What is the best video editing computer?

[Osakaisthebomb]

I hope this is the right board to be posting this in.

i was just wondering what brand sells the best desktop computers and laptops for video editing? (or which brands works best for video editing). I tried looking up different custom build sites but they seems more concentrated on gaming. Also this has to be pc and not mac. I know they are nice but I'm a pure windows pc kinda guy.

If there is not a specific brand and it's mostly just the hardware involved (like video card or processor) then please give me a list of everything I need in the computer for best quality.

[JaddziaDax]

I would guess that this would be a better place to post your question..

and as for an "editing computer" I would think that anything with a decent large HD and a good processor would be good, but I'm not an "expert on computers"...

[mirkosp]

Best? More like good. Anyways... For the CPU, at least dual core, I say, get quad if you can, though, those help a lot with the editing speed, but also especially with the x264 encoding. 2/4 GB RAM will suffice (and besides you wouldn't be able to use more if you are on a 32bit OS). Video card... get a medium one, don't worry about it, doesn't help that much with editing, since I believe that you aren't going to use 3D, at least not much... some camera movements in AE aren't really hard on the video card at all.
Other than that, I echo Katie, a lot of HD space will help. Try to get a pc with 1 TB HDD.

[Kariudo]

I'm not so familiar with pre-built computers, but hp/compaq has done well for me in the past.
Sony's Vaio looks to be among the better pre-built (though I have heard rumors about the vaios coming with a lot of bloatware)

If you're a little adventurous, you can try building your own pc (and you might save a little cash that way too); but if you're not, you can still use this list as a guideline. This list should be somewhere in between budget pre-built and ultra-high end custom (closer to ultra-high end though)

processor: Intel Q6600
ram: some corsair ddr2 800 that's on sale, 4GB
cpu cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer7 pro
power supply: Corsair 650W
mobo: gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
monitor: Acer 22" Widescreen
Hard Drive: 1TB WD caviar
Video card: HIS HD4830
DVD Drive: LG dvd burner
Speakers: Logitech Z-4

total cost after rebates and shipping: $981.85
I didn't put an OS in there, so add another $135 or something

Quad core processor will help with encoding (more and more editing programs are able to take advantage of multi-core processors as well)
4GB ram should be more than enough, I only use all of my 2GB when messing around in AE anyway
1TB should be plenty of space, but they're [relatively] cheap if you need more
That's it for the core essentials, everything else is just icing on the cake

Video card lets you play games, and some (read: very few) avisynth filters can use the gpu to speed things up (I fft3dgpu() )
Power supply gives you plenty of room to upgrade in the future
CPU cooler makes sure your cpu stays cooler (which makes the cpu last longer)
dvd drive is a given, if you are planning to just scrap your current computer I'd salvage the keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, dvd/cd/floppy/misc drives and see if you can reuse your HDD with the OS you have now

if you do go with a pre-built computer here are some things to keep in mind:
you want discrete graphics, not integrated. Integrated graphics (with a few rare exceptions) claim some of your system's ram (so if you had 2GB and integrated graphics you might only see 1.75GB of system ram.) If you do want to play any relatively new game at decent settings you'll really want a mid-range graphics card.

SATA Hard drives are better than EIDE/IDE (ATA) hard drives. You [probably] won't notice any difference until you try to move a 1GB project from your computer onto an external HD, but depending on what motherboard you get you may only be able to use 2 ATA devices (the ATA interface is commonly used by DVD/CD drives and HDDs)

Processor speed doesn't really matter as much as the type of processor. Higher is better, but it's not usually worth the extra $$$ (if you're lucky you might be able to overclock a little to get a little extra processing power)

Norton sucks, don't let the sales guy at best buy talk you into it. In fact...I wouldn't buy any of the security suites/software you'll find. Avast! antivirus (free) + zone alarm firewall (free) + spybot search + destroy (free anti-spyware) has served me well for the past 3 years (and free too!)

If you must buy a security suite, I'd go Kaspersky

Vista = meh, XP still works...I'd "Downgrade" if it was available

[Kionon]

Mac Pro.

Prepare for wallet rape.

Even macfag as I am can't afford to max that shit out.

Octocore with 36gbs of ram and 4tb of storage? YES PLEASE.

[surfsama]

I have almost the identical build Kariudo lists except for an nVidia 9800GT and Asus mobo. I previously used an ATI x850xt card that had issues with After Effects. The Q6600 is great at rendering at stock speeds and a beast clocked-up. If you choose to build your own system and use Adobe software (don't know about Vegas), and want to use avisynth filters 64xp OS seems to work seamlessly.

[post-it]

video editing machine, as defined by The Oxford Dictionary, "has no set limits."

I currently use three machines when editing -- depending on how much working time I have:
1) 2gig Eee-PC on XP with 500 mhz processor and 8gig SDHD flashcard and DDClips Editor
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 49&start=2
W.I.T.C.H. was edited on this puppy
2) Compaq Presario CQ50 & Magix 2.0 Pro and Vista Home Premium -- its a lap top.
currently using this one to write this message.
3) Gateway 5432 5gig processor XP and Magix 14 Video Editor and Vegas 7.0
Home Theatre and all around non-school subbing-machine.

all three have their good sides and their bad sides

.. before looking for a machine to edit with; why not find-out which Editing Software required
the least amount of Processor Power and uses the least amount of Memory to get the job done!
That way, ANYTHING you buy will be overkill when it comes to Power-Editing

[post-it]

video editing machine, as defined by The Oxford Dictionary, "has no set limits."

I currently use three machines when editing -- depending on how much working time I have:
1) 2gig Eee-PC on XP with 500 mhz processor and 8gig SDHD flashcard and DDClips Editor
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 49&start=2
W.I.T.C.H. was edited on this puppy
2) Compaq Presario CQ50 & Magix 2.0 Pro and Vista Home Premium -- its a lap top.
currently using this one to write this message.
3) Gateway 5432 5gig processor XP and Magix 14 Video Editor and Vegas 7.0
Home Theatre and all around non-school subbing-machine.

all three have their good sides and their bad sides

.. before looking for a machine to edit with; why not find-out which Editing Software required
the least amount of Processor Power and uses the least amount of Memory to get the job done!
That way, ANYTHING you buy will be overkill when it comes to Power-Editing

Ebay #320336050372 http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-Quad-Cor ... 1|294%3A50
it would be pretty-hard to burn this puppy with simple Video Editing Software!

[the Black Monarch]

The best brand? Roll your own.

Dual-core is the way to go, because XP Pro won't handle more than 2 cores, and Vista is the infernal spawn of Satan.

Anything more than 2GB of memory is a waste of money.

Aside from that, do whatever you want.

[LivingFlame]

What is the best video editing computer?

Go big or go home.