You can build a very nice one in that price range - and it will be something you can upgrade easily as your needs expand. The downside to prebuilts from any major builder is they tend to to be difficult to expand.

Do you mean dual CPU's or dual core? There are no dual i7 motherboards. You would be using a dual Xeon workstation motherboard.

If you really want something to your specs and without extra "garbage" software, the best choice is to build it, or have an expert help you build it. It's very easy, really. I would stay away from all of the big VAR manufacturers. Buy solid components and build it to your needs, and spend the money on the things you want.

I've built dozens of industrial machines, each one very carefully specced for a particular client need and budget.

Kevin

I hope you get yourself a great new machine Rich, but one thing you wrote made me wonder.

If you can't render more than a minute currently, there's something else wrong than just machine age - I have a fairly ancient Core2 Duo 2.6 Ghz with 2 Gig Ram, using XP 32 bit, I edit HD all the time and I can render anything, sometimes 2 hours, without problems.

Hi Rich,

I very recently (I just now have finished getting it up to speed) bought a Polywell machine in that price range and even AVCHD files just run without a glitch in Vegas 9.

It's a Corei7 980 3.33 gHz 6core 64bit system 6GB RAM (with empty slots)
I had them install WIndows 7 Pro 64bit
2 Dual-Layer DVD burners
A Very good soundcard
and some extras
8 USB2.0 ports
2 USB3 ports
Ethernet port (actually they included two)
Card reader
2 500gb hard drives, mounted
one 500 GB hard drive removable
an emergency boot disk
an operating system disk

all in the range you specified.

I got the Polywell recommendation right here on these boards from John Meyer who was a very helpful consultant. My liason at Polywell was Jim Hyatt - highly recommended.

Polywell is in San Mateo, CA. I am outside of Chicago - they shipped the thing with a shockwatch label for extra care in handling and it arrived very safe and sound. Here is their site:

http://www.polywell.com

EDIT: I forgot to include my video card:
ATI Radeon HD5830 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Triple Graphics

@reberclarck: could you please run the New Rendertest benchmark
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=526098&Replies=466

Would be interesting to see what your new '980 can do.

Rich,

Here's some recent pricing to give you some perspective:

Intel i7-980 $1,050
Intel X58 motherboard $220
12GB DDR3 1600 MHz RAM $600-800
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit $150
(2x) 1 TB hard drive $200
"Good" video card $200
"Very good" power supply $200
"Good" case $50-100
DVD-RW $100

So, your base cost is about $3,000.

Any motherboard comes with lots of USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, occasionally FireWire or USB 3 (you need to know what you need ahead of time).

However, you shouldn't be happy with "any old" motherboard. If someone wants to sell you an i7-980 "system" you should ask "what motherboard?" There are cheap ones and good ones, and lots and lots of feature differences.

If you've got $4K to spend, you can add "goodies":

(1) Intel 160 GB SSD $450

RITSMER:

I don't know if I ran the test correctly but here is what I did -

I am running Vegas 9d 32-bit

Properties were:

HDV 1080-60i 1920x1080
Progressive
32 Bit Full Gamma
Best

Rendered to:
Mpeg-2 HDV template HDV1080-60i

Render time was 1:51

If you need more results at different property/render settings (not too many please) just post here.

EDIT: In my first post above I forgot to include my video card:
ATI Radeon HD5830 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Triple Graphics

When I built my system I spent around $1800 total for a quite capable video rendering machine...which has handled all my needs with ease....All parts ordered from Newegg..

X58Pro MSI Motherboard
i7Core 920 2.67Ghz
12Gig DDR3 OCZ 1333
EVGA GTX295 Video card
Auzentech 7.1 Prelude Soundcard
3-1TB Hard Drives 7200 32Mb Cache
2-LG Blu-ray Burners
800Watt Tagen PS
Thermaltake Spedo Full Tower Case

@reberclark: thank you for the test - however something must be wrong as i.e. a i7-750 does it in 84 seconds...

Check the first post in the rendertest thread for the settings? what do you mean by "progressive" in the settings?

Hmmm....perhaps I dont know how to run the Test. Also please note I am running Vegas Pro 9d 32bit.

I set properties to HDV 1080 60i. Instead of changing the field order to progressive I left it at "upper field first."

I rendered to mpg2 NTSC Widescreen for DVDA and the result was 17sec.

I rendered to mpg2 at HD 1080-60i and still had times a bit over one minute.

Please advise on property settings and render settings. I m ay be setting those wrong.

I'm all for buying a new computer, I would questions how much better performance a $4k machine will deliver compared to a $2K machine.

I upgraded to a middle of the line AMD Phenom II processor (from a dual core) Spent about $1K to "upgrade" an existing case. Could I spend $4K, sure, have I become more productive in my work flow? Yes. Am I glad I didn't have to spend more money? Absolutely.

Chad

Spot (DSE) in a recent post said that his group makes custom machines (lean and mean) for some company which uploads a lot of videos. it would be nice to know what specs his group is using.

RZ

Lean and mean: $1,590.

You can't go wrong with Core i7. This is a VERY capable spec:

Intel i7-930 $290
Intel X58 motherboard $220 (2x Firewire, 12x USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 Audio S/PDIF)
6GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM $180
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit $150
(2x) 1 TB hard drive $200
"Good" video card $200
"Very good" power supply $200
"Good" case $50
DVD-RW $100

Thanks to all that applied to my original post, all great information.

Based on the higher price for Xeon machines versus an i7 CPU machine, I assume a Xeon based machine is better (faster). I also notice that the high end Sony Master Series certified machines made by Super Micro use Xeon chips, while the low end machine uses an i7.

What makes a Xeon machine better/faster than an i7 CPU machine? Anyone want to guess how much better in rendering times a Xeon machine might be over an i7 machine?

Rich

I wouldn't say the Xeon has anything over the i7. However, you can run two Xeon chips on the same board due to the socket type. I am unsure if they have dual i7 boards for pc currently.

When I bought my dual xeon mobo and xeons, it was the only available option for dual quad proc's.

j razz

jrazz,

Can you tell me the CPU and MOBO using are using?

Rich

Hello Rich,
take a peek here ...

AW

I bought an i7 920, 2.66 MHz with Win 7 64-bit, 3 TB of storage, and 9GB of RAM for under $1800... so your budget should get you a super-duper machine . . . (without monitor or software - I was happy with the dual monitors and Vegas on the machine... and all OpenOffice (not a penny for office productivity or graphics (GIMP))) ...

Until that time... Earl J.