Which way should I go...

[marceggers]

I'm in the market to buy a new system that will be dedicated to video editing/restoration/copying/etc. The new 64-bit systems (Athlon 64) are everywhere, although they seem to focus on the hardcore gamers. I'm not a gamer but I do want to get the fastest and best processor I can for video purposes. Should I step into the future and get a 64-bit system or should I just be happy using a P4 dual channel system? Thanks.

[UncasMS]

foreseeing that we will run into a serious flame war *amd vs intel* once again i try to make my point as best i can

i am running my second athlon64 system now and i definitely am NO hardcore gamer (there is only one single game on my pcs for years!)

this A64 machine i am currently working with does video-encoding mainly

if i had to go for a new system tomorrow it'd be another athlon64


the very low temperatures i experience with A64, the very decent memory speeds even with average ram (and not those monster oc'able hardcore freak ram that'll cost you a fortune), the lower power consumption of an A64 compared to P4 and the price i paid for these components lead me to suggesting an athlon64 system

but no matter what cpu you decide on keep in mind that a certain amount of ram (1gb or more) and (even more importantly for vid-editing) more than one fast harddrive will make a big change

[anonymez]

i believe intel has a slight edge in audio/video encoding, but i also would go with an athlon64, its just more cost effective. having a pc for video editing will mean the pc would be on for long periods of time. athlon64's save hugely on power consumption and heat.

if you have the money, by all means go with the intel dual core (most especially if the applications you intend on using actually support dual core) you will see huge increase in performance over a regular athlon. getting a dual-core athlon64 is the best of both worlds, it has 2 cores, and has less power consumption at 100% load than intel has when its idle, and beats intel in most benchmarks i've seen.

[DAFT]

the gamer systems are actually good for someone with interest in editing since they creat an alternate route for the video through better video cards. I use a very fast vid card(256) and it seems to keep me out of trouble. all the editing you will be doing is going to tax your processor so don't forget the simpler things, colling, good power supply, etc....
Look at this link to a thread Taelon talks about computers and the things to look for.
I take it that you are saying there are signs that something else on the board is fried. This doesn't mean the caps weren't the reason that component failed, if voltage spikes got past the voltage regulation stage it could possibly fry any component in your system including the CPU, Memory, Video Card, Drives, etc. But it doesn't matter where the initial failure occured, I only mentioned bad caps because it's a known issue with older hardware.

I don't mean to be harsh, and believe me I'm the cheapest person I know, but for me, being cheap means only buying after researching what will best suit my needs and only buying when I can get a 'good deal'. The simple fact is that your mobo is not only cheap, but low quality, it only costs $30 new! I'm guessing your system also has a generic Power Supply that would burst into flames if pushed near the ratings on it's nameplate, and you likely have inadequate cpu and case cooling.

Ok, I've probably just pissed you off, but let me tell you a bit about my background. I'm a bit of an electronics hardware fanatic, years ago, I repaired and calibrated high-end electronics test equipment for the gov't for a living. After that I spent years repairing NC & CNC machine tools by a variety of manufacturers and after that, industrial robots both domestic and foreign. I've also re-engineered crappy designs to make the equipment less troublesome and more reliable. I know the difference between quality hardware and everything else. To put it frankly, your mobo is not a quality product. It was designed for light use, word processing, surfing the web, etc.

Here's the thing you need to understand, encoding is extremely processor intensive, whether it's audio or video. While encoding, your system will be pushed to it's maximum with the CPU running at 100% load for the duration of the process, if there is a weak link in your system, it will fail.

You want to blame DVDShrink, but it's only software. Software can't kill hardware, generally speaking. (There are hacks that can make a hard drive thrash itself to death, and I can program a robot to repeatedly smash itself into a column or wall, but that's not what I'm talking about). I would put money on what appears to be a simple fact, your hardware just can't handle the task, and would fail in a similar manner if you ran SuperPI or Memtest86 or any other stress test for 24 hours straight. If you think about it, the costs and lost use of sending the mobo back every time it fails will quickly add up to, or surpass what it would have cost you to purchase a better quality mobo in the first place.

end of sermon
I'd go gamer so you have the video cap. editing is so taxing on your processor, and with a so so machine you just end up with hours of waiting and disappointment. hope this helps

[Taelon]

heh DAFT, didn't expect to see my rant appear in this thread.

@marceggers, no reason not to get an AMD64 at this point, as more and more software is being optimized for the platform. It's no longer the wave of the future, even dual core machines are nearly mainstream now.

[anonymez]

this is interesting :) http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/10/14/amd_outsells_intel/

[alienfinder]

this is interesting :) http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/10/14/amd_outsells_intel/thanks for the link;)

[Chewy]

Well it's unanimous, except for the lone dual intel, another factor not mentioned is the new MS OS and it's embedded 32/64 bit support.

[marceggers]

I recently received a Dell Gift Card as the result of a promotional sales drive at work. It's for $2000. I want to use it to buy a system that I will use solely for desktop video editing, particularly putting VHS onto DVD.
The more I read and research the more questions I have. So let me ask a few and give me all the feedback you can.

To start with, the processor: I think I've gotten the impression that dual core processors are great if you plan to multi-task a lot. I don't think I'll be doing much of that so should I get the fastest single core processor I can afford?

Next, I know I need a lot of RAM, like 2 gigs, but Dell sells both 533MHz and 667 MHz dual channel RAM. Do I need the faster and more expensive (667 MHz) or will the 533 be sufficient?
Third, I want a good video card with at least 256 MB video memory but Dell offers two different ones: 1)- 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800, and 2)-256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX at $400 extra! Do I need it?
And finally, about my harddrives (plural), should I spring for RAID or will the serial ATA variety be good enough.
I know I'm asking a lot, but I don't want to make bad choices or spend much beyond my $2000 freebie. Thanks for whatever you can share.

[blutach]

Have you forgotten about your thread here (http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=56193)? Many folks have answered you already. Thread merged.

Regards

[anonymez]

marceggers, regarding the graphics card, you don't need a 6800 or 7800, they are a total waste of money if you don't plan on playing the latest games ;)

they will not help encoding/watching movies any more than a low-end geforce 6200 will. go with a 6200, or its ati equivalent radeon x300, they will provide what you need, without wasting huge amounts of cash...

[Chewy]

Dell is still keeping Intel ahead in sales(non-retail), go for
the dual core 830 in the xps 400, with 2 gigs of 533 dual,
media center(not pro), x600 vid card, 320 gig performance(raid)
hard drives, dual dvd-rom & dvd burner, floppy!(raid driver),
19"ultrasharp monitor, etc.
The key point is you want to build a computer that's ready for the next
MS OS. Too bad it can't be 64 bit, but the Dell Precision 670 x64
I configured went to 2900$ real quick.