I finally got around to building a video editing computer from scratch that could edit HDV. HDV editing boxes can be bought from turnkey vendors and if I were in a commercial production environment with a commensurate budget, that might be an avenue I would pursue. However, I typically do marketing-related videos for the corporate customer and while workflow is important, it’s not as critical to me simply because I don’t have the overhead either in facility or concurrent project volume. Most of my projects are video case studies structured as “problem-solution-benefit”… they rarely exceed 8 minutes in length.
So what I needed was a low cost, high performance PC that could capture, edit, render and output a finished piece to DVD without terribly long rendering times and acceptable capabilities with regard to transitions and effects. Turnkey HDV boxes typically start in the mid threes for a barebone box and go up to 7-8K without breaking a sweat. But I wanted a box in the $1500-2000 range and since I didn’t need 7 or 8 stream capability, am not mastering any 8.1 audio and whatever graphics or animations I do use will be simple and concise, I could pass the savings on to my customer.
So let’s begin… I started with the motherboard and ended up choosing the ASUS P5K3 because it had a decent price point ($225), took DDR3 RAM, had a rich feature set and got good reviews on several websites. I had used the P5E on my last box and was very please with its ease of setup and layout.
Next I chose the Intel Q6600 Kentsfield Quad also because of the price point ($255) and bought the OEM in order to insure I was getting the SLACR sSpec with the G0 Core Stepping. For cooling, I selected an ASUS Triton 75 heatsink ($44) because of its good reviews and chose a Scythe S-Flex 120mm fan ($25) to provide the greater than 45cfm spec needed. Even when the system is working hard, I typically am getting CPU/MB temps in the mid 30s C.
To that I added 2 Gb of Corsair DDR3 1333 RAM ($274) and three WD Caviar WD2500YS 250Gb 7200RPM SATA hard drives ($74 each). I wanted to install the OS on one drive and then stripe the other two for capturing and editing. Due to my typical project length and because I was on a network and could archive finished projects to the server and eventually tape backup, I didn’t feel I needed any larger drives.
For the video card, I lurked on eBay looking for an nVidia Quadro FX3450 which I eventually won “new, in the box” for $200. Another highly rated component, the speedy card’s OpenGL support will make working in Premiere and After Effects a breeze. I then chose the mushkin 550250 ATX12V/EPS12V 580W Power Supply ($89), not only to support the video card, but for future expansion since I may eventually add the Matrox RT.X2 and possibly some larger hard drives. It also had the modular cables which even though they interfered with the top case fan (I had to remove it), made cable management a breeze.
I added an ASUS DVD burner ($39) and loaded it all into a black aluminum Lian Li PC-60BPlusII mid-tower case $129) with a slide out motherboard tray and removable hard drive cage. Finally, I chose the Samsung 226BW 22” 2ms DVI widescreen LCD monitor ($299) due to this excellent comparison/review http://www.behardware.com/art/lire/662/ . I finished off with a Microsoft Comfort keyboard/laser mouse combo ($22).
All told, with shipping and minus rebates, the rig came out to a little over $1800. I installed Win XP Pro (SP2) and bought the Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 upgrade for $294 so even with software, I still kept the entire rig under $2300. Setup was non-eventful and the rig tested out quite speedy. I’ve already captured and edited some 1280 X 720 footage without incident.
Hardware prices and availability change constantly so you really have to do your homework to stay on top of what’s available on what box house’s website at what price. My component list changed 4 or 5 times before I finally pulled the trigger and quite honestly, before I even had components in hand, several items had either become unavailable or more desirable choices had surfaced. Sadly, that will always be the case and I’m not letting it damper my spirits… this is still a great box for the money.
Finally, I want to thank Gary Bettan and Jim Bask, the experts at www.videoguys.com for all their assistance. They have a great website and are selfless with critique and advice… check them out!
If you have any questions or concerns, give us a bark at drawdog@drawdog.com.