is this a good deal ?

wetrock wrote on 7/3/2012, 4:48 AM
i know a guy who knows a guy who has this computer for sale but i dont know if i if it will be a good editing machine. any thoughts on weather its worth it or if i should go buy something else?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what I have
I7 2.8ghz 8m cache 1366 socket
Asus p6x58d mainboard
16g ddr3 sdram max 24gb
1tb hard drive
Sapphire ati 5800 pci-e video card 1gb ddr5
2 lg dvdrw drives
Mid tower case w/ 650w power supply
Windows 7 64 bit

Sacrifice sale 1050.00 no taxes

Comments

dlion wrote on 7/3/2012, 8:14 AM
take a look at the individual parts you listed at www.newegg.com to get an idea of what they would cost new. the system seems a little bit behind the curve to me for vegas, motherboard & processor especially...
Chienworks wrote on 7/3/2012, 8:30 AM
That's way beyond what i edit on. My rig is about 5 years old, 3GHz Q6600, 2GB RAM, ancient video card, though i do have about 8TB in assorted hard drives. My computer edits AVCHD in Vegas 9 quite acceptably well. That one should do fine.

The price is rather too high in my opinion.
TheRhino wrote on 7/3/2012, 9:27 AM
Personally I would never buy a used system for a variety of reasons but mainly because it will lack new technology that does not cost any more to produce than the old tech. For instance, a new system will come with USB 3.0 and either Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPUs.

For a $1100 entry level editing system I would not go with anything less than a system built with an Ivy Bridge i7-3770K or Sandy Bridge I7 2600K with 16gb of RAM & USB 3.0 ports.

Although I would never buy my editing rig from a big box store, I just saw a I7 3770K (3.9ghz) w/16GB for $1050 at BB.

For Vegas the choice of video card is not important until they iron out the kinks. Either of these processors will do better rendering than a high priced GPU which you can always add later... I would also choose a 24" LCD to edit with Vegas. These larger LCDs are now very affordable and allow you to see what you are doing when you have multiple video or audio tracks.

EDIT: If the guy says he will throw-in Vegas & all software on the machine, make sure you have him transfer the licenses from his name to your name by contact SCS or other software vendors. If you do not have the licenses then the software is not legal as he will keep the licenses and re-install them on his new machine - likely a much faster machine he purchased for the same price...

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...

john_dennis wrote on 7/3/2012, 9:42 AM
Use this system or this system for comparison of old tech vs new tech.
TheRhino wrote on 7/3/2012, 10:18 AM
If you do buy a Dell from a big box store you can usually get more features for the same price vs. adding pricey upgrades online. For instance, I did get my laptop at BB because it came with a BR Burner & faster CPU for the same price as the base online model... You can also look at Dell's online outlet. You cannot make changes to the outlet models but you get more for less...

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...

Soniclight wrote on 7/3/2012, 11:50 AM
wetrock,

Ditto here on used computers, one never knows what kind of stress or problems have occurred or could be ready to occur with them.

If the price for that system was half the asking price, maybe I'd consider it if I was really low on funds and needing a system a.s.a.p. -- and only as a "for now" situation. Also, 2 DVD burners isn't a selling point either; one really needs one at a time IMO. Besides, they're so cheap these days.

Likewise, I second the point about the software licenses thing too - you have to own the license and only you, period.
Otherwise, it's just software piracy - besides the fact of not having ownership and support.

I've also never bought a packaged or brand-name desktop mainly because I don't like the lacing of proprietary stuff. I like to have full control and parts replacement options; name brand replacement parts can tend to be at times much pricier but non necessarily better. I've built my last two computers with new components I chose -- and I live on a fixed disability income on a pretty tight budget.

The "holy trinity" that matters most is choice of - 1.CPU - 2.Mobo - 3.RAM. All else is orbital. As others have stated and if you're not in the "a.s.a.p." situation, I'd suggest you take your time and get the best new "trinity" you can get for your budget. You'll also have the peace of mind of new components.

In short, I've chosen to do the research (sometimes until my vision got blurry :) but it all was worth it for I'm happy with the choice I made at the time.

The only thing that obviously happens is that what was the-latest-new-thing 2 minutes ago is now a dinosaur.
C'est la vie in the computer age and so my ego just has to take that hit - lol.