51-70k Video Editing Rig

[asterias]

Hi guys,

My first post on this forums !

I require some help regarding buiding a new rig, so please help me out! The main purpose for this rig is heavy duty editing, rendering and photoshop. Except the budget, I am open to any suggestions


Q: What is your budget?
70K

Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
Monitor - Dell
GPU - ATI Radeon HD 6850
HDD - 2TB Seagate

Q: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.

CPU - core i5 - 3570K (open to suggestion)
Motherboard - not sure (suggest some z77 boards since I am planning to keep my hd 6850 and also get a new gpu)
GPU - ati radeon 6950 (2GB)
RAM - Suggest something good atleast 8GB
PSU- Please suggest
Cabinet - Please suggest
SSD - Do I require it - and if yes, can I fit something into my budget ?



Q: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
Yes, will upgrade the following within 6 months:
Will upgrade RAM and probably get a SSD (in case I am not able to get one now)


Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
Hyderabad

Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market

NO

Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware

Video Editing and Rendering


Q: Are you looking to overclock?

Probably NO .

Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
Windows 8 Pro

---
Thanks

 

[terence_fdes]

Welcome to TE @asterias

1] Which video editing softwares would you be using ? Are you going to be editing in SD or HD (Standard Definition or High) ?
2] An SSD is a MUST - at least 128GB (where besides the OS you can also install your main softwares, keeping aside 25 per-cent free space always for great/mind-blowing performance). Consider OCZ Vertex 4
3] RAM - 16GB is your best option (it's not too expensive). Go for G.Skill Ripjaws Z (the X has taller heat-spreaders & if you use an air-cooler, might interfere)
4] You will need plenty of storage space (if you are into HD editing - then a RAID configuration is great) - so budget accordingly for TB's
5] PSU - Seasonic 660W or Corsair 650W would suffice
6] You would also need an air-cooler - Cooler Master or Noctua
7] Processor: If you can - go for the 3770 or 3770K (prices are falling) or else the 3570K is fine
8] Motherboard - chose between Asus or Gigabyte (priced between 10-16K) - these are rock solid, have more SATA 6 ports

Cheers
Terry

 

[asterias]

Thanks Terry!

I was about to PM, after seeing your signature (system config)! Let me explain:

I am planning to do HD video editing, in Premiere Pro and Vegas. I am also a bit into modelling using blender. My current rig is Core 2 Quad and so my new rig should be atleast as good as the previous one

I did a bit of research after posting and came to a conclusion that having a better CPU is equally important for rendering/transcoding. So should I go for i7-3770k? And therefore which motherboard should I chose? The Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H-WB Wi-Fi - which you have or anything from ASUS's stable ? Which particular model ?

Secondly I already have HD 6850 ATI Radeon and I plan to have a second one shortly (3-6 months). I would be connecting both in Crossfire. So does the Motherboard have enough space not without getting cramped ? Also which PSU should I prefer for these power requirements ?

Also I dont have much knowledge about connecting in RAID 0 - I think a seperate controller is required. Is it already present in the motherboard?

Go for G.Skill Ripjaws Z (the X has taller heat-spreaders & if you use an air-cooler, might interfere)

Please shed more light on it!

I dont use an AC in my room and I dont plan to shut down the computer unless its absolutely necessary. So please take this into consideration while suggesting me cabinets, fans and coolers !

Thanks again !

 

[Sub]

Core i7 3770K is well worth it. Both Premiere Pro and Vegas are heavily multi-threaded and the performance uplift over i5 3570K is in the 30% region. Something to consider too is FX-8350 when it does release, it is hands down the best value for video editing. It will get you performance like Core i7 3770K at prices under Core i5 3570K. In fact, in heavy usage like X264 transcodes it is faster than Core i7 3770K at half the price, considering the lower motherboard costs as well, and that kind of immense value is hard to ignore. On the other hand, in light tasks like editing SD MPEG-2 footage it will only be as fast as Core i5. Premiere Pro is very hungry for RAM, go for 32 GB if possible. For Vegas 16GB is more than enough (unless you are editing 4K).

Depending on the kind of footage you are working with, and the nature of your work, a GPU will make much more of a difference than a CPU. Particularly if you are planning to use the in-built effects extensively in addition to straight editing. Both Vegas and Premiere Pro are heavily GPU accelerated, though Premiere Pro only supports Nvidia CUDA as of now. (On the other hand, Vegas performs better with AMD, but also support Nvidia, so unless you are using Vegas exclusively go for Nvidia) On a budget I would suggest a GTX 650 Ti or GTX 660, after which you get diminishing returns. If you are editing at greater than Full HD, go for at least 2 GB VRAM. At 4K you will need 4 GB.

Your storage configuration, as with everything here, is dictated strictly by the footage you are working with. A single hard drive is adequate for most Full HD AVCHD type footage. However, it falls far short if you are editing 4K or Uncompressed HD material. While a dedicated controller is recommended, most motherboards support it. But don't bother unless your footage exceeds 75 MB/s (i.e. 600 Mbps) bitrate. It is essential however that you have at least two drives. Never write to the same drive you are reading from, so make sure your footage is one drive and the render goes in another. Also, you would be more interested in RAID1 to keep redundancy.

 

[asterias]

Hi Sub!

Thanks for the reply. After I read your post I did some read up on FX 8350 (Anandtech). The benchmarks seem good ! However a video editing/rendering system is hardly ever off and I think with Intel the power bills would run less!! But yes, the price is cheaper and over all probably I could save around 15k by using AMD processor and motherboard. Still I feel a bit inclined towards Intel because of lower power consumption and overall better performance.

There is another thing that I am not too sure. Should not AMD processors be clubbed with ATI Radeon rather than with Nvidia ? And so, if I am going for an Intel processor, should I go for Nvidia or ATI Radeon? This important to me since I already have a ATI Radeon.

I am currently working on Full HD. However probably would also work on 3D movies at some time in the next 1-2 years, on Premier Pro and Vegas. As you suggested going for 32GB might be good idea, but with most motherboards I know of in Z77 seem to have 32 GB max ram with only 4 slots. AFAIK, 8gb Rams are not available (or are they?) If not I would have to settle with 16 Gb ram only. Premiere Pro supports only nvidia CUDA, so probably Nvidia should be preferred. But does CUDA make a 'lot' of difference? Is not having Nvidia a deal breaker with PRemiere Pro ?

One more thing, what is the impact of SSD on Video editing ?

Thanks again for your suggestions!