Advice re new PC for next 4 years?

PeterWright wrote on 11/24/2015, 5:40 AM

I am in the market for a new PC. Just the tower - I have the monitors and external sound card.
Although I am not outputting 4k at this stage, I am shooting some 4k on second cameras and using this to zoom in for 1080p output.

Bearing in mind the increased role of GPUs in playback and rendering, I’m very interested in hearing you guys' opinions on the relative importance of things like –

How many Cores
What speed CPU
What speed and memory for GPU
How much RAM
What power supply
Any other issues …

I do make videos for a living, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I need to pay big money for the very latest components, unless doing so makes a big difference to my editing experience. I'd be happy to pay around A$5,000, but that's only US$3550 at current rates!

By the way, is there a list of “recommended hardware” on this SCS site? I’ve had a look without finding anything.

Looking forward to hearing some advice and experiences …….

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Comments

PeterWright wrote on 1/27/2016, 9:25 PM

Oh well, that's something else I've learnt. So the memory is compatible with the board but not with the error checking.

Stringer wrote on 1/28/2016, 3:28 PM

You pay a premium for ECC... It is wasted if the board doesn't actually perform ECC..

PeterWright wrote on 1/29/2016, 7:05 PM

I now have my new PC up and running - seems smooth, and very quiet.

I wanted to try the latest rendertest, as per the links earlier in this thread, but something's wrong with where it's currently hosted ( http://www.hyperactivemusic.com/vegaspro/vegaspro.html ).

The zip file is 2.5 Gb but when I tried it said it would take anything from 22 hours to 4 days to download!

I have a reasonably fast download speed of 25 MB/sec, which I think should take 14 minutes.

Does anyone know a better place to download it?

Grazie wrote on 1/29/2016, 10:56 PM

Pete, where did you get that 25mb/sec figure? Is that a newly tested d/l speed test? I know I should be getting X but in actual fact I'm getting Y!

G

PeterWright wrote on 1/30/2016, 4:01 AM

Hi Grazie,

I'm on fibre to my wall NBN - there are 4 packages - I have the second slowest at 25 Megabits/sec D/L.

There's a speedtest website whose URL I've forgotten, but last time I tested it confirmed I'm getting close to that speed..

My maths (aided by Wikepedia): 2.5 Gb = 21,475 Megabits

at 25 MB/sec = 859 sec = 14,3 min.

Grazie wrote on 1/30/2016, 6:45 AM

Sorry Pete, no idea then.

G

Stringer wrote on 1/30/2016, 12:52 PM

That package is on a Sony server.. There is probably a bandwidth restriction..

When these internet providers tout their connection speed, they conveniently forget the part about content providers limiting theirs...

Ever downloaded large files from DropBox at your tested download speed?

VidMus wrote on 1/31/2016, 8:40 PM

Well, I am getting ready to spend the night installing a new motherboard and CPU with the full version of Windows 10 Pro.

The motherboard is an ASUS Z97-A USB 3.1.

The CPU is the Intel Core i7-4790k.

I will be using my current ram, case and power supply.

I was using an i7-3770 with Windows 7 Ultimate OEM.

I have the GeForce GTX 580 video card.

There is no doubt I would be better off with whatever others here might suggest but my budget is the boss and it tells me what I can afford to get. I barely made all of this fit my extremely tight budget.

I went with the full version of Windows 10 Pro because I am tired of the limitations and uncertainties of the OEM versions.

Assuming everything works as expected, I should have an approximately 19% faster system with a whole lot more reliability.

My old system has been running on band-aids for a while now and has caused me to get way behind on my video editing.

My old motherboard is the MSI Z77A-GD65. Long story short, I will NOT make the MSI mistake again! HA! It is the Military Class III. It must have come from the VA. LOL! While there were indeed good things about it, the BIOS was always a problem with it. BIOS chip 'one' rarely worked while the BIOS chip 'two' works when it feel like it.

The board I have been using is a replacement for the one I first ordered that never did work. I should have replaced it with an ASUS board at that time.

I finally got and paid for Vegasaur to do a true backup of my many custom settings. Something that should have been a part of Sony Vegas Pro! I am looking forward to using the other features of Vegasaur once my new build is done.

The hardest part of this project is carrying my heavy full tower case to my work table. My arthritis joints will be screaming at me. But it still needs to be done.

So please pray for me and wish me luck with this project.

Finally, this new build should last four years. That is how long my current build lasted. So I am still on my usual new build every four years plan. Whether I planned the four years or not. ;)

www.dannyfye.com

Edit:

The forum filter blocked the two letters V-A, as in V-A without the hyphen? What on earth is wrong with the two letters V-A without the hyphen?

Strange filter this forum has indeed! Time for another nap? LOL!