.

2 hard drives if not more. When editing it helps to have
the source and destination files on different drives, often
even more than using a RAID0 array.

I was thinking of installing two 120GB HDDs instead of a
single 200/250GB drive. And I was leaning towards the
tried and trusted 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda PATAs
instead of chasing after the minimal gain with SATA - I've
heard some vague local gossip about early failure of SATA
drives. Any truth to this ?

 

[Duddits]

A friend has asked me to assemble an economy system for
video editing. Budget is around US$1000 (all-inclusive except
capture card), but not strictly limited. I'll appreciate answers
to some questions -

I'll also be grateful for any suggestions, and will probably
have further questions.

Case and PSU
Antec SLK3700-BQE
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-140&depa=0
$79.99

Extra Fan
Panaflo L1A 120mm
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/directron/120l1a.html
$14.99

Motherboard
ASUS "P4P800-E Deluxe"
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-492&depa=0
$117.00

CPU
Intel Pentium 4/ 3.2E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=19-116-172&DEPA=0
$217.00

CPU Cooler
Thermalright XP-90 (with fan)
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556031208.html
$39.95

HD
Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-152&depa=1
$89.00

RAM
Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-440&DEPA=0
$103.67

DVD Burner
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black w/ Software, Model ND-3520A
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-038&depa=1
$62.99

Floppy Drive
Mitsumi Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=21-104-101&depa=1
$8.50

GPU
PowerColor RADEON 9550 Video Card, 256MB DDR 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-243&depa=0
$80.50

OS
Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 -OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=37-102-151&depa=0
$88.95

Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech Premium Desktop USB/ PS/2 104keys Keyboard & Cordless Optical
Mouse
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=23-126-136&depa=1
$25.00

$927.54

I've included robust cooling needed for video editing. (System will be
maxed out for several hours at a time)
A decent 19' monitor can be found locally for ~$130.00 if you catch a good
sale. My KDS 19" was $119.00 after rebates.

hth

Dud

 

[kony]

Thanks. Which of these cards would be considered quite
good enough - GF4 MX440, FX5200 (64-bit), Radeon
7000, Radeon 9200SE ? Or is something still better
desireable if not essential ?

$100 budget isn't exactly small, I'd go for at least the
Radeon 9200, maybe even more expensive, like a 9600... it
just seems appropriate for that level of system.

That's the problem. I live in such a remote place that no
local shop has 19" monitors in stock and I have to order
it from my regular supplier in a distant city. They have the
Samsung 997DF but not the 957MB. I've read some reviews
of the 997DF, many of which mention a noticeable amount
of moire and, to a lesser extent, some geometry problems.
I was hoping someone here would post his/her experience,
tailoring it to the purpose of my question. That would be
different from a general review where the reviewer feels
obligated to mention even minor + and - points.

I don't remember what Samsung 19" look like, but I do know
that I highly prefer Trinitron/Sony if/when it's a CRT,
over anything else, with Diamondmax a distant second.

I was thinking of installing two 120GB HDDs instead of a
single 200/250GB drive. And I was leaning towards the
tried and trusted 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda PATAs
instead of chasing after the minimal gain with SATA - I've
heard some vague local gossip about early failure of SATA
drives. Any truth to this ?

They shouldn't fail any sooner either way, AFAIK it's not
the interface portion that would be failure-prone. I
suggest some have at least one PATA drive to store their
valuable data IF they don't have another system with SATA
support, as it's easier to have/find a spare system with
PATA in an emergency, though this is a pretty narrow
consideration. In practice it doens't matter much, buy
based on which interface seems most versatile, rather than
worrying about one being better in reliability or
performance.