Video-Editing Rig

[n-dru]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out good components for a video-editing rig.. I have built gaming rigs in the past but I'm not sure how I should approach this..

I'm pretty sure one of the main differences is that I need an i7 CPU to take advantage of multiplecores/hyperhreading etc.. plus loads of RAM to avoid any bottlenecks (say, 16Gb as a minimum) and preferably a VGA with significant headroom in the memory department, say 2 or 3Gb.

However I've been a bit out of the loop for a while so I'm not too sure when it comes to latest/best brands and models.

Plus I'm also lost on the MoBo / Chipset issue.

Anyone care to give me a heads up and/or suggest a few parts? Budget is roughly $1000-1200 (GBP 600-750), but every penny saved is good!

Thanks

 

[regina_49]

Here i you go this will do you might want to add 1gb hard drive it's up to you.

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.27 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair C70 Gunmetal Black (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $889.74
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-14 07:08 EST-0500)

 

[Wisecracker]

What software are you using, and where will you be purchasing your components?

 

[n-dru]

Will probably be getting stuff from overclockers.co.uk

Do not really know what software since I am enquiring on behalf of a friend - but it will be used for HD photo and video editing. I'm thinking large resolutions since the guy is already well into the DSLR business.

I'm guessing something like Final Cut, Pinnacle, Vegas and AE would definitley make the cut as the software of choice.

 

[Wisecracker]

Your mate's software and workflow are important in determining optimal components so be sure to follow up. I'll go with a Vegas rig as an example ...

AMD FirePro V4900: £129.58 Inc VAT

AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition: £139.99 inc VAT

Asus M5A99X EVO Rev2 990X AM3+: £99.59 Inc VAT

Vegas loves the V4900 for rendering, editing, pan/crop, etc.

2x4GB should work fine (especially after seeing the price of 2x8GB kits!) If you can find some Kingston 2133MHz, it's qualified for 4x8GB sticks on the M5A99X ...


Edit: I fergit ....

You could save £30 or more by going with a quality 970-chipset AM3+ motherboad, but that Asus M5A99X is a monster!

 

[n-dru]

thanks for the pointers, will check out these parts and maybe some others up the ladder.. So you recommend the newer AMD chips over the Sandy/Ivy Bridge CPUs? Can't say I've seen that happen often!

 

[Wisecracker]

In multithreaded applications, AMD FX-Piledriver cores are quite competitive. And the price really works well, too, in your budget.

There is also the matter of GPU compute. Folks seldom realize (or, acknowledge) the minor differences by percentage in CPU performance are swamped by performance gains in multiples of 2x to 3x via the pro card GPU with OpenCL and OpenGL.

The software and workflow is key. AMD FirePro workstation cards tend to better boost performance in OpenCL and OpenGL, while nVidia pro cards in certain tasks and workflows (via CUDA) can be a clear winner (ex: color correction of photographs in Adobe).

CPU performance in certain software can also be impacted by your HDD set-ups. Premiere likes multiple hard drives, and will even allow audio and video streams to be broken out between individual HDDs, with final output written to another HDD.

That's where the Asus M5A99X is really sweet with 8xSATA plus 2xeSATA. Conceivably, as an example, your OS/Apps could be on a 2xSATA 6Gb/s RAID (with SSDs?!?!), your capture/scratch on a 2xSATA 6Gb/s RAID, and your output on a 2xSATA 6Gb/s RAID. Your optical drive can then be on a SATA 3Gb/s channel, with a storage/backup HDD on the other SATA 3Gb/s (or the 2xeSATA, which with the port multiplier function allows up to 16 drives). Phewwwww!

[:lutfij:4] Better up the budget! :lol:

 

[n-dru]

Ok... WOW! Thanks for sharing, I've always looked at different stuff when selecting parts for my builds (almost exclusively gaming rigs) so this is a real eye-opener for me.

Seems I need to extract a little bit more info from my 'client' for this, and get a good hang of what his workflow looks like.

Will get here with that info ASAP, although seems like you sent me down a good path already mate, awesome pointers!

 

[n-dru]

OK so here goes: it will be a mix of photo, video and audio

Photo: editing of RAW files around 20MB each
Audio: multitrack audio recording thru a firewire audio interface
Video: HD (1080p) video editing

Software: Adobe CS6 Suite, and Reaper for Audio

And the guy is also partial to using a Hackintosh.. so it could run OSX

 

[n-dru]

'ello?

 

[Wisecracker]

:lol:

(I don't really mean to laugh, jumping the shark, here, in a gazillion different directions )

For the time being, in a Win OS Adobe CS6 Premiere would favor an nVidia workstation card using the Mercury Playback Engine BUT, the Hackintosh likely would benefit most from the OpenCL/GL of the AMD FirePro. Apple (and Adobe) support the FirePro over nVidia. It's a long story, but Apple is ticked-off at nVidia. Adobe Premiere is moving toward OpenCL/GL support in a number of ways, but not all together in CS6 Premiere for some reason at this time.

CS6 Photoshop is a different matter. There are a number of tasks using GPU compute on a Win OS. There is an article on Toms about it, somewhere ... that also includes other photo editing softwares and their use of the GPU for accelerated OpenCL/GL processing in certain tasks.

Vegas loves the FirePro V4900 over nVidia cards.

I don't think the audio will matter one way or the other, but suspect some folks are working on ways to harness GPU acceleration for parallel processing where it is beneficial for them.

You will be tested later

:lol:



Edit: Please be careful bumping your own threads. The evil, wicked, mean and nasty Tom Mods on occasion will lock a thread when you do that!

 

[n-dru]

Best answer selected by n-dru.

 

[n-dru]

Thanks for the multiple tips and no more bumping!!

Guess It'll be down to personal preference on software then, the Piledriver+AM3 mobo still looks like the way to anyway!

 

[Wisecracker]

It may also be beneficial to see what plug-ins yer bud may be interested in.

They, too, fall into the whole OpenCL/GL -CUDA - Direct Compute ... FirePro/nVidia workstation card capabilities thing.

It's very *fluid* to say the least. Even your OS choice fits into your questions. Win8 supports DX11.1 out-of-the-box. DX11.1 expands the capabilities of direct compute using the graphics card.

It's 'assumed' Win7 will eventually support DX11.1 via patch, but no one really knows ...

 

[regina_49]

And the guy is also partial to using a Hackintosh.. so it could run OSX if that is the case forget about amd to bad he is partial to using a Hackintosh.It's going to cost him more now that amd is out the picture.