Computer video editing question

[teamhypoxia 0]

Short version of the question:
How big a part does your video card play in editing video? Is it significant, or is rendering time, performance, etc. more dependent on processor speed and ram?

Techy version:
I recently built a pc that I want to use for video editing, either with Premier or Avid depending on which I find easier to learn.
mobo : ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (went all out here for upgradability)

cpu: AMD Athlon 64 3200 (should be decent processor)

2gig of PC3200 DDR (should be adequate)

a 30gb-7200rpm SATA hard drive for the OS and programs
and a 300gb- 10,000rpm SATA hard drive for file storage

now the video card is where I skimped. My mobo will except two pci-express video cards linking them via SLI. I'd love to have a couple of 256mb 6800Ultras but that would cost about a grand right now if you can even get them. So, to tide me over until SLI capable cards fall into a reasonable price range, I bought a 128mb ATI Radeon X300 (the cheapest pci-e card I could find with dual monitor capability).
the question is, how much of a bottle neck is my video card causing when it comes to video editing? I know it's hurting me with 3D CAD Applications that I run, but is it much of a factor in video editing? If so, what parts? capturing? editing? rendering?

I'm sure I'll get a few "buy a Mac" replies, but I built this machine for ~$800 and you can't get a decent Mac for that. Plus, you can't run my necessary CAD apps on a Mac.

[skyfly 0]

for video editing - your video card doesnt play a big a part as you would think. all the rendering is done on the cpu.

where you'll notice the big difference is in CAD applications - BIG TIME - 3d rendering is based on the video card capabilities.

Be Simple, Be Creative, Bee!
Sharon.

[mwabd1 0]

Quote

for video editing - your video card doesnt play a big a part as you would think. all the rendering is done on the cpu.

That is correct.............your video card is for what you see and not for what your output to your camera or DVD burner.

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[mccordia 74]

Unless you get a dedicated editing card, which has hardware encoding.
Then it will speed up everything, and your CPU speed won't really matter that much. Used to edit on a P100, only thing that mattered was if the HD was fast enough.

But nowadays most computers are fast enough to do everything with the CPU. And only folks on prehistoric computers and people with too much cash use seperate cards with hardware-encoding

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[jdhill 0]

Well, I'd count myself in the "buy a Mac" bunch... you can get one for $500 (G4 1.4Ghz MacMini), with VPC you can run anything you could run on a PC...

But what you outlined ought to work fine for a windows machine... as others have said, the video card is not that big for NLE.

J

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

[JayhawkJumper 0]

First of all, get AVID. It's easy to learn, extremely fast and there's a reason why its the industry standard. Final Cut is great too but you don't have a mac.

As far as the card, AVID has an approved list for video cards. I would get one of those to be on a safe side, but if you already have a decent one, it will probably work fine.

[PhreeZone 20]

AVID is easy to learn? I've tried, I've honestly tried to sit down and edit with it and I could'nt. I can do everything I've ever wanted to on Premiere and lots that I've never used before. It might be that I'm trying to do things in AVID like I would in Premiere... but I found it to be really hard to learn unless you had all the keyboard overlays and lots of assistance.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[teamhypoxia 0]

Quote

AVID has an approved list for video cards

actually, that's what made me ask the question. I didn't figure the video card would be critical for editing, but their "list" made me wonder

[br0k3n 0]

Quote

AVID is easy to learn? I've tried, I've honestly tried to sit down and edit with it and I could'nt. I can do everything I've ever wanted to on Premiere and lots that I've never used before. It might be that I'm trying to do things in AVID like I would in Premiere... but I found it to be really hard to learn unless you had all the keyboard overlays and lots of assistance.

I second that, I found AVID a bitch to use.... premiere pro all the way for me.......

-----------------------------------------------------------
--+ There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.. --+