Vid Editing/ Compositing computer build(need advice)

[assassin84]

Hey guys, im building a new pc for use of video edting and composting in programs like avid, the adobe suite, Nuke, Sony Vegas, 3d's max, etc. I work on feature films and freelance work for smaller clients, so it needs to be able to handle big projects.

Now i have narrowed it downed to these parts

Motherboard - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4694158

CPU - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4240166&CatId=4072

Video Card - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4580428&CatId=3599

RAM - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4644398&CatId=4329

Case - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4146085&Sku=C283-1187

Hardrive for apps - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4426054

Hardrive for video x2 - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5201710&Sku=TSD-1500EADS

Power Supply - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4352342&pagenumber=1&RSort=1&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=5&body=#ReviewStart

CD Drive - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4957041

Extra Fan - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3478781&CatId=802

Monitor - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4938558&Sku=H94-2804

Speakers - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4815418&CatId=98

So i need to know if this build will work for me, also im not on a specific budget, but if any of you can give me advice on how to make this pc get better with lets say 500 more dollars i would appreciate your input.

Question about raid, i am thinking of buying 2 more 1.5 hardrives and running a raid 10 system, do i need any extra hardware for that? and if so which?

Thanks again in advance, if you have any questions that will help you help me please ask.

EDIT: I wanted to Clarify that I would like advice on what to spend 500 extra dollars on this pc to make it better, for example get the next best core i7, or get a better mother board, better ram, or get a better graphics card with in the range of 500$. This is really the main thing I need advice since I believe (im a noob) that this is the best I can get with in the 2000$ range, but like i said now i have 500$ more so the budget is really 2500$, although not strict I wouldnt mind missing out on a meal or 2 to make my pc even better. Thanks again In advance

 

[p55ibexpeak]

The PSU is WAY overkill. It's a gaming PSU. Your Quadro uses 40W tops. 450-500W is MORE than enough for this build.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_580_us.html

This one is ok:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362113&CatId=1079

The mobo's chipset doesn't support RAID 10. You'd need a RAID card for $300+. Software RAID in mobos aren't as reliable as hardware RAID. Hence, the huge markup. If you want to save money, you can go with a small SSD for OS & apps, a 1TB drive for data and an external E-SATA backup drive. In this scenario, the mobo supports all of these. So you don't need to add anything while having a safe backup of data. But do back up the OS drive to storage drive and the data to external drive.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=141-BL-E757-TR&family=Motherboard%20Family

If you're getting a SSD, get this and a bracket. TD doesn't carry any brackets. If you shop for everything at newegg, you may save some money.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4364403&CatId=4214
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994085

 

[assassin84]

Hey p55, thanks for the advice, this is my first build so I didnt really know about the power supply, thanks for the heads up, seems like i will save a bunch with the one you recommended.

And for the raid 10 problem I didnt know, but my back up plan before was just to have the 2 1.5 TB drives run in raid 0 while i have 2 1.5 TB drives externally and back up the system every now and then.

On the subject on your recommendations for drives I have some questions. First off 30 gigs for my os and apps is way to small, I can already tell, y programs use up a lot and I dont know if SSD's work the same as HDD in the manner that they lose performace as they get around 70% full. Also on the subject of SSD drives I have read in a lot of places that its just not good to get one of those, so i am a bit unsure of even thinking of getting one, not even sure what the performance boost with SSD's is.

From what you see I think your pointing for me to have a 1TB drive for my working drives(were i keep the footage) that is not enough space, what i was going for was having 3 TB's worth of space. But I dont know if thats what you ment, If you can Clarify that, it would be helpful.

Also to anyone else, I have 500 extra dollars and if anyone can recommend what hardware to upgrade to make the performance on this pc better, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again

 

[p55ibexpeak]

You CAN'T rely on onboard RAID cuz it WILL crap on you eventually and you LOSE everything. That's why I'm generally against it unless you have a full external/offsite backup plan.

I was just giving you pointers. You can work on it. If 30gig SSD isn't enough, get 60 and so forth.

I would NOT buy from TD cuz they're overpriced.

 

[assassin84]

Hey p55, thanks again for your input. I have decided to be safe and not get raid and stick with 2 1.5 TB drives and have 2 back up. As for SSD drives im looking into those.

Now just one last question,

Is coughing up 300$ for a Raid card worth it? How much more is the performance boost on the pc?

Also same thing for SSD's are they worth it and how much of a boost do they give? (nothing specific just like a rough estimate is fine)

How does Raid and SSD's affect a Video Editing workstation,?

Well I guess thats more then one last question lol, but alright thanks again.

 

[coldsleep]

Only you can say if $300 for a RAID card is worth it, but for most users, it's probably not.

There's no reason to not go with RAID 0 for your boot drive if:
1) you are comfortable with the risk of losing everything on there if one of your drives fails
2) you are comfortable reinstalling the OS and whatever else you have on there (disk imaging software might help here)

On the other hand, if either of those make you uncomfortable, RAID 0 is not recommended.

As far as SSDs, I just wrote a few paragraphs about them in another thread:
single post - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/viewbbcode.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=31&numreponse=2047615
full thread - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/278304-31-1500-2000-gaming

SSDs will improve the perceived speed of the computer booting & loading programs by a factor of 5-10x, but it's hard to recommend anything smaller than a 128 GB SSD right now, which does cost a lot.

If you have a chance, you could go to an Apple store or Best Buy (or whatever) and see if they have two similarly configured computers with an SSD vs. a traditional hard drive to compare for yourself. (Look for 2 Airs at the Apple store, they have the fewest configuration options to mess with.) What you will notice is that you can just open a ton of programs and get instant response with the SSD, while the 3rd or 4th program you open on the traditional drive will start to choke the computer.

 

[assassin84]

Hey coldsleep, thanks for your reply. your comment was very helpful, and i read your post and its quite informative. I have also been checking out SSD comparison test and it does seem its a great performance boost. I am not uncomfortable with both of those suggestions you mentioned so Raid 0 does seem the way to go.

It seems if i do want raid i should definately get a raid card or not do at all. how ever that is way to expensive to do especially if i go for a 128 gig SSD.

but now the question that i have is, what will give my pc the best boost,
-1 128GB SDD for OS and Apps (around 300$ increase from current)
-next best i7 the 570$ (around 300$ increase)
-a better mother board (around 150$ increase from current)
-A better graphics card (around 300$ increase from current one)

Also remember this is mainly for video editing, so which of the four suggestions above will benefit video editing the most, thanks again in advance.

 

[coldsleep]

Disclaimer: I don't know much about video editing.

You are probably going to see the biggest increase in productivity with the better graphics card, as the card you have linked seems to be relatively low-end. Your 2nd biggest perceived increase would probably come from switching to an SSD. 3rd biggest increase from a better CPU, unless you were already processor bound, which doesn't seem likely. However, the CPU is likely to save you more time in the long-run by giving you more horsepower for the actual editing, though that may not be as noticeable at first. The motherboard is not likely to affect your build's speed as much as any of the other options, unless you have some insane overclocking in mind.

If I were building a video-editing rig with money no object, I'd probably get something like:
128 or 256 GB SSD as the boot drive
RAID card
2x 1 TB Samsung F3 spinpoints in RAID 0 for scratch/workspace
2x random large disks in RAID 1 for storage
-or-
get crazy and go with 4-6 spinpoints in RAID 10.

But at that point, you're almost better off with an external NAS solution rather than putting it all on the computer and a RAID card.