Help Me! Buying PC for video editing

[iggsta]

Hi... I'm about to buy a new PC for digital video editing.

Should I go for the Dell Dimension 5000:
* 160GB HD, Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 530 with HT technology (3.00GHz, 800MHz fsb, 1MB cache)
* 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512]
* 128MB PCI-Express ATI Radeon X300SE™ with TVout & DVI
* DVD-RW and DVD Rom drive.
for £670 with postage

This PC doesn't come with a soundcard.

Or, should I go for a Fujitsu Scaleo P602
# Intel Pentium 4 P 540 sup. HT technology
# 3200 mhz Processor speed
# 1024 mb RAM Memory
# 250 Gb Serial ATA Hard Disk
# Multi-format D.Layer DVDRW&DVD Rom Drive
# 256 Mb nVidia 6200TC64M Graphics
£640

My instinct tells me to go with the Dell... because I'm not sure how reliable Fujitsus are... but then again the Fujitsu has better specs and is slightly cheaper (and it has a floppy drive).

What do people think of these specs? Any advice?

Thanks
Dom

 

[Me__2001]

can you stretch a bit more ? do you need a monitor ? is this just for video editing ?

 

[iggsta]

My absolute maximum to spend is £700 I think, unless there's something drastically wrong with these specs or something for slightly more that is much better... but I'd rather stay under that bracket.

The price i listed for the Fujitsu is without a monitor, it's £700 with. I dont think I can get rid of the monitor for the Dell, so that one is with a flat panel 17". I COULD make do without one, since I could use the one from my old PC which is also flat panel- it depends how much I would save, and whether I could ditch the monitor if buying from Dell.

I will need the PC for the internet (fast downloads and viewing media), storing music, word processing. Gaming would be nice but it isn't a priority. The MAIN priority is video editing through firewire, and exporting onto DVDs.

Is Dell really better than a make such as Fujitsu? Are these specs enough for feature film editing?

Any other thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[Kenny]

Does it have to be shop-bought?

 

[Me__2001]

the most important things are a fast CPU and loads of RAM, if you can upgrade the CPU to a faster model it make saving and importing video faster, more RAM would be good but 1GB is the minimum you should get

the dell system is good, the graphics card is a low spec model and wont be great for games but it will do for video editing

i am leaning towards the fujitsu PC because of the CPU and hard drive space, the one down side is the graphics is AGP not the newer PCI-E like the dell

you can play with the dell spec on their website if you want to change things

 

[iggsta]

Is there any advantage in going for a recognised brand like Dell rather than the less reputable Fujitsu?

Both are essentially £700... so they're even on price.

Apparently I have to pay another £50 for Microsoft Word according to Dell, since Works 7 doesnt include it (?)

Do graphics cards have much effect on digital video editing?

Do I need a sound card for any aspect of video editing? I can add a Sound Blaster® Live! 24-bit ADVANCED HD™ Sound Card to the Dell for £35.

At the moment I'm tempted to go for the Dell... I hear the Dimension 5000 is a good PC, whilst I haven't really heard anything about the Fujitsu model (in fact, I didn't know they made PCs till today). Is £700 a good price for what I'm getting with the Dell, or is there a better alternative?

It does have to be shop bought, as I'm not really experienced at constructing my own PC out of components, and I want the warranty.

Thanks everyone for the advice! Please keep it coming- I need to decide by midnight, because the Double Free Memory offer expires today at Dell.co.uk!
Dom

 

[Me__2001]

if you are buying direct from fujitsu and not through someone like PC World (although i wouldn't buy a PC from them because they are crap and try to con you if theres a problem) then i'd go for the dell

the dell comes with onboard 5.1 sound which will be just as good as a soundcard and cheaper, according to the dell website microsoft works only contains word and outlook and they want another £125 for the basic office, if you can manage with this then no problem but to get it seperate is big money, it comes with word, excel, powerpoint, outlook which will suit most people

the graphics card will make the playback smoother but is not crucial to the editing speed

if you can get dell to double the RAM to 2GB then get that if not stick with 1GB and make sure the firewire card is in the spec it doesn't come as standard, the spec of the system is good and would be hard to match if you built it yourself the only 'weak' part of the system is the graphics card but for the price it is good

 

[iggsta]

Ok great. I have a Firewire port on my old PC, and I thought I would just take it out and swap it into the Dell- it will be compatible right?

How do you mean "try and get dell to put it up to 2GB"? Can I bargain with them over the phone?!

Thanks again for all your help, its really appreciated.

 

[Me__2001]

you said double memory so if it has 1GB it should be 2GB or have they upped it from 512MB?

the firewire card should be compatible if it is removeable check before you order by poping the side off the case and take a look, if you have the drivers on a disk then it should be simple enough if not you can get drivers online. if its not a removeable card then its about an extra £25

 

[iggsta]

I believe the original memory was 512- so it would be 1GB.

I bought the firewire seperately for this PC, so it should be OK.

I'm going for the Dell then. Thanks for the help.

 

[Me__2001]

ok no problem, if you need any help you know where we are

 

[floppybootstomp]

Oh well, it's 1am now, I missed the deadline, lol

All good advice so far here, basically fast CPU; as much RAM as possible and the more hard disk space the better.

Good luck with the Dell

 

[iggsta]

Actually it looks like Dell have extended the offer (surprise surprise).

Would you go with the Dell too, floppybootstomp? I'm also considering bumping it up by 90GB to 250GB for an extra £95, what do you think?

Also, with the S-VHS output on the ATI graphic card, can I export both video AND sound back out to a VCR or TV? In my experience, S-VHS seems to just be picture.

Thanks

 

[floppybootstomp]

Actually it looks like Dell have extended the offer (surprise surprise).

Would you go with the Dell too, floppybootstomp? I'm also considering bumping it up by 90GB to 250GB for an extra £95, what do you think?

Also, with the S-VHS output on the ATI graphic card, can I export both video AND sound back out to a VCR or TV? In my experience, S-VHS seems to just be picture.

Thanks

Yes, I'd probably go for the Dell, if they were my only choices and the machine's prime use was for video editing. Only thing that worries me is AGP graphics is now old technology, but no matter, the machine will do the job it is intended for just fine.

£95.00 is way too much to pay for another 90Gb, ask for a quote to add another hard disk seperately, either 160Gb or 200Gb.

Picture will come from graphics card, sound will come from line out socket of onboard sound.

 

[Me__2001]

the dell system has PCI-E, if you want more space you can add a second hard drive your self for less then that and get twice the storage

 

[floppybootstomp]

the dell system has PCI-E, if you want more space you can add a second hard drive your self for less then that and get twice the storage

oops, me bad, got 'em mixed up, sorry

How are Dell with their warranty if you add your own hard drive?