Great Computer For AMV making?

[Kero777]

I think this is the right forum for this question.

I was thinking about getting a new computer because the one I have now is alright I guess, but it's a generic computer. I bought it from a family owned business downtown for a couple of hundred bucks about 4 years ago. One thing I don't like about it is when I try to edit my videos in Vegas (or even just preview the original footage without any changes): The preview box is so slow that only about 1 frame shows per 10 seconds or if I'm lucky it will just lag A LOT. Making videos like that is hard... I upped the dynamic RAM preview all the way up to 890MB under the video tab in preferences and switched the preview box to "draft" and those didn't even help. Some information about my current computer: a AMD Duron(tm) processor, 1 GB RAM, 1.00 GHz, 39 GB free space, FAT 32 file system ... I guess I need a lot better.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what type of new computer I should buy? Price really isn't an issue, but I would prefer to stay in the range of $2,500-$3,000 at the highest. I would like 2 GB RAM instead of 1 GB, or whatever people recommended for great performance in Vegas.

I am also wondering: is Windows XP the best, or if Windows Vista or even another option would be my best choice? I'm not even sure if Vegas would run on Vista. (I'm not the best when it comes to figuring out computers or how they work. )

I really would appreciate if anyone could give any suggestions. Thanks for your time!

[Keeper of Hellfire]

Price really isn't an issue, but I would prefer to stay in the range of $2,500-$3,000

Wow. For that price you get a really hot system.

So what's to say. Get at least a dual core CPU. In that price range you can even think about a quad core CPU, Vegas can take advantage of it. Get 2 GB of RAM. 4 GB don't give that much more of speed (except you make really insane compositions) and can't be fully used by the system. Get 2 harddrives, one for system and programs, the other for the data. You should consider to get 2 identical drives for the data and make it RAID0.

Vegas doesn't seem to use the graphics card for rendering tasks, so it doesn't matter much. Adjust it to the other applications you want to use, if you make it high end or not. Working with 2 monitors, while not increasing the speed of Vegas, is nice. So if you decide to work with 2 monitors, make sure the graphics card supports it.

Vegas 7 will run under Vista, but since it was designed for XP, it will not take full advantage of it. And possibly the one or the other thing will cause errors. So stick with XP or wait for Vegas 8.

[Jnzk]

If you have money to burn, quad core should be your first priority.

[BasharOfTheAges]

Can Vegas make use of Quadcore? From all that i've read winrar, pinicle, and some Adobe products are the only things that will even make a minimal use of quadcore CPUs - not that other programs won't work, but they're either only going to use 1 or 2 cores at most.

[Keeper of Hellfire]

Can Vegas make use of Quadcore?

In that price range you can even think about a quad core CPU, Vegas can take advantage of it.

Of course, don't expect Vegas to support quad core in all functions, but at least in rendering it does.

[Kariudo]

well, I'm bored enough to put together a list...let's see how long it'l take on dialup.

cpu this cpu can easily be overclocked to 3.0ghz on stock cooling
heatsink (definately not stock cooling, so the cpu should be just fine)
Motherboard
ram (seems to be good for overclocking)
graphics card
monitor
keyboard/mouse (I have this model, looks great, and works just as good)
case (won't have any airflow problems with this)
power supply
[2x] Hard drive (for OS, you'll want to set these up in raid 0 or raid 1)
[2x] Hard drive (for storage/programs)
sound card
speakers (currently out of stock though)
dvd drive

all that puts you at $2500 before rebates.

[TaranT]

Does anyone have any suggestions for what type of new computer I should buy?

Inspiration is more important than hardware: link.

If you have money to burn, quad core should be your first priority.

Quad-core prices should be dropping in late July (at least for the Q6600): Intel’s Price Reduction on July 22.

Computer Shopper has some tests of Vegas 7 on dual-core and quad-core Intels: link. The Vegas rendering engine was updated in version 6, so these numbers are probably close enough for Vegas 6 as well.

[WC Annihilus]

Hmm, overall that's a solid setup. I want to poke it though.

CPU: 4300 is fine as mentioned. You could get something else though, like a Conroe chip

Heatsink: Scythe Ninja, Scythe Infinity, or Zalman 9700

Motherboard: Pretty sure the Evga board has a few bugs... Asus make some nice boards P5N-E or P5K

RAM: Can't really go wrong with Crucial Ballistix

Graphics: You have money so 8800GTS 320MB or 8800GTS 640MB

Monitor: Dell makes quality monitors so 2407WFP

Keyboard/Mouse: Really preference, so I won't comment

Case: This really depends on what you are looking for, so give some thoughts and we can give suggestions

Power Supply: TT = meh, plus you don't need that much power at all. Corsair 520HX

HDD set 1: Personally, I think Raptors are a waste of money. Quality 7200 set in RAID0 can match or outrun em. Pair of Seagate 7200.10 80GB for OS and apps.

HDD set 2: This set can be preference really. Can go with single drive, RAID1, w/e

Sound card: I've forgotten what chip the HT Omega uses, but Auzentech X-Meridian has the latest C-Media chip, good stuff

Speakers: Z-5500's are a good set

Optical Drive: SATA is nice, so any of these

[Kero777]

Thanks, everyone! You really know your stuff. All those suggestions sound great. Someone pointed out that even with all that I won't need to spend $2,500-$3,000 for one, but more like $1,500-$2,000 for a more than decent computer for AMV editing. I will be keeping all those parts in mind though. I really appreciate all the time you spent looking things up!

I'm going to look up some more information along with taking another look at all those. Meanwhile, does anyone else have any ideas on what type of computer I should buy (either price range, but preferably the $1,500-$2,000 one)? Thanks for being so helpful!