For computer self-builders: How much stability to you seek in a build?
 

Hey guys. I just built an i7 rig specifically for AVCHD video. Can you tell me your personal benching spec's that you seek to pass with stability testers, for system stability?

i.e.:
Do you require 20 passes of Linpack? Or 50? Or 100?

Do you require 8 hours of P95 or 12 hours, or 24 hours?

What temps do you guys aim for on Linpack?




I can get 100 passes of IBT at 2048 MB ram (can't go over for some reason), but only 13 hours of Prime95.

I'm oc'ed at 3.5 Ghz with temps below 76C on Linpack and in the 60's with P95.

My rig:
7-920 DO
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Antec 300 case. Fans: 2x120 front, 2x~120 rear.
CoolerMaster N520 heatsink



Thanks!

Stability? For an NLE the first thing you want is great stability therefore you want to be rather conservative and not push your rig too much.

I could not afford the latest generation on a retirement income so the new rig I built last December was the previous generation. For NLE service you want CPU/cores, fast HDDs and then RAM - in that order. I bought a barebones unit with ASUS P5KPL-CM MB and Q9400 CPU. There isn't much tweaking capability in that board but I found that the Q9400 will idle at 20 percent less than the rated speed. So, I overclocked it 20 percent - which then pushed my RAM speed over its ratings. I set the multiplier back so my 2 GB "value" RAM would be happy and now the Q9400 idles at 2.4 GHz and jumps to 3.2 GHz under load. I use a budget after-market cooler, everything has been very stable and I am very happy with the performance for editing/rendering HDV video. A couple of fast Samsung half-TB HDDs rounds out the hardware and is the next best thing to one of those fancy 10k drives - forget SDD - can't afford either.

When 64 bit consumer NLEs become available I will think about a 64-bit OS.

yes, stability is #1

Within 25% OC on factory cooling, you can definitely retain full reliability/stability.

Ken, Vegas has a 64 bit version now

Thanks, guys.

What I'm also hoping to find is what SPECIFIC benchmarks you guys require your systems to pass, using the known stability testers. Everybody has different feelings in this regard:

Do you require 20 passes of Linpack? Or 50? Or 100?

Do you require 8 hours of P95 or 12 hours, or 24 hours?


That sort of information. Thanks! (I'll edit the original question - I should have been more specific)


@Jad - Do you mean for i7's, as well? My chip definitely requires an aftermarket cooler for an oc. I'm running at 3.5 (over 2.66 stock), and my temps are just barely where I want them. I originally wanted to use the stock cooler, but everybody advised me to ditch it, even w/o overclocking. But everybody's chip is different...

@Jack - I first started editing video five years ago with Adobe Premiere Elements version 2. AFAIK, it was the first consumer NLE to support multiple threading and I had a new Intel proc with Hyper Threading so it really zoomed! As a retiree I can't justify 500 dollars or more for Pro software. When VMS is offered in 64 bit I'll be ready to upgrade.

@Fitz - I have more of a hardware background than software but I have never heard of those benchmark apps. Perhaps you should be talking to PC/NLE system integrators. Perhaps you will snag one here, I dunno. Try the VideoGuys forum. There is a link at the bottom of every page here.

DVinfo member Harm Millard has a lot of postings on benchmark testing,both here and in other sites. Do searches using his name or maybe try a PM.

Intel Burn Test and LinX are both front end interfaces for the Linpack code. Prime95 is an older set of code. Both are used to test computer stability, among other programs. When I said benchmark, it was probably the wrong word, since that usually refers to speed, but I meant it as stability benchmark. Or milepost, etc. :)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look up Harm.