Which processor for video editing?

[JoshSpence]

I am going to build a computer mainly for video editing but also for video encoding, DVD authoring, occasionally games, listening to music, word processing, etc...

I have narrowed down my processor options to the following. Which woiuld you recommend, based on price and performance:

Pentium D 840 3.2Ghz
Pentium Extreme Edition 840 3.2Ghz
Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 840 3.2Ghz
AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ 2.2Ghz 2MB
AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ 2.4Ghz 2MB

Thanks,
Josh

 

[TRDCorolla1]

AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ 2.4Ghz 2MB

 

[Half Evil]

Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 840 3.2Ghz
i do beleive that this process or id dual core, and over clockable to somewheree around 3.8ghz, saftly, with watercooling. not sure where i got that, but yeah that what i heard

 

[JoshSpence]

Hmm ok interesting, thanks. Can you please justify why you recommended these processors over the others...

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Ok, here's why I chose the AMD route. Benchmarks clearly proves it:

Multitasking bench scores:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2410&p=4

Photo and Video editing benchies:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2410&p=5

Intel got a spanked pretty hard, it's not even funny.

 

[JoshSpence]

Quick question... why does it seem that no AMD motherboards support DDR2 (533) RAM whereas Intel ones do?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Intel was the one to adopt the DDR2 concept whle AMD was in their shadow. The type of DDR2 DRAM from Intel didn't offer a significant performance boost over the current mainstream chip, the DDR400. DDR 2 just didn't offer enough of a boost to justify its higher price which is why AMD didn't jump on the DDR2 express until now. At 400MHz and 533MHz, DDR2 is only a slight improvement than DDR 400 for desktops.

There's also the next generation DDR3 coming out, probably won't move into PCs until 2007. So we'll be looking forward to those.

 

[JoshSpence]

Ok well this is the system I'm looking at so far...

1x Seagate 8M SATA 400GB (used for video files and temporary files for rendering)
1x Seagate 8M SATA 300GB (partitioned into 3 drives, each for - OS and programs, personal files and music)
1x Dual layer DVD burner
1x CD Burner/DVD-ROM drive
1x Floppy disk drive (kind of useless I know)

1x Internal USB 2.0 All-in-One card reader

1x AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ 2.2Ghz 2MB processor (I see no point in paying an extra $600 for 0.2Ghz but correct me if I am wrong)

1x Asus A8N-SLI premium motherboard:
- FSB: 2000/1600 MT/s
- Chipset: NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI
- Memory: 4x DIMM (max 4GB) DDR 400/333/266, ECC, non-ECC
- Expansion slots: 2x PCI-E x16, SLI mode: x8. x8, 1x PCI-E x1/1x PCI-E x4 (x2 mode), 3x PCI
- Storage: nForce4: 4x SATA 3B/s, 2x UltraDMA 133/100
etc... for detailed specs go to http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=539&l1=3&l2=15&l3=0

I don't know what alot of those specs mean but oh well.

And is there any reason why all the DDR400 RAM i am finding is more expensive than the DDR2 533 RAM I was looking at

 

[GreenOrion]

Ok well this is the system I'm looking at so far...

1x Seagate 8M SATA 400GB (used for video files and temporary files for rendering)
1x Seagate 8M SATA 300GB (partitioned into 3 drives, each for - OS and programs, personal files and music)
1x Dual layer DVD burner
1x CD Burner/DVD-ROM drive
1x Floppy disk drive (kind of useless I know)

1x Internal USB 2.0 All-in-One card reader

1x AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ 2.2Ghz 2MB processor (I see no point in paying an extra $600 for 0.2Ghz but correct me if I am wrong)

1x Asus A8N-SLI premium motherboard:
- FSB: 2000/1600 MT/s
- Chipset: NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI
- Memory: 4x DIMM (max 4GB) DDR 400/333/266, ECC, non-ECC
- Expansion slots: 2x PCI-E x16, SLI mode: x8. x8, 1x PCI-E x1/1x PCI-E x4 (x2 mode), 3x PCI
- Storage: nForce4: 4x SATA 3B/s, 2x UltraDMA 133/100
etc... for detailed specs go to http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=539&l1=3&l2=15&l3=0

I don't know what alot of those specs mean but oh well.

And is there any reason why all the DDR400 RAM i am finding is more expensive than the DDR2 533 RAM I was looking at

only thing i have to say is get non-ECC ram, its cheaper, ECC is for those people who are running servers who need data to be super protected as it doeses error checking.

DDR400 RAM is suppose to be a little cheaper still, not for long though.

 

[acphenom]

DDR2 is beating DDR RAM now, because of reduced latencies and the increase to 667MHz modules, but DDR RAM still has lower latencies and you can get DDR modules as fast as DDR2 ones.

Still, Athlon 64's own Intel's, so don't let RAM support change your purchase.