I wanted a new PC for video editing – priced in a dual-processor motherboard, 2xdual core, 4 gig of ram, 3TB of hard drive space, Open GL Quadra card and two monitors. It tipped the scales at £2K….

So I tried something else – Quadra FX 1100 graphics card recommended for Avid.  £40 from e-bay, luckily my old 2.5ghz single core motherboard supported AGPx8 and it worked a dream.  Previews are now full screen.  Effects are clear and unjuttery in preview also. 

Happy with this, I decided maybe look into a 3.4Ghz Prescott multi-threading CPU.  The multi-threading will spend things up and we estimate 40% power improvement over my 2.53Ghz Northwood.  Voila, £70 on ebay.  I may also change my ram as my motherboard supports dual-ram function, although my current 1gig is in fact compatible with the 800FSB of the new processor.

Here’s hoping the upgrade all works out!  Even my PSU is rated for the new CPU.  Looks like my system was built with upgradability in mind.