Mr-Durden

Hi guys new to the site.

I have been searching around for a new computer but have found that for what i want the price is a little too expensive, i'm into editing my own short films and so need a computer that can handle that sort of work aswell as surfing the internet and downloading on occasion.

I've been looking a building my own and the price is really good, just to give you an idea of what i'm currently looking at;

500GB HD
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe

The question i really want to ask is do i need any extra's to do this i have built towers before but am not that knowledgable i just dont want to buy all of this then find out i need extra cable's, extra cards or anything else..

P.s sorry if this is not in the right place but i didn't know where else to put it?

Your help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

FreoHeaveho

Hey

I am no expert either, but if you are doing HD editing you will need 4GB Ram. I would check the system requirements of the software that you are planning on using. Ie, minumum and recommended requirements.

Just a thought.

Mr-Durden

Thanks for the reply.
I did look into that but then the price started to go up again, i only edit short film films that me a few friends take part in, like titles and amature effects, screen transitions that sort of thing.. i'm just a little worried that i will have to buy loads of other stuff to build a pc hence the price going up then there is no point in the first place when i could have just bought one, but i would like the challenge of building one... confusing i know!!!

Indoril Nerevar

Welcome to TSF, Mr-Durden.

As well as what you have listed, you're going to need a CPU, video card, power supply, operating system, and optical drive. You may have covered all these all ready, but I will post my recommendations anyway.

The optical drive and operating system are really up to you.

As for CPU, I'd recommend looking at a Pentium D. I recently built a system for my father, using the motherboard you listed and a 3.4GHz Pentium D, and boy is it fast! Pentium D's are designed to give extra performance during multi-tasking, as well as performing well during everyday tasks.

For the video card, I recommend you look at an NVIDIA GeForce 7300, or if you are willing to spend a little more, a 7600. Both are very good value.

The power supply is very important, so make sure you get a good one. Read the "Important Power Supply Info" thread in my signature to learn all about what you need and why. I recommend you look at a 550W+ from a quality brand such as Enermax, OCZ, FSP, etc. Don't go cheap on the power supply - you will regret it if you do. The power supply thread has recommendations for good PSU's, so look there.

Do you have an idea of what brand of RAM you are looking at getting? It is not a good idea to get "off-brand" RAM, especially if you are looking to do video editing and such. Corsair and OCZ are good quality brands. 2GB of RAM is plenty for video editing, but make sure you get a good brand.

As for extra cables and such, there shouldn't be anything else you need.

FreoHeaveho

I know what you mean. What applications are you planning on using?

FreoHeaveho

**software specific requirements give a clue in addition to what has been said** I use Adobe Prem Pro and would recommend 4GB RAM for HD.

Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4GHz processor for DV (Pentium 4 3.4GHz processor for HDV; dual Intel Xeon™ 2.8GHz processors for HD; SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2
512MB of RAM for DV; 2GB of RAM for HDV and HD
4GB of available hard-disk space for installation
Dedicated 7,200RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD
Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound)
DVD-ROM drive for installation
DVD+-R burner for DVD creation
1,280x1,024 video display with 32-bit color adapter
OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 video interface card for DV and HDV (AJA Xena HS for HD)
QuickTime 6.5 software
Internet or phone connection required for product activation
Adobe-recommended graphics card for GPU-accelerated playback

daamon_vexion

i agree with him, also i have been told that win xp doesnt really support more than 3gb, so 2gb ought to be enough for what you plan.

FreoHeaveho

Windows XP (both Home and Pro) is designed to use up to 4 gb of RAM.

However there is a configuration setting that will need to be made if
you go beyond 3 gb.

Mr-Durden

Hmm this has proved to be a little more difficult than i imagined.

So i have managed to get the price to about 600 uk pounds thats with the Asus mobo, a 2.93gig pro, 500gb hd, 2gb ram... apart from a graphics card and vid card will i need anything else?
I have XP PRo and will be running Adobe Premiere pro, after effects, bryce 4.

Thanks.

Indoril Nerevar

The graphics card and the video card are the same thing, but you will also need a power supply. The power supply is the most important part of your computer, so make sure you pass it by us before buying it.

Recommendations for video card are in my previous post, and recommendations for power supply are in the power supply thread.

Oh, and one last thing: you will need a case to put all the things in, of course. Any case will do, so long as the motherboard and power supply fit in it.