My company is getting me a new workstation with for our recently started video production of online commercials and product introductions in Adobe Premiere Pro. Though we're currently shooting in SD, the plan is to eventually switch to HD, which will be used at in-store kiosks and displays. As our company has a corporate account with Dell and tends to buy all PCs from them, our IT department is leaning to Dell for this workstation.

We're looking at the Precision T7500, but I'm having trouble configuring it to suit through them (setting it up with a OS drive + two-drive RAID 0 seems to be an issue). So i'm just wondering if anyone has purchased an editing workstation through Dell recently, and if so what was the build spec?

While I've had lots of Dells and generally like them, I've found them to be problematic in trying to configure as an editing workstation. Usually they don't have the right options available, and when they do, they're crazy overpriced.

If you can't find a local custom system builder who can put together a workstation for you, you might try HP, which as a good reputation around here according to many. Or if you're brave, order the parts and have your IT team assemble for you.

Yeah, I'm basically in the same boat. Dell serves more typical uses quite well in my experience, but it's almost comical the kinds of issues we're running into just getting an adequate quote on a video editing workstation.

I've already suggested building it ourselves (or myself), and quoted the price for parts from a few online retailers that were quite reasonable. I'll look into local shops though as well as HP, though.

Take a look at avadirect.com

google "adobe editing computer"

Thanks for all the comments. We've gotten our requirements sorted with Dell, and that looks like who we're going with. I'll let you know how the system works out.

Thanks for all the comments. We've gotten our requirements sorted with Dell, and that looks like who we're going with. I'll let you know how the system works out.

Thats too bad because I was going to recommend the HP Z800 or build a 990x or EVGA SR-2 system yourself which will blow the doors off any Dell for far less money.

Well, apparently I spoke too soon. We are now looking at three different vendors (including Dell) whom we have corporate accounts with.

I was looking at the HP systems, and they do look better configured for video editing. Price still seems high to me (like with Dell) but then that's to be expected from the big vendors.

FYI, HP gives me 25% automatically just for requesting a quote; so, don't go by their web prices. When I ordered my 12-core Z800, I got a little over 25% off and free shipping.

Just get the basic computer and get extra drives, raid controller, etc separately because everyone overcharges.

Just get the basic computer and get extra drives, raid controller, etc separately because everyone overcharges.

I would agree with that viewpoint, but our IT department prefers to get it all from a single vendor so it's all covered under the same service agreement. I think HP is an option though, as they are sold by one of the dealers we are talking with.

I would agree with that viewpoint, but our IT department prefers to get it all from a single vendor so it's all covered under the same service agreement. I think HP is an option though, as they are sold by one of the dealers we are talking with.

The problem in some cases is then Dell's, HP's, and others' warranty only covers a certain period of time which is shorter than if you bought certain parts separately such as hard drives. HP's business warranty is only 3yrs but most drives have 5 year warranties (Seagate Barracuda, WD Black and all Enterprise-class drives).

Do they realize it is a serious waste of money to buy directly from Dell/HP? A $70 1TB drive is $280; a $90 1.5TB drive is $420 and a $160 2TB drive is $560.

Also, their ram is crazy overpriced. For 6 x 4GB from HP, it is $1640. It is only $487.32 from Provantage which is where I bought ram for my Z800 http://www.provantage.com/kingston-technology-kth-pl313-4g~7KINM1J5.htm

Ram purchased via retail has a lifetime warranty but ram purchased with an HP computer is only covered through the computer's warranty.

Do they realize it is a serious waste of money to buy directly from Dell/HP? A $70 1TB drive is $280; a $90 1.5TB drive is $420 and a $160 2TB drive is $560.

Also, their ram is crazy overpriced. For 6 x 4GB from HP, it is $1640. It is only $487.32 from Provantage which is where I bought ram for my Z800 PROVANTAGE: Kingston Technology KTH-PL313/4G 4GB 1333MHZ Reg ECC Module (http://www.provantage.com/kingston-technology-kth-pl313-4g~7KINM1J5.htm)

Oh, they realize it because I pointed out those same facts about a dozen times, including in my initial purchase request where I included a quote for parts to build our own system alongside a Dell quote that ended up being $1,400 more than the (better) custom build.

