4 Replies Latest reply on Feb 6, 2015 10:33 AM by RoninEdits

    Opinions for Upgrading Windows PC?

    CraigMcCoy Level 1
    CraigMcCoy Feb 5, 2015 10:12 AM

      I’m currently using Adobe CC using the following Windows 7 PC setup:

       

      • HP Z620 (Integrated 6-channel SATA interface:2@6Gb/s, 4@3Gb/s. RAID 0, 1, 10).
      • Duel Xeon E5-2640 @ 2.50 GHz processors (12 Total Cores, 24 Total Threads)
      • 32GB (4x8) ECC Registered DDR3-1333MHz Memory
      • NVIDIA Quadro 2000 2GB Graphics Card
      • 120GB Intel 320 Series SSD SATA II MLC (OS, Programs, Pagefile)
      • 500GB Hitachi GST Deskstar E7K500 HDD (Previews, Exports)
      • 500GB Hitachi GST Travelstar 7K500 2.5” HDD (Media Cache)
      • ¥ 2x2TB WD Green SATA III HDD (Media, Projects) – RAID1 on 6Gb/s interface
      • Pioneer BD-RW BDR-206DBKS SATA Blu-ray Burner
      • HP LP3065 30” Monitor
      • HP LP2065 20” Monitor

       

      ¥ I know for performance reason it would be better to use RAID0 here, but I once lost 4 hours of work when a disc went bad before my normal daily backups.  So now I like instance backup of my work.

       

      The case can hold (besides the Blu-ray Burner) four 5.25” discs or three 5.25” and two 2.5” discs (the latter is the current configuration).

       

      I’d like to improve the performance, particularly when using Premiere Pro and After Effects (and Media Encoder, though not as high of a priority).  I have around a $1,000 budget to upgrade my system and was thinking of the following possibilities:

       

      • Exchange the OS, Programs disc for a 128GB Samsung 850 Pro (~100), put on 6Gb/s port
      • Exchange the Media Cache disc for a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro (~175), put on 6Gb/s port
      • Exchange the two Media, Projects discs for two WD Black HDDs (~250)
      • Exchange the NVIDIA Quadro 2000 for the K4000 (~$500)
      • Add 32GB of memory (total of 64GB) ~$400

       

      I’d also consider upgrading to Window 8.1 and re-learn Windows if there was a performance and/or stability reason to do so.

       

      I realize there a many factors that go into how to best optimize an Editing PC for one's particular needs, but I was hoping to get opinions what other might do given my system and budget.

       

      Thanks,

      --Craig McCoy

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        • 1. Re: Opinions for Upgrading Windows PC?
          RoninEdits Most Valuable Participant
          RoninEdits Feb 5, 2015 4:10 PM (in response to CraigMcCoy)

          my 2cents would be to stick with a quadro k4200 or above. its a decent upgrade over the k4000. your gpu may be the weakest link for the hardware currently.  if you need to save money and dont need the quadro then a gtx 960 or 970. if you need the quadro for a reference monitor, you may be able to run your current quadro as a dedicated display output and a new gtx as the cuda/render card...

           

          i cant think of any reason to upgrade to win8.1.  also i believe microsoft announced that they are giving away windows 10 for free, to windows 7 and 8 owners, for the first year. if thats true, you can go that route.

           

          memory and hdd's really depends on your media and what your doing in adobe cc. faster hdd's will almost always be welcome, while depending on what your doing, and your footage, the ram may or may not be worth the investment.  if you do get the two wd blacks, you might be able to run those in stripe/raid0 and then use the greens as backup. possibly by creating another stripe/raid0 with the wd greens and using a file synchronization program to copy any new/changed files to the wd blacks to the wd greens at the end of the day.

          • 2. Re: Opinions for Upgrading Windows PC?
            Bill Gehrke Most Valuable Participant
            Bill Gehrke Feb 5, 2015 5:11 PM (in response to RoninEdits)
            1. I would suggest essentially forgetting about any new hard disk drives.  The present and the future is SSD drives.  I have a Plextor M6e PCIe card that is wonderful with  >700 MB/second read rates (at least 4-6 times typical hard disk drives).  Hard Drives are good for archiving old media and projects, your plans on the SSD's are good, but I would also keep current media also on a SSD.  I actually have a very high performance USB3 Flash Drive the has a read rate of 180 MB/second and it is being used with my laptop for the media and project files.  So I would suggest that you buy a cheap USB 3 card for your computer and a very high speed flash drive as a very portable and usable storage device.
            2. Get rid of the Quadro and go with nVidia GTX cards.
            3. Go with the memory upgrade.

            Only upgrade to Windows 8 as necessary.  It is not bad to use if you tame it and then it works exactly like Windows 7.  This laptop came as Windows 8 and by adding Classic Shell from Ivosoft and a few other tweaks it is just like operating a Windows 7 computer.

            • 3. Re: Opinions for Upgrading Windows PC?
              CraigMcCoy Level 1
              CraigMcCoy Feb 6, 2015 10:13 AM (in response to RoninEdits)

              RoninEdits and Bill Gehrke,

               

              I very much appreciate your advice, suggestions and tips.  You give additional options I hadn't even considered (or knew about). 

               

              Thanks again,

               

              --Craig

              • 4. Re: Opinions for Upgrading Windows PC?
                RoninEdits Most Valuable Participant
                RoninEdits Feb 6, 2015 10:33 AM (in response to CraigMcCoy)

                your welcome, just make sure your system hardware and/or software can do these before proceeding. nothing worse than a tricky setup that doesn't work right.