Best built for video-rendering - Advice needed

[jennifer2010]

Hey Guys -

I'm trying to figure out the best build for video editing and rendering.

My current Macbook pro takes over 2 hours to export a 60fps video at a 16bitrate, VBR-2 Pass. Horrible!

I used a configurator and came out with these specs:

INTEL i7 CPU: Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition i7-980X SIX CORE 3.33GHz 12MB LGA1366 CPU
INTEL i7 CPU FANS: INTEL LGA1366 STANDARD PROCESSOR COOLING FAN
INTEL LGA1366 MOTHERBOARDS: Asus P6X58D-E Socket 1366/ Intel X58/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard
DDR3 MEMORY: 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel
HARD DRIVES 1: 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB CACHE HARD DRIVE SATA 6.0Gb/s
OPTICAL DRIVE 1: 22X DVD-RW DUAL LAYER W/LIGHTSCRIBE
PCI-EXPRESS VIDEO CARDS: nVidia GeForce GTX 470 1280MB DDR5 2DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card
SOUND CARDS: REALTEK 8-CHANNEL DIGITAL SOUND (ONBOARD)
NETWORK CARDS: REALTEK GIGABIT 10/100/1000 ETHERNET (ONBOARD)
CASES: HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case
CASE FANS: (2x) OKIA 80MM CASE COOLER
POWER SUPPLY: (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) hec X ORION 585 WATT POWER SUPPLY (ROCK SOLID)
OPERATING SYSTEMS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (DVD & LICENSE INCLUDED)

The price came out to $2,248.99

The reason for that specific video card is it's compatible with Adobe Premiere CS5's Mercury Playback Engine which accelerates rendering/exporting (So my heart is stuck on having a compatible video card for that)

I don't know how much money I would be saving by building this exact config. myself, or if I want to spend the time doing it since it would be my first build.

What I'm asking from you guys is "Is this overkill?". I don't want to spend an extra $1,000 to get a 10 minute export down to 5 minutes. I just don't want to wait more than 10 - 20 minutes for my huge video files to export!

If someone wants to update my specs (downgrade them) to what would suit my needs best, I would really appreciate it, and any other recommendations!

Thank you so much!

 

[blackjellognomes]

The i7-980X is overkill. If this rig is purely for video editing and rendering (and if you're willing to build this yourself), get a 1055T and an AM3 board. The total cost of the rig should be ~$800 less.

The i7-980X is great for gaming and video editing, but for the price your could build two separate machines, one dedicated to gaming and the other to video editing. But this is why I say that if you're only video editing/rendering, it is definitely overkill.

The GTX 470 is probably the cheapest way to get 448 CUDA cores, but whether or not you need them I don't know. The GTX 460 gives you a similar CUDA core/$ ratio, if you think it's sufficient.

Building the listed configuration yourself would save you probably $200-400. If you build it yourself AND switch to the 1055T/AM3 mobo, you'll save about $1000. I'd expect that the difference in performance would be only slightly noticeable, if at all.

Edit: You probably do want to build this yourself, btw. Whatever "configurator" you used forgot to tell you that you should use triple channel RAM for an LGA 1366 motherboard, and that SATA 3 drives aren't worth the premium over SATA 2 drives atm. And that HEC makes crappy PSUs, that should never be "highly recommended".

Oh, and with Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, you should be able to save another $200 at least. If you play your cards right, I think you can pay roughly $1000 for 80%+ of the performance of the listed $2250 rig.

 

[karma831]

Hey Guys -

I'm trying to figure out the best build for video editing and rendering.

My current Macbook pro takes over 2 hours to export a 60fps video at a 16bitrate, VBR-2 Pass. Horrible!

I used a configurator and came out with these specs:

INTEL i7 CPU: Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition i7-980X SIX CORE 3.33GHz 12MB LGA1366 CPU
INTEL i7 CPU FANS: INTEL LGA1366 STANDARD PROCESSOR COOLING FAN
INTEL LGA1366 MOTHERBOARDS: Asus P6X58D-E Socket 1366/ Intel X58/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard
DDR3 MEMORY: 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel
HARD DRIVES 1: 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB CACHE HARD DRIVE SATA 6.0Gb/s
OPTICAL DRIVE 1: 22X DVD-RW DUAL LAYER W/LIGHTSCRIBE
PCI-EXPRESS VIDEO CARDS: nVidia GeForce GTX 470 1280MB DDR5 2DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card
SOUND CARDS: REALTEK 8-CHANNEL DIGITAL SOUND (ONBOARD)
NETWORK CARDS: REALTEK GIGABIT 10/100/1000 ETHERNET (ONBOARD)
CASES: HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case
CASE FANS: (2x) OKIA 80MM CASE COOLER
POWER SUPPLY: (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) hec X ORION 585 WATT POWER SUPPLY (ROCK SOLID)
OPERATING SYSTEMS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (DVD & LICENSE INCLUDED)

The price came out to $2,248.99

The reason for that specific video card is it's compatible with Adobe Premiere CS5's Mercury Playback Engine which accelerates rendering/exporting (So my heart is stuck on having a compatible video card for that)

I don't know how much money I would be saving by building this exact config. myself, or if I want to spend the time doing it since it would be my first build.

