Video card for video editing.

[WizDawg]

I have been doing more and more video editing and my current computer is lagging. Plus, I want to use Premeire Elements and it will not run it. Something about my CPU does support some instruction set. So I want to build a new computer.

Is video editing hard on a video card? Does it have anything to do with a video card, or is it just CPU intensive? What cards should I be looking at? I want dual monitors.

Thank you,
Brian

[Snod Blatter]

Video editing is CPU and RAM intensive, the video card won't make much difference at all. I'm guessing Premiere Elements requires a CPU with SSE instructions, since a normal Athlon wouldn't have any (unless it's an Athlon-XP).

You could upgrade your CPU if your motherboard supports anything faster, and add some more RAM... that should make video editing much smoother. What motherboard do you have?

[Staren]

The motherboard in his signiture is an old socket A. The CPU in there now looks about as high of an upgrade you could realisticly get out of the board.

WizDawg, as much as you would think so, no video editing really isn't that hard on the graphics card. It pretty much just has to dispaly what it's being given. The real work is done in the CPU, and since you are working with large files, extra RAM also plays a pretty big part as well, but a basic vodeo card would do the job.

[WizDawg]

Thanks for the replys. I really want to get this build going, but am unsure of a few things. I posted a question about a week ago in the "Build your own PC" section, but did not get many replys.

Snod Blatter-
You are correct about the instruction set. I think it was SSE2 instruction set required. I have the DFI mother board listed in my sig. It is about 5 years old.

Staren-
What type of applications are hard on the graphics card? Is it only gaming? What about 3D CAD?

Instead of upgrading, I'm just looking to build a new PC from scratch. Along with video editing, I will be doing some 3D design/modeling, using PRO-Engineer. So, what ever video card I choose, I would need it to do a good job with Pro-E WildFire 2.0

What cards do you suggest I look at? I want it to support dual LCDs.

Thanks,
Brian

[Staren]

CAD changes things a little. That has a habit of pushing the video card as much as the latest games. When it comes to this sort of thing, ATI has a bit of an edge over nVidia. nVidia works a little better then ATI in the current cards on gaming, while ATI does a bit better on video.

Do you have a budget in mind? I would say a Radeon X1800 would be ideal for your needs. They run about $200, and are ATIs mid-range card. Doesn't have the insane gaming power of the X1900, but more then enough to run what you want, and it doesn't have the insane price tag you see on the X1900s either.

[WizDawg]

Originally Posted by Staren CAD changes things a little. That has a habit of pushing the video card as much as the latest games. When it comes to this sort of thing, ATI has a bit of an edge over nVidia. nVidia works a little better then ATI in the current cards on gaming, while ATI does a bit better on video. Do you have a budget in mind? I would say a Radeon X1800 would be ideal for your needs. They run about $200, and are ATIs mid-range card. Doesn't have the insane gaming power of the X1900, but more then enough to run what you want, and it doesn't have the insane price tag you see on the X1900s either.

Money isn't that big of a issue. I have no problem spending 200 on a video card.

Staren, would mind suggesting a motherboad, cpu, and memory for me?

Thanks!

[glc]

If you aren't gaming, you would be much better off with an entry level workstation graphics card rather than a mid grade consumer card. Something like a ATI Fire or Nvidia Quadro would be the way to go.

I personally would build around an Asus P5LD2 motherboard and an Intel Pentium D 9xx dual core processor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102632
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814195010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102516
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133132

[Staren]

I'm not up on workstation cards at all, but one of the options glc listed probobly would work a little better. I listed the X1800 since I knew it would do the job, but I'd trust glc on this one. Those cards are about on par with what I listed power wise, but are designed more for what you want to do rather then gaming.

I would probobly go with the standard P5LD2 as well. I would assume video editing means a lot of large file transfers, and onboard Firewire would be handy along with the boards other features.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131538

One of these two CPUs would be my choice depending on what you want to spend. You can go higher if you would like, but I try to stick to a good power vs. price ratio myself.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116238

RAM is pretty easy. Corsair ValueSelect DDR2 667 - 2GB kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098

Your looking at about $600 for your core parts.

[WizDawg]

Originally Posted by glc If you aren't gaming, you would be much better off with an entry level workstation graphics card rather than a mid grade consumer card. Something like a ATI Fire or Nvidia Quadro would be the way to go. I personally would build around an Asus P5LD2 motherboard and an Intel Pentium D 9xx dual core processor. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102632 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814195010 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102516 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133132

Thanks GLC, Ill reseach those. I remember you helping me with my build 5 years ago. Will either of those cards you mention handle Pro-E and AutoCAD just fine?

[WizDawg]

Does the P5LD2 have onboard firewire, I am not seeing it?

[glc]

Nope, but a P5LD2 Deluxe does. A PCI Firewire card may be cheaper than the upgrade - but there may be other features on the Deluxe that appeal to you.

What you need to do is research those applications on their support sites and see what video cards are tested and recommended. Generally, apps like that are optimized for workstation cards. My customers that run Autocad don't do 3D work, so we just use cheap Radeon 9200's or X300's for those - they work fine - even onboard Intel graphics runs 2D Autocad well, but the dedicated card frees up system ram and it does render faster. Getting into the 3D realm would require something stronger such as those workstation cards or a higher end consumer card. The advantage of a workstation card over a consumer card is much better OpenGL support. The workstation cards *do* support DirectX so you really wouldn't be losing any capabilities.

The only downside to the P5LD2 series is bios support for processors - it DOES support every 775 in Intel's stable, but not with all bios revisions. The Asus CPU compatibility charts are very detailed. The board you order may or may not come with a new enough bios to support the processor you choose - you may have to borrow a compatible processor to use to get it running and flash the bios or bug Asus for a replacement chip. You will know what revision it comes with - it's on a paper sticker on top of the bios chip.

