Is this computer any good?

1. jonblcksnds
   Member

   

   Hi,

    I know there are a few topics asking about specs for editing HDV, so excuse me for repeating others! Anyway, I just bought myself the lovely HV30 and now need to pick up a nice new computer to edit with as my old is not quite powerful enough anymore. I've had a look about and have come up with this one http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149956

   and was wondering if this would be pretty good for the job?

    £600 is about the price range I have to stick to at the moment (in case anyone has any other ideas that jump into the 1000s!)

    Any help would be great, as this seems to be a pretty good deal.

    Oh and Hi for my first post :)

   Jon

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

2. robgrauert
   Member

   

    no. get a mac. 

   Robert J. Grauert, Jr
   http://www.robgrauert.com

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

3. jonblcksnds
   Member

   

   um.. thanks for the informative reply.. now could i could a proper answer?

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

4. BruceMol
   Member

   

   Well I certainly understand why you'd want quad core and lots of RAM, it has a good video card too, but there are a couple important things missing - the most obvious to me is the lack of firewire to take your signal from camera to computer. Yeah USB will do, but firewire will do you better. The second thing is that the single drive. I did notice a performance improvement having video on one drive, for editing, and programs on another. With video you run out of room quickly so, if you are adding a firewire card see if you can add an eSATA connector for fast(er than firewire) external drives. Hmm, VISTA... what can I say, VISTA makes the comment about getting a MAC too true! Depending on the program you use - for instance, even though PremPro runs on VISTA the recommendation is XP.

   You are looking at an upgradable system though (or downgradable for OS), so I think it's a good choice if that's the going price for a Quad core 6700 in your area. The note about it being overclocked makes me think it was made for gamers, which is fine, but it lacks the refinements you'll need to add for faster video production.

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

5. jonblcksnds
   Member

   

   Cheers for that reply bruceMol, yeah i noted the lack of firewire, but i have a couple of them i could install and yeah also the single drive too, i found this also, seems similar but with firewire and 2 drives though it seems to be lacking the quad core.

   Processor (CPU)

     Intel® Core™2 Duo E7300 (2 X 2.66GHz) 1066Hz FSB/2MB L2 Cache

   Memory (RAM)

     4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

   Motherboard

     ASUS® P5Q WS: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 1 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1

   Operating System

     Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit Edition + SP1, CD (£59)

   USB Options

     8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

   Memory - 1st Hard Disk

     750GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

   2nd Hard Disk

     320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

   RAID (HDD 1 & 2)

     NONE

   1st CD/DVD Drive

     20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM

   2nd CD/DVD Drive

     NONE

   Graphics Card

     512MB RADEON HD 3650 PCI Express + DVI

   2nd Graphics Card
   

   NONE

   Sound Card

     ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

   Modem
   

   NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

   Network Facilities

     2 x ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORTS

   Floppy Disk Drive
   

   NONE

   Memory Card Reader
   

   INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

   Case

     Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB

   Power Supply & Case Cooling

     450W Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£22)

   Processor Cooling

     STANDARD CPU COOLER

   Firewire & Video Editing

   3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card (£9)

   TV Card
   

   NONE

    I've never yet had to switch from XP to vista, and I'd rather not if possible, but it seems xp won't run with 4gb of memory. As I'm not yet willing to swap to a Ma, vista might be my only option.

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

6. iankinnz
   Member

   

   It probably depends upon the editing software that you are using, but I changed from a dual core to a quad core a few months ago and what a difference.

   I am using Adobe Premier Pro CS3 to edit HD and I can preview at real time without rendering. When you do decide to render, all four cores are working to almost capacity and the rendering is really quick compared to the dual core.

   As to the operating system, I am using XP Pro SP3 with 2GB of RAM. I know that Vista can support more RAM but the Vista operating system itself gobbles up a fair hunk of it. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

   Lastly you can buy a firewire card for a few dollars and upgrade your first choice.

   Cheers 

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

7. ralck
   Member

   

    I would be really nervous about the power supply on that second computer you mentioned- it's awfully low for the hardware listed.

    Also... Vista really isn't as bad as people say it is.  It works quite well on hardware that has proper drivers (sure, this means you can't run it on a P2 system with a Rage video card, but it runs quite well on "budget" machines (I built my machine for about 600 dollars 2 years ago and it runs Vista flawlessly).  Also... Vista set up properly will only use about 300MB of memory compared to XP's 150-200MB so it really doesn't gobble up a lot of memory.

   As far as the first computer you listed, it's not too bad.  It's got way more video power than you need (unless you plan to game on it).  The power supply in that is a also a little low.  It worries me that neither computer you posted listed the brand of power supply (that is very important- cheapo power supplies will only cause you troubles).

   Personally, I would recomend looking at some of the bigger names in computers.  You might not get quite as "much" computer for the money, but you are guaranteed tech support as well as a machine that works and will continue to work.

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

8. butterflyguy
   Member

   

    A couple of ideas -

    1. I never buy a coputer from a company I've never heard of.

   Reliability down the road is very important.

   2. I just bought a Dell Vostro 410 - business - for $900 - and I'm very happy

   One of the plusses is that it came with both Win XP Pro and Vista disks.

   I had Win XP installed, but could upgrade to Vista later on if I wanted.

   Posted 1 year ago # Login to Send PM

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