What I'm asking from you guys is "Is this overkill?". I don't want to spend an extra $1,000 to get a 10 minute export down to 5 minutes. I just don't want to wait more than 10 - 20 minutes for my huge video files to export!

If someone wants to update my specs (downgrade them) to what would suit my needs best, I would really appreciate it, and any other recommendations!

Thank you so much!

Hmms...for a 1366 build you should get triple channel rather dual channel ram. That case and power supply are not very good.

If you could provide us with some more information like whether you plan on overclocking or not, what country you are from and where you would like to purchase your components etc etc would be great.

Assuming you're american (a lot of people are).

AMD

Total: $1027.96


Intel

Total: $1299.93


For the hard drive on both builds...
$15 off w/ promo code EMCZYNW52, limited offer

Edit: Forgot the dvd burner...pickup the cheapest you can find that comes with a SATA cable.

 

[calguyhunk]

Hi Jennifer, I think with Intel & AMD both coming out with new tech in the next few weeks, it's highly recommended that you wait out this period for more options if you don't need a new PC right now.

The new i7 2600 quad core cpu's with hyperthreading (8 threads in this case) might just be what you're looking for. Just don't expect 'em to be cheap though.

Also, whichever system you buy, you'll do well to put in more than 8GB in a $2200 Photo-editing, (3D) video rendering system.

 

[jennifer2010]

Best answer selected by Jennifer2010.

 

[jennifer2010]

The i7-980X is overkill. If this rig is purely for video editing and rendering (and if you're willing to build this yourself), get a 1055T and an AM3 board. The total cost of the rig should be ~$800 less.

The i7-980X is great for gaming and video editing, but for the price your could build two separate machines, one dedicated to gaming and the other to video editing. But this is why I say that if you're only video editing/rendering, it is definitely overkill.

The GTX 470 is probably the cheapest way to get 448 CUDA cores, but whether or not you need them I don't know. The GTX 460 gives you a similar CUDA core/$ ratio, if you think it's sufficient.

Building the listed configuration yourself would save you probably $200-400. If you build it yourself AND switch to the 1055T/AM3 mobo, you'll save about $1000. I'd expect that the difference in performance would be only slightly noticeable, if at all.

Edit: You probably do want to build this yourself, btw. Whatever "configurator" you used forgot to tell you that you should use triple channel RAM for an LGA 1366 motherboard, and that SATA 3 drives aren't worth the premium over SATA 2 drives atm. And that HEC makes crappy PSUs, that should never be "highly recommended".

Oh, and with Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, you should be able to save another $200 at least. If you play your cards right, I think you can pay roughly $1000 for 80%+ of the performance of the listed $2250 rig.

Thank you for taking the time to help!

I came up with a new build that I posted a new thread about. Would love to hear your thoughts if you run across it!

Thanks to all the other responders as well - very helpful information!

 

[engwar]

Thank you for taking the time to help!

I came up with a new build that I posted a new thread about. Would love to hear your thoughts if you run across it!

Thanks to all the other responders as well - very helpful information!

Jennifer,

I'm planning on building a similar system and would like to see this new build thread. I can't seem to find it. Can you post the URL?

Thanks!

 

[Satchel]

I know you already selected your answer, but wouldnt a different i7 processor be a better investment? You could wait for the new processors, or just get like a 950. Mostly because intel processors have multi-threading which is great for people who are video editing.

 

[blackjellognomes]

This thread is almost two months old. Just throwing that out there.

But afaik, AMD's 6C/6T processors will outperform even Q1 4C/8T SB procs in video editing and rendering. Q3 and Q4 will bring 6- and 8-core SB CPUs with HT, but that's a long time to wait, and they will mainly be server procs.

 

[iliya77]

The reason for that specific video card is it's compatible with Adobe Premiere CS5's Mercury Playback Engine which accelerates rendering/exporting (So my heart is stuck on having a compatible video card for that)

You don't have to go with a video card that's on that list. There is a hack to use the newer cards:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/755179?tstart=0

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/adobe-cs5-cuda-64-bit,2770-3.html

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar