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Computer Advice

TheMurph

TheMurph

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Hey my fellow trekbbsers, I need some computer help/advice.


I'm looking at purchasing a custom built computer and I have two options presented to me. I'm needing it for editing HD footage using Cineform Neoscene, Sony Vegas Pro 9, Adobe After Effects CS4, and maybe Magic Bullet Suite 2009.

I need a computer upgrade that can handle this, but I have no idea what would be better between the two options I have that fit in my budget.

Option A:

3.0 Ghz Intel P4 Dual Core procssor and fan

Asus P5Q Motherboard capable of upgrading to Quad Core and 16 GB of DDR II Ram, with built in LAN and Surround sound

Asus EAH4650 1 Gig DDR II HDMI/DVI Video card

4 GB DDR 800 Mhz RAM

CD/DVD Burner

500 GB Seagate Pipeline 7200 RPM Hard Drive

Mid-ATX Case w/ 500W Thermaltake power supply


Option B:

Asus M3N-HT Deluxe/HDMI Motherboard. Capable of 3 Way SLI w/ Nvidia discrete graphics,

capacity of 16 Gigs DDR2 RAM, AM3 CPU w/ built in 7.1 Stereo surround sound,

10/100/1000 LAN

2.6 Ghz AMD Phenom Tri Core processor.

Katana III radiator style heatsink and fan

4 gigs of RAM: 2x2gigs DDR2 800Mhz Corsair XMS2 Memory

Western Digital 500 GB 7200 RPM Sata Hard drive

LG 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD Burner

Azza Mid tower with Thermaltake 500W power supply

---
So thoughts, opinions, help?
Is a tri-core processor with a lower cpu better than a dual core with a higher cpu?

Option B doesn't come with a video card, so I would be spending a $100 more for a video card for it.

Both are $300, Option B with a one gig ddr3 card will be $400

Thanks for any help. :)
 
Those look like pretty good machines. I've found that you can never go wrong starting off with a ton of RAM, but remember, you can only use over 3.5GB with a 64 bit OS. Then you'd have to make sure all your apps will run under 64bit.

I would probably go with a 750W - 1000W P/S, even if you don't think you need it at the moment. That would give you the ability to add more internal stuff later. Plus most current CPU's suck up 95W.

If you plan to store a lot of video on the HDD, you might go with a 1TB/1.5TB/2TB as a second drive. I rip a lot of my TV DVD's, and while the file format may differ, I've filled up about 2/3 of a 1.5TB already. Video can take up a lot of room.

Of course a tight budget could limit any additional customization.
 
Definitely option B. Since you're using this for video work, what you need is CPU power, RAM, and hard drive speed/room. They both have the same amount of RAM, but the RAM in option B is faster. Hard drives are comparable. But the real kicker is the CPU. The Phenom will run circles around the P4, especially when it comes to transcoding video. Just taking a quick look at the CPU charts at TomsHardware, it looks like the Phenom will transcode video 2-4X faster than the P4. It's hard to do a direct comparison because the P4 is so much older that the two CPU's aren't listed on the same charts, so you have to compare them both to some other reference CPU that is on both charts.

As for the video card, you don't need a high end video card for video work, unless your programs can make use of the video card for transcoding. The last time I checked, that was a feature that was a theoretical possibility, but no programs were using it yet. I don't know if any of the programs you are using will be able to take advantage of the computing power of the video card, but I doubt it. If they can't, don't go looking for a high end video card unless you plan on gaming with the computer as well. Spending $400 or $50 on a video card will only make a difference to the weight of your wallet.
 
I'll vote for option B. Your choice applications are data transfer intensive (in and out of RAM), more than they are processor intensive, or memory intensive.

So choose a machine with a fast FSB, and fast memory (DDR2). This is more important for you than cpu speed, number of cpu cores, and memory capacity.
 
Last edited:
farmkid said:
As for the video card, you don't need a high end video card for video work, unless your programs can make use of the video card for transcoding. The last time I checked, that was a feature that was a theoretical possibility, but no programs were using it yet.
Click to expand...

Nothing around my station is doing that, and we're using fairly recent Edius and Avid. Just get a card that supports 1080p if you're doing HD editing.

You'll probably want a dual monitor setup so you can have a your timeline, in and out monitors and your bin where you can actually see and work with them all without having to click or mouse around.
 
Option B with DDR2 4GB RAM

The AMD cpu will definitely beat a P4 cpu regardless of how you put it.

New generations of CPU's will simply run circles around older generation ones even if the new one has a lower or identical clock speed.

Plus, since the applications you mentioned are reasonably heavy on the system and quite likely able to make use of multithreading ... the extra core on the B option is worth it.

You will not notice a difference between DDR2 and DDR3 RAM's speeds really since those make a marginal impact on the system.
The real difference between the two for the most part is predominantly in the fact the DDR3 ram produces less heat.

Stick with DDR2 RAM option.

Oh and one more thing.
Since you will have 4GB of RAM, my recommendation is to install Win 7 x64 (64bit) because that's the only way to fully utilize all those 4GB of RAM ... because a 32bit OS will effectively make use of 3, to 3.5GB Max.
 
Wow, thanks for all the help everyone! So it seems as if B is the consensus opinion. Now a clarification and then another question please. :)

When I wrote "Both are $300, Option B with a one gig ddr3 card will be $400," I should have made it clear that Option B with a one gig ddr3 video card is $400. Is that a good deal, or should I just get it for $300 and then buy my own video at a cheaper price? And if so, any recommendations?

Thanks again everyone!
 
TheMurph said:
Wow, thanks for all the help everyone! So it seems as if B is the consensus opinion. Now a clarification and then another question please. :)

When I wrote "Both are $300, Option B with a one gig ddr3 card will be $400," I should have made it clear that Option B with a one gig ddr3 video card is $400. Is that a good deal, or should I just get it for $300 and then buy my own video at a cheaper price? And if so, any recommendations?

Thanks again everyone!
Click to expand...

As it was mentioned ... it depends on what kind of video card is it.

Do you know the ID tag for the video card?
 
TheMurph said:
I believe it is an Asus ENGT240 1Gb DDR3 Video Card.
Click to expand...

Ok, it's a good card.
Should provide nice bang for the buck in terms of graphic performance in Adobe programs (if they use gpu acceleration), and should be more than adequate for latest games (if you decide to play any).
:-)

You can go with it, or, you could look into an ATI equivalent (Radeon HD 4770 with GDDR5).
On Newegg it costs $115, and it's actually more powerful in comparison to the ENGT240
 
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