Motherboard and video card for video editing?

**stuffed** · 07-11-2009, 09:32 AM

Am wanting a new PC for home – about $2500 (no monitor or keyboard). Biggest use is video editing using Pinnacle Studio.
Just need some advise on processor, motherboard and video card.
Any suggestions?
Many thanks

**Speedy Gonzales** · 07-11-2009, 09:40 AM

It doesnt matter what videocard you use. Its the CPU and ram that matters. (And a lot of hdd space). And if you're planning on using 64 bit, it may be better if you can get a 64 bit program. 32 bit programs have limitations (whether you're running it on a 32 or 64 bit system)

**stuffed** · 07-11-2009, 09:46 AM

OK thanks – CPU suggestions? Also motherboard and what video card? Not worried about RAM and HDD – will just add as much as can!

**Speedy Gonzales** · 07-11-2009, 09:55 AM

That depends, on whether you want Intel or AMD. And whether you want socket 775, or i5/i7. The higher the better

**KarameaDave** · 07-11-2009, 10:06 AM

A striped array of sata drives is always good for your scratch disc.
Or maybe a virtual Ramdrive?
http://www.romexsoftware.com/
a friend uses it for photoshop but can't see why it wouldn't work
for you.

**Speedy Gonzales** · 07-11-2009, 10:21 AM

Do you use anything with firewire on it ( like a video cam)? If you do, get a mobo with firewire on it. And a case with a firewire connection on the front of it

**Speedy Gonzales** · 07-11-2009, 10:37 AM

Dont use USB2 for video editing. Its way too slow, and the recorded video can be laggy / out of sync.

**Thebananamonkey** · 07-11-2009, 10:48 AM

{Essay}

With $2500 I can't see why you wouldn't go for an i7. It makes you futureproof and gives you the best processor you can buy. The 920 or 860 are good depending on whether you want to go with the newer 1366 platform or save a bit of money on the slightly older 1156 platform. I'd with the 920 personally, but it's your call.

If super fast access times are important to you then you could think of dropping some money on an SSD (Solid State Drive). They have faster read/write times and could really make a difference if you're accessing a large amount of data.

GPU may not matter now but GPGPU (General Purpose GPU) computing is increasing, so it may be that your Graphics card could help accelerate any processing you might need it for. The new photoshop suite uses this and I've heard that it makes a huge difference when manipulating super large files. At any rate a 5750 is what I'd drop my money on at the moment, you probably won't need much more.

Motherboard-wise, Speedy's right. Go for one that has all the features that you NEED. If you're not planning on overclocking your CPU (the i7's love being overclocked. I'd do it, but you may not want to) or if you're not planning on having more than one GPU then you probably won't need to spend much here.

And as always, get as much RAM as you can afford. 6GB is fairly standard on i7's, but you'll need to make sure that you've got a 64bit operating system to utilise it. Windows 7 64bit would be perfect. Check out that the peripherals you have have 64bit support first. I've found that I've been ok on this front, and I imagine that if your peripherals have Windows 7 drivers at all then they'll probably be 64 bit safe.

{/Essay}

**stuffed** · 07-11-2009, 11:02 AM

Thanks guys - any comments on these specs?!
Processor
Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA1366
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-UD2H
RAM
A-Data 6GB (Tri-Channel Kit - 3x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz
Hard Drive
1TB Samsung SATA-2 32MB 7200rpm
2nd Hard Drive
1TB Samsung SATA-2 32MB 7200rpm
Video Card
Gigabyte 896MB GTX 275
Optical Drive 1
LG GH22 SATA DVD Writer
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit