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How Much PC Do You Need?

If you were to trust the minimum PC configuration recommendations listed on the side of a software package's box, you'd think you could edit video with any old PC. Many vendors state that a Pentium II-450 is adequate, but realistically, you need a better-equipped machine.

For instance, Adobe Premiere requires only a PIII-500 CPU, but Adobe's Bruce Bowman says the program will operate slowly using such a system. A PC using a Pentium 4 or Athlon XP processor will encode and process effects much more swiftly. And if you plan to use a program that does direct-to-disc authoring, we'd recommend a system with at least a 2-GHz Pentium 4 or a 2.13-GHz Athlon XP 2600+.

As for RAM, 512MB should normally be enough. Bowman notes that more than 512MB will be necessary only if you are running a number of additional programs.

Some software vendors suggest that a 4GB hard drive is sufficient. However, a single one-hour tape of digital video will consume 13GB of storage space. Even if that 4GB drive didn't house system files, you'd have room for only about 15 minutes of footage.

If you own an older system, you may be able to install a second hard drive to get enough storage space. Most new PCs come with at least 60GB hard drives, and hard drives over 100GB are now common. Storing your video on a separate hard drive will also speed things up--video editing involves an awful lot of disk reads and writes.

Finally, either a CRT or an LCD screen should be fine for editing video, because the monitor has no effect on the production quality of the movie. Older LCDs may exhibit on-screen trails when you play movies, but some new LCDs feature faster (16ms) response times, which will minimize such effects.