New Desktop build - thoughts?

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/27/2018, 11:16 AM

Due to instability issues that have arisen recently with my aging x58 platform desktop - I'm diving headlong into the latest tech for a new workstation build little by little. I've also rethinking my internal storage setup from spinning drives to SSD's as well for this new build and wanted to see what others think.

Here's the build out:

Phanteks Eclipse P400S Series Satin Black Steel Silent Close Window ATX Mid Tower Case
Intel i8700K (Possibly OC'd to 5ghz?) cooled with a repurposed Corsair H80i v2 water cooler
ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-H Motherboard
2 - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kits
1 - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Single Fan or AMD RX580 8GB (still unsure on which one for Vegas Pro - Thoughts???)
1 - Samsung 960 EVO nVME m.2 256GB SSD Boot Drive
2 - Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD's - One for My Documents, the other to store video project files only (currently on spinning drives)
1 - 240GB SSD (repurposed) as a swap/cache disk for stills, video and audio prerenders
2x1TB external mini Raid 0 for all video assets inside an Akitio enclosure attached via eSata (I'm considering replacing the 2x1Tb spinning laptop drives with SSD's in the same capacity for improved performance once I move to 4K)
2 - 4TB WD bare Red Drives alternating/rotated each week via docking port for backup with one stored offsite in a waterproof pelican case.

Thoughts?

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 4/27/2018, 11:57 AM

I upgrade my hardware every four years and nothing brings me more joy in life than not giving hardware any thought at all after immersing myself in product selection in the run-up to my quad-annual build. I'll give you this one comment and go back into my mid-cycle bliss.

While your processor selection will likely give similar performance to my i7-6850, you could conceivably run into a shortage of PCI-e lanes which could affect video cards and NVMe devices that use those lanes for communication.

Now, back into my euphoria.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/27/2018, 12:12 PM

@john_dennis - Maybe I should then look at using a standard 256GB SSD as the boot drive and bypass the m2 SSD - Any thoughts on graphics card? I'm still using VP14 but plan on upgrading to Vegas Pro 15 next month and I'm torn on which way to go for GPU tech moving forward.

john_dennis wrote on 4/27/2018, 8:45 PM

I boot from a SATA SSD and use NVMe for project files. I won’t make any video card recommendations since I’m not clairvoyant.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/27/2018, 9:09 PM

I boot from a SATA SSD and use NVMe for project files. I won’t make any video card recommendations since I’m not clairvoyant.

I totally get the video card stuff - it seems certain cards said to work with Vegas work for some, and for others not so much...

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/29/2018, 6:15 PM

After installing the motherboard, CPU and ram, and dealing with Microsoft to get Windows activated for the new hardware, I have found the new hardware upgrade astounding in many respects, but Vegas is still underwhelming - even with my CPU overclocked to near 5Ghz...

Timeline playback is still mediocre at best and the only thing left to do is upgrade the graphics card next month. Thing is, Resolve 14 plays back as smooth as butter for the same project and similar plugins applied - Neat Video still brings it to a crawl but that's to be expected. I didn't think Vegas would still be as sluggish as it is playing back a pretty straight forward project that's only 4 minutes long. Premiere Pro loads faster but code is not optimized at all and it's utilization of the CPU and graphics card is the lowest of the 3 NLE's for the same project.

Not sure what else to try to get Vegas timeline playback to perform better (I get dropped frames of HD content playing off of my Raid 0 at half preview setting - I have to go to 1/4 resolution for proper timeline playback)...

Resolve 14 is beginning to get more of my attention in a big way now and could very well be the deciding factor unless I can get my performance issues fixed.

BruceUSA wrote on 4/29/2018, 7:15 PM

Cliff. Can share a 30s Veg file for other to test out?

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/29/2018, 7:31 PM

Cliff. Can share a 30s Veg file for other to test out?

So veg file with clips together in a zip file?

BruceUSA wrote on 4/29/2018, 8:55 PM

Cliff. Can share a 30s Veg file for other to test out?

So veg file with clips together in a zip file?

Sure.

GJeffrey wrote on 4/29/2018, 9:55 PM

8700K only has 16 Pcie lanes:

Your GPU is supposed to use 16 Lanes to run full speed.

You have 1 nVME m2 which uses 4 lanes.

So basically your are running at x8 for your GPU and x4 for your nVME m2.

