new computer HELP
 

Im looking into buying a new computer just for editing.
Im shooting with an Xh-A1
I know a little about computers. I have one but it is not fast enough to edit HD properly.
I need to get a system that is fast enough to handle HD in realtime on Adobe Ppro
I have approx 3000.00 for system not including software.

Here are a few things I THINK i want or need.

Sorry Apple fans but I need this to be a PC system and its to use Adobe stuff
ram - 4gb ( or do I need more)
Hard drive - some sort of raid set up (7200 rpm) ideas? ( I don't understand the whole sata/raid thing) ( HELP)
Video card - Ideas ?
Audio card - Ideas ?
Monitor(s) - Ideas ?
Processor - Intel Dual Core ?
Other cards I might need? firewire etc?
Others- speakers,headphones,edit keyboard etc
Anything else I might be forgetting?






Programs - adobe video bundle.

-should i get cineform HD ?
-what about blackmagic?
Thanks in advance Links costs and your advice most appreciated.

You can only use 3gb memory on a 32bit system. If you run 64bit windows, all your 32bit apps can get 3gb each. But you'll have to fight the 64<->32 sandboxing fight. Drivers for 64bit windows are often rare and delivers lower performance than their 32bit counterparts.

If I should buy a CPU today, I would buy the E6700 Core 2 Duo.

In about 2 months Intel penryn will hit the stores - they'll be considerbly faster for video editing( in the range 20-205% ).

// Lazze

Are you sure you don't want an Apple? The Adobe Suite will be coming out in July I think. I say this being a long time PC owner and Avid user. My next computer will be an Apple. Final Cut is now taking the lead in the NLE department IMHO. And it will continue to increase it's presence. So if you ever need to work with other people then having both Adobe and FCP might be an advantage. If you don't then it doesn't really matter.

If you start out on PC it will be much more expensive to switch to Mac later. Trust me, that's why I'm not doing it now. It'll cost me roughly 10K to make the switch.

FYI...Adobe's upcoming Creative Suite will run on both WIN & (Intel based) MAC's.

RAM -- Don't think that 32bit WIN systems can utilize more than 3 or 4 gb of RAM; you may want to ask around about that.

HDD -- Usually a RAID setup will help you in your read/write/access times. But there are different types / levels of RAID's so that's another thing for you to research as to see which would best suit your needs.

Video Card -- nVidia, ATI...both are good. So far, only nVidia offers cards (8xxx series) that will handle DX10 stuff...but that's geared / marketed more for gamers than video editiors.

Audio Card -- M-Audio, Creative Labs, Turtle Beach. If you'll be mixing / editing 5.1 audio, make sure the specs of the card can handle the broad range needed for proper clean audio...especially the LFE channel (subwoofer).

Monitor(s) -- As big and/or as many as you can afford. You'll have to go in person to see the monitors for the one that you think is best for you.

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo, Dual or Quad Core Xeons

Other cards I might need? -- If you're going to need more HDD space than what your computer case can handle, you'll need an external HDD enclosure; preferably eSATA. So you'll need an eSATA card.

Speakers -- If you'll be mixing/editing 5.1 audio, then you'll need a really good 5.1 speaker system...especially for the LFE channel (subwoofer).

Programs - adobe video bundle -- It's a nice bundle, but read the fine print regarding what Premiere can edit without third party assistance.

-should i get cineform HD -- Yes...but remember there are two flavors; AspectHD and ProspectHD.

-what about blackmagic? -- From what I hear, they have great cards but it all depends on your workflow.

Whatever you end up getting, please let us know!!

Andrew you should most definatly get the Cineform plug in for the Adobe package it will make life alot eaiser. Now that I have said that.

It would be nice to know if you need to go out to HD SDI or capture with HD SDI if you do need to do that I would get Prospect with the AJA card.

Cineform supports it and that is the card that they recomend. Now if you don't need HD SDI then get Aspect. with a Intel Duo or Quad with 3 gigs of ram. I like ASUS boards for Motherboards.

I am not sure about AMD right now but I editied a 4 Min short with aspect on my AMD Dual core 4400+ and with only 2 gigs of ram and it did not hiccup at all. It was solid.

I really enjoyed the Dynamic link feature in the Adobe setup as well. Everyone says FINAL CUT FINAL CUT but I say TOOLS are TOOLS it is how you use them that counts.

4 gb RAM
 

Just whated to correct preceeding info. Windows XP and VISTA pro (32-bit) have a max memory limit of 4 GB.

"Usually a RAID setup will help you in your read/write/access times."

A hard drive RAID will not help access times. Unless you are doing uncompressed HD, you don't need a RAID. It would be better to have multiple individual drives with different tasks devoted to each drive. For instance, put your project files on one or two drives and always write to a third drive. This will prevent the drives from needing to each do multiple tasks. Although throughput has increased with higher density per disk, drives have no faster access time than they did ten years ago, so anything that reduces accesses will increase performance.

I wish I could remember the link to where I read an explanation as to why Windows systems only use 3 Gig of RAM. 4Gig will work, but only about 3Gig is used. It is due to a large amount of the addresses above 3Gig being used for system and hardware functions.