I could need some hardware advice for Premiere/Photoshop CS4

[Tore B. Krudtaa]

Hi.

I have a supermicro server, some years old now, which I want to rebuild in order to make it a responsive and stable computer for editing video and photography.

Want probably to use Premiere CS4 and Photoshop CS4. Have neither of those now.

My plan is to take out the existing ATX mainboard and buy the following:

- A nice up to date ATX mainboard.
socket 775, DDR2
???

- A CPU
???
Considering to buy this one:
Intel Core™ 2 Quad Q9400 2,66GHz, Socket 775, 6MB, 1333MHz, Boxed w/Fan

- Memory
2 x 2GB, when using XP no need to buy more is it, with Windows 7 (64bit) another story.

- GPU
???
NOTE: I would like to be able to use my existing 550W PSU.

- SATA DISK's
???
Allready have 2 spare WD raptors, but only 37 GB so they are probably to small.

- OS (Must be windows, since I also want to use some programs on another working horse, as well as using it as a spare dev. computer when my main dev. comp. quits on me (have happened twice now in a couple or years)

On my current development computer (not the supermicro) I have XP PRO.
I do not want to buy Vista.
So it's either XP PRO SP3 or eventually Windows 7 Beta.....
(it's definitely Windows 7 laiter on if Beta is no no for my usage)

The supermicro server has a 550w PSU and 8 places for SATA disks.
Allready have a 20" Apple Cinema Display.

Would appreciate if I could get some advice on what hardware combinations to go for, and why, as well as some feedback if Windows 7 is recommended in current version or not.

I do not have an unlimited budget, but not to bad either.

Footage from my old canon XM2, Canon 5D Mark II (DSLR), and probably a new digital videocamera not to far into the future.

Regards

[Adam Gold]

I think you might want to consider going to Vista 64, even though you say you don't want to. XP64 is not supported for CS4, and one of the chief advantages of CS4 is that it handles memory differently. Photoshop is a 64-bit app, and although Premiere is still 32-bit, it apparently can breed several instances of itself so it can use much more than 2GB of memory, depending upon what you are doing. At least that's my understanding of it. And as we know Premiere has severe memory issues to begin with, I think going to a 64-but OS with much more memory may help.

I've got a pretty good rocket of a machine -- at least it was really expensive -- and under XP Pro I found CS3 to be just as crash-prone as 1.5.1 was, even though I have virtually nothing else on the machine besides CS3. And I hear CS4 isn't much better under XP, although there are many people who are using it with no problems.

At any rate, here's my system. You may not want to go this far into overkill, but for what it's worth:

Supermicro 7045WTB with X7DWA-N mobo and 865W PS
Dual Xeon Quads 5430 (eight cores total)
4 GB RAM (soon to upgrade to 20GB once I install Vista 64 to prepare for CS4)
150 GB 10K system drive
7 x 1TB work drives in RAID5 with hot spare (5TB capacity)
Areca RAID controller with BBU and 2GB RAM
Quadro FX1500 Video Card (which I probably wouldn't do again)
LG Blu-Ray burner

Hope this helps get you started.

[Mike McCarthy]

Your Raptors will make good OS and temp file drives, but you will want a large SATA disk for your main media. Core2 Quad is good, 4GB of Ram is obvious. I would consider XP64 before Vista, but depending on the size of your projects, XP32 may be fine for you. XP64 will not have OpenGL acceleration in Photoshop, so if that is one of your main apps, I would avoid XP64 for that reason. I'd get an Nvidia 9000 series or newer GPU, but that is a matter of personal preference.

[Roger Wilson]

I second Adam's comments about Vista 64-bit. The OS is very stable with Service Pack 1.

I just built a new PC for video editing, here's my setup:

- ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601940
- CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80
- CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1333C9
- PNY VCQFX3700-PCIE-PB Quadro FX3700 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Workstation Video Card
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive; Qty 4; 2 in RAID 1 (mirrored) for the OS; 2 in RAID 0 (stripped) for project workspaces

The Intel Core i7 is a quad core with hypertrheading, so it appears to the OS as 8 processors. Performance is better than the Dual Quad processors.

[Adam Gold]

Originally Posted by Roger Wilson

The Intel Core i7 is a quad core with hyperthreading, so it appears to the OS as 8 processors. Performance is better than the Dual Quad processors.

That may well be true. According to this website, however,

PassMark Intel vs AMD CPU Benchmarks - High End

Dual Quad Xeons are about 40% faster than an equivalent i7 at the same clock speed. But sample sizes on these charts are small, and the test isn't optimized for video, so I don't know how accurate they are. And the Xeons are more expensive, and you'd need two of 'em. So the i7s look like a better deal -- more processing bang for your buck. If they'd been available a year ago when I designed my system, that's probably the way I'd have gone.

This is all assuming your software can take advantage of hyperthreading, which I assume CS4 does.

[Tore B. Krudtaa]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm still trying to figure out what to buy....

Feel free to add hardware information related to a responsive and stable windows / Premiere-Photoshop CS4 combo...

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Something I forgot to tell in my first post was that some full HD footage are probably coming my way as well, either from the Canon 5D Mark II or the upcoming RED Scarlet with fixed lens..... or both...
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Regards