How about these specs for new system?
 

Building a new system -- saw the below info on the 'video guy's' site... What's your take on the specs (top is an Intel based system and below that is AMD)? Could I be doing better in any area (within the same price range)?

Thanks!

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Mother Board: Asus P5WD2 Premium

CPU - Dual Core: Pentium D 940 - 3.2 Ghz Dual Core CPU X80553940

Memory (2GB): Kingston 1GB 240pin DDR2 PC2 6400 (x2) KHX6400D2/1G

System Drive: WD2500KS 250GB SATAII

RAID Storage: Hitachi 250x2

Case: ASPIRE X-CRUISE-BL/420 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower w/420W PS

Graphics Card: PNY Quadro FX540 128MB PCIe

DVD Burner: Pioneer DVR-R100

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2 OEM

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Mother Board: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe

CPU - Dual Core: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.2 Ghz Dual Core ADA4400CDBOX

Memory (2GB): Kingston 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 PC 3200 (x2) KVR400X64C3A/1G

System Drive: WD2500KS 250GB SATAII

RAID Storage: Hitachi 250x2

Case: ASPIRE X-CRUISE-BL/420 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower w/ 420W PS

Graphics Card: PNY Quadro FX540 128MB PCIe

DVD Burner: Pioneer DVR-R100

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2 OEM

What editing system do you plan on running?

i.e. AMD, at the price point, will give you more performance:dollar but it doesn't necessarily play well with all the NLEs out there.

Thanks Glenn

Using Vegas currently – looking at adding Avid Liquid sometime soon. I understand from the video guys site that the AMD is somewhat quicker. Wondering though if I could be doing better in any area – particularly with the Intel specs, which I think I will be going with…


Thanks --

I don't use Liquid, but from my understanding:
It is very specific about what video cards will work... it may work better with ATI than Nvidia. I would do some research on the best video card for Liquid... it is probably something like an ATI Radeon 9800pro. Same price, much better performance than the card you indicate.

AMD definitely has the better performance, and better performance:dollar ratio everywhere except for the lower end. On the lower end, you can get really good deals on a Dell Inspiron 9100 (Pentium D system)... it can be cheaper than building your own. There are certain caveats to Dell though... i.e. they are not very upgradeable. But that may be ok, since even custom-built computers will not be very upgradeable after 2-3 years (after that long, it makes sense to buy a new computer / cannibalize parts... new technology is so much faster).

2- If you DO go the custom-built route:
RAM: 4X512MB instead of 2X1GB may be faster and cheaper.
I haven't checked prices lately, so I don't know if it's cheaper.
It *might* be faster if the new chipsets are like the old 865/875 chipsets a generation ago. Running four sticks of *identical* RAM (it's very important that they're identical) increased the memory bandwidth and may increase performance by a very small amount (which is probably neglible anyays). So performance-wise it's not a big deal, but 4 sticks might be faster than 2 for video editing.

Motherboard: You could go a little cheaper there?

Hard drives:
I would go bigger if you have the budget + need. Better capacity:dollar, and bigger drives are more future-proof in case you need even more storage.
Another option is to wait for hot deals on hard drives... in the US, I heard of really good deals.

Case: I prefer the Antec stuff... but it shouldn't make that much of a difference.

2- Anyways, I would consider:
A- Using an AMD-based system. Better performance than Intel for the same price, except on the low-end.
B- If you must go Intel, a hot deal on a Dell Pentium D system may be worth looking at.
C- Sticking with Vegas. ;)

Thanks Glenn for all of the very helpful information -- I really appreciate it. I think I'll also check out the Dell system you mentioned. Although, after dealing with the sales people over there for the last couple of days, I'm inclined not to! It's pretty sad when I know more about the systems than they do...

The Dell Inspiron 9100 is a laptop...no? Or do you mean one of their other desktop systems?

Be deadly sure you want to do this..
IMO, Liquids background rendering databasing system needs ALOT of work. hopefully avid will look at this and do something about the crappy file referencing system.

If yu do install liquid, i strongly recommend u run a dual boot system.. keep liquid isolated and you wont have a problem with anything else

Sorry, I meant the Dimension... they updated the line to 9150 I believe. The lower end model (5150?) should also work.

Find out about deals on sites like...
http://www.gotapex.com/

2- I don't know all that much about Liquid myself, but I believe it does have some gotchas to you like Peter is mentioning.