Hello Folks,

I just returned from a week long stent on the Gulf Coast shooting video and working my real job (Emergency Management) for a week.

I returned to a crashed computered via a fried MOBO, it was a sign from above to upgrade. So I am spec'ing my new computer now and need it here next week so I can produce my DVD by 11/11.

The question is do I go dual core Intel-D 830 processor or stick with P4 HT? Will premiere benefit from a dual-core processor. Also what video card would you all suggest? I am planning to stick with MOBO sound right now to save and upgrade to a card later.

If you know of any good configurator sights I would be much appreciative of that also. Thanks for your help in advance.

Joe

The good-value but needs elbow grease method:
If you can build your own computer, find a deal on a Dell Dimension 9100 and throw in your own upgrades. You need to throw in the upgrades because Dells' are overpriced (they need to upgrades to make a profit, because their deals are somewhere around at cost). Installing your own upgrades requires you to read a computer manual. If you can program a VCR, you should be able to do this.
*You should get the dual core upgrade from Dell, because they are better than single core processors.
**Dell takes time to build and deliver the computer. So plan for it.

Where to find a hot deal on a Dell: In the US, check hot deals sites for the US like gotapex.com, fatwallet.com, etc.
The forums may be helpful and un-biased.
Buying a base Dell system and throwing in upgrades is slightly cheaper than building your own computer. And it saves you time.

You should probably go dual core. I believe the benchmarks for Premiere Pro show that dual cores are faster than the same-cost single-cost processor. In any case, video editing programs will head in the direction of taking advantage of dual/multi-core processors.

2- Some people like monarchcomputer.com
They will custom-build computers, and charge you a $50/$75 build fee on top of the cost of parts (plus shipping I think). They also have good prices on computer parts. For custom-built computers (that aren't OEM computers like Dell, Sony, HP, etc.) they should probably be the cheapest.

You may also not need to pay tax to online retailers.

newegg.com is good for buying computer parts.

3- Video card: Check the recommended specs for the programs you'll be using.
A dual monitor video card should be fine... $50 or less.

Hey Glenn or anyone else,
Your insight needed please. I am still looking to find a laptop to support NLE as a serious hobbiest and I know "what" I want to get in a laptop...but a HP customer service agent told me something that I am curious about. Hewlett Packard's portable laptops do not offer any hard drives with a speed of over 5400rpm. When I asked about the possibility of a 7200rpm drive for one of their laptops he told me that the engineers for HP decided "not" to allow these higher speed drives as options for the portables because they would be "asking for problems". He also mentioned something about "vibration problems" and that the labels on most (if not all) 7200rpm drives say something about not being recommended for laptops. I know that Alienware has these in avialable in their laptops but I don't know much about the track record of these machine's 7200rpm hard drives. I know alienware is very expensive!!! Have you heard much about problems of this nature in any portables (any brand)? Thanks!!!

Steve:
Sorry, I don't know. A good place to try to get information would be storagereview.com (the forums there).
http://www.storagereview.com

Alienware laptops are the same deal as the ones being sold by Sager Laptops and Poweroid, except that the Alienware ones are prettier and are more expensive.

I would think that the 7200rpm hard drives would operate fine in laptops. I think these drives (7200rpm 2.5"/laptop drives) have been on the market for a while. There's a chance that the product doesn't operate as designed, but that's the same case with everything.

2- Sometimes you can ask questions to a company and get many different answers.

Hey Joe,

I'm using Premiere Pro 1.5 and am building a new computer as well. I'll be going with the Pentium D 840 chip.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Matthew.

One note about Premiere and dual-core processors: I'm not sure if this holds true for the Intel Pentium D (and I would actually hold off on the Pentium D; Intel's admitted it was a rush job and their true top-line dual-core models will be rolling out soon), but AMD dual-core CPUs and Premiere Pro have a slight disagreement when capturing video.

You'll need to set Premiere's CPU affinity to a single processor prior to capture in order for capturing to actually work; otherwise you'll get an error message and no capturing will take place.

