Thanks for that. 

Klaus,

Regarding what RAM specifications are important for Premiere Pro:

- size is way more important than speed

- speed is way more important than CAS (latency timings, etc.)

- don't forget rated voltage too since you are overclocking; when you have lower voltage RAM (I use 1.5v. on X58) I believe that the CPU memory controller is not taxed as hard as with higher voltage RAM

It seems that the "record-breaking" OC crowd and gamer enthusiasts do buy really expensive RAM with super high speeds and low timings, but they are building systems with MUCH less RAM than those of us here on the Adobe HW forum. Regarding more information about timings, just Google "RAM CAS timing vs RAM speed" and you can surf for a long time.

Frankly, I thought that RAM speed would really impact Adobe Premiere Pro, but based on numerous runs using PPBM5 I can say that RAM size is very important until you hit 16GB (for CS5, possibly higher for CS5.5 and the CS6 of the future) and RAM speed differences were so slight they were difficult to even notice.

I have read that AE can utilize more RAM than PPro if that is important to your workflow - simply do what you do and monitor the memory usage by your PC using the Task Manager Performance tab.

Finally, why don't you just pop a 6-core 32nm CPU into your current PC and buy some more time before doing a complete motherboard, RAM, CPU upgrade? That will give you 50% more cores and be a WAY easier migration path than a complete new PC. The rest of your system is quite strong and while the new X79 6-core may be a bit faster than adding a 6-core 32nm to your existing X58, the serous speed improvements are likely still many months away with X79 motherboard designs still maturing and 8-core CPUs (or more!?) being added to the mix.

Jim

Klaus,

Regarding which 6-core, that probably depends largely on what options you have available and at what price! I selected the i7-970, which along with the i7-980 are less expensive CPUs, but more time consuming to overclock vs. the i7-980x and i7-990x. When I purchased it, the 980x and 990x were over $500 more expensive, but it seems that with the advent of the X79 stuff the 980x and 990x prices have dropped considerably.

Regarding does you system sound balanced, yes, from what your reporting, it sounds pretty good. And since your CPU is hitting close to 100%, it would seem that your drives are keeping up.

I don't want to comment regarding specific ratios, BCLK, etc. since various motherboard designs do have slightly different designs and setup options and also because each and every CPU can vary slightly due to the manfacturing process. As you are already at 4 GHz, with RAM at 1604 MHz, you are indeed doing well with your current setup. When I made the move from a i7-950 to a i7-970, the maximum stable OC speed that I got was just about identical even with 50% additional cores on the 970. I would contribute this to the smaller die size of the 970 design; it is 32nm, or the same as Sandy Bridge CPUs.

I personally have not done any DRAM timing control tweaking. I have a Gigabyte board and simply set the multiplier and have the motherboard adjust the timings automatically.

Cheers,

Jim

JockLaw.

Well they have recently really confused the issue the 560 card is the only one that I know of that is offered with two different amounts of cores (384 and 448) this is not an immense improvement   Do not pay extra for clock speed as it does no good.  Memory is generally not a factor unless you are using extremely large image sizes.

Harm,

First off, I can't thank you enough for this guide as well as the countless other answers and posts in other forums I've been scouring these past couple months. 6 Months ago I purchased a woefully underpowered system (and AMD, noless) and it's been a source of constant nightmares and the only reason I've managed to make due this far is thanks to you.

At any rate, I'm looking to build a legitimate system I'm an enthusiast using a DSLR, Premiere, and limited amount of AfterEffects. I'm also just about to graduate college (read: poor), but am trying to put together a system with room for improvement. I think I've got most of what I want figured out (mostly what you suggested) with the exception of the motherboard. All the Z68-UD5s are listed as not available on newegg and I saw some article about a recall. Looking at Asus boards I stumbled across one that was a P67 instead of Z68, I was wondering what the difference is, or rather if the differences are something I should be worried about? Also, what are the key things I should look for in a motherboard?

Thanks so much,

Andrew

Thank you for your detailed response Harm,

I think I've got a decent handle on the more common features I'm looking for as far as ports, dimms, and slots goes, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't making the same sort of faux pas as I did when I went AMD before. The kind of thing where it's either NEVER do this, or ALWAYS get this. As long as there aren't any of those, I should be set then.

Thanks again,

Andrew

ultimatte wrote:

 

So would you recommend a GTX 560 Ti with 384 CUDA cores and 2GB over a GTX 560 Ti with 448 and 1,25 GB?

 

Thanks a lot!

That depends on the size of your video frames. With RED 4K, the 1.25GB card could very well run out of RAM - and when an image demands more RAM than the discrete card has onboard, the entire image will default entirely to the MPE software-only mode for rendering. On the other hand, typical 1080p frames are easily contained within the 1GB of video RAM unless numerous multiple layers and effects are applied.

ultimatte wrote:

 

Do I understand this right that  more RAM would be better for other Adobe Software like AFX and Photoshop?

You're confusing VRAM (graphics card RAM) with system RAM, which are both entirely separate from one another, in this case. AE and Photoshop prefer more system RAM but don't rely on graphics card RAM as much.

Thanks so much harm for this thread and the many answers, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I need a workstation to run cs5.5. I'm mostly using PPro and AE, for 30min movies using lots of VFX on HDV rushes.

