I've been editing dSLR images since the first dSLR. I only use Photoshop Eliments and hope to enjoy HD video editing in the same low key way. But I don't want to do battle with large video files and I'll pay not to. I want to buy a $100 video editing software package and run it on my new computer to make simple HD home videos palletable for the regular Joe. What I am willing to do (and have just done) is spend a little cash on a computer that will do the job without putting me to sleep. Or will it do the job?

I ordered this. I'm just smart enough to add drives or switch out memory. Is my thinking ok?

Studio XPS 7100 Minitower
Phenom II X6 1075T (3.0GHz) BE
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5
12GB DDR3 SDRAM,1333MHz
1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM
16X DVD+/-RW
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit

I'm already thinking a second hard drive is in order. I'm already thinking of bringing the memory from 12 gig up to 16. Can I stop now?
Remember, I'm just starting with a simple HD Camcorder. Who knows where you guys will take me from here.

I recomend you get...at the least.... a dedicated video storage drive, if not you will quickly fragment your sytem drive.

I think you are correct.

You also may want to step up to a blu ray burner as well.

i would SERIOUSLY reconsider the AMD; i have a Phenom x64 quad at 2.3 GhZ, as well as a Quad Core Q6600 at 2.4 GhZ, both tested with the exact same MPE enabled 9800GTX OC+ 1GB card and 8GB Corsair 1066 RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD and 500x2 R0 Project drive, and the damn AMD takes LITERALLY 6x longer to export ANYTHING.

you will future proof yourself a bit with a bluray. I went with an external e-sata and usb case for the burner so I can move it between machines. It can burn CD, DVD as well so it's really an all in one.

the pioneer bd-206 is under $170 and a 12X blu ray burner; i would go with that. why buy a $50 drive now and then spend more down the road again on a blu ray burner?

i would SERIOUSLY reconsider the AMD; i have a Phenom x64 quad at 2.3 GhZ, as well as a Quad Core Q6600 at 2.4 GhZ, both tested with the exact same MPE enabled 9800GTX OC+ 1GB card and 8GB Corsair 1066 RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD and 500x2 R0 Project drive, and the damn AMD takes LITERALLY 6x longer to export ANYTHING.

I tried but a Dell said my ship date would be Dec 27 when I ordered but the computer will actually be here tomorrow. Couldn't change it. We'll see how it goes.
As for you other guys, absolutely. There are slots for two more drives. As soon as I make sure there is physical room, I'm going for both another hard drive and a bluray burner.
With an external BluRay burner move data with any speed or need I only start the burn then go to bed? This new PC is USB2 only.

the pioneer bd-206 is under $170 and a 12X blu ray burner; i would go with that. why buy a $50 drive now and then spend more down the road again on a blu ray burner?

Is this an external drive? Where is it for this price. I'll either find out I have room in the case or that USB transfers are fast enough then I'll buy one tomorrow.

the pioneer bd-206 is under $170 and a 12X blu ray burner; i would go with that. why buy a $50 drive now and then spend more down the road again on a blu ray burner?

Is this our burner?
Pioneer USA - BDR-206 - 12x Internal Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/BusinessProducts/Blu-rayDisc+DVDWriters/Blu-rayDiscWriters/BDR-206)
I sure appreciate the tip.

the pioneer bd-206 is under $170 and a 12X blu ray burner; i would go with that. why buy a $50 drive now and then spend more down the road again on a blu ray burner?

or this!
Amazon.com: Pioneer Internal Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer BDR-206 (Black): Electronics

yes, that is the one. i bought mine from amazon for about $120; mine should be here tomorrow. i have the BDR-205 in my personal computer, the 206 will go in my primary editing machine. i always burn at the slowest speed and have never had a problem with the 205; i bought the 205 from www.videoguys.com and they told me the 206 was more reliable; as i said i never had an issue.

What editor are you using, if i may ask? perhaps we can help you better knowing the software you will be using. I use CS5.

I'm brand new at video anything. I just bought the PC; delivered today and my first camera was delivered 2 days ago. I am an experienced still photographer and editor but this is my first venture into video. I know just enough about computers to keep out viruses and to install new drives and ram. In fact, from these forums I've learned that I need a dedicated drive for video and I'm going to order a 10,000 rpm eSATA and the 206 BluRay burner right now.
On the 206, what media is compatible with both the burner and my Play Station 3, which is my Home Theatre BluRay player?
I am so excited about all this that I almost forgot to answer your question.
I just ordered Adobe Photoshop Elements 9/Adobe Premiere Elements 9-Windows for $75.00. I love Photoshop so I have to try this. I doubt very seriously that CS5 is in the immediate future as my new PC isn't capable of taking full advantage of the software. Vegas 10 looks promising. I've been trying to find out something/anything about this new PowerDirector 9 Ultra 64 but can't find anything as it was only released 10 days ago or so.
Thank you for the heads-up on the 206. I really appreciate it.

I'm brand new at video anything. I just bought the PC; delivered today and my first camera was delivered 2 days ago. I am an experienced still photographer and editor but this is my first venture into video. I know just enough about computers to keep out viruses and to install new drives and ram. In fact, from these forums I've learned that I need a dedicated drive for video and I'm going to order a 10,000 rpm eSATA and the 206 BluRay burner right now.
On the 206, what media is compatible with both the burner and my Play Station 3, which is my Home Theatre BluRay player?
I am so excited about all this that I almost forgot to answer your question.
I just ordered Adobe Photoshop Elements 9/Adobe Premiere Elements 9-Windows for $75.00. I love Photoshop so I have to try this. I doubt very seriously that CS5 is in the immediate future as my new PC isn't capable of taking full advantage of the software. Vegas 10 looks promising. I've been trying to find out something/anything about this new PowerDirector 9 Ultra 64 but can't find anything as it was only released 10 days ago or so.
Thank you for the heads-up on the 206. I really appreciate it.

