My first PC build for video editing purposes

[Guest]

I have done some research into building my own video editing PC. I want to spend about 800 pounds. I will list some of the components I have so far. Any suggestion would be welcomed and appreciated.

ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) Motherboard - £159.98

4 x Kingston 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM Memory - £12.76 each

For CPU I am going to wait for the Ivy Bridge Core 17 to come out

PNY nVIDIA Geforce GTX 570 Graphics Card with 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express

£210.97

I have heard that it does not matter how fast the RAM is but it is more important how much you have. My Mobo can take 2800 Mhz. I have also heard that the graphic card is important when video editing. It acts as a secondary CPU which enhances the performance.

Is all the above information correct?

Thanks

Dominic

[John T Smith]

About the GPU... http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2011/02/cuda-mercury-playback-engine-and-adobe-premiere-p...

Also be sure you have enough hard drives... I edit AVCHD with 3 drives as a home hobbyist... for professional use you might want more drives, or raid

My 3 hard drives to edit AVCHD are configured as...

.

1 - 320Gig Boot for Win7 64bit Pro and all program installs

.

2 - 320Gig data for Win7 paging swap file and video project files

When I create a project on #2 drive, the various work files follow,

so my boot drive is not used for the media cache folder and files

.

3 - 1Terabyte data for all video files... input & output files (*)

(*) for 4 drives, drive 3 all source files & drive 4 all output files

.

Search Microsoft to find out how to redirect your Windows paging swap file

http://search.microsoft.com/search.aspx?mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US

[Guest]

Thanks John for the advice on the hardrives and also thanks Harm for showing me your really useful link. According to Harm's 'What PC to build' I may need to consider 4 x ITb. I am new to editing but I would like my build to be at a descent level for a professional level as I have some offers for work. However, this wont be until October. I would like to know why I would need so many drives? I imagine the answer is to do with the size of the video files and of course my work would have to be backed up.

John you say that you have 3 drives. One for software instillations, other for the editing and lastly for all video files. If I was to buy 4  X 1Tb would it be sensible to have the same structure as your 3 drives with my fourth drive as the backup? Also, could I start of with 1 X 1Tb and do all what I need and then buy the others in the future?

Anyway, I will wait for your response.

Cheers in advance

Dominic 

[John T Smith]

My 3 drives work for ME as a home hobbyist where the last bit of speed is not required

The benefit of 4 drives is you have your video INPUT on #3 and OUTPUT on #4 so no waiting while a single video drive switches from reading input to writing output

Again, the sizes I quote for #1 and #2 work well for me... but, with the small price difference, 4 x 1T is also good

Do not skimp on case and power supply... you need a full tower case for airflow (lots of case fans) and a "Gold" 850watt power supply

I built with a mid-tower case, and wish I had gone full tower http://forums.adobe.com/thread/652694

[Guest]

Hi John,

I have also heard that I will need the larger case for my type of build. Concerning my power supply. Why would I need 850Watt as opposed to say 1000Watt. What determines the Watts. My GPU Im thinking of getting GTX 570 needs 600 Watts. Does my CPS have to have more Watts than the components and are there any other components to look out for in these terms. 

Cheers

Dominic

[Harm_Millaard]

Dominic,

Your questions have been answered many times in one form or another. Just have a look at the hardware FAQ section, the most popular discussions on the right hand side and follow the links in those articles to for instance eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Pro v2.5

[John T Smith]

>Why would I need 850Watt as opposed to say 1000Watt

Go to the link Harm provided... I can only say that an 850w PS works well in MY build... you may need 1000w for YOUR build

Be sure to get a case with mounting for LOTS of case fans... I have 5 - top, front, 2 side to blow air IN and one back (plus PS) to blow warm air out

Large 120mm (or larger) fans spin slower than 80mm case fans, so do not make as much noise

[Guest]

I have had a look at the CPS calculator and it gave a figure of 800 Watts. I am considering getting 1000 Watts. Firstly to be on the safe side. Just in case I forgot to add something I should have done and also if I want to add something in extra  in the future. I am even thinking more than 1000Watts. Is this a good idea?