With that said, we have placed our order with Dell.

Dell Precision T3500
Intel Xeon E5630 (2.53 GHz Quad-Core)
12GB DDR3 (6x2GB)
nVidia Quadro 4000 2GB
250 GB SATA (boot drive)
(2x) 1 TB 7200rpm (one for projects/media, one for cache)
M-Audio FireWire Pro
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
(2x) Dell U2410 24" HD monitors

Total price was just under $5,000 CDN. I can't say it was a deal, but it's exactly what I asked for. With Premiere Pro CS5, this should scream compared to my current workstation.

Wow that still seems crazy expensive to me. I understand what you're dealing with in a corporate setting though.

I'm looking at building my own system in the near future, and got a i7 960, Coolermaster HAF Case, ASUS MB, 24 GB RAM, GTX 560, 750 W power supply, High End Sound Card, Dual 24" monitors, and 2 1TB Sata3 HDs for like $2,200 all from Newegg - spec'ed out, nothing purchased yet.

CS5 Loves RAM, 12GB is the absolute minimum from what I've been reading.

Wow that still seems crazy expensive to me. I understand what you're dealing with in a corporate setting though.

I'm looking at building my own system in the near future, and got a i7 960, Coolermaster HAF Case, ASUS MB, 24 GB RAM, GTX 560, 750 W power supply, High End Sound Card, Dual 24" monitors, and 2 1TB Sata3 HDs for like $2,200 all from Newegg - spec'ed out, nothing purchased yet.

CS5 Loves RAM, 12GB is the absolute minimum from what I've been reading.

Looks similar to the parts I was speccing out when I though we might build our own system.

Out of curiosity, why not get an i7 970? Prices on them are great right now, and those extra 2 cores seem to go a long way from what I've read.

based on what I thought I read, there wasn't much advantage in going i7 970 @ $600 vs i7 960 @ $300.

I mean, I was thinking that CS5 wouldn't utilize the 2 extra cores kind of thing.

side note: I made my wish list public on new egg over the weekend if anyone is looking to build a system. Just search "adobe" and it will come up. It's got a long title.

Im in a similar boat to the OP. Currently sd, 2gb ram, quadro fx 3500 card. Going to buy hd cam and need beefier machine.

What diff is there between the xeon processor and the i7?

Also, I need to know about graphics cards. I use cs4 for premiere and after effects and photoshop. I hear that premiere doesnt support SLI or cuda., so theres no need to get a quadro or gtx 590 for example. Have I heard wrong?

My 3rd question is:

in a word nothing.
single Xeons (W3xxx series) are the exact same thing as 900 series desktop. its marketing hype and nothing more. for that matter 5600 series Xeons same thing
only difference is support for ECC ram which you do NOT want in a workstation. (slower)

Compare Intel® Products (http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=52585,52576,52586),

Scott
ADK

Compare Intel® Products

Thanks for the link.

in a word nothing.
single Xeons (W3xxx series) are the exact same thing as 900 series desktop. its marketing hype and nothing more. for that matter 5600 series Xeons same thing
only difference is support for ECC ram which you do NOT want in a workstation. (slower)


I am sorry to say but that comment about ECC being bad for workstations is not smart at all. When you have a 10 hr, 15 hr or 20 hr render (or even several days for 3D renders), ECC ram is a must in order to cover your a$$. With very long renders, the chance of a read or write bit error goes way up. In addition, 95% of people here only use consumer class drives which means the bit error rate is only 1x10^14 versus 1x10^15 for Enterprise SATA/SAS 7200rpm drives and 1x10^16 for 10k & 15k rpm SAS drives. A single bit error can wreck an entire render and/or corrupt files - I have seen this happen myself.