I want to start shooting some skits, music videos, short films, etc. I plan on getting a high def camcorder with a hard disk. But before I do that- I need a new PC. I really want to make it crazy fast and crazy good, but for a low price too, of course . I have never built a PC so I'm wondering if anyone can offer some advice. I plan on using the hard drives I currently have (a 40gb and a 300gb), but may want a lot more room down the road. I'm not sure if I should keep a slot open to eventually add an internal tb or if it's better to add an external. Again, this is for editing HD video.
In general though, what would the experts recommend? My budget would be less than $1K. I'm leaning toward a quad processor, not sure about video or motherboard. And as far as the actual assembly and boot goes- is it relatively easy?
Also, if anyone knows a good HD camcorder to recommend, I'd love to know- I found a canon 40gb on amazon for only $700- I don't think I'll end up getting that one, but it's nice to know they can be that cheap. I'd like to spend less than 1K on this as well.
Any helpful input is appreciated.
Thanks! -gs

Hi ghostlyshark

Will you be needing a monitor, keyboard and mouse as well? And do you have any other parts such as DVD drives you could use?

Nope- All I have that I can use are:
2 hard drives
monitor
keyboard
mouse
speakers
wireless card

the assembly is easy, but what you want will be difficult to keep under $1k. I'll put a list together for you to look at.

Here you go, this is a good build for Video editing/gaming but it just tops $1k

PHILIPS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner 2-Tone SATA Model SPD2513BD - Retail

Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000AAKS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX All Solid Capacitor AMD Motherboard - Retail

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AL804 - Retail

AMD Phenom 9500 Agena 2.2GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-Core Processor Model HD9500WCGDBOX - Retail

Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

GIGABYTE GV-RX387512H Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
+++AMD free gift - Phenom T-shirt - OEM

If your going to be shooting and editing in HD, you will surely want a Blue Ray burner and reader. HD DVD is dead now.

Sorry if i'm being stupid here, you say you got a monitor, can it handle HD 1080p. ( you probally got that all sorted, just though i would make sure)

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 is an awsome card, i do recomend