Not real sure if it is permitted, but I ran the text again in 9.0e and posted the 5 second improvement in speed into the database... FWIW ...

Until that time... Earl J.

Doesn't appear that there is much to dislike at the moment ... (grin) good job Keith; and thanks for sharing...

Until that time ... Earl J.

So glad you finally posted your results from your 980x - it's better than I expected (still kicking myself for spending all that time building around an i7 940). Is this what you get at 4gHz? or did you kick it up a little higher? Temps on the 4 cores? Ambient air temp? What voltage on the CPU?

The 940 is a good CPU. For most folks who aren't crazy enough to spend the money on a 980X and accessories, the 930 is a great balance and overclocks 30% to 3.6-3.8GHz with very little effort.

My results were at 4.27GHz. I changed my CPU cooler to a Corsair H70 and I was able to go the extra step, although the sweet spot for the 980X is really down at 4.0GHz. (after I post this I will time the 4.0GHz and see what I get.)

The temps on the 6 cores with the H70 average around 70C under stress testing and about 67C when running full load. As usual I have one core that peaks about 6C higher than everyone else and one the peaks about 7C lower. My ambient runs 25-26C. My idle actually averages at ambient or below, which technically shouldn't be possible.

CPU voltage for 4.0GHz is set at 1.25V for an actual of 1.23V. At 4.27Ghz I am set at 1.33V with and actual of 1.32V. My temps are a bit high for the CPU voltage because I also have the memory OC'ed and with an i7 that has the memory controller on the CPU chip, that creates heat on the CPU chip.

My memory is 12Gb of Corsair 1600MHz. I have it running at 1600MHz using the X.M.P. profile. That runs 1.65V on the DRAM.

My system drive and storage drive are SATA 3 (6gbs) 7200RPM drives configured for AHCI.

Depending on where you want the performance and money, I found that the 930 can handle HD .h264 playback very well when OC'ed and particularly the memory OC'ed to 1600MHz. I could preview on an secondary monitor at Good/Full, add CC, Layers and such and still keep the framerate. The render was slower than the 980X, but the cost is about $800 less.

I will post the 4.0GHz time in a few moments.

4.0GHz on the 980X on my machine came in at 1:52 or 112 seconds. Still 10 seconds ahead of the dual Xeon hexcore rig that posted.

> 4.0GHz on the 980X on my machine came in at 1:52 or 112 seconds. Still 10 seconds ahead of the dual Xeon hexcore rig that posted.

OK Mr Kolbo... (and I call you Mr Kolbo 'cuz you deserve the respect for that monster machine you just built...) I just tried the render test on my aging Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme (QX6700 QuadCore which cost me $1000 back in the day) and I came in at a dismal 7:40 (that's 460 seconds!) I'm ready to build what you have it will get me 4x improvement.

Just one question... how loud is it? My rig is extremely silent for doing voice overs and Camtasia tutorial work. The rig before that had 7 fans and sounded like a 747 taking off.

What's the dB levels like?

~jr

Just one question... how loud is it? My rig is extremely silent for doing voice overs and Camtasia tutorial work. The rig before that had 7 fans and sounded like a 747 taking off.

Prior to the H70 cooler, it was very quiet. I was doing the same thing. The H70 has a high pitch squeal to it that might as well be a 747. The fans are uncontrolled and not built for quiet. BTW, this is in an open top case, so silent fans are a must. The H70 can be silenced. I will loose some cooling ability, but I will shut it up. I have ordered different fans for it. The new fans are 18db combined. During render they will kick up to about 24db. Once I work with the fans to shut this thing up, I will be able to present a solution. Before the H70 fans, the graphics card fan was the only sound.

The key to the silence is that the fans are all 140mm low RPM fans. They are also on motherboard controllers so that until you start to do something like a render where it needs some horsepower, the fans are spinning slowly and quietly.

The first round of test fans will be here on Monday. By mid week I will know if I need to go for a second round of fans. There are three potential combinations that are bound to provide a solution. The first round is quiet and economical, but possibly more heat. The second is plenty of cooling but not quite as quiet. The third has great airflow and low noise, but are painfully expensive.

More news next week. When it is all done, I will be posting the build specs. Price is about $3,000 with Win 7 Professional 64.

JohnnyRoy:

The heat sink in described at http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=723250&Replies=33 is quiet, and - if the right thermal paste is used and correctly applied - gets outstanding reviews (probably cooling just a bit less than the H70, other factors being equal). It is almost totally silent even with fan on highest speed (the stock fan cannot be controlled by temps/motherboard, but has a manual control; I skipped the control and plugged it in directly to a fan power source on the MB so that it always would run at maximum speed).

Unfortunately, it is huge - read the details in the link.

kkolbo:

Well done. What thermal paste did you use? Did you do any lapping or other prep of the surfaces on the H70 and the 980x before applying the paste?

Well done. What thermal paste did you use? Did you do any lapping or other prep of the surfaces on the H70 and the 980x before applying the paste?

I just cleaned the CPU with rubbing alcohol and toilet paper. There were a couple of scratches from so many change outs but I didn't do anything to the CPU. The H70 comes with an application of TIM on it. I just bolted it on and turned it on. I imagine it you lapped them and use some exotic paste like Vegemite on it you could get better performance, but it wasn't needed.

The reference was from a test that was done that showed toothpaste and Vegemite to be better at conducting heat off of a CPU than any of the tested TIM's. The difference is of course the toothpaste and Vegemite dry after a couple of days making them worthless.

