New X99 Computer for Editing GH4 4K Video in VP13

NickHope wrote on 9/7/2014, 3:25 PM

Finally time to build a new PC after soldiering on for more than 7 years with my old Q6600/XP x64 machine.

It's primarily for editing Panasonic GH4 4k footage in Vegas Pro 13, but I also want to have a play with DaVinci Resolve Lite 11, Reason 8, and have the possibility of working with Adobe PPro and After Effects.

It will be built by Compute and More in Bangkok who built my last 2 boxes in 2003 and 2007. We've come up with the following specs based on the new Haswell-E, X99 and DDR4 stuff:

Motherboard: Asus X99-Deluxe

CPU: Intel i7-5960X

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 2400 (or 2666/2800 if it reaches Bangkok this week) (Edit: I should have got 2133. Reasons below)

O/S & programs drive: Plextor M6e M.2 128GB SSD drive (Edit: I ended up getting a Samsung 850 Pro 256Gb. Reasons below.)

Media drive: 2 x Western Digital Red NAS 4TB drives in a RAID 0 (Edit: I used IRST (Intel's "fake" RAID))

Render drive: Existing 1TB or 2TB HDD (Edit: I ended up without a render drive as such)

Other data drive: Existing 1TB HDD (Edit: I used 2 x existing Samsung 1Tb HDDs in IRST RAID 0. May add 2 more to make RAID10)

Case: Corsair Graphite Series 760T Full Tower with windowed sides (Edit: I ended up with the newer Corsair Graphite Series™ 780T White Full-Tower PC Case.)

CPU cooling: Corsair Hydro series H110 (Edit: This has rattly fans! It's a known problem. I swapped them for 2 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM)

Power supply: Corsair RM850 (Edit: I ended up with the RM1000).

GPU 1: Sapphire Radeon HD6970 (already bought on eBay) (Edit: This is in the primary slot with my monitors plugged into it.)

GPU 2: EVGA GTX 580 (already bought on eBay)

Drive bay: Thermaltake Max 5 Duo

Sound card: Don't know. M-Audio USB? (Edit: I ended up with the M-Audio M-track)

Monitors: Existing Dell 24", Asus 24" and Philips 17" (for now)

O/S: Windows 8.1 Pro

The whole GPU issue is a bit of a mess. I bought these GPUs off eBay because they seem to be the ones that are fastest with Vegas. But it seems neither of them support 4k, so in the short term I'll just monitor my 4k at 1080p on my existing monitor. Also both are behind the curve when it comes to optimum performance in DaVinci Resolve. I'll do various testing to see which is fastest (and most stable) in Vegas/Resolve and to see how they behave themselves when I run both together. I guess I may end up using only one of them and adding a 2nd, newer card that will support 4k for a new 28" 4k monitor.

I'd appreciate any comments on the choice of components, and I have the following specific questions:

1. Is 128GB likely to be enough for the O/S and typical programs going forward? Or should I get 256GB? I currently use only a 36GB C: drive! Quite a price difference between 128 and 256GB.
2. Is 32GB enough RAM? (later I might switch this for 64GB of faster RAM)
3. Do those GPUs need their own liquid cooling? (the builder said not)
4. Is RAID 0 necessary and the best flavour of RAID for my media drive?
5. Should I be looking at a 2nd RAID or an SSD for my render drive or is a standlone HDD OK?
6. Should I be looking at a small extra SSD cache drive as well?
7. Are those WD Red HDDs a good idea over the Green or Black ones? I don't suppose I need NAS but the builder is keen on them.
8. Any thoughts on best GPUs for use with Vegas Pro, Resolve, PPro/After Effects and 4k monitor? (maybe I should phrase this "Which 4k-supporting GPU is the least bad with Vegas?")

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Comments

BruceUSA wrote on 10/23/2014, 1:33 AM

Nice OC. May I ask what method did you used for stabilty testing? The CPU must be able to loads 100% for at least 30 minutes without crashing. If you are not passing that test, watch out when you do a long project rendering, you may find out yourself. I never like AI Suite tuner. I prefer manual tuning and is better.

