GTX970 with i9-7920X ? and other X299 Questions

[Trevor.Dennis]

I was inordinately proud to hold forth place on the PPBM5 results table for a while, and still sit at 17th.  My system was running 4.4Ghz at the time, but has long since stopped liking to be OC'd (I give the fans and rad a spring clean once a year).   The bottom line is that I think this forum is solid gold for anyone building an NLE system, so I'm hoping for some guidance with my next build.

It's a probably bit early to be asking about X299 builds, but the new CPUs and chipset were announced the very week I committed to the new build, so I am planning as much as I can while awaiting more information.  I'm looking at the i9-7920X, or at the very least 7900X, for the lanes, but a question I have right now, is could I get away with bumping the GTX970 to the new build?

As mentioned above, this forum helped me with my current build five years ago, which used a 3930K, X79-UD5, 32Gb DDR3, and GTX570.  The GPU was later swapped for the GTX970 to drive additional screens.  I am aware that this forum emphasizes a balanced approach to system components, which has me thinking that you are going to tell me that I would need a GTX1080 — I have no problem taking that route if you think it sensible, but a thousand (NZ) bucks is a thousand bucks...

I also have an unused 850W Corsair Gold PSU that was intended for my current build, but due to a misunderstanding, never got used.  Would that be suitable for an X299 board?  At the moment I have four SSDs, and four internal HDDs, plus seven external USB3 drives, but I'll leave one of the SSDs and an HDD in my current system when I pass it on to my wife.  I have it in mind to use an additional two 512Gb NVMe drives in the new build, but I am not clear how best to use them.

Choosing a motherboard has me flumoxed right now.  Optane memory for instance — WTH???  Would that help with the  internal HDDs?  What about the external USB3 drives?   All I know is that I only need one GPU and don't need a bunch of coloured lights.

BTW  I don't keep up with hardware between builds, so I am looking at Intel because I at least have some experience, and I'd be starting from scratch with AMD

Thanks guys.

[RoninEdits]

using the gtx 970 in your new build might be ok, it would depend on the project and media. the gpu is mostly used for gpu accelerated fx, so it will depend on those gpu fx vs cpu performance. since premiere is poorly optimized and often doesn't use lots of cpu cores, there is a chance a new 12 core system could be only somewhat faster than your current 6 core and the gtx 970 would be fine. again, it would all depend on the project and media... 

unless you plan on loading up multiple video cards or other pcie cards, you might not need the 44 lanes on the 10+ core intel cpu's. 28 lanes on x299 should go pretty far...

if you are going to use just one video card, your corsair 850w psu should be fine.

you say you want to use two pcie ssd's in your new build, but not sure how to use them?   do you already have those drives or just looking for stuff to buy?  if yes, then which drives?  what function or need are you trying to fill that your current drives don't handle?

there will be several versions of products for optane, but so far intel has only launched a version of optane for disk cache. it will be used for off-the-shelf cheap computers that come with a single hdd and no ssd. the cache would be too small for media on a hdd, so just like sshd's they won't be any help for editing computers.

i'm not sure about your last statement, suggesting you would be starting from scratch with amd is troubling. the learning curve for intel's new products will be just as involved as a new amd product, and building the computer with an intel or amd cpu is basically the same. if you are uncomfortable with the idea of using an amd cpu because its too much to learn, i would suggest you have a pc shop build your new computer. btw, amd's threadripper rumors suggest they will have 64 pcie lanes and cost around half the price of the intel's skylake-x with 44 lanes. unless they have poor performance, it will be hard to justify spending 2x as much on an intel cpu.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Thanks for the reply.

I do a LOT more Photoshop than video, and nearly always 1080 timelines.

When I built my 3930K it would laugh in the face of anything Photoshop could throw at it, but it is starting to feel a bit tired, even with Photoshop, and five years feels like a decent span to get out of a system.

The M.2 drives is pure lust from reading the specs.  My current system uses a Samsung 256Gb Pro for the system drive, and has another for cache etc.  A 1Tb Samsung EVO for current projects, and an older 256Gb SSD for Photoshop cache.   I also have an MSI GT70 laptop which has a pair of 125Gb SSDs in a raid0 for the boot drive, and it is way quicker opening programs than my desktop, so it seemed reasonable to take the NVMe route with the new system.  My only thoughts for a second one would be for cache and current video projects.  I'd also like to bump a couple of the internal HDDs to the scrap heap as they are starting to look a bit iffy.

Regards AMD / Intel, I have absolutely no reason not to go with AMD other than not having a clue.  My current box was built by a decent computer shop here in Blenheim NZ, although the person who built it has moved to Oz, but they assure me their new man knows his stuff.  If I was in the USA I'd use ADK, Video Guys or Puget Systems.  I wonder if there is anything close to that here in NZ?  Time for a Google methinks.

[RoninEdits]

I do a LOT more Photoshop than video, and nearly always 1080 timelines.

anything past a 6 core for those is mostly wasteful, so going for 8-12 cores would mostly be for future proofing for 4k video... having 8+ cores could also allow better multi-tasking as you could export in AME and continue working in premiere or photoshop etc. the 8 core on x299 would be a good option if you want more than 6 cores to feel like a bigger upgrade, but still be somewhat budget friendly.

The M.2 drives is pure lust from reading the specs.

m.2 drives for such work is also in overkill territory. if OS boot times and application launch times are that important, then sure go for the m.2. for most people here its not a major factor as they don't constantly reboot the pc or relaunch the software over and over. if you get one, it would be best used for multiple functions to get the most out of it, like os+apps+cache or cache+media+projects. if you get one big enough and everything can fit on it, you could even do os+apps+cache+projects+media, all on one samsung 960 m.2.

Regards AMD / Intel, I have absolutely no reason not to go with AMD other than not having a clue.

it takes the same amount of time to research amd's product line vs intel's. if you prefer intel for some reason, that's fine, you don't have to make excuses. i do point out the amd options as many folks prefer the best bang for their buck. intel cpu's cost anywhere from 50% to 3x as much money for around 10-15% more performance. also, the only exclusive feature intel has is thunderbolt.

[Bill_Gehrke]

My testing shows me no advantage for Premiere editing of using an M.2 drive for boot dive with OS and Application over a SATA III.  The real prime usage of these new super speed SSD's is for projects and project media.  Take a look at my new ppbm8.com site for my latest testing info.. 

[Trevor.Dennis]

Hey thanks Bill.  I've followed the PPBM sites from PPBM5, but I have not seen version 8.  That's going to be a treat.  So'll hoover up all the information I can find, and if it is all right with you guys, I'll run build details by you when the parts are available. 

[Guest]

The sad fact is Adobe Premiere does not make use of the all hardware increment to put in. If you upgrade a 3930k, 32ram with a GTX680 to a 5930k, 64ram with a 980ti, you only see a 5-10% gain and a 5960x goes a little more but cost much more. The CPU and RAM run at only 25-30%. I wait almost the same time to get my movies done. I wonder if the software will make full use of these new processors to justify the investment. Time is money does not seem to work here