PC upgrade time + advice on Video Editing Software

[PAPPACLART]

Hello Guys

First off sorry for the huge OP I wanted to cover at least most of what is on my mind.

I am looking to upgrade my PC. I have been doing quite a bit of research and think I have clued myself up with enough knowledge to make the right decision, though you can never know enough, so would like some additional advice if needs be in case I have missed something.

As for PC usage, I will be using it for Video/Picture editing/encoding/creation and games. I am not a huge gamer (unless it's GT5 or race sims) but some of the new games look fantastic, and with the new system capable of playing these games with some eye candy will hopefully re ignite my enthusiasm.

The video editing will be mainly for video creation/editing for uploading to YouTube. (As I will be making my own YouTube Channel) but more on that later.

I will start with my current system as with the parts I purchase will be added to build to improve the PC I already have.

Intel Core 2 duo e6300 @1.86ghz
3gb DDR2 ram 667mhz
Internal 250GB Maxtor STM3250620A (PATA/IDE)
External Seagate 1TB ST310005EXA101-RK
Gigabyte G31-S2L socket 775 (micro ATX)
EZCool PS-10 Silent 500W
BenQ 24" G2420HDBL LED Monitor (1920 x 1080)
Pallit nvidia geforce 7900 gs 512mb DX9
Vento (rubbish mATX case)
Window 7 Pro 64 Bit

As you can see the above computer does not set the world on fire. I do have the CPU at 2.7ghz and it works allot better vs stock clock. Tried playing DeusX and Skyrim after borrowing them but it was a complete fail! lol

I am English and live in Italy so I am limited to certain shops to purchase parts as I do not know or trust many of the online retailers I have seen so will be sticking to what I know (shops I know or Ebay)

I have several specs/options but do not know which way to go. My budget is probably around 450 euros but could stretch a little further, but the cheaper the better of course.

Overclocking is of an interest, as I can further future proof the PC. AMD and Bulldozer/Denab/Thuban is a No, unless somebody can put forward a convincing case. I do not need 4.8ghz of overclocked i5 2500k so I will not kid myself though I will likely still take one because it offers good value and with that kind of BHP will last a while. Bear in mind I have had my PC since 2006, with only a MD upgrade in the in between.



Spec 1


Intel core i5-2500K 199 Euro http://www.pixmania.com/it/it/8314868/art/intel/core-i5-2500k-3-3-ghz-cac.html

Paired with Either

Gigabyte GA-Z68-DH-B3 99 Euro http://www.pixmania.com/it/it/9781269/art/gigabyte/ga-z68ma-d2h

Asrock ASROCK Z68 PRO3-M Mod 100 Euro http://www.ebay.it/itm/320820911379?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

There are also some P67 boards that are ATX, for around 80 euro, but means getting a new case which is probably advisable so may consider an ATX P67 board for under around 80 euro, like the Asus P8P67 to free up some cash for the case) or even a ATX Z68 board if the best advice is to upgrade my case and stick with the newer chipset. (a board which I can get for 100 euro also)

Please recoomend an mATX or ATX case for under 60 euro.

Ram, I am not to clued up on what is good ram. Will take a 4gb or 8gb. Please make some suggestions http://www.pixmania.com/componenti-...ams=_BA00003091-BV00256021&sSortInfo=Prix-ASC

As for GPU

AMD Radeon HD6850 125 Euro http://www.pixmania.com/it/it/7594804/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-6850-1-gb-gddr5.html

Or

AMD Radeon HD6870 140 Euro http://www.pixmania.com/it/it/11391849/art/tikoo/radeon-hd-6870-1-gb-gddr5.html

Both cards can play most current game at 1080p with high settings with FPS mostly above 30. I know these cards may not have huge life in them in terms of playing games 1 or 2 years from now with high settings but I can live with that.

Both the above can be mildly overclocked. The 6850 can be clocked to more or less match the FPS of its bigger Bro. Its a 15 euro difference for the 6870 but does take me to the higher end of my budget.



Or I could go cheaper..


Intel Core I3-2100 114.95 Euro http://www.pixmania.com/it/it/8223652/art/intel/core-i3-2100-3-1-ghz-cach.html

Basic H61 board for around 60 euro or a Z68 with the idea of slotting an Ivy Bridge CPU in the future. As far as I know the i3 is a good CPU, but no overclocking and is also only a Dual Core (with HT) so will do the job now but may struggle as time goes on.

Either of the 2 graphics cards mentioned above with either 4gb or 8gb of ram.


I have also seen Intel core i5-2300 for 149 Euro with Free shipping. I could pair with a P67 or Z68 board for some mild overclocking and save me 50 euro over the 2500k. http://www.ebay.it/itm/250955986721?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


As for video editing/encoding/creation software. Something pretty simple to use, so I can create and edit videos for YouTube as well as compress them to smaller file formats to help with upload speeds to YouTube. I already have Adobe CS5 Master Collection, and use Dreamweaver and photoshop but the video suites are a little complicated. (like all adobe stuff lol) I hear Windows movie maker is pretty good and easy to use. I have it but have not played with it yet. I would like some suggestions for FREE and Paid for products.

I wll be recording in 720p using both my Canon S95 and also my Samsung WB650. I will likely upgrade to a 1080p cam in the future. So any good Video compression Software would be great where I do not lose too much video quality. My upload speed is about 0.5/0.6 meg.

