I'm looking to build a new PC machine and need advice on a graphics card. I'll be using Edius Broadcat 4 and will mainly editing HDV footage from a sony Z1 and Canon XL H1. I'll be producing HD output to external hard disk for delivery.

Can't afford the top FX cards. Overwhelmed by the number of options out there. NVidia or ATX? etc.

ATI Radeon 1950X Pro is what several knowledgeable folks who've recently built NX monster machines have used and are happy with the results.

I second John's suggestion.
ATI Radeon cards.
Followed by nvidia.

Why do the FX cards cost so much? What's so special about them compared to more mass produced gaming cards?

the chips and memory type make em expensive.
BUT you dont really need the high end ones. just get those with at least 128mb of ram or 256 if you have a dual monitor set up. make sure you get the DDR2 type of ram for the GPU.

EDIUS, like most NLE's isn't going to take advantage of the Graphics card for most editing processes. If you are applying 3d transitions and things like that, then yes, it will make a difference. But, for pretty much everything else, real-time performance won't be affected by a better, or worse, graphics card.

Concerning HDV, I could be wrong, and maybe the graphics card plays a role, but I don't think so.

The place where you will want a good graphics card is if you are doing a lot of 3d work, or special fx, etc. in programs like After Effects, and so on. Those programs will use the heck out of your graphic card. And render times will be highly effected by your graphics card.

Otherwise, don't sweat the graphics card too much. Just get one with dual monitor outputs. Focus more on a good dual core processor, ram, and HDD space, etc.

For the record, I have a less than stellar graphics card in my laptop. I edit dvcpro HD footage on it. I can have 5, 6 streams, whatever on the timeline, have transistions, color correction, old movie fx, 3d pip, and so on. All of it has been real-time editing.

The only time it isn't is when I apply a 3d transition, or use some of the xplode effects/transitions. But, most of that is stuff I wouldn't use anyways, and even then, it is just a 5 second render, or whatever.

Later,
Jason

I'm currently having a new Edius system being built by GuyGraphics in Utah, their using the nVidia 8800 card. Gary