New Computersystem
 

Hey guys,
I went to the computer shop yesterday and asked for a new editing system.
I do a lot of video editing (premiere), but mainly After Effects, photoshop, ...
I don't have a clue of all the technical stuff so I needed your advice :

* Case : ANTEC Sonata III Super Quiet 500Watt Case
* Mobo : ASUS P6T6 WS PRO LGA1366 Intel X58 6DDR3(Trip
* CPU: INTEL Core i7-920 8M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 4.80 GT/s
* RAM : 3 x KINGSTON 2GB 1333MHz DDR2 CL9 DIMM (6GB)
* HD : 2 x WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar 1TB SATA 7200RPM 32MB C
* DVDRW: LG Blu-Ray Writer BD-R6x + HD-DVD Rom
* Graphic card : ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 1GB DDR3 512 bit A

I asked for 12 GB of Ram, but he told me that 6 GB of Ram was plenty enough and more is just overkill. Is it true ?
First I was also thinking of the Graphic Card : Nvidia Quadro CX, but then he said that its almost the same as the GTX285, but just a lot more expensive.
Is there anyting else you would advice me ?

6GB is fine, but I wouln't settle for less than 750w power supply. I personally am running 850w and wish I had 1000w.

500 is not adequate for a modern video editing PC, IMO. Recently in another thread someone found their power supply inadequate for their i7 system and they ended up buying a new PSU. It seems this is the place people tend to cut corners most often, but it can cause a host of issues that are nearly impossible to figure out, as the problems underpowering causes are so varied.

Quote: "I was using an OCZ 520 watt and switched it with an 850 watt Corsair today."

I can't speak to VGC, none of my software benefits from workstation cards, so I have an inexpensive card.

I am building a new editing computer also and have been researching it for quite a while and everything that I can come up with says use more ram. Here's a link to an adobe white paper:
http://www.adobe.com/products/creati...m_64bit_wp.pdf
If you need any more info I can provide it ad nauseum.
What I can find in a 12Gb matched sticks is from Corsair. One is a 1333 GB set, part number HX3X12G1333C9 and is available at a few outlets right now.
They have a new product number HX3X12G1600C9 that is a 1600 12 GB set that they say will be available "Any day" so I am waiting for that.

Your mobo is rated for that speed ram through overclocking. If you are not comfortable with that just get the 1333.

I agree with Jeff that you need a larger power supply, I have a corsair 1000w for my build.

I too have been trying to decide about that video card. Here is a pretty good white paper on the Quadro CX. PC Perspective - NVIDIA Quadro CX Review and Adobe CS4 GPU Acceleration There is quite a difference in the cards, one helps with encoding through a plug in, the other does not. (only 264 at this time)

I also have a matrox RT.X2 card in my current CS3 system and it runs great and will probably move it over to the new build once all components arrive. Plus it will save $1800 bucks!

Hope this helps

Dave

wow, 6Gb, 12Gb, are you all guys installing 64 bit OS?

Lots of folk around here are running 64 bit Vista. We are the bold, the adventurous, and the broke. My upgrade cost me lots...but I admit it was worth it.

I forgot to add my system build

Case: Thermaltake Armour+ Full Tower
Mobo: Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core I7 940 Nehalem
RAM: Corsair DDR3 1600 12GB Kit
Ram Fans: Corsair CMXAF1 Fans
Hard Drive:OCZ Vertex Solid State hard drive 250G
Adapter: Icy Dock MB888 2SP (2.5 to 3.5 adapter)
Raid: Velociraptor 10K rpm raid 0 -600GB Total
Matrox RT.X2
Video Card:Asus ENGTX285 1GB
Blu Ray: Pioneer BDR 203 Blu Ray
Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler
Power supply: Corsair 1000HX
Vista 64 Bit Ultimate


I just had to try that SSD. Now if the rest of the stuff would just show up.......