[WizDawg]

Originally Posted by glc Nope, but a P5LD2 Deluxe does. A PCI Firewire card may be cheaper than the upgrade - but there may be other features on the Deluxe that appeal to you. What you need to do is research those applications on their support sites and see what video cards are tested and recommended. Generally, apps like that are optimized for workstation cards. My customers that run Autocad don't do 3D work, so we just use cheap Radeon 9200's or X300's for those - they work fine - even onboard Intel graphics runs 2D Autocad well, but the dedicated card frees up system ram and it does render faster. Getting into the 3D realm would require something stronger such as those workstation cards or a higher end consumer card. The advantage of a workstation card over a consumer card is much better OpenGL support. The workstation cards *do* support DirectX so you really wouldn't be losing any capabilities. The only downside to the P5LD2 series is bios support for processors - it DOES support every 775 in Intel's stable, but not with all bios revisions. The Asus CPU compatibility charts are very detailed. The board you order may or may not come with a new enough bios to support the processor you choose - you may have to borrow a compatible processor to use to get it running and flash the bios or bug Asus for a replacement chip. You will know what revision it comes with - it's on a paper sticker on top of the bios chip.

Thanks for the reply GLC. Newegg had me thinking the delux did not support the Pendtium D. It only says P4 and Celeron, where the regular P5LD2 says Pentium D, P4 HT, and Celeron D. I guess their info isnt exactly correct. I think I rather just have the firewire on board and not have to bother with a pci card. Im going to go with the P5LD2 Delux board. I hope it is flashed with a current enough BIOS to run with a Pentium D. That would be a big PITA if it wasn't.

Back to the video card. I am going to go with your suggestion about an entery level workstation card. After researching about them, I can see they are more suited to what I want to do with the computer. Im going to go with the ATI FireGL. I am not exactly seeing the difference between the V3400 and the V5000. The V5000 cost 20 dollars more. It also has a 3 pin mini-din between the 2 DVI ports. What is that for? Is that mini-din the only real difference between the 2?

-Brian

[glc]

Stereoscopic 3D output connector with quad buffer support, whatever the heck that is.

The 3400 is actually a newer and (it appears) better card than the 5000 if you compare the specs on ATI's site. The only thing the 5000 has that the 3400 doesn't have is the stereo 3D output and the 3400 has one less geometry engine (5 vs. 6). All the other specs seem to favor the 3400.

[WizDawg]

A few more questions. Since we have already discussed some other hardware parts, I'll just add it here.

1) DDR2 533 is the correct RAM for the Pentium D correct (even though ddr2 667 is cheaper)? ddr2 667 is overkill and will hinder performance, am I correct on this? Do I spend the extra 5 bucks and get the 533 or get the 667?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145527
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098

2) I am debating the hard drive configuration. I have always keep the OS/Apps on a seperate HD and will continue to. Will I benifit from a raid 0 since I will be dealing with alot of large files from video capture / video editing? What kind of setup do you suggest?

3) Power Supply. I have no idea. I want a quality,name brand unit, but how many watts should I be looking at? Any suggestions?


THANK YOU!!!

[glc]

If the 667 is cheaper, go for it - you will not LOSE performance.

Raid 0 is not worth the hassles in my opinion. Just get a fast drive.

I'd prolly get an Antec TPII-550. This seems to be a very popular choice and leaves you a lot of headroom.

By the way, I just noticed the 3400 is no longer in Newegg's list - I dunno what the story is. ZZF has them.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=321360

[WizDawg]

GLC-
When you say just get a fast HD, are you refering to a 10,000rpm? What do you suggest?

When Im capturing video, would it help if I was capturing to the HD that didn't hold the OS/Apps? Which HD should be the faster one? OS/Apps or the larger storage drive? Or should they both be fast?


Thanks.

[glc]

I think a 7200 rpm 16mb cache drive would be fine for both drives.

[WizDawg]

Are there any 7200rpm, 16MB cache drives smaller than 160Gigs? I really don't need a 160Gig drive to hold my OS/Apps. That is the smallest I came across.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136009

[glc]

In that case, if cost is not a major issue, use a Raptor for the OS drive.

[WizDawg]

I have recieved all my parts except the the video card. I have one question. It was brought up that the p5ld2 supports all 775 cpu's but only if the most current BIOS is installed. My motherboard shows rev 1.03G. Does anyone know if my Pentium D 930 will work with my revision Mobo? Or will I have to wait till I power up to see what BIOS version i have?

Thanks

[glc]

Look at the sticker on top of the bios chip. The revision will be printed on it.

[WizDawg]

Is the chip circled the BIOS chip? If so there is no sticker, just some printed text. The name on the chip is winbond. There are some numbers under it, but is difficult to read. Looks like there was a X marked on it with a marker. But none of the number looks like the BIOS rev #s on Asus's webpage

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...g/P6250037.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...P6250037-1.jpg

[glc]

1. Please don't post big inline images - I converted them to links.
2. You are a braver man than me - you really shouldn't put the mobo into the case till you can do a quick out of the case POST.
3. Yes, that is the bios chip. It's removable if necessary - and if it doesn't POST, Asus will send you an updated chip for 5 bucks I believe.

[WizDawg]

Originally Posted by glc 1. Please don't post big inline images - I converted them to links. 2. You are a braver man than me - you really shouldn't put the mobo into the case till you can do a quick out of the case POST. 3. Yes, that is the bios chip. It's removable if necessary - and if it doesn't POST, Asus will send you an updated chip for 5 bucks I believe.

Thanks