Video Editing Rig

[UpstartXT]

Hey guys, I am wanting to get into some video editing (Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Virtual Dub). I was wondering what would be the best way to go. The thing is, I already have a bunch of parts so it's complicated.

Already have laying around-
Monitors: 3 Samsung 2253BW
Case: Cosmos S
GPUs: 2x 8800 GTS
Processor: i7 870

I was thinking that I should go for something that has two PCIEx16 slots since I will be using those two 8800s to power the 3 monitors. (I realize that it will be 8x/8x when two are plugged in). Obviously must be LGA 1156 for the i7 870. I also was thinking that RAM would be really important for these applications so I want something with a high max memory limit (16GB +).

EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188055

As far as memory, I have owned G.SKILL in the past and every one (I think 3 kits total) is now dead. Therefore I am willing to just shell out the extra cash for Corsair. Like I said, I assume I should go for max memory for these applications.

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233143

And lastly hard drive. I am going to be making YouTube videos, so it's not like I need to be able to hold hours and hours of footage. Also, I have a WHS that can hold stuff more long term if need be. Is buying two 500GB instead of 1 1TB drive and putting them in RAID 0 a stupid idea?

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152181


Lastly, I do know my way around overclocking somewhat, and plan on doing it, but I'm apprehensive to buy an aftermarket heatsink because that Vengeance RAM has such high heat spreaders I'm not sure what would fit over/around them.

Thank you very much for any suggestions.

-Rob

 

[Kingkazma]

i posted the exact same post as you!
(cept leftover parts that is)

i suggest you get the 2600k isntead, you'll need the multithreading.

 

[UpstartXT]

Woops, that's embarrassing.

Okay I read thoroughly through your thread since we are seemingly after the same thing.

What I came away with is I have no idea what CUDA or that SandyBridge feature you guys are talking about is lol. Like I say, I have two 8800 GTSs laying around (I have a separate machine I use for gaming, this is video editing/processing only). Are these okay or am I missing out because of that CUDA thing?

I was hoping to just be able to use this i7 870 I won in a gaming tournament to cut costs. Is going to the 2600k going to get me $330 worth of performance?

I also see you just went with the 1 TB drive instead of RAID 0ing two 500GB ones. And why just 8GB of RAM? I was under the impression the more RAM you have the longer RAM previews you can get out of AE?

 

[Davidh373]

If you want to use all 3 monitors I'd recommend 2 GTS 450s, other than that I'd get between 8-16GB RAM if you're working in After Effects. I would NOT recommend the Corsair ridiculous expensive, over the top, crazy sauce spikey, dark Dominator RAM. Gskill 1333Mhz 1.5V will do fine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-422-_-Product

I would also recommend the 1TB version of the samsung over the 500GB. It's only $10-$15 more and you double capacity.

EDIT: You are definitely missing out on "that cuda thing" with the 8800s. Cuda is NVidia's GPGPU and both Premiere and After Effects CS5 utilize it for a new preview engine called the "Mercury Playback Engine". This allows for multiple layers of HD video to preview instantly, instead of requiring a preview render.

 

[UpstartXT]

Are you sure about the G.SKILL, every time I buy RAM from that company it ends up biting me in the ass. Well crap, between the 2600k and the two GTS 450s that adds a whole lot to the cost of this thing. Pretty much have to throw out all the stuff I already have.

I forgot to mention that I have a 750 TX power supply as well (I figure that should be enough).

Okay so now I have this:

cosmos s (already own)
3 monitors (already own)
corsair 750 tx (already own)

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3R HE103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152238

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

EVGA 01G-P3-1452-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) Superclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130573

EVGA 01G-P3-1452-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) Superclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130573

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130574

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231315

 

[Davidh373]

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3R HE103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152238

You don't need the F3R. Get this one and save $45

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=f3%201tb

EVGA 01G-P3-1452-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) Superclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130573

EVGA 01G-P3-1452-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) Superclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130573

No need for superclocked. Save $10 on each.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-415-_-Product

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

If you already have a 870 don't bother upgrading. If it's already in your hands, it's still a great processor. If you don't have the 870 and would love to save some more money, the i5 2500K is excellent.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...5072&Tpk=2500k

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130574

Save some more money and get a product that's in stock

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-475-_-Product

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231315

umm... what happened to the RAM I linked you? It's the same RAM as the ripjaws without the useless scrap of metal dangling off the top. You also won't see a difference between 1333Mhz and 1600Mhzand you'll save around $100 here.

