AVC(HD?) editing hardware requirements

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

I did a search in the forums and came up with a few results but not a ton. I want to get a HD GoPro. First question would be does the fact that it is HD and uses the AVC codec automatically make it AVCHD?

The main question though, which might be stupid based on my system requirements, is will my setup be powerful enough to edit AVCHD as I've read it's a real resource hog.

System Specs:

2x Intel e5520 quad core @ 2.26 Ghz
16 GB DDR3 RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 1800
5400RPM 250GB IDE drive to be upgraded to SATA HDDs (server mobo that supports RAID) once I begin editing.

again it might sound like a stupid question but I know nothing of editing and built the computer for modeling and composting and editing was an after thought.

[parachutist 2]

Those specs will work fine. In reality the 16 gigs memory is overkill.. 8 gigs would be more than enough, and the video card doesn't matter because it's just 2D you'll be working with. The dual quad core CPus is a good thing, cause the CPU gets hit more than anything else when I'm rendering video from the GoPro (the original clip is 720p 60fps, getting downconverted to standard widescreen DVD mpeg) 5400 rpm drives are slow and you'll notice it. Make sure your new SATA drives are 7200 or go with a fast SSD for the C: drive and SATA 7200 for the scratch disk

Chris

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Any thoughts on using RAID 0 for my data and scratch disks?

[parachutist 2]

Quote

Any thoughts on using RAID 0 for my data and scratch disks?

RAID 0 works great for speed, but it concerns me if that's the only editing system available because if one disk fails or if the RAID controller has an issue then the whole system is down. If you go that route at least make sure you have a ghost image of the system to upload and a spare drive in case you need to rebuild an array.

You can keep the system simple with 7200 rpm drives and the main bottleneck will be the CPU, so RAID 0 will help the speed a little but not enough for the extra risk IMHO unless you're going RAID 10. And with fast SSDs on the market I prefer a root drive running one of those instead of RAID: no seek time, no crunching noises with SSDs as the drive deals with swap files, etc.

[Psychonaut 0]

I hate raid 0, because it honestly isn't a raid setup, if your system has a hiccup and drives fail, you're donezo. Go 1 and mirror them so you don't lose all your precious videos.

Stay high pull low

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

I would love to get a SSD but I just spent $2700 to build this computer so I'm trying to keep the cost on additional components down as much as possible. I could get 2 1TB drives and do a RAID 10 setup for the same price as a 30GB SSD. It may not be as fast but the amount of storage and the redundancy almost make it worth it.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

I'd probably do 10 or 5 in that case. Because I want the speed too.

[Psychonaut 0]

You can't do 10 with 2 drives. Not sure on your budget but you mentioned 2 1tb drives, so instead of that you could go with 4 drives, maybe 750gb or whatever comes out to be within the same price ranges. mirror drives 1 and 2, as well as 3 and 4 paired, then raid0 those..

Stay high pull low

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Yeah, sorry I'm new to RAID. I figured that out after I had already made my post.

[Psychonaut 0]

No worries! Lemme know id you need any help when the time comes..

Stay high pull low

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Actually I have another question already. If I set up a RAID array can I still use my IDE drive as the main boot drive? I have almost nothing on there file wise so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to back it up and start over. It'd just be a pain reinstalling all the software.

[DSE 5]

you can use your main IDE drive as a boot/application drive. once everything is installed, ghost it for future rebuilds and you won't have to worry about reinstalling everything.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

That's good news. Thanks.