Hi all. Well, it's already 13th of Jan but anyways, I hope y'all had a great time this holidays.

I'm thinking of building a Desktop computer for high definition video editing purposes. I have some ideas in mind of what I should go for but I don't really know what's good in the market these days (I've built computers before back in 2006/2007, just to let you know I have some experience in this already and I'm not a newbie).

So what specs do you guys think would be best?

Cheers.

So what specs do you guys think would be best?

The best you can afford. But sadly, you did not list your budget. I would definitely go with a decent graphics card, and lots of RAM.

Originally Posted by Digerati

The best you can afford. But sadly, you did not list your budget. I would definitely go with a decent graphics card, and lots of RAM.

Budget: Less than $1000. Would be best if it is around the $700-800 range or so.

Sow what specs?

Note that graphics cards made for gaming don't make the best cards for graphics editing. For that, you really need a good graphics workstation card - and they can be very expensive. So I would concentrate your budget on a card, then at least 4Gb of RAM - preferably 6 - 8Gb and 64-bit Windows. The CPU is of less importance than the graphics solution and RAM.

Cool.
Could you please explain me in simple words the differences between a graphics workstation card and a normal graphics cards such as those used for gaming?

It is what it sounds like. A work station card is designed (optimized) for doing CAD/CAE "work". Gaming cards (which probably should not be called "normal) are optimized for fast changing 3D animations. And normal cards are general purpose cards, great for Word documents, Power Point presentations, email, and watching the occasional movie.

Workstation cards are design for precision work and super fast rendering so when designing a building, for example, you can turn the whole building 180° and get a precise, architectural, accurately scaled view looking in through the back. Game cards are designed for high FPS (frames per second) so when your character runs across the screen, it is smooth animation and not jerking movements.

This is a good read: Videoguys Blog - Videoguys' System Recommendations for Video Editing