Robert; no problem regarding any help i might render. With photoshop/premiere elements you could probably get away with little to no performance difference with a 7,200 RPM HD, and save cash for future upgrades. 10k drives are expensive, might want to go with a 7,200 RPM as stated and wait out a price drop in 10k or SSD drives. If its a hobby or recreational, the performance increase is NOT worth the difference in the investment just yet. If you go with SSD's i would stick with Intel's TRIM SSD's as they wear evenly and, basically, defrag themselves automatically. I am waiting to buy 4 SSD's for my new high end CS5 editing machine, and all the drives, other than a single 2TB 'finished project' RAID1 array will be Intel TRIM 60-120GB SSD's. I would avoid A-DATA hardware at all costs; i have had a few of their CF cards of various 'read/write' speeds and all of them were severely lacking in REAL read/write speeds, or went foul very fast. A quick search indicates that the latest PS3 firmware SHOULD play back BD-R and BD-RE discs (i have no PS3 or standalone Blu Ray player) but i would do a few searches to be sure.

Just keep in mind future upgrades, and that investing in gear that can grow with you might help (hardware AND software wise). Ive used only CS3 (ok), CS4 (HORRIBLE), CS5 (FANTASTIC!), and AVID Liquid 7 (confusing icons and weird interface) for video editing. Regarding photoshop, ive had every edition since Photoshop 5.0, and i started videography because i got bored with stills work; since then its become a business (stills and video).

That Pioneer blu ray burner is supposed to be fantastic; i never had issues with the BDR-205, neither has my editor who also burns all the blu ray discs for weddings etc (he has 4 of the BDR-205's, i have one).

Too late. LOL. I just bought the 206 and a western digital 10,000 16 300GB hard drive for $99 on New Egg.
I know I could have used a larger HD but when I know a film is finished I'll burn it to BluRay data. That is my thinking anyway.
I have a simple HD videocam. Consumer model. I'll see where this goes from here. Maybe I'll be addicted to it. I love hiking and backpacking and I'd love to bring home some footage to watch on my big TV or share with family and friends.
I know my new PC isn't what most would call a great video editor but many would say it is a mighty fine first/starter machine. With my budget, it is what it is. LOL.
I really appreciate you talking with me. I'm a curious sort and I think my start up system might bore some folks. Not getting much feedback from people.

I've been editing dSLR images since the first dSLR. I only use Photoshop Eliments and hope to enjoy HD video editing in the same low key way. But I don't want to do battle with large video files and I'll pay not to. I want to buy a $100 video editing software package and run it on my new computer to make simple HD home videos palletable for the regular Joe. What I am willing to do (and have just done) is spend a little cash on a computer that will do the job without putting me to sleep. Or will it do the job?

I ordered this. I'm just smart enough to add drives or switch out memory. Is my thinking ok?

Studio XPS 7100 Minitower
Phenom II X6 1075T (3.0GHz) BE
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5
12GB DDR3 SDRAM,1333MHz
1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM
16X DVD+/-RW
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit

I'm already thinking a second hard drive is in order. I'm already thinking of bringing the memory from 12 gig up to 16. Can I stop now?
Remember, I'm just starting with a simple HD Camcorder. Who knows where you guys will take me from here.

Now with dedicated video editing 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive and bluray burner. Thanks for the input everybody.

forgetting the disk speeds, split your project to OS/programs (including your photo and video editing programs) and your 'project' disks, IE 'where your computer outputs, renders, etc to in terms of HDD's' onto a separate disk.

using the 10K drive as the boot disk means quicker startup, but if your editing program allows it, using it as the project and scratch disk means it SHOULD render/export faster, so make your decision there depending on what your software allows and whether or not faster boot/program access times or faster edit times are worth more to you.

i use CS5 for work, so we have all Intel systems, but my home PC is an AMD Phenom x64 system that is HORRIBLY slow for video work compared to the work machines, but more than capable for what we use it for at home, and MUCH cheaper in comparison. It has an ATI 5750 1GB graphics card (ATI is anathema for CS5 lol), 8GB of RAM and 2TB of disk space that we use mostly to record and watch TV shows, edit photo's, do some (Droid/Iphone) video editing, surf the web, email, and use as a Blu Ray player. Its been more than enough since 2008, and ive used it as an emergency backup machine for 2 projects (CS5) when something tragic had happened at work.

I may never know how to compare the new PC to an i7 machine. I'm hoping the 64 bit OS, 6 cores and 12 B of RAM will move the video at least satisfactory. Even then I won't know how to compare it to an i7 machine as I've never used one before. I'll let you know my fealings on this as soon as I can put it through it's paces. I'm up at 4AM to install the new computer. I heading into the desert at 9AM to get my first footage. I still don't know a thing about editing software and my new drive and burner won't be here until next week.
As far as the new drive goes, I'm going to use it strictly for video editing/rendering. Everything else should be just fine on the 7200rpm C Drive. I purchased the 10,000 strictly for video. My thoughts are that when it gets as high as 60% capacity I'll burn off lesser projects to BluRay for archives. Who knows, maybe a raid array is in the future. I'm running out of work space.
I would love to see some of your work if it is out there someplace.

Broadcasting LIVE from the new PC. All is well thus far.