Mid to High End Turnkey Editing System – June 2007

[Jeff Bekeris]

Hi Jon,

I sent you an email with all the items. Thanks again for all the help!

Jeff

[Jon McGuffin]

Got it, keep in touch and let us know how the system build goes! :)

[Matt Woodham]

Jon- you're doing a wicked job. Talk about giving something back.

[Jon McGuffin]

Thanks! I'm glad this thread has been some use to others.. In another 2-3 months, things will be different enough I'll probably create a new thread with an updated system recommendations page.

Jon

[Jeff Bekeris]

Yes Matt,

He's an awesome guy. Very knowledgeable and very helpful!

[Mike Rinkunas]

Hey all,

i've been sitting on the side lines of this discussion for some time and i'd like to list out the system i've been spec-ing out for HD editing. I'm currently a PP2.0 user and I'm looking to upgrade to the whole CS3 suite in the future. I'm also still shooting SD with 2 XL-1's however I am looking to upgrade to either an XLH1 or GY-HD200/250 at some point - yes i know CS3 has issues with 720p in 24 frames at the moment. With that being stated, I want to build a HD editing system that will be able to handle not only HDV, but also HD-SDI if i go that route.

To that end I've got this in mind:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6850 - Retail (quad core)
ASUS P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX - Retail - x2 for a total of 4GB
PNY VCQFX3450-PCIE-PB Quadro FX3450 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - OEM
2 Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drives - one as OS and one as scratch drive
4 HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000 HDS721010KLA330 (0A35155) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive in a RAID 5 config
Pioneer 18X DVD±R DVD Burner Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model DVR-112D - OEM
HD-DVD BURNER YTD
Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series - Retail
M-AUDIO BX5a 2.0 Monitor Speaker - Retail
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

any suggestions or recomendations?
~Mike

[Jon McGuffin]

Hey Mike..

Seems like you have a pretty good handle on what you want to do.. I'm just going to throw out my thoughts on this...

#1) The Core 2 Duo E6850 is *not* a quad core processor, not sure if you meant the Q6600 or Q6700.

#2) Great Mobo

#3) Great Memory

#4) The PNY Video card. Are you certain Adobe CS3 has the ability to utilize the particular OpenGL type functions this card specializes in? The only NLE that I know of that takes good advantae of a 3D graphics card is Avid's Liquid. Video playback performance is typically better on the more "retail" oriented graphics cards.

#5) WD Raptor's are nice and fast! Just don't place them too close to one another and make sure the case has plenty of cooling. This system will NOT be a quite one either, so I'd try to keep it far underneath the desk away from you having to hear it all the time.

#6) Oh boy, sparing no expense on the Hitachi 1TB drives. I don't have a lot of experience in RAID 5. If it's security of data you are looking for, why not go with 3 drives in a RAID 0, then use the 4th drive as a "backup" drive for the most important info. Just a thought, but again, you seem to know what you want here. Might you consider getting an external enclosure for these and hooking up via E-SATA? They will suck a TON of power from your main system.

#7) The onboard audio on that particular P35 motherboard is actually getting some pretty good reviews for both quality and CPU efficiency. I might skip the Creative card (I know I've recommended it in the past) and go with the onboard sound at first.

#8) BX5a's are nice... make sure you have the appropriate cabling to hook them up.

#9) Not familiar with the 900 series of Antec cases. I know the P182 is a great case and particularlly well suited for cooling and quite operation.

#10) Unfortunately, that power supply isn't going to cut it if you intend to put 6 mamoth power sucking hard drives in there along with the Quatro video card.

Money doesn't apparently to be TOO much of a factor here, I would strongly recommend an external enclosure for those drives. It'll help with heat in your main system and power as well.

Jon

[Mel Enriquez]

Jeff,

Thanks for starting this thread and sharing with us your knowledge. I too assembled my own units. Started way back 1986. But I have been out of the loop for 5 years now. I am not in touch with what is the latest and what's not. So, your post was very helpful. I have no time to scour all the data and check all the reviews.

