PC for HD video editing (1 Viewer)

Since the introduction of HD video in many DSLR's and compact cameras my old gas driven PC has been rendered useless for video editing in HD. When I try to play HD files they judder like the old fashioned black and white movies!! I need a PC that will do the job without breaking the bank too much. When I look online everyone suggests I build my own!! Not too confident on that score! I was wondering if any of these shop bought off the shelf desktop PC's would be up to the job??? Anyone using one for this purpose??

Off the shelf would be fine if it has the right bits inside. Something like this would be fine http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-8700/pd?oc=cdx8727&model_id=xps-8700

My local computers shop built me one when I told them what I wanted to do with it. Works great and cost around £500 + a monitor, mouse, and keyboard (which I already had anyway).
Don't ask me whats inside as the works are a mystery. As long as it does the job that's all that matters to me

Some idea of budget would be very helpful in attempting to answer your initial query. Something functional can be had for around £500, whilst performance machines will be upward of £1k (ex. monitor).

John In Ireland said:

...When I look online everyone suggests I build my own!! Not too confident on that score!

Click to expand...

I thought the same until I assembled my first PC a couple of years ago. It's pretty straightforward, I spent an few hours researching via google and after buying all the bits it took less than 3 hours to assemble a functioning pc.

The advantage is that you get exactly the right machine, at a lower cost and the components will be of better quality than most off the shelf 'puters.

There are a number of companies who now offer "custom builds" in which you configure a pc and they put it all together for you. Here's a selection:

-Overclockers
-PCSpecialist
-Mesh

or as Geoff Brown suggested call in to a local independent pc shop.

IMO, for video editing get:
- high spec i5 or better "chip"
- as much RAM as you can afford. Ideally 16GB.
-A quality power supply (PSU), video editing places high demands on your pc. Easily overlooked because they either work or not. However, having had a Dell (Foxcomm =cheap) PSU fail, it destroyed the CPU and both hard drives, it is money well spent IMO.

HTH