New PC Build - Where to Spend The $$$

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stephenv2 wrote on 4/14/2008, 8:14 PM
Bit,

I based drives decisions around a number of factors. I'm working on an IMAX film on a ridiculously low budget, so my main compositing machine has Raptor OS/apps drive, a second Raptor drive for paging, Photoshop, Vegas etc. temp/scratch/files and then a 4 X 750Gb RAID 0 array. I could have done RAID 0 for system drive, but heat/noise/expense not quite worth the modest improvement for system performance, but RAID 0 works great for big sequential read/writes.

On my general purpose box, same arrangement with two Raptors for system/app & paging/scratch drives, but 2 X 750GB is bang/buck sweet spot in RAID 0.

In a back room, I cram old boxes running Server 2003, cram full of big, cheap drive and run software RAID 5. Run mirrors via Second Copy software so if I lose a drive in a RAID zero array, just replace the drive and grab the data back from mirror.

The bottom line for me is figuring out what type of drive performance is needed (random access, small read/writes or large sequential read/writes) and then based decisions off that including factor in heat/noise and risk of data loss. It's worth some careful thought. I've occasionally compromised in years past due to lack of funds and that's usually when get bit or suffer with less the ideal performance.

Right now I'm very happy with my cheap high performance array on main machine. I get uncompressed 1080p playback for 20 cents a gig. That's 1/10th the price of packaged video RAID systems.
stephenv2 wrote on 4/14/2008, 8:20 PM
That Samsung is a good model. You should be happy with that choice. I do agree if you can find a deal that new 45mm are well worth the speed boost and less heat, but the 65mm are still great CPU's.

Don't knock secondary systems :) they are the secret to working fast. No matter how fast a machine you get, it will get tied up and if you can't keep working, your wasting time.

I could have blow my film budget on a 8-core wonder machine for well over $10k. But I spend $3k on mildly overclocked 4-core and having 2 dual core machine right nearby (my old machine and one new $1500 dual for music audio). They all can render, run Vegas etc. so I can work faster with 8 cores spread around in 2-3 machines than 8 cores in one machine. Plus, if one goes down, I'm not totally dead waiting for repairs.
Bit Of Byte wrote on 4/14/2008, 11:49 PM
Thanks Stephen - Some real good thoughts there!

Sounds like you have a POWERHOUSE!

What model # HDD do u have/use?

Bit
baysidebas wrote on 4/15/2008, 6:06 AM
Next Monday, April 21, you'll be able to buy an Intel Core2 Quad for what you would pay today for a Duo.
FrankLP* wrote on 4/15/2008, 6:16 AM
Thanks Stephen. And I TOTALLY hear ya on the benefits of having a secondary system. I was knocking on wood the other day when I was at crunch time with a project and thinking..."what if I had a system failure right now? CRIKEY!!!" So you are 110% right on!

My good ole' "B-System" = Improved Productivity and Contingency Planning as well.
stephenv2 wrote on 4/15/2008, 1:17 PM
Bit,

I've been pretty happy with WD drives, I've had 1 DOA and 1 Failure on around 20 drives that run 24 X 7 over the past 3-4 years. I've also had good luck with Seagate and Hitachi but it really depends on the batch of drives.

I'm using WD RE2 drives for critical RAIDs and the regular WD OEMs for everything else , Raptor 10k for system/boot drives and 7200 RPMs for the rest. I do look at reviews/benchmarks for the type of use, due to my very low budget for the film, bang for the buck is the overriding philosophy.
Himanshu wrote on 4/15/2008, 5:37 PM
baysidebas wrote:
Next Monday, April 21, you'll be able to buy an Intel Core2 Quad for what you would pay today for a Duo.

Could you provide some information on this? Are you referring to just the CPU or rather systems from DELL/HP/etc.? Thanks.
blink3times wrote on 4/15/2008, 6:01 PM
Think BIG drives. Uncompressed AVI is always a great asset especially when moving between programs. A 750gig drive will get you about 67 minutes of avi at 1920x1080
rs170a wrote on 4/15/2008, 8:04 PM
Are you referring to just the CPU or rather systems from DELL/HP/etc.?

Intel Desktop CPUs Price Cut Schedule.

Mike
Bit Of Byte wrote on 4/16/2008, 7:14 AM
Stephen/Blink.

How important is cache buffers (16Mb for WD Re2) for ideal HDD for rendering, etc?

And, how important is having full SATA-II/300 support for these WD RE2 drives?


Bit
Bit Of Byte wrote on 4/16/2008, 11:33 PM
Ideal case for cooling and noise dissipation?

Bit
Stringer wrote on 4/17/2008, 7:30 AM
FYI - Fry's online is selling Q6600 for $179 + tax + shipping -

This deal may be hard to beat, even after upcoming price cuts..

http://www.frys.com/product/5101696
Larry Clifford wrote on 4/18/2008, 12:49 PM
I'm new here, but these threads might help. I can't offer suggestions myself.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=588222

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=585202
Seth wrote on 4/18/2008, 12:52 PM
Sony Creative Software recommends AMD Opteron processors. It's what Star Wars episodes 1-3 were made with, as well as every feature 3d animation by DreamWorks.

Reports that the current generation of Intel chips outperform the current gen AMD chips are a little misguided: AMD still has lower memory latency and higher memory bandwidth, so when Vegas Pro 8.1 is released (the 64 bit version), the AMD will help you take advantage of all of your memory.