I really tried to make this build without exotic techniques. Everything is just bolted together as it comes from the factory. I tried to choose parts that perform well together because I think that is the key. The BIOS changes are the bare minimum. I set the drives types correctly. I set the memory to X.M.P. and chose the 1600MHz profile. Then I upped the CPU voltage and multiplier. I added a slow silent fan to the top of the case because the pressure was unbalanced with the H70. I added a cheap spot fan for giggles to the memory. I will be experimenting with the fans for the H70 to try and shut it up, but that is the closest to custom build I have gone. I could be silent just by changing out to the H50 again, but that limited me to 4.0Ghz.

Bumping this up in hopes that someone would post results to the database for AMD Phenom II X6 1090T or 1055T based systems.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Have a great Labor Day holiday y'all. Be safe out there.

I hate you guys. I haven't even run the test yet on my old Q6600@2.4GHz system yet, and I already know I'm going to cry.

I wish I didn't have to head out right now, I really have to read this whole thread. Looks like fun (and like I said, will make me cry).

You have the exact same chip we have in our boxes (Q6600), and I'm looking for upgrades. Soon. My partner / main editor /....and wife... had this crazy look in her eyes at 1:00 this morning and she said "JUST....FIX....IT!!". This after working on a veg file with many, many tracks of HD. Cineform intermediates, which has bought us a lot in the past. First time Vegas has crashed on her like this in forever, but it's because it's hardware from 2006 that ran DV just fine. The first bottleneck on her machine is RAM, followed by 32 bit XP, but to keep her happy on all the levels that we have to interact I think it's just time to rebuild and upgrade. And the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to follow the build advice at VideoGuys.com and base it on an Intel i7 930 / ASUS MoBo.

Times two because we both edit most of the time. Hey it's only money, right?

That's right! And what else would you spend it on anyway? (at least, that's what I tell my wife <grin>) That's really cool that your wife creates videos, too, and you're way ahead of me. But my son and I love doing this, and my wife's a great sounding board.

Yep, I'm going to read more of the advice here and at VideoGuys.com, and hopefully upgrade within six months. My quad can go to my son, and he can pass his machine to his brother, who can pass his machine to a guest computer. :-)

I'm going to follow the build advice at VideoGuys.com and base it on an Intel i7 930 / ASUS MoBo.

I found the Core i7 930 to be a good processor and built a system around it. With it overclcocked and the memory overclocked, I found the editing performance to be quite good for the price..

Thanks Keith. Also looking closely at your experiences; thanks for sharing 'em.

as I mentioned elsewhere (www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=723250&Replies=33), I recently built a 940 system for about $900 that runs cool and 100% stable and quirk-free at 3.92 gHz. But I kick myself that I didn't spend another $600 or so for a 980x: 50% more speed, for the same amount of labor.

If you're like me and plan to keep the same system for several years, you'll maybe want to look at the 980x.

JR,

I have run the cooling tests for the 4.2GHz configuration. While not silent, I was able to get 4.0GHZ with one fan set up almost silent and I was able to get 4.27GHz very quiet with another fan set up. I have the cooling to go to 4.54GHz, but the voltages get to high for my taste. Intel specs the top as 1.37v. 4.54GHz required over 1.43v. 4.27GHz is what I suggest as the top speed. 4.0GHz is the sweet spot.

Th key to the cooling was to use controllable fans with shrouds. Unfortunately one fan had to be placed outside of the case, but I am using exceptionally quiet fans, so it is no big deal. The next key item is setting a custom fan control profile. I was able to keep it quiet up to about 40% processor load for short periods of time. Below 40% load, it stays close to silent indefinitely. With my rig, I can edit in Vegas Pro using HD sources without cresting the 40% load. Most of the time it stays well below that.

During render, the fans kick up to keep the processor cooled. At full, it is still quieter than the stock fan configuration. (much better than the jet engine simulators around)

I will make a recording for you with the system right beside me. That will give you an idea of what the results are. If they are good for you, I will post the build specs on my blog.

KK

I did a render test
Lapse time = 28minutes and 22sec

System Info:
Win XP
Vegas 8
pentium dual core 3.0 ghz
3.5gb ram

Of course I know my system is old. I am building a new one with latest tek. hope I can do another test in new one in less than 5 min.

Version 9.0e (64 bit) = 6 minutes, 18 seconds

Version 10a (64 bit) = 6 minutes, 13 seconds

Hardware replacement due in Q4, 2010.

Has anyone tried the render test using vegas 9 before and after installing vegas 10? I installed the trial version of 10 32 and 64 bit and seems my times using Vegas 9 are much slower now. Curious what others are seeing.

This is just for fun. ..
Tried my 'home' laptop with other things running in the background. Skype phone, google notify, Wifi, that kind of thing. Basically a rubbish system for rendering!
Time for rendertest = 15:01 ! :)

Laptop: Hp G70
ram 3 gig
Intel Duo core
Windows 7 64bit.
VP10a
Oh, and the fan went so fast i actually thought the laptop was going to melt lol.

Paul, PS will post results from my main machine too later.

i7 930 clocked upto 3.15ghz
VP10a
windows 7 32bit
6 gig ram, (3 accessible)

rendertest = 337 seconds.

Can someone tell me if going to windows 64 bit will help reduce rendering time in this case? Because i actually thought my i7 would do better than this looking at other peoples results.
Thanks
Paul.

Yes, 64 bit is faster than 32

thanks srode