4K PC upgrade to 2011-3 system - need system check pls

[Alexander Eberhard]

Hey guys,

I consider to upgrade my editing system to enhance performance in the following field:

1. CPU performance for fluent 4K playback (including complex codecs) and effects added

2. GPU performance but might at first stick with my GTX 970, 4GB

2. Rendering performance

3. Memory performance for After Effects

4. Disc performance via M.2

I am currently running the following build:

i7 4970

EVGA GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0

32 GB RAM, 1866 MHz

Samsung 850 PRO SSD, 128 GB = OS, Apps

Samsung 850 PRO SSD, 512 GB = Media files

Samsung 850 PRO SSD, 256 GB = Cache and preview

WD Black 3 TB = Export files, Backup

Corsair 650 PSU

Quite old ENERMAX CPU cooler

(but with good performance)

I'd like to keep the following "old" hardware and are looking into these complete new build:

1. i7 6850K, 6 x 3,80 GHz (intent to overclock to 4,0 - 4,1 GHz)

Question: 2011-3 vs 1151. Apart from better upgrade possibilities, is 2011-3 still the fastest system?

2. Asus X99-A II Intel X99 So.2011-3 Quad Channel

Question: Do the PCI lanes offer enough performance to my setup?

3. 2 x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200 DIMM CL15 Dual

Question: CL vs MHz value. What is most important for speed?

4. Samsung 850 pro replacement with 960 PRO M.2

Question: Shall I use the 960 Pro for OS/Apps and media files or keep windows on a separate 850 PRO SSD

5. Keep my GTX 970
Question: Alternativly, would a EVGA 1070 be a big jump?

6. Corsair RMx 750 or 850 PSU?

Question: Guess my old 650 is too weak?

7. be quiet! Dark Rock 3 Tower Kühler - Hardware,

Question: Those coolers are huge, but good. Any alternative?

8. Keep 2-3 x 850 Pro SSDs

9. Case: 8592495 - Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 rot mit

That is my current on with 4 fans in it. I would just keep it.

10. Windows 7 pro or 10?

Right now, 7 pro works fine for me.

I'd really appreciate your recommandations and help on my build and plan.

Thank you in advance.

Best,

Alex

[RoninEdits · Accepted solution]

1. i7 6850K, 6 x 3,80 GHz (intent to overclock to 4,0 - 4,1 GHz)

Question: 2011-3 vs 1151. Apart from better upgrade possibilities, is 2011-3 still the fastest system?

2011-3 or x99 is currently the fastest. amd and intel will be releasing new stuff next year.

for x99, the i7-6800k 6 core 28-lane version is value play, while the 6850k is nearly 50% cost increase for 40 pcie lanes.

2. Asus X99-A II Intel X99 So.2011-3 Quad Channel

Question: Do the PCI lanes offer enough performance to my setup?

that motherboard can split 28 lanes to x16/x8/m.2 or x8/x8/x8/m.2, and the 40 lane cpu to x8/x16/x8/m.2 or x16/x16/m.2. if you were looking for more add-in-card support you would need a motherboard like the asus deluxe to further split the 40 lanes to x8/x8/x8/x8 or the WS motherboard which adds more lanes by splitting the cpu lanes with plx chips.

3. 2 x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200 DIMM CL15 Dual

Question: CL vs MHz value. What is most important for speed?

CL is latency, mhz is speed. its good to pick a memory kit that offers both low CL and high mhz, but the mhz should be more important. some motherboards don't play nice with memory above 2800-3000 mhz, so you would have to check the memory qvl and/or search the web for reviews or user reports with memory and that motherboard.

4. Samsung 850 pro replacement with 960 PRO M.2

Question: Shall I use the 960 Pro for OS/Apps and media files or keep windows on a separate 850 PRO SSD

bill has done some testing and shown the 960 pro is able to run everything. keeping windows on a separate drive would free up some space on the 960 pro if capacity/space is going to be tight, and would also make for drive clone/backup recovery to be simpler, faster, and smaller...

5. Keep my GTX 970
Question: Alternativly, would a EVGA 1070 be a big jump?

it would depend on how much of the gpu is being used. the gtx 970 is ok for many workflows with a 6 core intel cpu. so it would be best to test the gtx 970 in the new system and check its gpu usage with gpu-z to find out if an upgrade is needed and perhaps which gpu to upgrade to.

6. Corsair RMx 750 or 850 PSU?

Question: Guess my old 650 is too weak?

650 watt would be minimum, not good for overclocking and if its old it might have reduced lifespan and power output. a 850-1k watt quality psu will be good for clean and stable power for overclock. corsiar rmx/rmi and evga g3 all get good reviews.

7. be quiet! Dark Rock 3 Tower Kühler - Hardware,

Question: Those coolers are huge, but good. Any alternative?

noctua nh-d15S is a very good cooler. its 160mm tall according to their website, so will need a large case. cryorig also makes good coolers, be quiet is ok.