My thoughts are now turning towards 'fans.' Will I need to buy these seperately or do these simply come with the components I am planning to buy?

Cheers

Dominic  

[John T Smith]

> 'fans.' Will I need to buy these seperately or do these simply come with the components I am planning to buy

You will have to look at the specifications for what you buy, and then "fill up" as needed

[RjL190365]

Here is the biggest reason why you need multiple drives in an editing system:

1) If you have only a single hard drive for absolutely everything including the OS, think of the SATA connection as a single-lane road with reversible traffic controls. And because of the single traffic lane, traffic can only move in one direction at a time. And a certain block of traffic in that direction must pass completely through before any traffic is allowed to move in the opposite direction. That's what's called "half-duplex". An analogy to this would be the reversible-direction express lanes in the middle of Chicago's Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94).

2) Even as separate drives, hard disks are limited in maximum sequential transfer bandwidth. The fastest 7200 RPM mechanical hard drives can hit just under 190 MB/s on the outer tracks, and drop off to around 80 MB/s on the inner tracks. That's one reason why a hard drive should not be filled to its maximum capacity. It's also why multiple drives in a RAID array can improve sequential performance, especially if you're working with RED 4K and uncompressed HD material.

[Guest]

Thanks RjL,

That is a really clear description with analogies that make it very clear for me to understand WHY mulitple drives would improve my PC's performance.

I have heard that I would not need many GB for a drive that supports the OS.  - Say 350 GB. However, it would be useful to have a 2nd drive that does have a lot of GB - Say 1T or even 2T. Is this informatoin correct?

Cheers

Dominic

[Guest]

Case

The size of my 'Asrock extreme 6' says (ATX). Is this big enough for a full tower case? Also what does exteneded ATX mean?

Cheers

Dominic 

[Harm_Millaard]

Yeah. Google is your friend.

[Alan_Craven]

Extended ATX means that the motherboard is larger than a standard ATX.  Unfortunately there is no standard for extended.  You will have to check the actual size from the specification of the motherboard that you will find on the manufacturer's web site.

You will also need to check that your chosen case will accept an extended ATX motherboard, most do not. One that does is the Lian-Li PC90.

As Harm said, Google is your friend!

[Guest]

Thanks I will check ASrock's homepage for specifications. From what I have read the extended ATX supports a full tower case. This is the size I would really like, so fingers cross.

Just wanna say thanks to everybody for all their help as I am getting very close to knowing what I need for my build.

Dominic

[Alan_Craven]

It is usually the depth of the case that matters for ATX extended motherboards, rather than the height.  Most suppliers in the UK do state whether or not the case will accept extended motherboards.

[Bill_Gehrke]

DominicCrozet wrote:

From what I have read the extended ATX supports a full tower case.

I would just like to correct the statement above so it is clear in your mind.  An Extended ATX motherboard requires a case that is rated for E-ATX or Extended ATX, just because it is a tower case it may or may not support your motherboard.  Look at these NewEgg cases as examples and you have to drill down to the specifications to verify th...

[RjL190365]

Actually, Alan, yes, there is a specific requirement for Extended ATX:

The E-ATX case has eight total expansion slots. Standard ATX cases have only seven total expansion slots. E-ATX cases must accept E-ATX or any of the smaller variants of ATX.

[Alan_Craven]

My PC-90 qualifies with a vengeance, then - it has 10 pci slots!  But it's height is still less than many full towers at 505 mm.  It will also take 400 mm long graphics cards.

[Guest]

Thanks everybody for your responses. I had a look at Bill's newegg case recommendations and believe I have found my case.

XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case  $79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103011

It almost sounds to good to be true. It is 22.05" x 9.45" x 20.47. That is big isnt it? It supports my motherboard. It has a great cooling system. Its cheap. However, It has sold out. I wonder why? I cant find it on a UK website so I may have to ship it over but I am not in a rush.

