Been working with HDV now and when I first built my computer it wasn't built for that.. Currently my setup is AMD Dual Core 4200 2.2 ghz/ 4gb ram/ ATi XL 700 pro 256 mb video card.. I know i'm better off upgrading my whole setup but don't have the money for it right now. So i'm just wondering if upgrading my video card will help my setup deal with HDV better? If so can anybody suggest a good video card for $50-$75 thanks...

I've a similar setup but with the ATI XT800XT. While you can get it to play 2 streams of HDV in this set up, I strongly recommend putting the money towards a new system. You're pretty much at the end of the current system and updating the card will help but only marginally.

 

I figured just upgrading my whole system will be the best way to go but I just dont have the money. I'll probably get a newer video card for now and when I get the money to upgrade(or quard cores get cheaper) I can always use the video card in the new system. Can you recommend a good video card  for under $100 that works well with Liquid?

I asume you have a pcix MoBo? Dave is right, you are not going to see real benefit with a video card swap. Most decent cards reqiure +500watt power supplies, which you may or may not have. After 3 or 4 years an editing pc really becomes fustrating to work with for all sorts of reasons.

If you must, I'd see if the MoBo would support a hotter CPU, say an AMD 6000. They are pretty cheap now, and that would greatly speed encode and CPU Fx. 

Just to make sure, your 700XL is PCI-e and not AGP, correct?