System requirements - new PC

AlanADale wrote on 7/5/2012, 7:44 AM

I'm holding off purchasing a new PC until VMS v12 is released which hopefully (cough) will have 64 bit support. If not, then I've got a dilemma as I haven't got the space for 2 machines.

I'm considering the following specs with a bit of built in future bullet proofing. Any comments re seems OK or a bit over the top etc. I also run Photoshop and Lightroom which are both somewhat processor and memory intensive.

Processor - Intel® Core™ i7-3820 (Four Core, 10MB Cache) 3.60GHz
Video Card - Dual 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 555 SLI
Memory - 16384MB (4x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Quad Channel
Hard Drive - 500GB (7200RPM) Solid State Hybrid + 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (7200RPM) 32MB Cache
Additional Hard Drive - 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (7200RPM) 32MB Cache

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 7/5/2012, 8:27 AM

Looks like more than enough power for editing almost anything, BA!

I assume, by the way, you're editing traditional camcorder video (AVCHD, miniDV or HDV). The program performs best with these formats.

It can also edit non-camcorder video, like smartphone and Flip camcorder video. Though you won't get quite the peppy performance.

AlanADale wrote on 7/5/2012, 9:30 AM

Thanks Steve. All my videos clips are currently shot using a Canon 7D, the Canon SX1 IS or my Drift Stealth POV camera.

Markk655 wrote on 7/5/2012, 12:45 PM

Same wish list for me in VMS 12 and planning a similar build as well. Why do you think that you need the dual SLI GPU setup? Would you go with 2x8GB RAM instead so you can future-proof and add more RAM later?

AlanADale wrote on 7/5/2012, 1:56 PM

Dual SLI GPU setup - I don't know simply having chosen mid range from a number of choices offered. Is there a disadvantage in my choice? Same with the RAM question really - mid range choice and I though quad core would be a better option over and above dual core. Wrong thinking?
As you can probably tell, what I know about computers can be written on the back of a postage stamp LOL.

Markk655 wrote on 7/5/2012, 2:54 PM

Not sure what your budget is, but for a few bucks more, you can move up to an Ivy Bridge processor (most recent processor) . That is the most modern architecture.

SLI is for gaming. Video editing won't use it. It may speed up rendering (for codecs that use GPU rendering; I don't know-see release notes). So, you can probably save some cash by buying only a single GPU, but upgrading the processor. Would love to hear others' views on this.

As for RAM...same question. I think it is a matter of upgradability. If you go 2x 8 GB, you leave yourself 2 extra slots for more RAM in the future. Not sure of any benefits with going 4x4GB. Hope others will chime here in as well.

TOG62 wrote on 7/6/2012, 2:35 AM

Going from reviews, rather than personal experience, I think Mark's correct on all counts. From what I recall from earlier contributions to this forum the reduced rendering times resulting from using the GPU are fairly small in any case.

AlanADale wrote on 7/6/2012, 6:07 AM

I take on board all said regarding RAM and will have to perhaps give that some more thought. As regards GPU - I also have to consider Adobe Photoshop which is GPU/CPU intensive and not just VMS which of course would simply things..
Input so far much appreciated by the way. Thanks.

Edit: since posting this I have come across this article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/askjack/2012/jun/01/adobe-pc-process-photographs

Markk655 wrote on 7/6/2012, 9:10 AM

I would check to see if your version of Photoshop uses SLI (2+ video cards) beneficially. From a quick look, I don't think it does, unless you are using 2 monitors. See Adobe forum.

I also just noticed that you aren't using an SSD as your main hard drive. If you can afford a 128 GB SSD hard drive, I think you'll appreciate the speed boost from having one for your OS and programs.

I'm hoping to build one once the next version of VMS and Win 8 are released.... I think that whatever system you build that is similar to the specs that you posted, you will be happy with (at least for the next 2 years!)

BTW, nice article. Thanks for the reference.

AlanADale wrote on 7/6/2012, 11:03 AM

Regarding SSD's - I keep reading conflicting reports regarding reliability issues so I'm going to mull over that a while longer. Nice report here which I think is pretty fair in it's appraisal http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,review-32241-9.html

Markk655 wrote on 7/6/2012, 2:30 PM

Durability?

LOL

AlanADale wrote on 7/7/2012, 1:05 AM

In my first post I mentioned holding off from making a purchase waiting to see if the next version of VMS would be offered as a 64 bit version.

On another forum I received the following advice:
Vegas Movie Studio will run on W7 64 bit and can use 4GB of physical RAM at the same time, while on 32 bit Windows it can use only 2GB of physical RAM at the same time.

Can anyone confirm that the above statement is true?