I have a little extra $$ to boost from your "economic" config. What would you recommend given my needs? Increase RAM to 32 Gb or upgrade the video card to the GTX580? Would it unbalanced the whole wkstation by creating bottlenecks? What if I do both upgrades?

Best

Zovic

Harm: thanks so much for your fast and precise answer!

It is a shame that you cannot convince your IT department to get a system designed for video editing, like ADK does.  You only have 8 GB per processor which is awful weak.  You would be much better off with a single, faster, newer, overclockable processor tuned for NLE work.  You are buying CPU's (LGA 1366) that are now several generations old.

That particular system costs way too much money for too little actual performance. Here's why:

1) A single Xeon E5620 is slower than a first-generation i7-920 or even a currently available i5-2400 to begin with. The only reason to get a Z800 is in its dual-CPU configuration - and it needs dual hex-core Xeons to even come anywhere close to worthwhile. Unfortunately, the E5620 is only quad-core, not hex-core.

2) For that platform, get 24GB or 48GB of RAM. 16GB isn't enough in a dual-CPU-capable platform and does not divide evenly into three memory controller channels (these particular Xeons are triple-channel - but 16GB of RAM using four sticks would have forced the memory controller to operate in a hybrid triple- and single-channel mode where the first 12GB would operate in triple-channel and the remaining 4GB would operate in single-channel).

3) The Quadro 4000 is actually recommended by AVID for its higher-end programs. However, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 does not make much if any use of the Quadro's added capabilities; in fact, as far as performance is concerned Premiere Pro will think the Quadro 4000 is slower than a GeForce GTX 460.

4) Why two burners? All Blu-ray burners also burn DVDs and CDs. In fact, the only purpose of dual optical burners is to copy one DVD directly to another without having to rip the original DVD's contents onto the hard drive first. Or is it that you thought that Blu-ray burners accept only Blu-ray media and don't accept DVD or CD media at all?

5) As configured, that Z800 lacks any internal RAID drives. Premiere Pro benefits from fast internal RAID drives (but you should avoid RAIDing the OS drive). And two external USB 3.0 drive kits are usually too slow in physical transfer speed to be of much use for any purpose besides backups since many of them spin at only 5400 RPM or even slower. Very few commercially-assembled USB 3.0 external hard drive kits spin at 7200 RPM (the minimum rotational speed for a hard drive that we recommend in an editing system).

Michael,

You don't really need to worrry much about OC'ing memory, that doesn't help PPro performance in any noticable way.

However, if you could possibly trade your 2600 cpu in for the "unlocked" 2600k model, you would gain significant noticable performance by OC'ing your CPU. The 2600 cannot overclock nearly as easy or as high as the 2600k.

Jim

First I must give appropriate props to Harm......thanks for taking the time to lay down all this info in one place..........its much appreciated.

I would like some input on the type of system I need for my client...my knowledge is advanced in hardware but I have really none in the adobe suite, particularly AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 and video rendering. Any advice on the grade of system (  BUDGET,ECONOMICAL,WARRIOR) …and specifics on RAID, CPU, RAM…..would be greatly appreciated.

The client will be working mostly in AFTER EFFECTS…..here is the info I was given:

We use a DSLR Camera that only shoots in 1080p with an h264 codec usually Also we need a Mac computer so we can edit videos in After Effects and render big projects like ten greenscreen videos over night. We also have to backup 6TBs and I thought getting externals would be the way to go but is it cheaper or possible to put that into the Mac computer plus like an extra TB into the computer for programs?

It didn’t take much to get him off of the ‘Mac’….all I did was stated the facts…haha.  Again…any and all feedback is GREATLY APPRECIATED. Thanks and God Bless.

Zovic (and all),

As far as the SSD goes, I know there's been alot of debate about the cost/benefit of SSD at their current pricepoints, a possibility to save a chunk a change on the SSD but still get a fair amount of the benefits would appear to be cacheing a 40 or 60gb SSD instead. It's a feature I know is on the z68 chipsets, but I'm not sure what others, but basically the idea is that your computer determines the most commonly accessed programs and files to put on the SSD to get the benefit where it matters most. The article I read goes into more depth and has some benchmarks for adobe programs listed. May be worth considering if you're looking to trim the budget a bit.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm gonna follow it... If you confirm that 120GB is enough to run smoothly W7+ CS5.5 + plugins?

Videoguys DIY9 Update

Feb 2012 update with 3 recommended builds! You can mix & match components between the two P9X79 builds or go with a budget system based on the P8Z68 and i7 2600K processor. We tried to get as close to $2K as possible for our system, but we went over.

• We are leaning towards the base Asus P9X79 motherboard over the Pro. We'll save some bucks and we feel we'll still need FireWire for capturing our older legacy DV & HDV footage.  
• We're going to go with an SSD boot drive even though it adds almost $200 to the cost of the build.
• I'm still thinking we may go for the full 32GB of RAM. I think we may be penny wise and pound foolish going with just 16GB.
• We're also going with a GTX570 to save costs, although for Avid you really want to go with a Quadro2000 or 4000.

Unfortunately we still have not had the chance to build our DIY9 machine. Some internal IT issues have taken the bulk of our tech teams time over the past few weeks. We are also finding the i7 3930K processor in very tight supply.

Gary