Worth the money!?
 

Hi!
It was a couple of years since I updated myself in the computerworld. Now I´m going to buy a already-built HDV-editing computer.
I would appreciate if someone could give me just A HINT if this computer is worth the money or if I´m getting ripped of.. The company is called CapTech and they build editing computers.

Price is: $2373 (without swedish tax)
Price is: $2966 (with swedish tax)


PC-Computer Photo/Video Pro 2,4GHz Core 2 Quad:

• 1x Cabinet Cooler Master Mystique 631 silver m damp
• 1x Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 S775
• 1x Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 2,4GHz, 2x4MB, 1066MHz, S775
• 2x DDR2 1GB PC6400 Original DIMM 240-pin, 800Mhz
• 2x DDR2 512GB PC6400 Original DIMM 240-pin, 800Mhz
• 1x Hard-drive 250GB Hitachi S-ATA II, 7200rpm, T7K500, 8MB Cache
• 2x Hard-drive 750GB Hitachi S-ATA II, 7200rpm, 7K1000, 32MB Cache
• 1x Diskdrive 3.5'' AT, Silver, 1.44MB
• 1x DVD-burner Nec Optiarc 18xDL silver
• 1x Card-reader Silver USB 2.0 intern 3.5´´, All in 1
• 1x Firewire 800 B+A PCIe, 3port, 2x IEEE1394b & 1x IEEE1394a with cable
• 1x Graphic-card LeadTek Geforce 8800GTS, 640MB DDR3, 2xDVI, TV-out
• 1x Power (to wall) Ipower Extreme 600Watt
• 2x Fan ADDA 120mm 16dbA
• 1x Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Swedish
• 1x Mounting of computer and installation of Windows Vista

Sure you would go with Windows Vista?
There have been many reported problems with it, and many editors out there advice NOT to use Vista untill it's rock sollid to edit.
Vista also uses much more processorspeed and memory because it's pretty heavy. Better to go with XP for now.

Which editing system will you use? Have you considered a Mac Pro also, or don't you like the Mac OS?
The price seems to me about right, maybe a bit on the expensive side.

Also beware the 8800... you will not be able to use video overlay on vista as I understand it, and it's a workaround to get it to mostly work on XP. The overlay issue will have a direct effect on a number of workflows - especially ones specifically utilizing overlay, such as cineform. I would definitely advise avoiding the GeForce 8800 series cards, they're for gamers, not editors.

C

Eric /

I can not contribute to your / value for money - ripp of question , but the proposed motherboard is a "lightweight" for hardcore HDV editing.

The Gigabyte proves to be very sluggish with the data rates passing through
the pci bus.

The new genuine Intel DX38BT is a rock solid performer.

Thanks all of you!
I´ll be using Premiere Production Studio (meaning some AE).
This company, CapTech, put together their machines themselves and I can change as much as I want. So I´ll do this:

* Go with Windows XP, instead of Vista
* Change motherboard to "Intel DX38BT" (unless Herman Van Deventer works for intel) ;-)

- To Carl Middleton: What graphic-card do you recommend instead of that Geforce 8800??

At last: This computer has 3gb DDR2, which I think sounds a little small.. What do people who have edited HDV for a while think is recommended??
(I want it to schwooooch, schwiiiish, and be very fast)

It depends on your software. If you're planning to use Cineform with your Adobe suite, check the Cineform site. If not, check the Adobe site for a good recommendation. Or ask someone else on here, I still haven't gotten rid of this godforsaken 8800 myself, still suffering with it. ;)

C

* Change motherboard to "Intel DX38BT" (unless Herman Van Deventer works for intel) ;-)

IN AFRICA - the cost of a motherboard is the average income per month for
millions of citizens.

Therefore knowing what to buy becomes survival in Africa.

Greetings.

Eric,

Couple of suggestions:

Go for 4 x 1GB RAM sticks instead of 2 x 1 + 2 x 512.
Go for the nVidia 8800 GTS 512 instead of the 640. It gives you the next generation chip, the G92.
Forget about a 3.5" floppy drive, instead get a second DVD drive.
Go for XP and forget about Vista.
Consider an ASUS mobo instead of Gigabyte, even though both are from the same company.

Eric - To confirm Charl,s advice on the 8800 - If Cineform is in the budget
consider the Matrox APVE serie.

Thnx all of you guys.. Great help!
Peace..

Also recomend going for 4GB of ram and a 64 Bit OS. I use Vista 64 without issues on Adobe CS 3. What over lay problems are you having with the 8800? I use my second monitor as a over lay when editing my HDV projects all the time? I just set it in the project preferences. No treaking here. Maybe its if you are using Cineform as Herman was saying? I do not use Cineform my self.