Building a Budget Video Editing Machine (GoPro Footage 720P)

[Rockstar]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Basic video editing for 720P widescreen footage, and occasional gaming for older games (GTA 4 & Tropico 4)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Im going for 350- 400$ for just a tower
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Roseville, CA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I will be needing, CPU,RAM,Motherboard,Power supply, Case, Video card, CD DRIVE, Hard drive.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not at all
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
22 Inch lcd. 1080p
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within 2-3 weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
nothing in particular. Will be using a 2.1 sound system, would like decent integrated audio card, but im sure most of them are already.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
i have 64bit windows 7 ultimate


I am building this pc for my brother's personal use. I would like for it to have a SSD drive but is not necessary. Would like it to run gta4 on low- medium settings smoothly (40+ FPS) Mostly looking it to edit video footage with ease, no more choppy video or wait times! Must be a durable pc, my brother doesnt know how to shutdown when hes not using it lol. Thank you for reading

 

[Dangman]

Any chance of a future GPU upgrade?

 

[fsd1969]

What program will you be using for video editing? If adobe, you should get an nvidia card for cuda acceleration.

Ram and CPU speed are your most important choices for rendering the videos.

 

[Joseph F]

Sorry, but there's really nothing you can do for $400 if you want to build a new PC. If you can not save up any more money, I would recommend looking on Craigslist for a good new-ish used Dell, or similar PC with at least a first-generation Core i5 or i7 quad-core CPU.

Despite this, I have compiled what is pretty much the cheapest new rig you can get away with. It's $583 plus shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151256
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231485
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121727
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116886
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303

Pentium G2020, Radeon HD 7790, Cooler Master HAF 912, Corsair CX600 PSU, ASRock H77M, 1x8GB DDR3 RAM, Seagate 2TB HDD (You'll need a lot of space, if you're doing serious video work. My friend who is a professional photographer and videographer fills up his 5+TB array of drives, and has to erase old work from time-time), 24X DVD burner,

@FSD1969: Adobe is pushing OpenCL support in the next version of Premier Pro, and Nvidia's latest GPUs are horrible at compute tasks. (Unless he wants to blow $3k on a Tesla) If he needs compute on the cheap, he's better-off with a Radeon.

 

[Joseph F]

Just trolling around Craigslist for a minute yielded this in your area: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/sys/3743679868.html $400: Core i5-2320, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard drive. This system will be massively faster than the one I suggested you build from parts; and if you throw-in a GPU, it will be excellent for gaming. (You probably won't be able to game on it as-is, though)

 

[Rockstar]

Any chance of a future GPU upgrade?

Yes if possible, but not mandatory.

What program will you be using for video editing? If adobe, you should get an nvidia card for cuda acceleration.

Ram and CPU speed are your most important choices for rendering the videos.

He mostly uses sony vegas, doesnt do any insane editing. Just basic stuff, he just wants the hd video playback to be smooth without any hitches.

 

[Rockstar]

Just trolling around Craigslist for a minute yielded this in your area: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/sys/3743679868.html $400: Core i5-2320, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard drive. This system will be massively faster than the one I suggested you build from parts; and if you throw-in a GPU, it will be excellent for gaming. (You probably won't be able to game on it as-is, though)

would something like that be able to handle a gpu upgrade? not a fan of the stock motherboards they put into those things...

For starters, i do like the NXZT 210 Case that im currently using, and its only 34$ on amazon

 

[Dangman]

Yes if possible, but not mandatory.

I recommend something like this then:
$121 - Intel Core i3-3220 CPU
$65 - MSI B75MA-P45 Intel B75 mATX Motherboard
$45 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$57 - Seagate Spinpoint ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Corsair CX430M 430W PSU
$44 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $400 plus tax

It definitely can't play GTA 4 at medium aettings at 1920x1080 but maybe at lower settings and resolutions. However there's room to upgrade the GPU when and if your friends saves up enough money for a GPU upgrade.

would something like that be able to handle a gpu upgrade? not a fan of the stock motherboards they put into those things...

The included PSU probably wouldn't be able to handle a GPU upgrade. Not mention that the case may not provide sufficient cooling for a GPU upgrade. Then there's the fact that you get absolutely no warranty at all with those used prebuilt HP builds.

 

[Rockstar]

I recommend something like this then:
$121 - Intel Core i3-3220 CPU
$65 - MSI B75MA-P45 Intel B75 mATX Motherboard
$45 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$57 - Seagate Spinpoint ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Corsair CX430M 430W PSU
$44 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $400 plus tax

It definitely can't play GTA 4 at medium aettings at 1920x1080 but maybe at lower settings and resolutions. However there's room to upgrade the GPU when and if your friends saves up enough money for a GPU upgrade.


The included PSU probably wouldn't be able to handle a GPU upgrade. Not mention that the case may not provide sufficient cooling for a GPU upgrade. Then there's the fact that you get absolutely no warranty at all with those used prebuilt HP builds.

So let me ask you this, what would you change if i waited another 2 weeks to up the price to 500$? would another 100$ make a huge difference?

 

[Dangman]

I'd upgrade the CPU to the Core i5-3470:
$189 - Intel Core i5-3470 CPU

Or if gaming performance is far far more important than video-editing performance, then I'd go with the
$95 - Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB PCI-E Video Card

 

[Deleted member 88227]

What program will you be using for video editing? If adobe, you should get an nvidia card for cuda acceleration.

Ram and CPU speed are your most important choices for rendering the videos.

Just a FYI, but newer versions of Adobe can be accelerated with AMD GPUs now as well. in fact some report that the acceleration is faster with AMD than Nvidia now.