EPINIONS
See what APC’s readers are talking about.
BUDGET VIDEO-EDITING RIG?
Having read with interest your take on a budget gaming PC in issue 445, I would like to know if you have plans for a budget video making PC in the offing. I was thinking the gaming PC would fit the bill but then thought maybe a different processor and or graphics card might be better suited. Then I thought maybe it would need to be a different build altogether.
Perhaps an article on a video PC along the lines of the gaming PC article but with side steps where a bit more could be spent on, say, a different processor and less on a graphics card or more memory and so on, keeping the original budget about the same.
The original budget would need to be as low as possible, consistent with ending up with a PC that could do the job.
Maybe an article on video editing software as well? I presently use Adobe Premiere Elements 10, but will be shortly upgrading or trying something totally different.
Bob Nicholson
Ed replies: Building a video-editing rig for around that same $1,000 price point as the budget gaming PC we constructed in APC 445 (see page 68) is a tough ask — the hardware demands for (competent) video editing are actually higher than what you’d get away with for basic gaming.
While you could certainly put together a system that’d be passable, you’d hit problems in most major areas — specifically, in not having a fast (and highly-threaded) enough processor, too little RAM, and not enough storage. A mid-range or above GPU is also very handy to have for video-editing these days, as basically all commercial editing programs support GPU hardware acceleration, which can make things both more responsive when you’re working with a video file, as well as faster when it comes to encoding your final videos. The Labs team is definitely keen to see what they can come up with, though, so stay tuned — although don’t hold us to any promises about hitting that $1,000 price!
NAS WITH WINDOWS SERVER CAPABILITIES
I have been using Windows Home Server 2011 for some years and am looking to replace it. I have read all of your reviews of NAS boxes and investigated their software and capabilities, but nothing appears to address the question of an equivalent for the Windows Connector software for servers. Is there a direct equivalent, or is there some other software or a workaround for this very useful piece of software, within a NAS based system?
Michael Pollard
Ed replies: While NAS boxes have definitely come a huge distance in what they can do, as far as we can find, there’s nothing out there that directly replicates what Windows Connector offers — which is, specifically, comprehensive backup and system monitoring for any client PCs on the same network. Let’s open this one up to the APC readership: do any readers have experience with performing these kinds of tasks just using a NAS?
“Building a video-editing rig for around that same $1,000 price point as the budget gaming PC we constructed in APC 445 is a tough ask — the hardware demands for (competent) video editing are actually higher than what you’d get away with for basic gaming.”