Quite amazingly, I also find your post well balanced and very sound. I'm sure others will not agree with your specs, but at least that is as far as it goes. Some for example, would like to OC, some won't and at least your position on that is clear. I used to OC before, but not anymore. Don't have the time to tinker and find out where my system will hang if I push the boundaries :-) I'd rather have a stable system for editing. If I tweak it, maybe it's just a few push here and there, but nothing like making a 2ghz cpu run at 4ghz. Maybe just pushing it to 2.2 or 2.3ghz would do or or just optimize the FSB and the like. But even then, I'd probably not do it as I do need stability and reliability more. I won't gamble on my system conking out after 6 months because I pushed it too much.

If you don't mind, I'll email you or post here if I have queries of my own. No plans of assembling my quad core right now (I use sony vegas too), but maybe next year. I still use my DELL 2ghz C2D 2gb 160gb HD and it is just ok for editing.

[Chad Solo]

Hello all,

I've been reading all the posts and thank you for all the info. It gets confusing at times. I'm about ready to upgrade my system again because my rendering times are not good working with HDV. I don't want to Hijack this thread and didn't really think I should start a new one so here I am. Here is what I have at the moment do you think it's a good setup? I will be going with Raid 0 and it's the first time using raid so I might have some questions later on. Thank's for any info you can give. By the way I use CS3 Premire for editing would like to try Vegas but when I did the last time it took forever to render a hour of footage.I know Vegas uses the quad core but what about Adobe products?


Chet




ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail

COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-650-ACAA-A1 ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply - Retail


XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail


Sunbeam CR-SW-775 Ceramic Shaft and Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail

2-WD 320GB 3200YS SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive

1- Sata Samsung DriveSP2505C for the system Drive {I already Have this on hand}

[Chad Solo]

For my system and programs drive I'm not sure what HD to get. Here are the two I'm looking at


HITACHI Deskstar T7K500 HDT725050VLA360 (0A33437) 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive


Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive


The Hitachi is only about 30.00 more so I'm not sure if the size is not good for a system and app drive. Last question I have is I need a new Burner I'm not sure if I should go Sata or IDe. I have a 500 gig ide I will use for storage so I can just put the ide burner on that cable so I can free up a sata port do you think that is a good ide? Thank's for any help you all can give.

Chad

[Jon McGuffin]

The Hitachi drive is a good one, you can easily go there. I typically prefer IDE burners at this time due to slightly better compatability.. but either is okay..

[Samuli Suikkanen]

I've planned to buy a new edit (with Adobe bundle). Most of the parts are quite clear for me but I don't know yet will I buy Intel core 2 duo or quad core processor. How much does that quad core help compared to dual core?

And about the video cards.. Is it true that Quadro cards are good with After Effects? Are they so good that I should pay about three times more to get "PNY QUADRO FX 560 PCIE 128M PRO VIDEO EDITION" card?

[Jon McGuffin]

Samuli,

Unfortunately, I don't have great answers for either of your questions but I'll try..

- Quad Core, provided it is taken advantage of by software, is typically better than Dual Core even at slower clock speeds. The key is to find out if Adobe CS3 is taking advantage of all 4 cores, I have to believe they probably are.

- *IF* After Effects can in fact make good use of a Quadro type of video processor, than I'm sure that's the way to go. But again, I'd make sure that's the case..

Jon

[Chad Solo]

Well I recieved all the parts today from Newegg and I notice I didnt get a Go stepping chip. Don't know much about go stepping just that it runs cooler and you can overclock it more. Wondering is there a diffrence enough that I should return it and get another one?I'm not a big overclocker but I might overclock it a bit if I can learn how to do it. Thank's for any info you all can give.

Chad

[Jon McGuffin]

I wouldn't worry too much about G0 stepping. It's really a small difference and overclocking performance varies enough per chip that a B3 good chip is better than a G0 poor chip. G0 would have been slightly better, but really, it's small potatoes.