Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Build your own high-performance video/photo editing PC ... for under $1,500

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | February 8, 2010, 7:28am PST

Continuing my “Build your own” series, I’m going to follow on from building a Home Theater PC and today look at building a how to build a high-performance video/photo editing PC … for under $1,500.

There are several requirements for a high-performance video/photo editing PC that differ from your average PC. In fact, even a high-performance gaming PC might not be ideally suited to photo and video editing.

Note: This is a bare-bones system so I’m not including peripherals (keyboard, mouse and monitor), OS or a case in the listing.

Here are my requirements:

Fast (but not super-fast) CPU
Lots of RAM
Plenty of storage
Fast storage
Ability to burn CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray

OK, let’s pull the parts we need together!

CPU

OK, I’m looking for power, but I don’t want to pay crazy money for that power. For this design I’ve chosen an Intel Core i7 processor, but rather than blow nearly $1,000 on the 975 Extreme Edition, I’ve gone for the more modest 920.

The Core i7 920 is a 2.66GHz, quad core part that’s built using 45nm architecture. Not only is it a quad core part, but each core is capable of handling two threads each.

This part is also supports Intel’s Streaming SIMD Extension 4.1 (SSE 4.1)making it ideally suited to dealing with multimedia (such as video encoding and decoding).

Some downsides are that this CPU needs a specific motherboard (Socket LGA 1366) and DDR3 RAM, both of which add to the price of the system.

Price: $290

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Blu-Ray

I'm wondering... How is Blu-Ray on the PC? Decent? Any noticeable differences than DVD?
Cylon Centurion
8th Feb 2010
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DRM: Avoid like the plague

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Digital_rights_management
D.T.Schmitz
8th Feb 2010
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Yawn

A real platform with a program like Any DVD can take care of the DRM. Back up your movies and play any kind of DVD with any hardware no sweat. One of the best programs I have.
marks055@...
10th Feb 2010
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Very nice.

Blu-ray looks more like you're standing in front of the scene looking at it with your eyes than looking at some pixelated computed garbage (dvd). If you go to blu-ray.com, in the forums, they have a screenshot thread so you can look at how different blu-rays look and so on, and you can see screen shots in many blu-ray reviews on different sites. But in motion it is really a sight to behold over the regular dvd. Well worth it, if you have some favorite movies you watch again and again (and those movies are out on blu-ray). You'll need a HDCP vid card and monitor, nvidia drivers tell you if you are OK here, don't know about ATI.
jamesrayg
8th Feb 2010
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Thanks

Already have an HDCP card (GeForce 260). Just no Blu-Ray player (Yet). Haha.

I just didn't know if it would be worth it on smaller monitors. Mines a 20 inch.
Cylon Centurion
8th Feb 2010
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Slysoft is cheaper than a a new monitor.

Any DVD rules.
marks055@...
10th Feb 2010
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You missed something

If you're looking to edit video (and I don't mean Youtube clips strung together in Windows Movie Maker or Pinnacle Studio), there are graphics cards specifically built for this purpose. Additionally, most third party plugins for Premiere and Avid are GPU accelerated, so putting money into a video card designed to handle it is a worthwhile investment.

nVidia has their ecosystem using QuadroFX cards with third party certified software (http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros_plugins.html; the site is oddly flaky). Another popular one is Matrox (http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/rtx2/), which vertically integrates an analog capture interface, real-time effects processor, and first-party software plugins.

Both are designed to accelerate MPEG-4 compression. Depending on one's needs, the nVidia solution boasts more flexible compatibility (virtually every software plugin available supports DirectX/OpenGL acceleration) and is less expensive (well, depending on which card and how many third party plugins you get), but the Matrox offering provides a vertical solution and an analog capture card.

Yes, I am fully aware that I am splitting hairs a bit and that either solution will blow the $1,500 price tag out of the water, but it's an important consideration. Additionally, a RAID-5 array of drives could serve the purposes of a single mega-storage drive; it provides the added bonuses of fault tolerance and being able to keep up on sustained analog captures.

Joey
voyager529
8th Feb 2010
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Video encoding is moving to the GPU.

While the current offering from ATI (AMD) has some issues its AVIVO technology for encoding is VERY fast. Faster than just about anything I've seen. (Assuming you have a mid to higher end video card.) I fully expect thier product to see significant improvements in the short term and in the longer term I expect to see other applications push video encoding to the GPU.
No_Ax_to_Grind
8th Feb 2010
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Video encoding is moving to the GPU

I use TMPGEnc and Baddaboomit with my GTX 285 video card. I'll take on any new $1000+ CPU and crush it!
jrsevy@...
8th Feb 2010
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Slap that puppy together Adi and we'll take it for a spin!

Yes? Yes!........
D.T.Schmitz
8th Feb 2010
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$1600 AMD v2.0 setup (includes case & os)

[edit] Fixed to fit in the $1600 range

$566.96 -- HIS Radeon HD 5850 1GB
^combo -- 8GB OCZ Gold DDR3 RAM
^combo -- GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 790X w/ USB 3.0
$179.99 -- AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE 3.4 GHz
$149.98 -- Thermaltake Xaser VI Full Tower Case
^combo -- Thermaltake W0319RU 850W 80 Plus Modular PSU
$159.99 -- 2TB Samsung Spinpoint F3EG w/ $20 instant rebate
$129.99 -- 40GB Intel X25-V SSD Drive
$99.99 -- SilverStone HDD Boost (turns SSD into 40GB HDD cache)
$190.00 -- Blu-Ray and DVD drive (mentioned in article)
===========
$1631.15 after tax, shipping, & $75 in MIRs.

If you shopped around, you could probably get some this on Amazon or similar retailer to save $100 or so by avoiding tax.
WarhavenSC
8th Feb 2010
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Windows tax

You mentioned Windows OS but didn't list the actual "tax" for it.
Windows 7 Home Premium is $180 on amazon.com.
And of course, one needs video/photo editing software to make it truly a
"video/photo editing PC".
What would you suggest?
dogbreath1
8th Feb 2010
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I agree, the PC is useless without OS and software

The risk is that this "el cheapo" PC will not be so cheap once it's brought to a state in which it can be truly useful for the tasks he mentioned.

An iMac starts at $1199.
A Mac Pro starts at $2499.
Mikael_z
9th Feb 2010
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What Tax?

I build the new system, take my OS from the old system I won't be using any longer (because I have the new system) and so what tax are you talking about?

The OS is bought and paid for, so I'm not charged for it again, so it's "free".
John Zern
9th Feb 2010
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Better reread your ULA

Unfortunately what you just stated generally is not true. If you had an OEM copy, you cannot move it to another motherboard, period.

If you had a box retail version, you can move it once. But not again after that. This applies to Vista and 7.
Stuka
9th Feb 2010
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