8. Keep 2-3 x 850 Pro SSDs

you could test these with the new build before buying a m.2 ssd, to see if the performance is acceptable....

9. Case: 8592495 - Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 rot mit

That is my current on with 4 fans in it. I would just keep it.

according to corsair's website can only fit 157mm tall cpu cooler. large air coolers might be to tall to fix in that case.

fractal design r5 is a good silent case that can hold tall air cpu coolers like the noctua d15s.

10. Windows 7 pro or 10?

Right now, 7 pro works fine for me.

win10 might be better for security patches and win10 supposedly also runs a bit better. the bad thing with win10 is its more difficult to remove/disable the spyware and adware from microsoft as windows updates will re-enable them. if you don't want to mess with win10, win7 should work ok.

[Alexander Eberhard]

Thank you for comprehensive reply.

Does this mean I could still run a 6850K on the chosen Asus X99-A II if I dont plan to add any further PCI cards? Also a 1TB 960 Pro M.2 could run St its full potential?

[RoninEdits]

that motherboard can run many different cpu's, including the 6800k and 6850k. most of the time the 6800k is fine and the money can be saved or better spent on the ssd or gpu etc... you would have to figure out how much expansion you need or want, to justify the 6850k and/or deluxe motherboard.

the m.2 ssd should be able to run at its full speed/potential in the m.2 slot (x4) or in a pcie 3.0 slot that gets at least x4 cpu pcie lanes.

[Alexander Eberhard]

Thank you!

Just checked the 960 evo vs pro. Apart from warranty the speed difference 3200/1900 to 3500/2100 is neglectable I guess. IOPS are the same. Evo should be fine?

[RoninEdits]

evo should be fine. the pro has longer warranty and edurance/tbw, but by the time the evo wears out there should be something newer and better anyways.

[Alexander Eberhard]

THX mate

[Alexander Eberhard]

Ronin, would my setup still perform well with a later upgrade from from 6 to 8 core in term of bottlenecks etc? Thank you.

[RoninEdits]

depending on your projects/timelines and which hardware you pick, its possible going from 6 to 8 might not need any other upgrades or tweaks. the gtx 1070 would be a better match for a 8 core, but depending on how many gpu fx are being used the gtx 970 might be ok for a 8 core too. if you found a bottleneck it would be possible to add more memory or a second video card if needed, or replace and upgrade the video card, or add more storage etc...  i don't believe they have fixed AE yet, so it may still be using 2-4 cpu cores for a while. premiere also has problems where it might only use 4-6 cores in some situations. so depending on what your are doing with the software, the adobe software could be the bottleneck for a 8+ core cpu.

[Alexander Eberhard]

Thank you, Ronin. Since I might sell my old system completely I am now looking into a suitable graphic cards. I am now making up my mind between the MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X Aktiv and the EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Aktiv. Is the 1070 with a 6800K worth another 130 EUR?

[RoninEdits]

like i said before, since you have the gtx 970 i think you should test it in the new machine and see how much gpu usage you actually use use/need for your typical projects to help determine which video card to get. if its not using alot of gpu there is a chance the gtx 1060 will still work with the 8 core cpu. but if its already maxing out the gtx 970 with the 6 core cpu then it might better to get the gtx 1070 or better.

there was a problem with the evga cards with acx 3.0 coolers, gtx 1060, 1070, and 1080. they left off the thermal pads to help cool them. now its believed its more of bad capacitors causing the problems rather than overheating. i heard the failure rate of the cards wasn't above normal, but the hot cards got major attention on the web. if you order one now it might be ok and might have the thermal pads, or you could just avoid the evga gtx 1070...

[Alexander Eberhard]

Ronin, what is more important for GPU effects in premiere pro cc and after effects 3D workflow, cuda cores or MHz?

[RoninEdits]

they work together, cores x mhz = performance.

[Alexander Eberhard]

I just round this article.

Benchmarks: Adobe Creative Suite - Broadwell-E im Test: Intel Core i7-6950X, -6900K, -6850K & -6800K

It shows how a simple 4 core 6700k easily out performances all multi core processors in adobe CC tasks. The GHz is really high with 4,2 but I thought 6 core processors will perform better. That best for video editing now?

[RoninEdits]

alot of adobe software is only made to use 2-4 cpu cores, so top speed mhz is most important for those programs. in a previous response i talked about AE being broken, but once its fixed it should be able to use more cpu cores. premiere can use more than 4 cores, so 6 or more cores will improve performance.

here is an article for premiere showing cpu performance and some core count usage. puget has several articles about adobe software if you want to read thru them.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC-2015-Multi-Core-Performance-Update1...

[Alexander Eberhard]

Very interesting article. Thanks.

PS: You run win 10 home or win 10 pro. From so far I read the addition pro features and services of the pro version are not required for a video editing PC. I guess it is also slower, right?

[RoninEdits]

i doubt microsoft made any changes to the different versions that would affect performance. i think the difference is just options/features, some of which can easily be replaced with third party software, but some can't.