By the way, I have bought my Asrock extreme 6 z77 Mobo. If anybody wants pictures of me asleep in bed with me cuddling up to my motherB; please dont hesitate to make a request.

Cheers

Dominic

[Guest]

John T Smith wrote:

About the GPU... http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2011/02/cuda-mercury-playba ck-engine-and-adobe-premiere-...

Also be sure you have enough hard drives... I edit AVCHD with 3 drives as a home hobbyist... for professional use you might want more drives, or raid

My 3 hard drives to edit AVCHD are configured as...

.

1 - 320Gig Boot for Win7 64bit Pro and all program installs

.

2 - 320Gig data for Win7 paging swap file and video project files

When I create a project on #2 drive, the various work files follow,

so my boot drive is not used for the media cache folder and files

.

3 - 1Terabyte data for all video files... input & output files (*)

(*) for 4 drives, drive 3 all source files & drive 4 all output files

.

Search Microsoft to find out how to redirect your Windows paging swap file

http://search.microsoft.com/search.aspx?mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US

Hi John,

your setup inspired me to use a similar three-HDD-version while I wait for harddisk prices to go down - at least a bit.

"AVCHD" and "hobbyist" sounds fine to me. A pragmatic setup. If it works for you, it might for me too.

I am on Windows 7 Professional, 32GB Samsung RAM, i7 3930K. 3 WD Black Caviar.

Q: On your disk 2: Did you partition the disk to force the Page file to run on the fast "outside" of the disk? I have googled the subject of partitioning but the answers are confusing. Some say that the "classic" way of seeing things works fine - and that you get higher performance by placing a partion #1 containing the Page file. And can avoid fragmentation too. Others say that modern HDDs are devided using some kind of a spiral layout and this would make all patitions equally performing.

So, what is your (and other's) view on this matter? Are you patitioning your drive 2?

Further:

Q2: When you directed your swap to disk 2 - did you chose not to have any page file on your disk 1 (for Mem dumps and some (older?) programs that want a pageing file on the system disk)?

Q3: How big should one guess that the page file should be - considering the RAM amount, processor speed and the AVCHD codecs? Do the old rules still apply - for instance to dubble the RAM amount + 50% extra for security - or is this old school antiques?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

[Guest]

I dont know if I am in the right area to ask questions about camcorders but I'll try anyway.

I have an offer of work in October to record and edit two weddings. However, I wont be paid very much as this will only be my second and third time I have done this. I would like things (career wise) to take off from the weddings in october but obviously I have no idea how things will pan out.

I know they are 13 years old but I am thinking about getting a canon xl. This is because I have no idea how my venture will turn out and a good reason not to splash the cash. I have read that the xl is still considered a good camcorder. However, I have also read that somebody had problems trying to edit using the xl.

If anybody has any knowledge or reccomondations, it would be much appreciated

Dominic  

[Guest]

Hi there, its been a while.
I have bought the ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155). The next thing on the list is the CPU and I was thinking about getting the The Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge but I decided to wait until the Ivy Bridge came out. As I am sure you know it is now possible to buy it and I am considering buying the Core i7-3770 CPU (4 x 3.50GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 8Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0) from amazon at £228.90.
Just two questions. Will this be compatible with my Mobo and is this a good CPU to buy?
Thanks in advance
Dominic

[Harm_Millaard]

Yes.

[Guest]

Cheers Harm,

I have bought my CPU but it will take a little while to arrive with all the jubilee celebrations/holidays. I have now got 2 out of the 3 major things I need for my PC Build for video editing purposes

AsRock Extreme 6 z77 (Mobo)

Core 17 - 3770 Ivy Bridge (CPU)

The last larger item is the GPU. Just one question. Would there be a big difference in performance between buying a Nvidia gtx 570 and the gtx 670?

Thanks in advance

Dominic