help me please

[alfietooch]

hi... im planning on setting up a pc... my main focus would be for simple video editing.. i'd like to copy my old vhs tapes and home videos into vcds...im not planning to watch the vids in my pc..would really just use it for converting.. . im planningon getting an athlon xp 1800 w/ an ecs board k7vta3 v 3 . 256mb of ddr ram 333 .. my question is..would the video card not the capture card be impt?? i dont do any gaming.. im thinking if i should get a 32mb or 64mb vid card.. another question is.. a 60gig maxtor hd 5400 rpm is the same price as a 40gig 7200 rpm baracuda hd. will i benefit from a 7200 rpm for my purpose? or would the 60 gig be more of a bargain? if ever i get the 7200 rpm . will i need an hd fan??

 

[Zugzwang152]

Welcome to Anandtech.

Your video card would be meaningless for your purpose. If you don't game, and you don't want to watch them on your pc, then you could probably use onboard graphics, or at the most a low-end model, a radeon 7500 or a geforce 2. IN this case you only need 32 MB. Your cpu is the most important part of a system for your purpose. Consider investing in a faster cpu, and then consider OC'ing the FSB as high as it will go. When converting/encoding/ripping video files, the only important factor will be your cpu speed. A 5400 should be able to keep up, but definitely a 7200 rpm drive willb e more than fast enough for video editing. Instead of getting a captuer card, you might want to consider getting a graphics card that has RCA input so you can connect your VCR directly to the graphics card rather than buying a separate component.

 

[Shagga]

Welcome to Anandtech.

Now I'm not by any means experienced in this area but would make just a general statement to get you on the path to error free Video editing. Firstly, I'm sure most systems would do the job sufficiently, however, with time being an issue in everyone?s lives nowadays I would suspect a relatively quick system which is STABLE is your main concern.

I would opt for a little more RAM such as 512MB but I guess 256MB would be acceptable. CPU seems good and so does the Motherboard, if the two paired together are stable. (Not sure, I'm an ASUS man myself). I would also guess that video editing is very CPU intensive so the graphics card is not really an issue. A good middle of the range card would again I guess be OK. Hard Drive, well there will be nothing to choose between the 5400 and 7200 rpm drives. Size again would be prevalent here I would suggest. ah heck is better I feel.

I'm sure someone here will put you in the right direction though....

Good luck..

 

[alfietooch]

thnks for the valuable input guys..... any more advices??? one more follow up question..since my board allows me to use pc333 ddr ... is this the best option for me?? or pc266 will do??? im probly getting 256mb of ddr first.. thnks again

 

[Zugzwang152]

you're referring to your RAM by its clock speed, whereas typically you'll find DDR listed using different numbers. PC2100, PC2700, PC2800 are all typical DDR RAM types. 512 MB is overkill for a simple editing machine. 128 MB should be sufficient for base operation, 156 will definitely cover you completely. But like i said before, RAM, HD, etc is all a far second. If you SOLE purpose for this rig is to edit video content, then CPU speed and FSB speed are paramount. When you're in VirtualDub or whatever program you use to edit video, your CPU will ALWAYS be the bottleneck. Always. Even with lightning fast RAM, even with a 10,000 rpm HD. cpus now simply can't process information as fast as your hard drive can write it. You'll give your hd a good workout and it'll break a sweat at least, but really, you want to throw every last spare cent you have into your cpu for this kind of use.

 

[alfietooch]

ok thnks..sorry for the confusion.. yeah was deciding on what pc speed PC2100, PC2700, PC2800 ... cause since you mentioned that cpu speed is impt.. im deciding where to get the extra bucks from.. from the memory or the vid card.. thnks again..

 

[Zugzwang152]

Get money from both

PC2100, the most common flavor of DDR out there, is good enough, and you don't NEED any more than a Geforce 1, hehehe, although I recommend at least a gf2 or radeon 7500, just for a BIT of flexibility

 

[PerfectFit]

For video capture & editing, you might be interested in Matrox graphic cards. In particular, have a look at the Marvel G450 eTV

 

[alfietooch]

thnks guys