I will also be taking the Seagate external HD out of its case and plonking it in the new PC as I am sure most new MB's do not support IDE no longer, besides using the Maxtor IDE as the main drive may be a slight bottleneck ?

My current PSU does do the job (EZCool PS-10 Silent 500W), and was a panic buy as my last PSU junked itself. Not sure if I need to upgrade this as I am sure it is not very good?

I think that's it for now. Thanks

 

[Grayfox]

Keep the 2500K.

I would look for an Asus board as I have never had any issues with them.

The 2500K has an unlocked multiplyer so you just change that instead of the Front Side Bus speed which makes it eaiser to OC the whole system

When you normally OC you change the FSB speed.

Eg

A CPU 2.5Ghz CPU with a multiplyer of 7.5 will have a FSB speed of 333Mhz.

Changing the FSB speed by 1Mhz changes the CPU speed by 7.5Mhz, makes the PCI-e run faster, the PCI run faster and the most important RAM run faster.

These can be over come by using the PCI, PCI-e Clock settings and the Ram-CPU ratio.

Changing the multipler means you can make the CPU have a multipler setting of 9 in this case the CPU that had a multipler of 7.5 with the 333Mhz FSB setting will now have a clock of 3000Mhz or 3Ghz using the same 333Mhz FSB speed.

When I get enough cash I will get the 2600K which is the I7 Version of this CPU but the 2500K is still very good.

I would avoid AMD GPUs, while they do give best bang for buck you may face compatibility issues, I have one at work where it will not load into windows at all with an AMD 6870x2 with AMD drivers, but of standard window VGA it loads just fine or with an nVidia GPU with Geforce drivers loads fine.

Other people have reported issues with AMD and Intel CPU motherboards.

As for the PSU 500w may not be enough to run it, you may need a 750W or high(if you want to overclock or upgrade hardware or add hardware go higher)

 

[Icarus25]

A quality 500W power supply would be fine. You'd want to look at Brands like Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, Enermax, or XFX. Something around 650W would be a starting point if you want some room for future upgrades.

As for editing software, I use Sony Vegas Pro but it's not cheap. There is a more consumer oriented version called Vegas Movie Studio HD, along with some more advanced versions. It's fairly easy to use and more robust than Windows Movie Maker. There are others such as Pinnacle Studio and Adobe Premier Elements, which is a stripped down home user version of Premier Pro. I think it's much simpler to use than the Pro, though I don't have any experience with it or the Pinnacle software. I don't know any free programs off the top of my head.

 

[PAPPACLART]

Thanks guys for the advice.


I took the plunge and ordered....

Intel core i5-2500k

Asrock Z68 Pro3-M (mATX)

Corsair XM3s 8gb of ram (2x 4gb)

Ram may not be the best but I got a good price.

GPU will have to wait, but for now I am thinking to upgrade case and also get a CPU cooler, something cheap but better than the intel unit, and not too large (tall) so will fit in an micro ATX case without probs.

Case I am thinking of http://www.coolermaster.co.uk/product.php?product_id=6625



Equally I slo would like some advice on a 500 + watt PSU, again something cheap but relative quite.

Thanks


EDIT

I just remembered, I also have a OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU cooler, its for a socket 775 but my new motherboard 1155 Asrock can take socket 775 coolers. This cooler is very tall and did not fit my mATX case so I stuck it in the garage and forgot about it.

The question is will this cooler fit the cooler master 342 elite case I am thinking of buying?

The depth of the OZC coller is 15.9cm while the coolermaser case is 18cm wide. I guess allowing for 1.5cm at the most for once the cooler is placed on the cpu, it should just about fit? My current case is approx 16cm wide.

 

[Icarus25]

There's no real need to get an aftermarket cooler unless you're really planning on going bonkers overclocking. Choices might also be limited with something small like a micro ATX case. If you really do want to get one, even though it makes the more sense buying everything together, it might be better to wait so you can properly measure your setup so you know exactly how much space you have to work with.

Don't skimp on a power supply. You don't have to go overboard, but you shouldn't cheap out. As I said before, if you stick to brands like Corsair, Enermax, Antec, Seasonic or even XFX you should be good. Although, cheap and quiet don't really mesh together.

 

[Enigma]

It's a different case from the one you mentioned but it comes with the psu and it's cheap, I have no idea if coolermaster psu's are ok quality wise.

http://www.ebuyer.com/220863-coolermaster-elite-330-case-with-coolermaster-extreme-power-500w-psu-rc-330-kkpl-gp

This is the psu I bought, if you don't mind spending a bit more http://www.ebuyer.com/257232-corsair-tx-650w-v2-psu-80plus-bronze-certified-cmpsu-650txv2uk

 

[PAPPACLART]

Thanks guys, last night I ended up buying the Coolermaster elite 430 ATX case. After checking the spec it is wide enough to fit my OCZ vendetta 2. So all I need is a decent PSU and I should be done.

I now have Media Espresso and Handbrake as well as Media Converter and was doing some testing with my current set up.

Converting a 1 min 720p 140mb file takes about 6-10 mins, painfully slow, but was pretty suprised when the file was compressed to only 15mb but retained the quality. I can't wait to try with the new set up.

I will be overclocking, probably around the 4 to 4.5 ghz or as high as I can go without making voltage changes as I want the PC the remain decent on power.

Enigma, the TX650 looks nice, I will have to have a look on ebay to see if there are any deals.

I am currently keeeping my eye on this http://www.ebay.it/itm/280810550456?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2649