New Build - Photo,Video Workstation

[DRC_40]

Hi and thanks for previous advise on builds. I'm about to replace one of my 5 year old 32bit workstations. Here is the needs list:

1. What YOUR PC will be used for - Photo, Video editing and typical MS office programs. Photos are usually edited in RAW format meaning each image is 30meg +. 1080P video editing looking for fast timeline edits and fast renders.

2. What YOUR budget is - $1200-$1500

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. USA prefer NewEgg or Amazon but always open

5. IF YOU have a brand preference - ASRock and Gigabyte boards have been good to me but always open to new suggestions and used a variety of other boards in the past.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are - Lian Li case and if possible, but not necessary, Antec Earthwatts 650w PS. Also will be using 1 SSD (3GB), 3 other Sata HDD's for storage but need a new 6GB SSD for OS/programs. No additional HDD drives needed but WILL need an ODD.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds - No overclocking on this rig.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using? Keeping 2 Acer X223W's at 1680x1050.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? Immediately

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software? Already have Win7 Pro 64bit plus all imaging and video programs.

I basically need a system that will churn through photo and video edits fast. Im struggling right now when opening and editing multiple large RAW images and 1080P video. I do this professionally and time is money.
Any guidance will be much appreciated as it always seems the members here know bang for the buck and how to extract the best performance on investment.

 

[mfenn]

I don't think you want to be using any 3 or 6 GB SSDs. Given your uses and budget, I'd shoot for the ~512GB range. You can definitely reuse your HDDs, case, PSU, and monitors. In all honesty, given the number of parts you're going to be reusing, you'd have to go pretty much all out to hit $1500.

Here's what I would recommend:

Xeon E3-1230 V3 $250
ASRock H97 Pro4 $84
Crucial DDR3 1600 1.35V 16GB $140
ASUS GTX 750 Ti $150 - for acceleration assuming you're using typical Adobe products
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB $255
Reuse HDD $0
Reuse ODD $0?
Reuse PSU $0
Reuse case $0
Total: $879

If you really wanted to max out render speeds, you could go for the Socket 2011 platform, but it's not as good of a value overall.

Core i7 4930K $580
ASRock X79 Extreme6 $215
plus the rest of the parts above
Total: $1340

 

[DRC_40]

mfenn, thanks for your feeback. I believe you actually recommended my last build which was in the fall of 2012 for an audio workstation which is still performing beautifully so thank you very much for that.

Ironically you also recommended a Xeon for that build and I have been very happy with the performance on that box.

FYI...when I said 3GB/6GB SSD drives I was referring to GB/s. Sorry for being unclear. My SSD I will be reusing from my existing photo/video editing box is rated at 3GB/S which is why I am wanting a faster drive for programs and OS but keep the 3GB/s drive (along with my other drives) for storage.

I think value is important so the increase in render speeds on a i7 doesnt seem to be the most bang for the buck right? The Xeon in my DAW processes tons of plugins and synths with ease so I would think its quite capable of high render speeds for video and quick photo edits on large RAW files. For the additional $$ of an i7 the gain is probably not worth the investment?

I do need an ODD though and I do burn about 10-20 discs per week for clients. My current ODD is OLD, what is the best value at this point for ODD's?

I do use typical Adobe products like Photoshop and Lightroom but also Canon DPP for a lot of RAW image processing. On the video side I use Vegas Pro primarily as I like the workflow and I'm more experienced with that product.

Does bumping RAM to 16GB gain any current usage value or future proofing? I usually upgrade my workstations every 3-4 years. These RAW images and 1080P video seem like memory HOGS on top of the OS demands. Maybe 8 is enough but with my budget is 16GB worth it or just wasted RAM not ever to be used?

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[mfenn]

Oh, you mean SATA 3Gb/s or 6Gb/s. That's referring to the speed of the interface and doesn't intrinsically have anything to do with the speed of the drive itself. What drive do you have currently? Either way, you can definitely afford a new one.

As for CPU, the i7 4930K will definitely render faster, but you're paying $500 more for the privilege. If you like the speed of your current DAW then the E3 will do fine, only slightly faster.

For video, I'm assuming you're going to want to be burning Blu-rays, so I'd pick up this drive: LG Blu-ray Burner $60 AP

The build already links to a 16GB RAM kit, I just typed the wrong number out of habit. Sorry about that.

 

[DRC_40]

HOME RUN! The recommended components are cruising through renders and handling large graphic files with ease. Blows away my old Core2 Duo that this box had been running for 5 years.

Thanks again mfenn!

 

[lehtv]

This is a perfect thread. Straight to business no BS textbook example of a successful build thread. For this achievement, I award both of you the first ever:

 

[ggadrian]

With your budget I'd go with 32GB of RAM. Photo and video editing loves RAM and in general more RAM is always better.

 

[mfenn]

HOME RUN! The recommended components are cruising through renders and handling large graphic files with ease. Blows away my old Core2 Duo that this box had been running for 5 years.

Thanks again mfenn!

Glad to help!

This is a perfect thread. Straight to business no BS textbook example of a successful build thread. For this achievement, I award both of you the first ever:

Awww, shucks. :$

 

[Cerb]

With your budget I'd go with 32GB of RAM. Photo and video editing loves RAM and in general more RAM is always better.

The mobo recommended has 4 RAM slots, so with 8GB/DIMM kits, the option is there, should 16GB not be enough.