Help me build a PC to handle this 5D MK II video.

[keith204]

Current PC: Gateway M-6866

4GB, 320GB SATA, Core 2 Duo, Vista Home Premium 64-bit, Integrated intel graphics (ugh)

I can't get any players to play this h264 video correct - it's all choppy, and my computer is running smooth with all unnecessary programs/services removed.

After some googling, with H264 1080p you need a pretty kick butt computer to even play it - let alone render everything.

I'd like to keep it under $1000. I already have a Samsung T240 monitor, so I'm good there - that leaves $1000 for the desktop. I love building computers, but have found it easier and cheaper to find a deal on a prebuilt one. Any ideas on deals, any advice? I need to stress that the video is a *hobby* right now, and I won't have many paying jobs - in other words, I just need it to run and work, but the rendering doesn't have to be lightning fast.

Ideas?

 

[RMThompson]

All you REALLY need is a decent video card.

So, since your have a laptop whose graphics are (presumably) non-upgradeable, buy yourself a cheap desktop or barebones from CompUSA and then buy the best graphics card you can afford.

What's the best card you can afford? That's easy.

According to the gurus at Tom's Hardware:

BEST GAMING VIDEOCARDS FOR THE MONEY:
PCI-E video cards, September, 2008

BEST PCI-E CARD FOR ~$60:
Radeon 2600 XT

BEST PCI-E CARD FOR ~$120:
GeForce 8800 GT

BEST PCI-E CARD FOR ~$170:
Radeon 4850

BEST PCI-E CARD FOR ~$3000: 3 WAY TIE
Radeon 4870
Geforce 260
Geforce 9800 GX2

BEST PCI-E CARD FOR ~$340:
Two Radeon 4850 in Crossfire


BEST GAMING VIDEOCARDS FOR THE MONEY:
AGP video cards, September 2008

BEST AGP CARD FOR ~$80:
Radeon 3850

BEST AGP CARD FOR ~$100:
Radeon 2600 XT

BEST AGP CARD FOR ~$135:
Radeon 3850

 

[Pure]

You're lucky my friend, I've been building systems for years now. To be honest, it is not just the GPU that renders the video, a lot of the stress is on the CPU.

You can scrap some parts to save money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

Use the rest of the money for a new sound card?

 

[keith204]

Holy cow! That'll surely do the trick. Well I ended up going for a deal on an inexpensive HP that cost about what I'll be selling my Gateway laptop for. It's a pretty major "upgrade" in terms of the graphics card and cpu, though not nearly as intense as you guys have shown We'll see what happens - couldn't pass up this rig.

For the record - I did some research, and the gm965 chipset and x3100 gma on my laptop just barely doesn't support 1080p h264. It supports h264 1080i and 720p, but not 1080p, thus the extreme load on my processor. The video card in the new computer can process 1080p h264 in itself on the fly. Hopefully it lives up to that.

 

[Big Mike]

While you are at it...buy another couple hard drives to store all those RAW files and PDS/TIFF files that you might create from them.

 

[keith204]

While you are at it...buy another couple hard drives to store all those RAW files and PDS/TIFF files that you might create from them.

Yeppers. Looking into that now - I have a couple external drives, but would like a second internal SATA too.

 

[Pure]

I work at best buy, i can get you something.

 

[JustAnEngineer]

The folks over at TR post a decent system guide, though it is more geared toward gaming than what you'll need. You can also pop into the system builders' forum there for plenty of help.

How about something like this?

Intel C2Q Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83 GHz quad-core processor
Asus P5Q Pro or Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P motherboard with Intel P45 chipset
8 GiB = 4 x 2 GiB PC2-6400 DDR2 memory
Radeon HD4830 graphics card
4 x 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard-drives
Samsung 22X SATA DVD burner
Antec Sonata III case w/ 500W power supply
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit Home Premium OEM

 

[prodigy2k7]

the new core i7 is still really expensive. Also he doesnt need that expensive mobo either...
Pure, I bet he doesn't have memory for that mobo. Triple Channel...
Are you trying to build a whole new desktop?

My suggestion:
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359&Tpk=GA-EP45-UD3R

GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134730

Sound - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Take a look at those products...

 

[Pure]

the new core i7 is still really expensive. Also he doesnt need that expensive mobo either...
Pure, I bet he doesn't have memory for that mobo. Triple Channel...
Are you trying to build a whole new desktop?

My suggestion:
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359&Tpk=GA-EP45-UD3R

GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134730

Sound - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Take a look at those products...

The Core i7 is dirt cheap @ $299

I just forgot the memory needs to be tri-channel for the best performance, and that'll run a cool $500 ish?

 

[RMThompson]

*ahem*OVERKILL*ahem*

 

[prodigy2k7]

*ahem*OVERKILL*ahem*

I agree.

 

[Garbz]

God guys for $50 you can buy a video card with hardware h264 acceleration. hat is all you need.

If the video is choppy on your core2duo than check you task manager while playing the video. If the cores are at 100% then you need hardware acceleration. If you cores are not at 100% then you are being let down by the video card's fill rate. It simply can't take the processed video to the screen fast enough.

Buy a cheap video card with 128mb of onboard video memory or better and be done with it. You may want to future proof that with a better video card, but seriously you do not need to throw more than $100 at this problem to get some spectacular results.

I recommend a ATI Radeon 4850 or 4670 or something like it for great results. But most of the cheaper cards listed above do the same.

 

[Dao]

I ask my friend who is a mod on a video forum and work on digital video/HD video on the side (for weddings) . He said a any Quad core with 3GB of ram is enough to edit HD video.

 

[keith204]

God guys for $50 you can buy a video card with hardware h264 acceleration. hat is all you need.

If the video is choppy on your core2duo than check you task manager while playing the video. If the cores are at 100% then you need hardware acceleration. If you cores are not at 100% then you are being let down by the video card's fill rate. It simply can't take the processed video to the screen fast enough.

Buy a cheap video card with 128mb of onboard video memory or better and be done with it. You may want to future proof that with a better video card, but seriously you do not need to throw more than $100 at this problem to get some spectacular results.

I recommend a ATI Radeon 4850 or 4670 or something like it for great results. But most of the cheaper cards listed above do the same.

Thanks, Garbz...nice practical solution that makes me feel alll warm and fuzzy inside. That's exactly the problem - cpu maxxed out, because my onboard card doesn't support hardware h264 acceleration. Anyway, I'm on a laptop - the computer I just bought is a $667 computer, but it has a Core 2 Quad Q9300, 4GB Ram, and a 512MB graphics card that can render h264 within itself without touching the processor. Hopefully this will help!