Spec for video editing.

Purdybread

Hi all,

A friend has asked me to build him a base unit for video editing, His current system is just too old for the HD encoding and editing. The old system was adequate until he bought his new HD camcorder.

I have plenty of experience building computers, but only home / office types of machine.

As the budget is tight (£400, £450 at a stretch) I was looking from some opinions or advice on the spec.

It is for base unit only, no peripherals.

TIA

P

spakkker

The HD cams need a lot of processing power.
Think sandy bridge cpu ideally.
What cpu/motherboard at present because overclocking may help a bit.

Hammyman

Fast quad core CPU, gobs of RAM and a 7200RPM or higher hard drive. Onboard graphics will be fine as will sound.

Purdybread

Thanks for the replies guys.

As for the current MB/CPU, I'm not sure. I believe it is a Pentium 4, so due an upgrade.

The onboard graphics is one part I have concerns about. Although the computer will never be used for gaming, I wasnt sure if a dedicated card was necessary or advisable.

I suppose video encoding and editing is CPU intensive rather than GPU?

Hammyman

Whilst a dedicated card is nice, if you go for a recent motherboard with integrated ATI or nVidia, there's really not much benefit.