Computer for a teacher

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PigCorpse

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 4, 2005
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Hi,

I offered to build my programming teacher a new computer.

He wants to use it for video editing.

I don't know his price range, but let's keep it low (<$1000).

I don't really know what parts to emphasize for a video editing computer. I'm thinking an X2 with a 6800 or 7600 series single card and a gig of RAM. Then with whatever money I have left, I'll try to pick out the rest.

Any ideas?
 
does he need a monitor? keyboard, mouse? decent periperhals add a little chunk...

2gb of ram would be much better maybe even 4gb, but I'm not into video editing so you may wait for some input from somebody who has more experience with that.
A 7600 would be overkill. an old 9800pro would be just dandy, maybe even a lower budget card.

I would also think that a fast hard drive would be very beneficial in this application. a 74GB raptor would probably be nice, or if that's not big enough, you may want to jump to a larger drive.

Also, I'm not sure about the video editing software, but I know photoshop wants it's swap file on a separate hard drive than the primary C. so you may want to keep that in mind get 2 hard drives...
 
Save money on the video card unless he absolutely needs it.

2gb minimum RAM
X2
and lots of hard drive space, dont bother with a raptor imo
 
Well, lets assume have the monitor for the build:
Motherboard:
Asus A8N-E @ $92 (feature rich, stable board)

Case and PSU:
Antec Sonata II @ $94 (good quality understated case with good PSU)

Processor:
X2 3800+ @ $297

Memory:
G.Skill Value 2 gig kit @ $148

Video Card:
PowerColor x1300 @ $93 (Got this because of Dual-DVI, in case the teacher wants dual displays. otherwise go the 6200 route for about 1/3 the price as video performance is a non-issue)

Hard Disks:
Western Digital 250 GB SATA 3.0 gb/s @ $89*2=$178

Optical:
BenQ DVDRW w/Lightscribe @ $39

Total: $941

If he doesn't have a monitor, then I'd trade out the x1300 for a 6200 @ $38, and the A8N-E for the slightly less feature-full Asus A8N5X @ $78. That'd give you a bit of leeway into figuring in a monitor, and dropping one of the hard drives is also another way to squeeze some more budget out for an LCD.

Points to emphasize on a video editing computer: Multithreading (dual core), memory (2 gigs), hard drive space.
 
Okay, I like the suggestions a lot.

So I found out his budget is $800

And I also want it to be as future proof as possible. His current computer is a dell laptop from 2001 so he will notice a huge difference and having that last into Vista will be nice.

So I'm thinking:

X2 3800+ $300
An nF4 Ultra motherboard (Asus A8N-E, or maybe the Epox 9NPA+) $95
2 Gigs of the cheapest good DDR400 RAM I can get $150
7600GT $150
WD 250GB SATA 3GB/s drive $80
Cheap case and Thermaltake PSU $60

That's already $835 and with a DVD burner it'll be something like $875. And that doesn't even include anything else like a monitor...
 
He wont need that good a gfx card. get him something cheaper like X800XT or 6600GT something along those lines. and dont get the G. skill ram its just pointless and too expensive. chose corsair value ram but yeah he will want 2gb.
 
You might consider going with an Intel solution for Video editing. They are very nice CPUs for that.

The Pentium D 930 (3.0GHz) is $196. Just food for thought the X2 is a great processor as well but this would cut cost a bit.
 
I would try to build something around AM2, with DDR2 memory. Should cost about the same.
 
Is he doing SD or HD video editing? Is he going to capture the video using that computer, or just transfer data from another computer? Even older IDE drives can handle capping video from a DV camera without dropping frames, but you need a high-end RAID array for HD video. After that though, again, will this computer do the rendering, or others (render farm)? Dual-core's a must, but a higher-clock would help if the machine is doing the final render too. (Not to mention help whilst editing). 2GB RAM suggestions are sane, 4GB *only* if he's going to run something that'll use it (x64). And well, if OCing is an option...really can't beat the Pentium D for value. Only other thing I'd suggest is a bigger HDD too. DV tapes are ~16-17GB a pop for 90min tapes. 320s are pretty cheap nowadays.
 
PigCorpse said:
Cheap case and Thermaltake PSU $60
Click to expand...

Please tell me why you'd choose a TT psu. I believe they only had one or 2 models that were decent. There are many other better psus out there.

and a halfway decent PSU costs $40. I'd recommend spending no less than that on a psu. the sweet spot is around $55-$70, for low-mid range.
assuming you spend $40 on a psu (if you heed advice), then that leaves $20 for a case, and shipping a case usually adds $15. the math just isn't working. well, the math works, but your expectations do not.

I personally refuse to build a system for somebody and put anything less than a 400w decent psu in the system. seriously. get the priorities straight. if you can justify a $300 cpu, then you'd better be able to buy a good enough psu for it!

and why the 7600GT?! it's overkill for the situation and you're overbudget.
 
Seeing as it's for your teacher, I doubt overclocking is possible or even desired. Thus, I would probably go with the PD 930 over the X2 3800+ because the 930 performs almost as well (video encoding, benches ) at 2/3rds the price of the 3800+.

The ASRock 775i65G has integrated Intel graphics, though the DDR (instead of DDR2) support hampers upgradability a bit.

1GB of memory should be sufficient for video editing.

The NEC ND-3550A is a popular DVD writer.

The Samsung Spinpoint SP2504C offers 250GB at a low price point. It also offers a 3 year warranty and is currently the quietest 3.5" HD.

As for the case, there are two cheap ones that I usually recommend. They are the Antec SLK3000B and the Ever Case ECE4252/E4252. They are essentially the same, though the SLK3000B:

- comes with a front door while the E4252 does not
- comes with a fairly good Antec Tri-Cool 120x25mm fan while the other comes with no fan
- comes with HD soft-mounting grommets while the other _usually_ does not
- comes with a 120mm fan bracket in the front while the other has mounting holes for a 92mm fan in the front (I think)

In short, the SLK3000B is more suited for a plug-and-play installation. However, if I were buying one for my own use, I would get the 4252 since (IMO) after a bit of cutting it should perform a bit better.

As for the power supply: Fortron FSP400-60GLN This supply is the "Green PS" as reviewed by SPCR. High quality (excellent load voltage regulation, high efficiency, APFC, etc.) and very reliable according to a few reputable persons, and fairly quiet. Better deal than the AX450-PN, since the latter uses poorer-quality capacitors which means a shorter lifespan. Not to mention the Green PS is also cheaper...
 
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