[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Building another computer rig to annoy me (~ $1,400-1,500)

[Dina Lerret]

On 4/24/07, Steve <bboyminn at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I'm curious what you are doing that requires this
> much computing power. If I interpret correctly
> you have 2G of Ram, 1,200Gig of hard drive space,
> and a 3.4Ghz P4 processor. Many of the best systems
> available still don't meet these specifications and
> you still want more?

Video editing. :-\  I suck, big time, at memorizing hours of scenes,
so I end up dumping entire episodes/seasons onto the computer.  In
Lagarith codec, one 45min ep can take up to 18-20gigs from a converted
hi-res download.  So, two seasons of ~20+ eps can take up to ~400 gigs
+ the original hi-res downloads run 700-800megs each (add another 14+
gigs I have to stick somewhere), plus, I have data drives for regular
storage, including multiple vid projects... In other words, I
currently have ~450gigs open out of ~1,200gigs.

Editing with AviSynth is good and bad in that, if you delegate 25megs
per AVS file and then slice up that one file into ten parts on an
editing timeline, AviSynth will then require 250megs... Many vids are
comprised of 100+ cuts = bye-bye gigs of RAM.  Some vidders have
resorted to splitting up a vid into multiple projects to bypass the
memory issue, in addition to lowering the memory delegation to single
digits during rendering or else the program crashes.  However, AVS
files are very flexible in corrections and adjustments to video/audio.

If you know *exactly* what you want to vid, then aspects can be made
more efficient.  If you're like me and going 'eh, I'll slap scenes on
there and juggle them around in the hope something cohesive forms',
then there's a *lot* of excess clutter.

> How about a new motherboard and processor, maybe a new
> video card, then new OS's. Place that in your current
> system and you should be ready to go, and for a lot
> less money.

True, except I want to separate out a vidding rig from a computer
that'll be running 24/7 for remote access  (the 2006 rig is now
running 24/7).  All those HDs suck up power and un/plugging them wears
out the plastic SATA bits.  My Gateway from 2000 has been doing 24/7
for nearly four years, in addition to vidding, and its performance is
deteriorating (two optical drives shot, audio card partially working,
problems powering up and down, seek times during the boot sequence can
hang for several minutes).

Ideally, I'd like to get down to three computer towers.

> Steve/bboyminn - who for the records is still using a
> 900Mhz AMD Athlon with 512Mb and a 60Gb HD.

:-)  I think I did almost all my HP vids on the 2000 Gateway with
20gig HD, 384RAM, and PIII650 processor.  I can do movie vids but I'm
a lost cause when it comes to episode vids.

Dina