Video Editing in a Business Environment

Question

Hi all,
We are about to put together a video editing workstation in a business environment.
First, we wanted to go for Mac, but this is an IT no-go.
We are not editing professionals, our purpose is to edit business videos in reasonable speed with easy software.
We have an AVCHD Camera from Canon which can shoot full HD, even though we might stick to a lower resolution.
Software wise we have Premiere Pro CS4 (no upgrade to CS5 in sight) and will most likely replace it with Premiere Elements 9, because feature-wise its enough for what we need it and its easier to use for now.
Hardware wise, our business IT proposes one of the following options:
1. Dell Precision T3500 V2
Chassis: Dell Precision T3500
Processor: One Intel Xenon W3503 (2.4GHz 4.8GT/s, 4MB,DC)
Memory: 4GB (2x2048 MB) 1333MHz DDR3 ECC-UDIMM
Fixed Disk: 250GB (15,000rmp) SAS Hard Drive
Graphics Card: 512MB nVidia Quadro FX580 Graphics Card
Controller Card: SAS 6i/R controller card
CD-Rom Drive: 16x DVD+/- RW Drive
2. Chassis: Dell Precision T5500
Processor: One Intel Xeon E5506 (2.13GHz, 4.8GT/ s,4MB)
Memory: 4GB (1x2048 + 2x1024) 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
Fixed Disk: 300GB (15,000rpm) SAS Hard Drive
Graphics Card: 768MB nVidia Quadro FX1800 Graphics Card
CD-Rom Drive: 16x DVD +/- RW Drive
3. Chassis: Dell Precision T5500
Processor: One Intel X5550 (2.6GHz, 6.4 GT/s, 8MB, QC) Memory runs at 1333 MHz
Memory: 4GB (1x2 GB + 2x1GB) 1066MHz DDR3 ECC-UDIMM
Fixed Disk: 300GB (15,000rpm) SAS Hard Drive
Graphics Card: 1.5GB Quadro NIVIDIA Fx4800-2DP, 1 DVI (1DP- DVI, 1DVI- VGA Adapter) (HEGA16)
Controller Card:  SAS 6i/R controller card
CD-Rom Drive: 16x DVD- ROM Laufwerk
4. Monitors
TFT 17" Dell 17" E170S 1280 x 1024 bei 60 Hz
TFT 19" Dell 19" E190S 1280 x 1024 bei 60 Hz
TFT 20" Dell 20" 2007 FP 1600 x 1200 bei 60 Hz
TFT 22" Dell 22" E2210 1680 x 1050 bei 60 Hz
TFT 24" Dell 24" P2411H  1920 x 1080 bei 60 Hz
My questions are:
1. It seems clear to me, that from the above, Nr.3 T5500 should be selected, but maybe its overkill for Premiere Elements and its costly. What would you select?
2. What are the bottlenecks/shortcomings of the system you selected under question 1, beside the harddrive?
3. Whats, in your opinion, is the minimum requirement for a video editing Monitor?
4. If we just look at graphics performance and think about the price, could there be an alternative configuration like: Nr.2 plus a complete different graphics card?
5. Does the change to Premiere Elements have a big impact on graphics performance (same graphics card, different performance between Elements & Pro)?
6. Is there a list with compatible graphics cards that is available for Premiere Elements? (I just know the one for Premiere Pro)
Thanks a lot
manumanu

Answer 1

Welcome to the forums!  My suggestion is start and do extensive reading this forum.  Most of your questions have been discussed and answered. You are fortunate that your IT people have made you look at PC's as currently they outperform similar configured Mac's and cost you much less.
Stay away from single Xeon processor systems.  There is no advantage to a single Xeon processor over a single i7-9xx processor
If you want some real quick configuration performance information take a look at our PPBM5 Benchmark data.
If you have to go Dell plan on enhancing it with much lower cost add on's like disk drives and memory
If you want the best bang for the buck with a real system designed specifically for video editing look at ADK  
If you really want to edit you need 6 times your 4 GB configurations.
Stay away from the Quadro cards they currently do not improve the performance and they cost a lot.
SAS drives are good performers but are not ideal it is better to spend your money with 2 to 3 times more disk drives than a few expensive drives.