HD Editing PC

Videoimpressions0622 wrote on 7/30/2012, 5:55 PM
I am in the market for a new PC that will easily handle any HD footage that I throw at it. I thought that I was buying a great box at Micro Center last week (Power Spec 213)--boy, was I WRONG! What a piece of crap--the first one turned on and off by itself every 7 seconds or so, and the second one lasted a day and a half before it exhibited this behavior!! Where did you get yours, fellow colleagues, and what is under the hood? I would like to either purchase one preassembled or get all of the parts to build it myself from one place (to avoid the prospect of a part failing and each company blaming the parts purchased from another company as the culprit). Please advise, one and all, and thank you in advance.

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/30/2012, 6:26 PM
I just build myself, I used the spec's in my profile. I built it in 2008 and don't have any issues with it.
DGates wrote on 7/30/2012, 8:13 PM
For almost 3 years now I've been editing HD on a $900 Acer, off-the-shelf from Newegg. I bought it somewhat on a lark, thinking if it didn't handle the editing chore, I'd just make it my office computer and go out and but an expensive high-end system built specifically for video.

But lo and behold, the little guy has kept up.

The point being that just about any moderately-priced quad core system will handle HD fine.
john_dennis wrote on 7/30/2012, 10:50 PM
I just assembled this hardware last night. I've been editing on an Intel Q9450 on a P45 chipset which has been a capable machine.
Butch Moore wrote on 7/30/2012, 10:53 PM
John,

The newegg site is not showing your specs. I'd really like to see what you've put together!

Thanks!
JohnnyRoy wrote on 7/30/2012, 10:54 PM
My latest build is on the PC Equipment page of my web site.

Basically it's an ASUS P9X79 PRO motherboard, Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz Six-Core Desktop Processor, G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB memory, CORSAIR H100 Liquid CPU Cooler, Crucial M4 256GB SATA III SSD, and PNY NVIDIA Quadro 4000 graphics card. It eats anything I throw at it without breaking a sweat.

I got the base specs from the VideoGuys.com DIY9. I highly recommend that you look at one of the DIY builds because they come at all price points and you are sure to get something good.

~jr
john_dennis wrote on 7/30/2012, 10:58 PM
On newegg's Public Wish Lists page, search for LGA 1155 System. I thought I broke the code on their secure site but, alas. Go with Johnny Roy's system if you're making money. I bought a larger case and power supply on the chance I will do a dual socket machine on the next round, a.k.a. 6 or 8 core 22 nm.
TheRhino wrote on 7/31/2012, 9:37 AM
I agree with the above posts. If you are a hobbyist on a tight budget build the 4-core Core i7-3770K system. If you are make money editing (even part-time) build the 6-core i7-3930K system as outlined on the Videoguys website. However, I would choose the ASUS P9X79 WS over the PRO because the WS line has been extremely stable & well-supported through the years. Our P6T6 WS motherboards are (3) years old and have been rock-steady.

Although tempting, don't skimp on a good case or power supply. (6) years ago we bought $150-$175 Coolermaster Stacker cases which have (11) 5.25" bays and excellent cooling. Due to the modular design we were able to keep these cases through multiple CPU/MB/Memory upgrades. We now only use Corsair power supplies ranging from 850W - 1200W. These power supplies are superior to anything that comes in pre-built computers and like the case should last through multiple upgrades as long as you maintain it by blowing-out the dust every 6-12 months.

A final recommendation is to always add a good Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) to any new workstation build. This will extend the life of your components, especially your power supply. We run some of our renders overnight and the UPS will reliably exit our programs & shut-down the system if the power is out for more than 5 minutes.

Workstation C with $600 USD of upgrades in April, 2021
--$360 11700K @ 5.0ghz
--$200 ASRock W480 Creator (onboard 10G net, TB3, etc.)
Borrowed from my 9900K until prices drop:
--32GB of G.Skill DDR4 3200 ($100 on Black Friday...)
Reused from same Tower Case that housed the Xeon:
--Used VEGA 56 GPU ($200 on eBay before mining craze...)
--Noctua Cooler, 750W PSU, OS SSD, LSI RAID Controller, SATAs, etc.

Performs VERY close to my overclocked 9900K (below), but at stock settings with no tweaking...

Workstation D with $1,350 USD of upgrades in April, 2019
--$500 9900K @ 5.0ghz
--$140 Corsair H150i liquid cooling with 360mm radiator (3 fans)
--$200 open box Asus Z390 WS (PLX chip manages 4/5 PCIe slots)
--$160 32GB of G.Skill DDR4 3000 (added another 32GB later...)
--$350 refurbished, but like-new Radeon Vega 64 LQ (liquid cooled)

Renders Vegas11 "Red Car Test" (AMD VCE) in 13s when clocked at 4.9 ghz
(note: BOTH onboard Intel & Vega64 show utilization during QSV & VCE renders...)

Source Video1 = 4TB RAID0--(2) 2TB M.2 on motherboard in RAID0
Source Video2 = 4TB RAID0--(2) 2TB M.2 (1) via U.2 adapter & (1) on separate PCIe card
Target Video1 = 32TB RAID0--(4) 8TB SATA hot-swap drives on PCIe RAID card with backups elsewhere

10G Network using used $30 Mellanox2 Adapters & Qnap QSW-M408-2C 10G Switch
Copy of Work Files, Source & Output Video, OS Images on QNAP 653b NAS with (6) 14TB WD RED
Blackmagic Decklink PCie card for capturing from tape, etc.
(2) internal BR Burners connected via USB 3.0 to SATA adapters
Old Cooler Master CM Stacker ATX case with (13) 5.25" front drive-bays holds & cools everything.

Workstations A & B are the 2 remaining 6-core 4.0ghz Xeon 5660 or I7 980x on Asus P6T6 motherboards.

$999 Walmart Evoo 17 Laptop with I7-9750H 6-core CPU, RTX 2060, (2) M.2 bays & (1) SSD bay...

TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/31/2012, 5:30 PM
I'd agree, one thing to NOT skimp on is the PSU. A slower CPU is better then a cheaply made PSU. A slow CPU adds a minute of rendering time. A cheap PSU will fry your system. :(