new build for cs3...lf hardware and software advice

[Mark Leonard]

just got a hold to a supermicro tower that I'm gonna fix up to be one of my new editing stations (Supermicro, Inc. - Products | SuperWorkstation | Tower | 7045A-8 / 7045A-8B and yeah the x7d8a mb is rev 2.0 to support the 5400 series xeons.

to start off i have cs3 production studio and prospect hd. mostly use premeire and after effects and occasional photoshop on it (most my photoshop work tends to get done on the laptop while traveling). looking to get some smoking rendering times and overall top notch performance with this bad boy.


it has a dual core xeon in it that im taking out and thats all it came with. so what I'm thinking the definites are 4 300gig hot swap scsi 15k in a raid 5 and 8gig 667 fbdimms. also a x-fi sound and bluray burner as well. I have an 2 terabyte esata box ill be hooking up to it for storage.

so here are the decisions to make:

cpu, video, matrox rt?, and os

so first off I'm thinking vista64 as main os, know its not supported and I'm still pissed at the evil empire for even releasing that mess of an os, but it's a hell of a lot better today than it was a year and a half ago. vista32bit almost not even a consideration cause if im vista'ing it, I'm going 64bit to handle all this power I'm throwing at it. unless someone has a huge "u gotta go xp pro sp3 cause of this...." I'm doing vista 64. know i'll have a few kinks to work out prolly but that just makes it all that much more fun!

cpu, I'm thinking 2 e5450's in it (8 3ghz xeon cores at 1333 bus). the x5460 only add 160mhz to each and for and extra $600. it just aint worth it. now when I hit "render" on anything cs3 (or whichever program I'm using) I do not touch the pc for any reason while it's rendering. I will not flip to after effects while my 75 min wedding edit is rendering out. I have 2 other editing machines I'll just spin around in my chair and work on those while it's running. so will cs3 and prospect hd utilize all 8 cores? if they will only utilize 4 cores then I may swap for just one x5460 or find out if the board will support the 5470 and get one of them. repeat I will not be working on the pc while its rendering, so if 4 cores is the max that it will use then its one "more powerful" cpu for me.

video, nvidia or ati, I dont care for nvidia as a whole for some reason, I've bought 2 4870's in the past couple months for gaming and I love them. was thinking of getting another one of those for this pc, unless someone has a "better" video editing solution that either ati or nvidia make.

i cant see any reason to not put a matrox rt.x2 in it. I got the money and it'll only help from what I've been reading. never used one, kinda not sure exactly what it does other than the breakout box, lol. but I guess once its in the pc, I'll get used to it and figure it all out :).

will be upgrading to cs4 studio and the new prospect hd cs4 version later this year maybe after first of the year. I'm letting adobe and the david's work out some of the initial bugs and other software nonsense before I jump onto that ship. but I'm guessing this machine should handle that pretty well when I move to it (but I'm worried more about today, I may build another pc later on to run that anyway).

so all you's smart hardware guys out there, if you get a sec, please inform on what you think I should do. kinda have sluffed off following what's the good stuff as the year has passed by so gotta get myself back into the game but need ur help in doing so.

TIA,

Mark

[Tripp Woelfel]

Mark... Sounds like you'll have a pretty stout system no matter what you do. The only recommendation I might add is to give Adobe support a ring and ask their suggestions. If you get an experienced rep with a brain (not all are), they might have some insight into their SQA testing. Adobe undoubtedly test on a variety of different hardware/software combinations and a knowledgeable rep might give you some valuable data points in addition to those you get here and elsewhere.

[Mark Leonard]

well I could have probably went on happily with my life without that phone call just now. call adobe support and spoke with a person "in the know" on all things production studio. asked 4 core or 8 core and the rep had to put me on hold to check her "papers". comes back and says that adobe as a company has not tested cs3 "or cs4" for that matter on more than a quad core machine so their not sure if it will run on 8 cores. so obviously took me a minute to catch back up to reality cause I had to have ended up in some sort of alternate universe during her speaking. I then politely let her know how silly that answer was and if I we're her id look into that a little more before throwing an answer like that out. anywho, I wont be wasting another 30min on hold with adobe anytime soon. and so the questions still beg to be answered....

[Rob Taylor]

Hi Mark,

If I remember correctly there was an article in EventDV magazine, several months ago, where someone (Jan Ozer I believe) ran some tests with Premiere CS3 with 4 cores and 8 cores. I believe he said that there wasn't much difference in speed with Premiere once you go beyond 4 cores.

You might check on the EventDV website to see if you can get some more information on the article.

I remembered that I appeared on the next to the last page. I just can't remember what issue it was in.

Rob

[Rob Taylor]

UPDATE:

After a little searching on the Event DV website. I found the article. Here is a quote:

"Last year you granted my wish for a dual-processor, quad-core computer—you remember, the HP xw8400 workstation. You made my day when that beast got delivered, until I learned that Premiere Pro actually renders slower on an eight-core, 2.6 GHz system than a four-core 3.0 GHz system."

Here is the link for the entire article. EventDV.net: The Moving Picture: My Adobe Production Premium Wishlist

Hopes this helps.

Rob

[Tripp Woelfel]

Originally Posted by Mark Leonard

...the rep had to put me on hold to check her "papers"...

Bad sign. Clearly you found one that's been trained with pointed sticks. In my calls to Adobe PP support over the last year or so the yabo/guru ratio works out so that about 35% of the time I get a guru.