That might be a explanation.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/29/2018, 10:31 PM

8700K only has 16 Pcie lanes:

Your GPU is supposed to use 16 Lanes to run full speed.

You have 1 nVME m2 which uses 4 lanes.

So basically your are running at x8 for your GPU and x4 for your nVME m2.

That might be a explanation.

I haven't gotten the nVME m.2 drives yet so that shouldn't be the issue. Still using my 240GB SSD as boot drive. All other drives are 7200 RPM WD black Drives and RAID is a RAID 0 running off of eSata.

All I can say is Resolve smokes on this machine! I can edit in real time, and the full render of a 60 second clip took less than 15 seconds to h264 mp4. And I can playback full resolution in real time with no dropped frames.

NickHope wrote on 4/30/2018, 1:05 AM

What about if you enable your Intel graphics in Options > Preferences > Video > GPU acceleration of video processing?

marc-s wrote on 4/30/2018, 1:26 AM

That been my experience as well... Resolve is way faster for both playback and rendering. Note: The paid version has even better playback than the free version.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 4/30/2018, 5:50 PM

What about if you enable your Intel graphics in Options > Preferences > Video > GPU acceleration of video processing?

Here's the thing - it doesn't show as an option! Not sure what to do about that otherwise I would. Do I need to install some special drivers??? I've never had a CPU with an integrated gpu and Windows 10 isn't saying I need to install any drivers. It doesn't even show up in my Hardware list.

john_dennis wrote on 4/30/2018, 6:41 PM

Do you have a physical display attached to your intel hardware?

OldSmoke wrote on 4/30/2018, 7:02 PM

Do you have a physical display attached to your intel hardware?

Yes, very important! And it has to be enabled in the BIOS.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 5/1/2018, 12:20 PM

Well, tried everything to get the iGPU on the i8700K to be seen - disconnected both monitors and attached one to the DVI port on the mobo. Rebooted, went into Vegas but all it sees still is my GTX-660ti graphics card. Went into the BIOS, and all it will allow is the dedicated card as well. The only thing I haven't tried yet is pulling the card, rebooting, getting it seen, then shutting down, reinstalling the card and booting back up. Kind of a PITA tbh...

Think I'll just deal with lackluster playback (Even with Proxies created within Vegas Pro 14 menu item) until I can determine which graphics card to upgrade to.

NickHope wrote on 5/7/2018, 4:03 AM

Take a look at this comment and the article it links to.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 5/10/2018, 10:21 AM

Take a look at this comment and the article it links to.

Initiated the card, made no real difference in timeline playback - having to constantly go to 1/2 or 1/4 quality in Preview mode if a simple title graphic with a little motion brings it to 12-14fps and Vegas can't catch up unless I stop and start the playback again. That along with random glitches in playback window and crashing... I don't know what else to try - maybe I'm one of those unlucky ones unable to use Vegas in their post work - yet I keep asking and trying to find a solution but my patience is running pretty thin these days with what options are available today....

As I was rendering out a clip and closed Vegas Pro 14 - another crash on close with the following error:

Problem Description
Application Name: VEGAS Pro
Application Version: Version 14.0 (Build 270) 64-bit
Problem: Unmanaged Exception (0xe0434352)
Fault Module: C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Address: 0x00007FFB78C8F218
Fault Offset: 0x000000000003F218

Fault Process Details
Process Path: C:\Program Files\VEGAS\VEGAS Pro 14.0\vegas140.exe
Process Version: Version 14.0 (Build 270) 64-bit
Process Description: VEGAS Pro
Process Image Date: 2017-06-12 (Mon Jun 12) 22:41:58

This is on my brand new computer upgrade. These random glitches and crashes keeps me from trusting Vegas in my work. I never have had another NLE have as many problems as much as Vegas does. And the trial of Vegas 15 latest version is no better. Vegas needs a total rewrite IMO but that will probably never happen.

AVsupport wrote on 5/10/2018, 6:21 PM

I have a similar experience to offer. My most stable results are by completely disabling the iGPU in the Bios and running all screens on the 1060. Then increasing the internal VP memory settings. But yes, VP only chews up CPU and my GFX sits at ridiculous 15% max no matter what I tell it to do....

fr0sty wrote on 5/11/2018, 3:40 AM

Vegas uses about 50-60% of my GPU, when GPU rendering actually works. GTX 970. Sometimes it goes even higher. Tested with GPUz