where to cut costs? at DVinfo.net

Adi Head · May 17th, 2003, 05:15 PM

this is what i want to buy:

INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.53 GHZ
ASUS P4PE GBL/L/1394 845 PE
MUSHKIN 512 MB PC2700 CL2 BLUE
WD 40GB 7200 RPM
WD 80GB 7200 RPM
MATROX G550 32MB
CREATIVE LIVE 5.1
ANTEC SONATA PIANO BLACK CASE + 380W TRUE ANTEC POWER

i will be running the pc on xp pro and editing on vegas 4.

my problem is over here in tel aviv this set up costs about $1300, which is a little over my budget. i'm looking for a way to cut the costs by about $300. any suggestions?

Adi Head · May 17th, 2003, 05:37 PM

i'll lay out the prices as they are here at a respected local dealer.

INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.53 GHZ $260
ASUS P4PE GBL/L/1394 845 PE $190
MUSHKIN 512 MB PC2700 CL2 BLUE $130
WD 40GB 7200 RPM $105
WD 80GB 7200 RPM $135
MATROX G550 32MB $165
CREATIVE LIVE 5.1 $50
ANTEC SONATA PIANO BLACK CASE + 380W TRUE ANTEC POWER $185

that adds up to $1220. add a cd burner, keyboard, mouse, etc...

around $1300.

John Threat · May 18th, 2003, 12:02 AM

respected?

If you are buying PC parts and you don't buy from Newegg right now, you might as well burn dollar bills with a cigar.

Nigel Moore · May 18th, 2003, 02:36 AM

On-line is always cheaper than a retail outlet ("respected local dealer" leads me to assume that this dealer is a retail outlet).

But Newegg per se is pretty irrelevant to Adi, since he lives in Tel Aviv, which is in that funny little place called "outside the USofA". Newegg do not ship Internationally (i.e. to that funny little place).

The first thing I did after moving to Switzerland was to check which of my old UK on-line retailers shipped Internationally, and a good source of Swiss on-line prices.

Michael Wisniewski · May 18th, 2003, 05:15 PM

You could get somebody you trust in the US to order the parts from NewEgg.com and then Fedex them to you in Tel Aviv.

You still save a ton of money.

Adi Head · May 19th, 2003, 01:16 AM

i actually have someone i know in LA that can do as you suggest. i'll check out that possiblity.
although, i'm not 100% sure, but i think there is a 18% tax when bringing in goods of that sort, when the value of the shipment is over a few hundred dollars.
thanks for the replies.

Cosmin Rotaru · May 19th, 2003, 05:07 AM

wow! Expensive!
You can go with AMD instead of Pentium. Cheaper MoBo. Cheaper video (it won't help on rendering time anyway). Don't buy "ANTEC SONATA ..." use headphones and buy the antec at a letter time...

Good luck!

Will Fastie · May 19th, 2003, 12:05 PM

1. Ratchet down the clock rate on the processor. 2.26GHZ is the slowest rate that still allows use of a 533MHz FSB, is plenty fast for video editing, and is not significantly slower than 2.53. This saves a few bucks.

2. Buy one hard disk. Buying two hard disks is the typical recommendation, which I support, but with 7200RPM and 8MB cache, you will have few, if any, problems. One 120GB or 160GB should cost less than the 40+80.

3. Get a minimal video card, as mentioned before.

4. Cheapen up the MoBo a bit. You don't need hyperthreading support because your chosen processor won't support it. You don't need the fastest RAM in the world. (More slower RAM is often better than less faster RAM.)

Nigel Moore · May 19th, 2003, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Buy one hard disk. Buying two hard disks is the typical recommendation, which I support, but with 7200RPM and 8MB cache, you will have few, if any, problems. One 120GB or 160GB should cost less than the 40+80.

I don't agree. It's accepted wisdom that you should capture to a different drive to that carrying the OS and apps for a very good reason, frames can be lost if the system OS or app calls the disk head. Going from 2 to 1 disks is a false economy IMO. In fact, ideally, you should have a third disk for the swap file, but that's another discussion entirely.

Quote:

Get a minimal video card, as mentioned before.

The G550 is pretty much a minimal card as it is. There are cheaper cards, but Matrox are smoooooth when it comes to 2D/video. All the other cards* are wrist excercise for spotty gamer freex.

IMO, more savings, and a better system, could be available by simply not buying from the shop 'round the corner. Respected or not.

* below about $1k

Adi Head · May 19th, 2003, 01:12 PM

how are these motherboards?

