I realize that this is a loaded question, but I'm about at my wits end and I'm starting to think that no manufacturers really know what they're making because they have been no help. I know this is involved, but please bear with me. It's ultimately only two questions.
I'm an audio engineer and have always built my own machines ever since buying my first one and tearing it apart. I've recently been in the position to put together a new home workstation and a mobile rig.
Home Workstation: (issues)
ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion
Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 6-Core 3.2GHz
Galaxy 66NPH7DN6ZVZ GeForce GTX 660 GC 2GB
MOTU PCIe-424 Audio Interface Card
8x (32GB) G.SKILL Ripjaws X 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC SSD (program drive)
2x Seagate ST4000DM000 4TB Desktop HDD (backup drives)
3x Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB HDD (Data drives)
WD RE4 WD1003FBYX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB SATA 3.0Gb/s Enterprise Drive (work drive)
LG BD-RE Bluray/DVD burner
Windows 8.1 Pro
-Issue #1: Over the past year or so I've had, and continue to have several issues with the workstation as far as not sleeping, crashing when put to sleep, crashing on wake, long boot times, not working with the motherboards ultra fast boot feature, etc. So I figured it's either the GTX 660 or the Champion, right? I've since exchanged the GTX 660 twice, and the Champion once, and the symptoms remain identical. So, I decide to continue to troubleshoot with parts from my wife's office computer:
Office Computer: (works perfectly)
Asus M3A78-CM
AMD Phenom 9600 Quad core
ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 3650
4GB RAM
Samsung 128GB SSD
Windows 7
Long story as short as possible: The Workstation seems to work perfectly with the old Radeon 3650 card in it (aside from ultra fast boot), and the GTX 660 card seems to work perfectly in the Office Computer. Of course ASRock and Galaxy both continue to insist that their products are perfectly compatible with one another.
-Question #1: So, is the solution as simple as unloading (selling) the GTX 660 and getting a different graphics card for the Workstation, or could it still be the motherboard, or something else entirely? If it is the GTX 660, does it need to be a more specific replacement? Does it need to be ATI/AMD, etc?
Which leads me to my next question...
-Issue #2: This is the kicker. Though I'm an audio guy, I often have to sync sound to picture and therefore do plenty of video file format converting. I understand that gaming cards are not really designed for these types of tasks, and I am not a gamer, but it was the right price and I figured it would be more than capable for my needs. I know what you're thinking 'Dude. you bought a gaming motherboard too!' but it was purely because of the features, ports, slots, etc.
I use NERO Recode 2014 edition. (I know it isn't "pro" but it suites my needs fine) It has a feature to use your graphics hardware to accelerate the process if available. So, I ran a bunch of tests using the exact same three video files and conversion settings between the three different computers, including the Mobile Rig.
Mobile Rig: (works perfectly)
HP Envy Touchsmart m7-j020dx (HPE4S19UAR) Notebook
Intel Core i7 4700MQ (2.40GHz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (integrated with the processor)
8GB Memory
OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC (Program Drive)
1TB 5400RPM HDD
17.3" Touchscreen
Windows 8.1
In the end, the Office Computer was no contest (no surprise), but the Mobile Rig consistently converted the files a whopping 40% faster than the Workstation with the GTX 660! Needless to say, I did not see that coming. Again, I understand that gaming cards aren't meant for these tasks, but I doubt that Intel's integrated graphics is either. ..or is it? I can't see Intel just throwing in some pro level graphics architecture on their chip, but what do I know? My research told me that a gaming card should be more than adequate.
-Question #2: If the Workstation graphics card is, in fact, the root of all this evil, what kind of card should I be looking at in the $200-$250 range that will get me the most file converting speed and performance for the money?
Thanks for reading. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Jason
I'm an audio engineer and have always built my own machines ever since buying my first one and tearing it apart. I've recently been in the position to put together a new home workstation and a mobile rig.
Home Workstation: (issues)
ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion
Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 6-Core 3.2GHz
Galaxy 66NPH7DN6ZVZ GeForce GTX 660 GC 2GB
MOTU PCIe-424 Audio Interface Card
8x (32GB) G.SKILL Ripjaws X 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9S-4GBXL
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC SSD (program drive)
2x Seagate ST4000DM000 4TB Desktop HDD (backup drives)
3x Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB HDD (Data drives)
WD RE4 WD1003FBYX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB SATA 3.0Gb/s Enterprise Drive (work drive)
LG BD-RE Bluray/DVD burner
Windows 8.1 Pro
-Issue #1: Over the past year or so I've had, and continue to have several issues with the workstation as far as not sleeping, crashing when put to sleep, crashing on wake, long boot times, not working with the motherboards ultra fast boot feature, etc. So I figured it's either the GTX 660 or the Champion, right? I've since exchanged the GTX 660 twice, and the Champion once, and the symptoms remain identical. So, I decide to continue to troubleshoot with parts from my wife's office computer:
Office Computer: (works perfectly)
Asus M3A78-CM
AMD Phenom 9600 Quad core
ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 3650
4GB RAM
Samsung 128GB SSD
Windows 7
Long story as short as possible: The Workstation seems to work perfectly with the old Radeon 3650 card in it (aside from ultra fast boot), and the GTX 660 card seems to work perfectly in the Office Computer. Of course ASRock and Galaxy both continue to insist that their products are perfectly compatible with one another.
-Question #1: So, is the solution as simple as unloading (selling) the GTX 660 and getting a different graphics card for the Workstation, or could it still be the motherboard, or something else entirely? If it is the GTX 660, does it need to be a more specific replacement? Does it need to be ATI/AMD, etc?
Which leads me to my next question...
-Issue #2: This is the kicker. Though I'm an audio guy, I often have to sync sound to picture and therefore do plenty of video file format converting. I understand that gaming cards are not really designed for these types of tasks, and I am not a gamer, but it was the right price and I figured it would be more than capable for my needs. I know what you're thinking 'Dude. you bought a gaming motherboard too!' but it was purely because of the features, ports, slots, etc.
I use NERO Recode 2014 edition. (I know it isn't "pro" but it suites my needs fine) It has a feature to use your graphics hardware to accelerate the process if available. So, I ran a bunch of tests using the exact same three video files and conversion settings between the three different computers, including the Mobile Rig.
Mobile Rig: (works perfectly)
HP Envy Touchsmart m7-j020dx (HPE4S19UAR) Notebook
Intel Core i7 4700MQ (2.40GHz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (integrated with the processor)
8GB Memory
OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC (Program Drive)
1TB 5400RPM HDD
17.3" Touchscreen
Windows 8.1
In the end, the Office Computer was no contest (no surprise), but the Mobile Rig consistently converted the files a whopping 40% faster than the Workstation with the GTX 660! Needless to say, I did not see that coming. Again, I understand that gaming cards aren't meant for these tasks, but I doubt that Intel's integrated graphics is either. ..or is it? I can't see Intel just throwing in some pro level graphics architecture on their chip, but what do I know? My research told me that a gaming card should be more than adequate.
-Question #2: If the Workstation graphics card is, in fact, the root of all this evil, what kind of card should I be looking at in the $200-$250 range that will get me the most file converting speed and performance for the money?
Thanks for reading. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Jason