NickHope wrote on 10/23/2014, 2:33 AM

In the DIP5 settings I checked "Enable CPU Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) instruction set during stress test". Apparently this mimics content creation type stress (e.g. Rendering) as opposed to gaming etc.. I made the "total stress test duration" 20 minutes. I didn't bother with other 3rd party stress tests yet, as I watched a video where JJ said those are no longer necessary in the latest versions of DIP5. But maybe I should run Cinebench or Prime95 or AIDA64 etc.. Or maybe the demo of BurnInTest? Any recommendations?

Why is manual tuning better? I get the feeling the later versions of this Dual Intelligent Processors tuner have improved over older versions and take into account things that would require a lot of time and experience to do manually. As an O/C newbie I like it. You can always run this and then go manual to tweak further afterwards. I think you can even remove the software afterwards and the settings hold (not sure about fan curves).

BruceUSA wrote on 10/23/2014, 10:33 AM

You really should use Prime95 for stress test because P95 will push the cpu to it maximum stress that how you find stability in overclocking. I just want to note, gaming is not a stress test and it not even close to stress test can do,(P95) I like manual tuning because I have total control of the bios settings rather than the AI Suite tell me what is best for a specific setting. More often or not, it always enable more voltage and other unneeded settings.

It is part of overclocking required a lot of times for tuning/testing to get stability. For high OC , easily in the 8+hrs all said and done. I speak this from my personal experience. My system never ever have a crash in anything that what I call stable system.

PS. 1.3v @4.6ghz 8 core is very nice but I want to see how it go with P95 stress testing. Will you try that and report back. Interesting to see the results. I am willing to make a bet on it :)

diverG wrote on 10/23/2014, 1:55 PM

Nick,

Just try rendering out a timeline and check that the CPU is close to 100% loaded.
Some render templates only use 55% cpu and are not good for testing.

With your speed you will need a 5hr timeline!!

Nice work Geoff

Stringer wrote on 10/23/2014, 5:01 PM

Really nice machine Nick... I'm so jealous...

I'm with Geoff, the best way to test a machine is with the stuff you do with it day to day.. You don't want it crashing in the middle of a long render project..

A failed overclock will usually be a blue screen.. I think Bruce's idea of running P95 overnight, might not be a bad idea ..

OldSmoke wrote on 11/4/2014, 9:12 AM

I do Cinebench testing after Prime95. My 3930K was ok with Prime95 on 4.4GHz but failed with Cinebench; true enough it also crashed with Vegas. At 4.3GHz it passes all the tests and it has been running like that for 2 years.

Stringer wrote on 11/4/2014, 12:46 PM

Like I mentioned, the best way to test is with what you do most.. A good overnight render with Vegas should be a good indication...

I had a 3930K that was pretty much like yours.. The sweet spot was 4.3.. I could get higher, but the volts, watts and temps were insane...

I decided to ebay it, and downsize to a 4770k, but I think I have the 8-core bug now...

OldSmoke wrote on 11/4/2014, 1:12 PM

but I think I have the 8-core bug now...

I do have it too but I am also a bit reluctant; I have not seen anyone confirming that a 5960X system is worth upgrading. Aside from rendering speed, 4K 29.97p preview at Best/Full is my target; right now I am using proxies.

NickHope wrote on 11/5/2014, 5:11 AM

Unfortunately I'm working on some old DV footage at the moment so I can't yet report how hardcore 4k editing is going.

I did have a couple of blue screens when I opened a jpeg picture in Firefox while doing some intensive Vegas>AviSynth>VirtualDub renders. I reduced the multiplier from 46 down to 45 and didn't have a crash since. Haven't got round to Prime95 or Cinebench yet.

megabit wrote on 3/16/2015, 11:56 AM

"With the HD6970 set as "GPU acceleration of video processing" there is a bit of delay before 29.97 but less than 1 second. With the GTX 580 it doesn't get above about 21fps"

??? With my i7-4600K and the Gigabyte GTX580, when playing a XAVC S 25p 100 Mbps clips (off an AX 100 - is this the kind of 4k material you are using?) I'm getting full 25 fps at Best/full, and that with Sony Color Curves, White Balance and Levels FXes.

Please tell me I got you wrong, and you are using a more demanded codec and/or project settings (like 32 bit perhaps) - as I'm also after the newest X99 platform and 8-core i7, basing on the current performance I was hoping it would fly!

Piotr