Spec: Video editing/rendering/work rig

Russinating

Russinating

Russinating

Soldato
Joined
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Bristol
I need a new rig for a new studio that'll be used primarily for video editing alongside other general low-end tasks.

The budget is around £600-700, give or take. Obviously if that's impossible then just spec the cheapest possible :p.

Needs: Quad core (preferably), good amount/speed of RAM, capacity for a lot of internal storage (but only need one hdd speccing (OS)), dual screens, preferably HDMI out. Everything minus speakers, mouse, keyboard and optical drives is required.

Screen size not hugely important and I can probably decide on what to get myself, but around 22/23" is fine if anyone has any recommendations.

Video card isn't important at all in terms of "omg can it play Crysis?!", but obviously dual screen/HDMI support is probably the base.

Many many thanks in advance :).
 
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The two CPUs to compare in your price range are the Intel Core i3 530 dual core with hyperthreading and the AMD Athlon II X4 630 quad core.

For video editing tasks the X4 630 is the faster CPU than the Core i3 530 and trades blows with it when it comes to rendering:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=105&p2=118

This is what I would get:

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 ~ £102

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-259-AM

Asus M4A785D-M Pro ~ £61

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-357-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

This comes with 785G integrated graphics although it can only support dual screens if one is VGA

8GB 1066MHZ DDR2 ~ £142

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-192-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

Corsair CX 400W ~£39

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

This is a Seasonic made unit with good efficiency

Samsung F3 500GB ~£40

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-081-SA

This is a single platter hard drive

Antec 300 Three Hundred ~ £43

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit ~ £77

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-118-MS

2 X ViewSonic VA2213w ~ £194

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-079-VS&groupid=17&catid=948&subcat=

Both monitors are analogue though!

The total build cost is just under £700 excluding postage.
 
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CAT, can onboard graphics support more than one screen? I was under the impression that it wasn't possible. For dual screen nvidia's GTX210 and ATI's HD4350 are the lowest, within that gen. Should cost more than £30 last time I looked
 
You'll be able to run 2 monitors from the onboard gpu as it has 1xVGA connector,1xDVI connector and 1xHDMI.Also why get Vista when you can get Windows 7 for almost the same price.4GB should be enough for what you wanna do get this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-177-OC also get this case http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-160-CM and also get the Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 overclock it yourself to 2.8-3.0Ghz on stock voltage and save another 20 quid this way.
 
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Ast3r said:
You'll be able to run 2 monitors from the onboard gpu as it has 1xVGA connector,1xDVI connector and 1xHDMI.Also why get Vista when you can get Windows 7 for almost the same price.4GB should be enough for what you wanna do get this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-177-OC also get this case http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-160-CM and also get the Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 overclock it yourself to 2.8-3.0Ghz on stock voltage and save another 20 quid this way.
Click to expand...

Doh!!

I meant to add Windows 7:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-127-MS

The HD4200 integrated graphics card is basically similar to the HD3450:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17328
 
Thanks for all the help guys. This look any good? Frikkin' monitors push the price up so much - I've got 2x19" ones that I could use, but there's something about getting new monitors to go with a new PC that makes everything feel more... new :p.

Edit: Just noticed mb is DDR2. Anyone know of a DDR3 that has DVI-I, VGA and HDMI out?

ocukbasket2.jpg
 
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Russinating said:
Thanks for all the help guys. This look any good? Frikkin' monitors push the price up so much - I've got 2x19" ones that I could use, but there's something about getting new monitors to go with a new PC that makes everything feel more... new :p.

ocukbasket2.jpg
Click to expand...

The motherboard uses DDR2 so either get the DDR2 I linked to or a motherboard which can take DDR3:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

The motherboard I linked to also has 128MB of DDR3 RAM on the motherboard dedicated to the IGP.
 
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CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
The motherboard uses DDR2 so either get the DDR2 I linked to or a motherboard which can take DDR3:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

The motherboard I linked to also has 128MB of DDR3 RAM on the motherboard dedicated to the IGP.
Click to expand...

That motherboard lists as having 1x HDMI and 1x DVI, but no VGA? If that's correct I'd prefer to have VGA (or 2x DVI) just so I can support two monitors and my 42" Plasma. In fact, is it even possible to run all 3 simultaneously (ie. triscreen)?
 
Ast3r said:
Well why don't you use those?With the remaining money you can get a better mobo or case.Is it really worth to spend another 300 quid just for a feeling?:p You could make a really powerful PC if you invest the 700 quid only in the central unit.
Click to expand...

D:

My current monitors are pretty shabby - a pair of 19" Hanns-G's that cost £100 at the time about 3 years ago. Plus image quality is pretty important in my work. Ack!
 
Russinating said:
That motherboard lists as having 1x HDMI and 1x DVI, but no VGA? If that's correct I'd prefer to have VGA (or 2x DVI) just so I can support two monitors and my 42" Plasma. In fact, is it even possible to run all 3 simultaneously (ie. triscreen)?
Click to expand...

The mobo has 1xHDMI,1xVGA and 1xDVI.Just take a look at the pics.You can't run 3 monitors simultaneously with the onboard GPU.Only the HD5xxx series has support for 3 monitors as far as I know.
 
I think you're good to go but you should get the CoolerMaster Elite 335 case.Excellent case for its price and very solid as well.With the help of that cooler and mobo you should be able to push the 620 to about 3.0-3.2Ghz easy.
 
Ast3r said:
I think you're good to go but you should get the CoolerMaster Elite 335 case.Excellent case for its price and very solid as well.With the help of that cooler and mobo you should be able to push the 620 to about 3.0-3.2Ghz easy.
Click to expand...

Ok ok ok, you've convinced me considering it's only £5 more :p.

And yeah, I have a Freezer Pro in my current system so wanted to stick with something I know I can trust :).
 
Well then go ahead and order.Buying only 1 new monitor and using one of those you have is a good decision and money saving as well.Oh and you'll still get half the feeling of having something new:p
 
Actually the one thing I may be overlooking is the PSU. Will 400W be enough to support everything listed plus 5 SATA drives? Or will it have enough connectors? I have a few standard 4-pin -> SATA connectors that I'm using in my current modular system if they'll do fine under the 400W.
 
Russinating said:
Actually the one thing I may be overlooking is the PSU. Will 400W be enough to support everything listed plus 5 SATA drives? Or will it have enough connectors? I have a few standard 4-pin -> SATA connectors that I'm using in my current modular system if they'll do fine under the 400W.
Click to expand...

400W should be enough as you are using a relatively undemanding CPU in terms of power requirements and also you are not having a gaming graphics card either.

If you want a more powerful PSU you should look at this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC

It is made by FSP.

The Corsair PSU uses better quality components though.
 
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