Will my system edit videos well?

CrackTheSky · Post by **CrackTheSky** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:29 am

Willen wrote:The only weakness I see is that the hard drive is on the small side, considering 1TB drives are available today. Other than that, your system is better than what most other people that visit this site (and edit AMVs) have at the moment.

For editing, 320 GB is way more than enough space.

NeoQuixotic · Post by **NeoQuixotic** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:15 am

Keeper of Hellfire wrote:I'm not sure if a Quad-Core is a good choice. It depends much on your editing suite. Many can take advantage of 2 cores, but not of 4. If that's the case, a dual core on the same speed would be faster. And many games can't even take advantage of two cores.

Sony Vegas takes advantage of quad core CPUs and newer games are being optimized for multi core CPUs. Valve's new updated Steam engine uses quads, UT3 engine uses quads, and Crysis will be best on a quad core and 64-bit. And let's not forget Supreme Commander that can currently use quad core CPUs.

The only reason to stick with a dual core CPU is if you know you run non multi-threaded applications or are trying to save money. With the Q6600 under $300 and with applications moving to multi-threading, it is a smart decision to future proof yourself by getting a quad core. And a quad core is great if you do major multitasking. Most people forget they can assign applications to each core if necessary. Think about it, the E6600 is a dual core @ 2.4Ghz for ~$230 and the Q6600 is basically two E6600s for only $70 more! Remember, this CPU was $800+ at the beginning of this year! And of course the new G0 revision of the Q6600 is great for overclocking.

Quad core or bust I say

!

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:21 am

CrackTheSky wrote:
Willen wrote:The only weakness I see is that the hard drive is on the small side, considering 1TB drives are available today. Other than that, your system is better than what most other people that visit this site (and edit AMVs) have at the moment.
For editing, 320 GB is way more than enough space.

Not for the way I edit. Which is working on multiple projects and using multiple anime.

I don't want to delete the VOB files yet, so all the source footage for one current (stalled) project including the clips I create for the video is at 150+ GB. And I still need more footage. Plus, I work slow....

Add to that music files, AMVs, and other videos, if I had a 320 GB HDD it would be filled by now. But then again, I really should backup most of my video files on DVDs and only keep on my HDD the ones I really re-watch.

Also, the 500W power supply is fine for a single video card system. Yes, even a 8800GTS especially since it's a 320MB version. The quad core CPU shouldn't be an issue either. Like Keeper of Hellfire stated, as long as it can supply the proper current for the correct voltages, it should be fine.

Keeper of Hellfire · Post by **Keeper of Hellfire** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:51 pm

I didn't read your post to the end.

Adobe CS3 can take advantage of 4 cores, yes a quad core is the way to go.

One further recommendation - for editing it is better to have at least 2 hard drives - one for the system and programs and one for the sources. And it will speed up rendering if you render to a different drive than your source drive. I don't know how many and how complex effects you use - if you don't use many effects the hard drive will be the bottleneck for rendering, not the CPU.