ASUS P4S533-MX Motherboard for Intel P4 478 DDR Retail
Specifications:
Supported CPU:Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4/ Celeron
Chipset:SiS 651 + SiS 962L
FSB:533/400 MHz
RAM: 2 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 2GB PC2700/PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory
2 x 168-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 2GB PC133/PC100 non-ECC SDRAM memory
IDE:2 x UltraDMA 133/100 / 66 up to 4 Devices
Slots:1x AGP (4X) 3x PCI
Ports:2xPS2,1xLPT,1xVGA,4xUSB,1xLAN, and Audio Ports
Onboard Video: Integrated 3D graphics
Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps Realtek
Onboard Audio:ADI AD1980 6-channel CODEC

or

MSI Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 Processor, Model #845PE
CPU Supported: Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4 processors
Chipset: Intel 845PE
FSB: 533MHz
RAM: 2x DDR, 2GB max, supports 266/333 memory speeds
Slots: 1x AGP(4X), 6x PCI,
Ports: USB 2.0 supported

Nigel Moore · May 19th, 2003, 01:37 PM

Alex,

I'm not sure what OS and apps you're using, but to get Windows, and its swapfile, as well as apps and a decent size file capture all on a 40GB HDD without dropped frames, you must be doing very well. Congratulations, you've hit nirvana.

Alex Knappenberger · May 19th, 2003, 01:42 PM

Windows XP and Vegas 4.0.

It's not that unusual, I know people who have had success with slower systems, and single hard drives....

Nigel Moore · May 19th, 2003, 03:17 PM

Ermmm, when I said "apps", I kinda meant all apps. The app load will determine (a) space available and (b) intereferences (e.g. AV scanning). The space available will deteremine the size of clips you can capture, but also, if files are added to the centre of the disk, where speed is lower, DV may screw up. With its greter bit transfer rate, DV is best off on the outside of a disk, where spin speed is higher.

But this is a side issue. I'm not gonna bitch the 'mine' and 'yours' because there are too many variables, particularly if you build your own. If it works for you, great. But if you're looking to capture significant footage without dropping frames, then a dedicated AV disk is a sound choice.

Cosmin Rotaru · May 20th, 2003, 03:37 AM

I have 3HDDs but I tried capturing on the system (C:) partition and I didn't have droped frames. avi DV is not that fast at 3.5MB/s. I used to capture at 5MB in analog era... (with DC10+ from Pinnacle). But it's safer with 2HDDs. If you're OK with a single HDD when you capture, it will realy slow you down on rendering. You'll basicaly transfer gigs of data from a place to another on the same drive. And that's bad! Time consuming! The HDD's heads will be flying like hell to kip up and the acces time will be greater then read/write time.

I insist that you don't need a G550 for editing. It is not minimal at all. I live with a old 16MB ATI AiW...
And I have Vegas4 on WindowsXP.
I thought about getting a better video card, for games. It doesn't bother when edditing. Of course, you won't buy an 16MB video card (you won't find one) but you don't need to spend that much on the G550.

Adi Head · May 20th, 2003, 10:32 AM

will a geforce 5200 fx (dual monitor) be enough?

May 17th, 2003, 05:15 PM	#1
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	where to cut costs? this is what i want to buy: INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.53 GHZ ASUS P4PE GBL/L/1394 845 PE MUSHKIN 512 MB PC2700 CL2 BLUE WD 40GB 7200 RPM WD 80GB 7200 RPM MATROX G550 32MB CREATIVE LIVE 5.1 ANTEC SONATA PIANO BLACK CASE + 380W TRUE ANTEC POWER i will be running the pc on xp pro and editing on vegas 4. my problem is over here in tel aviv this set up costs about $1300, which is a little over my budget. i'm looking for a way to cut the costs by about $300. any suggestions?

May 18th, 2003, 02:36 AM	#4
Nigel Moore Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 358	On-line is always cheaper than a retail outlet ("respected local dealer" leads me to assume that this dealer is a retail outlet). But Newegg per se is pretty irrelevant to Adi, since he lives in Tel Aviv, which is in that funny little place called "outside the USofA". Newegg do not ship Internationally (i.e. to that funny little place). The first thing I did after moving to Switzerland was to check which of my old UK on-line retailers shipped Internationally, and a good source of Swiss on-line prices. __________________ _________________ Time flies like an arrow Fruit flies like a banana

May 18th, 2003, 05:15 PM	#5
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	You could get somebody you trust in the US to order the parts from NewEgg.com and then Fedex them to you in Tel Aviv. You still save a ton of money. __________________ "Ultimately, the most extraordinary thing, in a frame, is a human being." - Martin Scorsese

May 19th, 2003, 01:37 PM	#11
Nigel Moore Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 358	Alex, I'm not sure what OS and apps you're using, but to get Windows, and its swapfile, as well as apps and a decent size file capture all on a 40GB HDD without dropped frames, you must be doing very well. Congratulations, you've hit nirvana. __________________ _________________ Time flies like an arrow Fruit flies like a banana