 

[UpstartXT]

I checked that out but it was 8GB and I figured I would see the extra performance from going to 16GB, or am I wrong? I thought the more RAM, the better my RAM previews in AE among other things would be?

I'm not wanting that RAM because of the heatspreader things it has on it, that stuff pisses me off because it usually blocks the CPU heatsink, I'm in agreement with you there. Is there value RAM like the on you linked that is in 16GB, or is that not even necessary?

And as far as the speed, again, I'm asking these questions not rhetorically, but as honest questions (you seem to know a lot more about this than I do). If a 2600k is going to be OC'd to potentially 4ghz + speeds, won't 1333 not be fast enough? Maybe I have this totally wrong?


I think maybe I will try to sell the 870 (it's still in its unopened box). I do have it already here, I won it for placing 2nd in a video game tournament. Then I could go for the 2500k you suggested which is significantly cheaper, as well as the mboard you suggested.

Is ASUS a good GPU company? I haven't bought anything but EVGA for a long time GPU-wise.

Last question: I have been doing some quick research on CUDA and it definitely looks like it's worth the upgrade to capable GPUs to get the feature, but will having two instead of one 450 have any noticeable positive effect?

 

[Davidh373]

I checked that out but it was 8GB and I figured I would see the extra performance from going to 16GB, or am I wrong? I thought the more RAM, the better my RAM previews in AE among other things would be?

I'm not wanting that RAM because of the heatspreader things it has on it, that stuff pisses me off because it usually blocks the CPU heatsink, I'm in agreement with you there. Is there value RAM like the on you linked that is in 16GB, or is that not even necessary?

You buy 2, 2 x 4GB kits to get 16GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-424-_-Product

And as far as the speed, again, I'm asking these questions not rhetorically, but as honest questions (you seem to know a lot more about this than I do). If a 2600k is going to be OC'd to potentially 4ghz + speeds, won't 1333 not be fast enough? Maybe I have this totally wrong?

If you are overclocking you will likely see "a difference" between the two, but it's such a narrow difference between the two you cant physically notice it. I mean, it might manage to cut a single second off your renders max. You should also decide what platform to buy, Lynnfield of Sandy Bridge, because OCing on 1155 is much simpler and doesn't effect RAM speed, while 1156 is more complicated, and does.

 

[UpstartXT]

-Roger that. Hey I appreciate greatly all the advice so far, this is going in a totally different and IMO better direction than it started out.

-Back in the day I was told that I shouldn't mix two RAM kits that weren't packaged together due to possible conflicts. Is that true or should I not worry about it and just buy 2x of what you linked?

-I had edited my post above so that I wouldn't double post but I think I did it as you were writing your reply to the original version. As I said in the edit, I think I am going to sell the 870 as I already have it here (NIB unopened) at my apartment for winning a tournament. Then go for the 1155. I didn't realize it was easier to OC 1155 but that makes the deal all the more sweeter.

-Will double GTS 450s make the performance any better than a single?

-I won another tournament for a Intel X-25M 160GB SSD (I assume G2 but not sure, hasn't come yet). I was planning on using this as a drive to record to in my gaming computer, but maybe it would be better to use a larger SATA drive. Then I could put the SSD as a boot/project drive in this workstation, and get two 500GB versions of the 1TB drive, one for source video, the other for renders? That way I am not reading and writing to the same drive at once?

 

[Davidh373]

Back in the day I was told that I shouldn't mix two RAM kits that weren't packaged together due to possible conflicts. Is that true or should I not worry about it and just buy 2x of what you linked?

That problem has been fading away a great deal since "the good ol' days". It still occurs occasionally, but it's normally in mismatching speeds, timings, or products from different companies.