So Tim,
If I set premiere's cpu affinity setting to single processor and have an AMD dual core chip for capture can I set it back to dual when I am not capturing. Also, if I do go down the road of Intel D will I be able to upgrade to the high end chips with out having to go to a new MOBO? I need a good computer pretty quick, I am willing to upgrade later....

Thanks for your help.

Joe

I sold my custom built P4-3.06 GHz w/HT a couple of months ago because I bought a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop for all my editing. I did get the sucker fully loaded (2 GHz Pentium M, 2 GB of RAM, 60GB 7200 rpm disk drive, 128 MB ATI 9600 Pro, 8x DVD+-RW DL, bluetooth, blah, blah, blah) and it is just as fast as my desktop when handling DV footage in Premiere Pro 1.5. I also have two external 400 GB drives, too.

The laptop is capable of handling HDV, but rendering MPEG-2 takes a bit longer than the workstation (I think HT helps out a whole lot), but HDV jobs are few and far between. Being able to edit on set or at the hotel or where ever I may be has made this laptop worth the investment.

I have not encountered any problems with the laptop with heat issues or vibration or anything like that (although this baby can output the heat). It has been and continues to be a very stable system provided you don't load junk on it (junk like ActiveX controls, internet/system utilities, games, and crap like that).

I haven't built a computer in a while so I am not up on motherboards, but on my current editing system I'm running an ATI Radeon 9600XT All-in-Wonder. I don't really use the card's capturing abilities as the SB Audigy 2 has a convenient firewire port, but the breakout box is there should I need to get some stuff off the old 16mm or a vcr. So far it has been an extremely solid card, but Alas, that was 6 months ago and is very un-top of the line now.

I don't know what your budget is, but have you considered building your own system from the ground up? I have no doubts that the Dell Dimension I'm seeing recommended here is a great setup, but when Dell got big and famous I really started to not like their work and went to building my own. It's the best way to get exactly what you want done exactly the way you want it to suit your needs.

http://www.pricewatch.com - a good place to start

good luck

Good stuff, this information is really helping. So has anyone built with a dual intel and run premiere pro with no problems?

Thanks,

Joe

So Tim,
If I set premiere's cpu affinity setting to single processor and have an AMD dual core chip for capture can I set it back to dual when I am not capturing.

Absolutely, and that's what I do.

Also, if I do go down the road of Intel D will I be able to upgrade to the high end chips with out having to go to a new MOBO? I need a good computer pretty quick, I am willing to upgrade later....

Well, AMD is moving to new sockets. AMD is abandoning Socket 939 for M2, and there's no telling what Intel will do, as they seem to enjoy putting out an entirely new chipset with each processor iteration. Conventional wisdom is that Conroe (Intel's successor to the current Smithfield and upcoming Presler P-D, and the next real leap in Intel's CPU architecture) will utilize an entirely new chipset.

Right now is not a good time to be buying new computers, unless you're into changing out your motherboard in the near future. DDR2 is slowly replacing DDR as the RAM standard, and most current motherboards don't support DDR2 (AMD won't until Socket M2, and the only Intel chipsets that do are the 9xx series).

I also don't believe Pentium D is a good buy. The AMD X2 trumps nearly every form of the Pentium D (the Extreme Edition 840 is the only one that makes a good show, and that gets whipped by the X2 4800+).

Just built my dual-core editor over the weekend. Pentium D 830, 2GB DDR2 667, 1TB SATA disk space, Geforce 6800 256MB, Nec 16X DVD-DL. I will have to say that I am more than pleased with the performance increase.

I set affinity to only one cpu for explorer.exe and any other process I could. Then set PPro to HIGH priority. I was able to render a test that I setup back on my single core at 40% faster!!!! Realtime previews also seem to fly along now. The price was less than getting a 3.4GHz single core...


www.outpost.com is having a sale on Pentium D 820s + MB for $279!!!

I returned to a crashed computered via a fried MOBO, it was a sign from above to upgrade.

Joe


Which was your fried mobo and what did you upgrade to?


Carlos