May 19th, 2003, 03:17 PM	#13
Nigel Moore Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 358	Ermmm, when I said "apps", I kinda meant all apps. The app load will determine (a) space available and (b) intereferences (e.g. AV scanning). The space available will deteremine the size of clips you can capture, but also, if files are added to the centre of the disk, where speed is lower, DV may screw up. With its greter bit transfer rate, DV is best off on the outside of a disk, where spin speed is higher. But this is a side issue. I'm not gonna bitch the 'mine' and 'yours' because there are too many variables, particularly if you build your own. If it works for you, great. But if you're looking to capture significant footage without dropping frames, then a dedicated AV disk is a sound choice. __________________ _________________ Time flies like an arrow Fruit flies like a banana

May 17th, 2003, 05:37 PM	#2
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	i'll lay out the prices as they are here at a respected local dealer. INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.53 GHZ $260 ASUS P4PE GBL/L/1394 845 PE $190 MUSHKIN 512 MB PC2700 CL2 BLUE $130 WD 40GB 7200 RPM $105 WD 80GB 7200 RPM $135 MATROX G550 32MB $165 CREATIVE LIVE 5.1 $50 ANTEC SONATA PIANO BLACK CASE + 380W TRUE ANTEC POWER $185 that adds up to $1220. add a cd burner, keyboard, mouse, etc... around $1300.

May 18th, 2003, 12:02 AM	#3
John Threat Major Player Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York Posts: 322	respected? If you are buying PC parts and you don't buy from Newegg right now, you might as well burn dollar bills with a cigar.

May 19th, 2003, 01:16 AM	#6
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	i actually have someone i know in LA that can do as you suggest. i'll check out that possiblity. although, i'm not 100% sure, but i think there is a 18% tax when bringing in goods of that sort, when the value of the shipment is over a few hundred dollars. thanks for the replies.

May 19th, 2003, 05:07 AM	#7
Cosmin Rotaru Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Romania, Timisoara Posts: 453	wow! Expensive! You can go with AMD instead of Pentium. Cheaper MoBo. Cheaper video (it won't help on rendering time anyway). Don't buy "ANTEC SONATA ..." use headphones and buy the antec at a letter time... Good luck!

May 19th, 2003, 12:05 PM	#8
Will Fastie Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Jarrettsville, MD Posts: 353	1. Ratchet down the clock rate on the processor. 2.26GHZ is the slowest rate that still allows use of a 533MHz FSB, is plenty fast for video editing, and is not significantly slower than 2.53. This saves a few bucks. 2. Buy one hard disk. Buying two hard disks is the typical recommendation, which I support, but with 7200RPM and 8MB cache, you will have few, if any, problems. One 120GB or 160GB should cost less than the 40+80. 3. Get a minimal video card, as mentioned before. 4. Cheapen up the MoBo a bit. You don't need hyperthreading support because your chosen processor won't support it. You don't need the fastest RAM in the world. (More slower RAM is often better than less faster RAM.)

May 19th, 2003, 01:12 PM	#10
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	how are these motherboards? ASUS P4S533-MX Motherboard for Intel P4 478 DDR Retail Specifications: Supported CPU:Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4/ Celeron Chipset:SiS 651 + SiS 962L FSB:533/400 MHz RAM: 2 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 2GB PC2700/PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory 2 x 168-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 2GB PC133/PC100 non-ECC SDRAM memory IDE:2 x UltraDMA 133/100 / 66 up to 4 Devices Slots:1x AGP (4X) 3x PCI Ports:2xPS2,1xLPT,1xVGA,4xUSB,1xLAN, and Audio Ports Onboard Video: Integrated 3D graphics Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps Realtek Onboard Audio:ADI AD1980 6-channel CODEC or MSI Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 Processor, Model #845PE CPU Supported: Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4 processors Chipset: Intel 845PE FSB: 533MHz RAM: 2x DDR, 2GB max, supports 266/333 memory speeds Slots: 1x AGP(4X), 6x PCI, Ports: USB 2.0 supported

May 19th, 2003, 01:42 PM	#12
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Windows XP and Vegas 4.0. It's not that unusual, I know people who have had success with slower systems, and single hard drives....

May 20th, 2003, 03:37 AM	#14
Cosmin Rotaru Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Romania, Timisoara Posts: 453	I have 3HDDs but I tried capturing on the system (C:) partition and I didn't have droped frames. avi DV is not that fast at 3.5MB/s. I used to capture at 5MB in analog era... (with DC10+ from Pinnacle). But it's safer with 2HDDs. If you're OK with a single HDD when you capture, it will realy slow you down on rendering. You'll basicaly transfer gigs of data from a place to another on the same drive. And that's bad! Time consuming! The HDD's heads will be flying like hell to kip up and the acces time will be greater then read/write time. I insist that you don't need a G550 for editing. It is not minimal at all. I live with a old 16MB ATI AiW... And I have Vegas4 on WindowsXP. I thought about getting a better video card, for games. It doesn't bother when edditing. Of course, you won't buy an 16MB video card (you won't find one) but you don't need to spend that much on the G550.

May 20th, 2003, 10:32 AM	#15
Adi Head Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 642	will a geforce 5200 fx (dual monitor) be enough?