That should be more than enough. I guess the only other thing you could possibly have is a 10k speed sata drive. But that comp should do the job.

I have a 6core 2.8ghz 8gig GTX550ti 1tb hd.

So that comp should be good.

-Zach Afghan 04-05 / Iraq 05-06 / Iraq 07-08
Outdoor Video

Hi Andrew - long time, no hear!

An editor of your calibre shouldn't be kept out of action by poor hardware. Great to see you're setting yourself up with a better PC.

If it has to be a laptop, then I'd say that one would be a good choice for editing with PD10/11 etc. The specs stack up very well in reviews & CPU/GPU benchmark tests at PassMark & Tom's Hardware. It's set up for 3D too.

Have you considered the MX18, which sports dual GTX 580Ms? In gaming terms it out performs the single GPU setup considerably. I know gaming isn't video editing & there's been quite a bit written in these forums about the relative merits of dual GPU systems.

I'm no tech-head. I'm just going on comparison tests & reviews... which seem to indicate that the MX17 would probably outperform my desktop PC, which does fine with PD10 & what I've asked of it.

Just a lay view.

Cheers - Tony


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Quote: Hi Andrew - long time, no hear!

An editor of your calibre shouldn't be kept out of action by poor hardware. Great to see you're setting yourself up with a better PC.

If it has to be a laptop, then I'd say that one would be a good choice for editing with PD10/11 etc. The specs stack up very well in reviews & CPU/GPU benchmark tests at PassMark & Tom's Hardware. It's set up for 3D too.

Have you considered the MX18, which sports dual GTX 580Ms? In gaming terms it out performs the single GPU setup considerably. I know gaming isn't video editing & there's been quite a bit written in these forums about the relative merits of dual GPU systems.

I'm no tech-head. I'm just going on comparison tests & reviews... which seem to indicate that the MX17 would probably outperform my desktop PC, which does fine with PD10 & what I've asked of it.

Just a lay view.

Cheers - Tony

Cool, and dual GTX580's would definitely do the trick

Good info Tony

-Z Afghan 04-05 / Iraq 05-06 / Iraq 07-08
Outdoor Video

Hi Andrew,
I would say the length of time you should change the spec of a video editing computer is around once every three years. However a more prudent rule would be for an editor to consider a 2 year replacement cycle.

Camera spec is moving on. At the moment the 24mbps level which was considered the highest and best, is often outshone by more recent video cameras, Panasonic's range for example, with their 28mpbs recording levels.

If you have access to the Canon 7D you will find it records video at 46mbps. The quality is outstanding but would drive most computers used by editors into a snail machine when a few tracks of the footage is added to a project.

Look out for higher resolution video capturing cameras and watchout for your computer spec in coping with a new camera. Video may become 46mbps as a norm.

When do you intend changing your video/still camera?

Just a different angle, not meant to be unhelpful.

Dafydd

Thanks for the feedback, it's really appreciated.

Tony makes a good point regarding the Dual graphics card. I guess it comes down to getting the best setup within your budget. For an extra £500, I can either upgrade the processor to the i7 2960 XM (2.7Ghz -3.7Ghz) or upgrade the graphics card to a Dual - not sure which will provide the best increase in performance.

Dafydd also makes a good point regarding the camera, which I must admit, I had not given much thought to, mainly because my old Laptop can’t even cope with my current camera. I did however put this forward to my Finance Minster (The Hon. Wife), who had to be immediately resuscitated due to suffering a server panic attack.

Andrew

I have an Intel i7 920 (3.0GHz), a GTX570, 7200RPM SATA3 hd, 12GB triple-channel DDR3,...

and...

its still not enough. I contantly lag, freeze, etc... And thats on a 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate system.

I should have gotten the 10,000RPM SATA6 hd, and the top of the line i7.

thanks for the feedback

I was going to stay out of this discussion, but, here I am.

My editing station specs are in my signature. As can be seen it is a very modest set-up by today's standards. When it was built (I do it myself) it was very near top of the line in many aspects.

What I find of interest is that I do not have problems editing with this set-up. I use a combination of SD, HD, audio and images in all of my productions. I am currently using both PD9 and PD10. I very seldom get lagging, freeze ups or any of the many problems that others experience. Have used versions 5 - 10

Although my graphics card is not on the supported list for PD10 (Now updated to ATI HD6570) I have been able to use PD10 with complete satisfaction, so far.

This brings up a very interesting question: Why can I edit with success with my system when others with far superior systems have problems? Here are some of my thoughts. (My opinion only)
1 - I know the limitations of my system.
2 - If I want to do something that I know my system does not like, I make that a seperate project. I produce the seperate project to two formats. (AVCHD and mpg2 HQ)
3 - I seperate all projects into logical sections (projects) that will be combined into the final product. For example; when doing a Hockey game I make a seperate project for each of the three periods in the game. Then combine the produced files in the game final project. I find this reduces the strain on the computer and allows me to concentrate on smaller portions of the project for editing purposes. This also allows me to make minor corrections or changes without disrupting the complete production. I produce each section to AVCHD and mpg2 HQ as above.
4 - When using images in slide shows I generally pre-produce them to be added where desired. I do this mainly so I can make changes without disrupting the main projects.
5 - Music and titles are generally added in the final production.

Sorry for the long ramble, but I just had to add my 2 cents worth.

Hal

Updated my Graphics card info. OS - Win11 Pro, Alienware R13, CPU - Intel Core I7-12700KF 12 CPUs), 16g DDR5 4400 RAM, Video - Geeforce RTX 3080ti 12g, PD11 & PD365
My YouTube

This is my general approach, having nothing to do with your particular question: I start at the top and work down until I find something I can afford.

More specifically, with computers I always figure that I can save a bucket of money by dropping down from the very latest and greatest to one notch below. Jerry Schwartz

When rendering, PDU seems pretty good at using all cores. I have six cores and they all totally max-out when rendering so you could consider maxing out the number of cores you have. Also, if you get a solid-state hard-drive and edit from that you will give yourself an edge. You only need an SSD big enough for your current project files. Once done you can drag them back to the magnetic media. AMD Phenom II X6 1100XT
ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB m/board
8GB Corsair Performance RAM
128GB OCX SATA-III SSD / 2TB SATA-III HDD
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 2048MB
LG blu-ray RW super drive
Windows 10 Home Premium 64-bit
PowerDirector Ultra 13