Since I already have the Matrox RT.X2 I am going to stick with it over Quadro CX, but feel there is a lot of future in that type of card. The Matrox system at this time has more output options than the Quadro, but I can see the possibilities. Also if you combine the cost of the Matrox RT.X2 and Video card, it's pretty close to the total price of the Quadro CX.

Bart.... I'd rethink the hard drives....

HD : 2 x WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar 1TB SATA 7200RPM 32MB C

Not sure how many HD's you can put in your case but I would'nt put
a slower 1TB drive as my main drive(s)

a better bet would be a smaller 10K rpm drive(s) and maybe you can
put in one 1TB or two for offloading the footage.... but use the faster
smaller drive for video processing..

why? the 1TB drives will slow down the performance of that computer.
The drive will become fragmented... its going to be a tough time backing
up 1TB drives (at least time consumming) and if you do loose one thats
alot of data that could be lost....

you will notice the speed difference from a 7K drive to a 10K drive for sure....

Hi Bart,

I would agree with Jeff and upgrade the PSU. I had a 750W and was running out of power. Upgraded to a 1000W and all is well again. The Corsair PSU is really good and I would recommend it.

Also, are you actually getting DDR2 RAM??? I don't believe it will work in that board..and if it did I would get 1600 DDR3.

If you are going to run 64bit apps (Vista 64) you could take advantage of the increase in RAM although depending on which version of Premier you are running it may not. Since you are getting 2GB sticks you could always upgrade later and RAM always comes down in price over time.

You didn't mention any additional coolers. If you haven't you might want to get a better CPU cooler than the stock.

As for HD's I would actually recommend that you consider 1 1TB and then run two 500GB's using a Raid Card (don't use the onboard Raid as it won't give you much of a performance improvement). If you get the right RAID card you could eventually upgrade to a RAID 5 once you acquire enough drives. I've got a RAID 5 Server running 6 15K RPM SCSI's. That thing screams, both in data speed and sound.

How do you know if you are running out of power?
I have a 650watt Antec in my computer.
I have 8 internal hard drives and 4 Externals, all 7200Rpm
eVGA GTX 285 1GB,
Asus P5Q Pro
4GB Ram,
Q6600 @ 3.06Ghz,
Audigy 2 ZS soundcard,
Promise SATA Card,
Pioneer DVD-RW drive.
Logitech G13 Keypad
Logitech G15 Keyboard

Well Garrett, two of us, I forget the other person, could not overclock beyond a certain point. Upgrading the PSUs corrected the problem

Additionally, I found PSU calculators, I used several, BTW. You can go to the PSU manufacturers' websites and use their calculators and get an idea of what you need. I'm told they overestimate, but generally with my 8 internals, overclocking, etc, they indicated my needs were around 1200, and I was running 850, so I felt safe in assuming more power would not hurt me.

I was fortunate. I had a case that would accomodate a second PSU, so I run my HDs and DVD players of of a 500w supply, and everything else runs off of the 850. Since the second PSU was only around $60 it was a minimal investment, and I can't imagine I'll need to upgrade my PSU anytime soon.

Here is my system and it performs well:

Videoguys DIY 7 article is now posted Videoguys Blog - Videoguys' DIY7: Intel Core i7 with Vista 64


New Intel Core i7 processor makes 64 bit computing a reality!

We knew this day would come. We've been waiting for more then two years to break free from our 32-bit shackles and finally embrace the 64-bit future. We have seen the future, and we have built a machine to take full advantage of it. Videoguys DIY7 is simply the most cost effective platform for video editing we’ve ever put together. For around $2,000 this machine blows the doors off any DIY build article we’ve ever done. The jump in performance and power from DIY6 to DIY7 is nothing short of amazing!

To understand why this machine represents such a huge leap in NLE performance, we first have to understand the underlying technology under the hood. That would be Intel’s Core i7 processor and X58 reference motherboard design.

Gary