Hardcore Video Editing, Intel or AMD?

[AMDmachine]

I’ve been out of the consumer hardware for way too long, so quick question to everyone.

I’ve picked up Pinnacle Systems Liquid Edition Pro and going to build my father a computer specifically for this application, nothing else. What do you recommend? Intel or AMD?

I am thinking,
Intel 3.2C with Abit IC7-Max3
2gb DDR400 Ram
2 x Seagate SATA 120 GB Drives.
Fastest Video card on the market? Radeon something or other?

I’ve got about $2200 left to spend on hardware. Considering he’s using a laptop with 4200rpm drive at the moment, anything will be an upgrade.

Update: I've just read up on what's best for this software, it wants CPU power and GPU power. Any recommendations on Dual Xeon motherboards and a VERY fast video card?

Edition achieves this amazing performance by using both the CPU and the video card's GPU. Edition is optimized for the Intel processors and fully supports Hyperthreading

 

[Gruntled Employee]

I can't see it mattering.....I would think the videocard you buy would have significantly more impact on the way it would perform than the CPU. Maybe want something like a proffesional video editing card, like MATROX PARHELIA, or a NVIDIA Quadro, ATI Fire Gl.... not standard gaming cards.

 

[AMDmachine]

I can't see it mattering.....I would think the videocard you buy would have significantly more impact on the way it would perform than the CPU. Maybe want something like a proffesional video editing card.

Yeah, Pinnacle sell a dedicated AGP card - however it's just a Radeon 8500 with one little modification.

I've read up, and you get better performance if you get a better card. So a newer Radeon, however I am leaning towards Intel due to how Intel used to perform on Multimedia, however I have no idea now a days.

 

[Gruntled Employee]

Perhaps AMD 64 Bit CPU might be better for that.

 

[AMDmachine]

Edit: See my first post!

 

[Bugalaman]

video cards dont do shit for video editing, but you may want to buy some sort of realtime rendering card

oh, and at the very least, a gig of ram

 

[AMDmachine]

video cards dont do shit for video editing, but you may want to buy some sort of realtime rendering card

oh, and at the very least, a gig of ram

Read up on this software package, the more GPU the better. It has "background" rendering which uses the GPU power.

 

[bountyhunter]

ATi Fire GL X2 or X1. The latter is only a bit slower but costs a lot less. both are well under a grand, the X1 should be under half a grand, or near that. Get a Pentium 4 EE if you can afford it, if not wait till august, the P4 3.4's will drop to the 3.2 price(though you don't seem to be short on cash).

 

[Bugalaman]

never mind what I said then.... except for the memory

 

[Nazo]

Personally, I find the sheer raw power of the Athlon to be rather useful. I believe an Athlon 64 would be your best choice for CPU. Especially if you could afford a dual Athlon 64 system. They are already quite a bit more capable even in 32-bit mode, however, in the not so far future, you will even be able to use them in 64-bit mode (already if you use linux, though I don't know what video tools are available to linux.) Of course, the whole AMD vs Intel wars are just a mess. It's really hard to say for certain which is best sometimes. Because, you intended to use it with a specific software, so extra stuff may not matter. However, I still think that overall Athlon 64 is the better choice, and dual processors will really shine for decent video applications (of course, check to see if it really utilizes multithreading properly or it doesn't matter.)

 

[AMDmachine]

LOL! My father dosen't know that I already have the software (Unopened, btw the way). As I got it for cost price yesturday.

I just showed him screen shots of Final Cut Pro, Vagas 5, Liquid Edition 5 and Avid Express.

He just picked Final Cut Pro!!!! NOES! I -could- take it back, get my money and go see the Apple dealer.

 

[GlobalFear]

He is judging his choice off screenshots? Foolish imo.

 

[AMDmachine]

He is judging his choice off screenshots? Foolish imo.

Don't bag him out, he'll be going from Ulead Version 4 on a old laptop with 4200rpm. To a brand spanking new Intel rig, with 2x SATA and Dual LG 17" LCD's.

My Dad is not very good with computers, however he mastered the Ulead program is a few weeks as he loves his video's etc. He just retired from his 35year long job the other day and he's kinda a bit down and all - so I am throwing this together for him so I can finally have my Laptop back

It's 8am in Australia now, I am about to jump in the car drive to Sydney and pick up all the parts! I'll just probably grab a Intel 3.2EE or if I am in a mega good mood and I can get the wholesaler to give me a bigger discount I'll try grab a Dually rig.

Edit: Count FCP and a PowerMac G5 out. I didn't realise the damn things didnt come stock with a monitor, extra $1200 AUD for the monitor! Would bring it to close to $9000 AUD Total, a little over budget.