-I won another tournament for a Intel X-25M 160GB SSD (I assume G2 but not sure, hasn't come yet). I was planning on using this as a drive to record to in my gaming computer, but maybe it would be better to use a larger SATA drive. Then I could put the SSD as a boot/project drive in this workstation, and get two 500GB versions of the 1TB drive, one for source video, the other for renders? That way I am not reading and writing to the same drive at once?

SSDs are good for OS and App drives. They aren't meant for storage.

 

[UpstartXT]

Okay so updated build:

2x (one for source, one for render) SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152181

2x ASUS ENGTS450 DC OC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121415

2x G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424


GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072


Intel X-25M 160GB SSD (Boot/App Drive) (Already owned)
Cosmos S (already owned)
Corsair 750tx (already owned)
CD/DVD drive (already owned)
3 Samsung Monitors (already owned)


What about CPU heatsink/fan? I already have several Scythe case fans and a fan controller.

 

[UpstartXT]

Also, what is the difference between this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...UNG-_-22152185

and this:

http://detonator.dynamitedata.com/c...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152238

 

[Davidh373]

$45...

The latter is actually more for servers I believe.

 

[UpstartXT]

Haha, the difference between a $5 golf ball and a $2 golf ball is... $3.

What about CPU Heatsink/Fan?

Also, jw, why do you suggest the 250? And will the 2nd GTS 250 will impact performance for the CUDA functionality in CS5?

 

[mnewsham]

Haha, the difference between a $5 golf ball and a $2 golf ball is... $3.

What about CPU Heatsink/Fan?

Also, jw, why do you suggest the 250? And will the 2nd GTS 250 will impact performance for the CUDA functionality in CS5?

GTS 450 you mean?

 

[UpstartXT]

Yeah typo

 

[mnewsham]

the 450 is a new generation card that has CUDA cores. It may not be gaming grade but it will do just fine for CS5 work. A second 450 would work it doesnt even have to be in SLI as i believe CUDA is not dependent on a direct link.

 

[UpstartXT]

Nice, so it would actually be increasing performance.

Anyone have a rec for a cpu heatsink?

 

[mnewsham]

Hyper 212+

 

[mnewsham]

Nice, so it would actually be increasing performance.

I would get a 2nd opinion as i havent had much hands on experience with CUDA. AFAIK however it will work, ask in Video cards and graphics if you want however for a more knowledgeable response.

 

[Davidh373]

I recommend the 450

 

[mfenn]

Okay so updated build:

2x (one for source, one for render) SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152181

2x ASUS ENGTS450 DC OC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121415

2x G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424


GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072


Intel X-25M 160GB SSD (Boot/App Drive) (Already owned)
Cosmos S (already owned)
Corsair 750tx (already owned)
CD/DVD drive (already owned)
3 Samsung Monitors (already owned)


What about CPU heatsink/fan? I already have several Scythe case fans and a fan controller.

David has given you some really good advice here.

I'm assuming that the two GTS 450s are just to run 3 monitors? I don't believe that you will get any CUDA benefits.

 

[UpstartXT]

Roger that will do.


So list as of now:

2x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

2x ASUS ENGTS450 DC OC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121415

2x G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424

GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065


Already owned:
Corsair 750 TX
Cosmos S
Intel X-25M SSD 160GB (Boot/apps disk)
CD/DVD
Case Fans and controller
3 monitors

 

[UpstartXT]

David has given you some really good advice here.

I'm assuming that the two GTS 450s are just to run 3 monitors? I don't believe that you will get any CUDA benefits.

Sure as shit he has!

Well the idea started because I wanted to run 3 monitors. I guess we're unsure about the CUDA benefits.

I don't know that much about running multiple GPUs, but if the second card has no CUDA benefits, couldn't I just get only one 450 and use an old 8800 GTS I have laying around to power the extra monitor/s? Just to save money?

 

[mnewsham]

David has given you some really good advice here.

I'm assuming that the two GTS 450s are just to run 3 monitors? I don't believe that you will get any CUDA benefits.

This is what i found in the Nvidia FAQ

Does CUDA support multiple graphics cards in one system?

Yes, it is the responsibility of the application to distribute work across multiple GPUs.