New Computer needed for Premiere Pro

Question

I am not too tech-savvy when it comes to some computer specs, but over the years of using Adobe Premiere Pro, I have used many computers with this program, and while all of them met the system requirements, I have had problems in each instance.
I am currently using CS4 on a Dell Precision T3500, which has been pretty good so far, but now I am editing much larger projects that have extensive data and files, and now my system has slowed down to the point where I can no longer render my media without Adobe freezing up and crashing. For reference, the size of the .prproj file is 15M, and is using over 10G of media, and is freezing up on me.
A simple solution would be some sort of add-on to my system to make it work faster with preview files and can render & export quickly, but realistically I will need a better computer overall to accomplish this. Would a specific graphics card solve this problem?
If I were to start from scratch with a brand new computer from Dell.com, what would be the best OS, Processor, Memory (any noticable difference between 4G and 6G?), and anything else needed to allow Premiere Pro to function smoothly with large projects? I would like it to be cost-effective, but what's most importand is getting PPRO to work the way it is meant to for professional, high-end projects.
I don't need to dissect & learn the interworkings of my car in order to drive it. I wish the same could be said about Adobe Premiere Pro and the computer specs needed for it...
Thanks for your time and effort to help me out. Much appreciated!!
-Rick

Answer 1

Rick,
You may not need to know all the inner workings of your car to drive it, but buying a new (or used) car these days involves quite of bit of research just to understand all of the various option packages!
Let me start by completely agreeing with both wb_martin and Bill Gehrke comments, although neither is suggesting you buy a stock Dell! I know enough to build and support my own systems, but ADK indeed rocks for anyone who wants a cost effective turnkey system customized for their specific video (or audio) editing needs.
I also agree with Alex's comments and his "hybrid" recommendation regarding a Dell or HP workstation with a nVidia gamer's series GTX video card. You cannot however order those from Dell's or HP's web sites though since they normally only offer the Quadro nVidia cards on their workstation series offerings.
I will assume that you are editing DV and/or HD and not RED 4k or larger media.
Dell has systems in both their gamers line and workstation line that would work pretty well for large projects assuming you jump up to Adobe's CS5/5.5/6 software which supports use of both cpu and gpu (video card) processing to really speed up editing and renders:
Workstation - Dell T3600
Xeon E5-1650, 6-core, 3.2GHz (3.8 GHz turbo), Win7 Pro 64-bit, $1629 base price
635 watt p/s $35
32GB 1600 MHz ECC RAM $819
Quadro 5000 2.5 GB $1309
4TB RAID 0 $252
Blu-ray burner $222
TOTAL = $4266
Gamer's Alienware Aurora
i7-3930k factory oc'd to 4.1GHz, Win7 Pro 64-bit, $2119 base price
32GB, 1600 MHz RAM $450
GTX 680 2GB video card $450
4TB RAID 0 $250
Blu-ray burner $125
TOTAL = $3394
The workstation option is a really solid system (like your T3500) and Dell's workstation support is pretty good.
The gamer's option is significantly less expensive and faster. I personally think that its also pretty UGLY!
IMHO Dell and HP provide very nice workstation base systems but then charge really inflated prices for memory, hard drives, optical drive upgrades, etc. So, that brings you back to a "hybrid" option if you would be up to it. That is, buy a base Dell (or HP) workstation and then add 3rd party RAM, graphics card, and hard drive(s). That will not void your warranty, but will not be a completely turnkey solution either.
BTW, HP makes a killer workstation pre-configured powerful enough to edit Red 4k. Unfortunately it costs almost $10k!
Good luck with this adventure!
Jim