New PC for Video Editing Budget €2500

HorseSea

Hi

I am google eyed looking at PC specs and sites, testing my non-existent German out on Ankermann site etc. I need a new PC to replace my current one, which will be moved, therefore can't be broken up. Current PC is Ankermann and I have had no complaints. Prior to that I always had Dells, but they always gave trouble. I was looking at hundreds of configurations on Amazon.co.uk of Ankermanns and Sedatech (never heard of them previously) and others. I am not very techy and don't want to build my own, also I am not sure whether it is processor power, graphics card or memory that is most important for want to use the PC for! I thought I would ask someone that knew what they were talking about.


1. What is your budget? About €2500 excluding speakers and monitors

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Photo editing and heavy duty video editing, multiple cameras and multiple audio in HD. Also do a lot in MSOffice.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes - currently use Windows 7 64 and would prefer to stay with that than Windows 8

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No, it is staying in one piece.

5. Do you need a monitor? Not immediately, recommendations for twins 27 inch or more. Currently using Dell Ultrasharp 22" and Sony HD TV 32"

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? Currently 1600x1200 would like upgrade (GoPro 3 cameras now capable of 4k!)

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Not immediately, was think of Logitech z906 5.1 for speakers, any comments or recommendations welcome.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Don't know enough to answer. If build is in this price range is it necessary/advisable? No, I am not that techy

8. How can you pay? Credit Card.

9. When are you purchasing? Month end.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I would like to buy it built and ready to rock.

11. Must haves? USB 3, Digital output for at least 2 monitors. Blu-ray writer

12. Would like? SSD, 4tb or 6tb capacity

Existing PC Details - Ankermann about 3 years old:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
System Manufacturer: MSI
System Model: MS-7522
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8182MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9500 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 4069 MB
Dedicated Memory: 997 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)

BloodBath

This should give you all the power you need for quite some time and will be relatively quiet.

Got the thermaltake water cooling for the 6 core/ 12 thread processor. AFAIK it outperforms the corsair H100i and has changeable fan speeds. Something the corsair doesn't have.

It should allow you to overclock that processor close to 5ghz which would give you a massive boost over stock speeds.

The motherboard has ton's of usb, firewire, sata and a good sound card included with it. It's also a great board for overclocking. ASRocks Xfast USB software really helps the transfer speeds over usb as well which will be useful for you if you are transferring from cameras all the time.

Got a 500gb ssd for windows, programs and your projects. 2 x 3tb hdd's for storage.

16gb's of high speed ram which should be more than enough.

Threw in that 5.1 sound system as well as it fit's into the budget and seems to be top quality.

The only thing I'm unsure of is the graphics card. I know the majority of video work is reliant on ram, hdd's and the processor. I don't know if they are utilising graphics cards much. I threw in a good mid range card that will handle multi monitor and has enough power to help the cpu if the programs make use of cuda.


Item|Price
Intel Core i7-3930K Retail, ohne Kühler, LGA2011|€525.77
ASRock X79 Extreme9, Sockel LGA2011, ATX|€293.99
2 x 8GB-Kit Patriot Viper3 BLACK MAMBA, 2133MHZ, CL 11-11-11-27|€140.68
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme / All-in-one Liquid Cooling System|€128.30
Crucial M4 Slim 512GB SATA 6GB's 6,4cm (2,5")|€347.19
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200 3000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€228.88
LG BH16NS40 Blu-Ray Brenner Bulk|€72.44
Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€152.11
Corsair Professional Series Platinum AX760, 760W, ATX 2.31|€149.17
Logitech® Surround Sound Speaker Z906|€279.99
ASUS GTX660-DC2O-2GD5, GeForce GTX 660, 2048MB DDR5|€201.00
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€2538.51

As for monitors you could go for a couple of 27" korean 1440p ips panels which are around €350 each. I'd go for these from the current crop. That would give you about double the screen space over your current monitors. Not 100% if the 660gtx can run 2 x 1440p monitors. It has 2 dual link dvi connections so it should be fine but I'd look into it or maybe someone else here knows.

HorseSea

Hi

Thanks for that, Bloodbath, looks good, a few items out of stock with no delivery date though. I can check again nearer the end of the month when I intend to order.

In the meantime I was looking at these two, Sedatech needs blu-ray writer and both need more HDD capacity added, which could be done within budget.

From Sedatech:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sedatech-Ultimate-i7-3770-4x3-4Ghz-Geforce/dp/B006DETP8A/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=RN4L443V6J7S&coliid=I1ZRWSPFX58CC9

From Ankermann:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ANKERMANN-PC-Kingston-Ultimate-Sabertooth-Straight/dp/B008JF3G72/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=RN4L443V6J7S&coliid=I1J8OWRS3XK936

Any comments on those.

Tij da feen

HorseSea wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for that, Bloodbath, looks good, a few items out of stock with no delivery date though. I can check again nearer the end of the month when I intend to order.

In the meantime I was looking at these two, Sedatech needs blu-ray writer and both need more HDD capacity added, which could be done within budget.

From Sedatech:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sedatech-Ultimate-i7-3770-4x3-4Ghz-Geforce/dp/B006DETP8A/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=RN4L443V6J7S&coliid=I1ZRWSPFX58CC9

From Ankermann:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ANKERMANN-PC-Kingston-Ultimate-Sabertooth-Straight/dp/B008JF3G72/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=RN4L443V6J7S&coliid=I1J8OWRS3XK936

Any comments on those.

Worse processors. The thing that boosting the budget in those is the high end graphics cards which you don't need. Bloodbath's build is much much better for what you're intending on doing.

Can you tell us what programs you're using for video editing? Because you might get away with two cheap GFX cards for running 2 x 1440p or 2 x 1600p monitors.

BloodBath

The build I've done is far better and even includes your 5.1 speakers. HWVS offer a build service for €20 but I would recommend you doing it yourself. It's pretty easy and it's handy knowing how everything goes together. It will help you upgrade and troubleshoot problems in the future.

It would take an afternoon but it's a good experience and there's loads of guides online. You would most likely do a better job than someone else paid to do it and there's less chance of anything getting damaged in transit.

HorseSea

Ok, I might give that a go. Thanks.

BloodBath

If you need help with anything give us a shout.

Serephucus

I'd throw a dedicated sound card in there if I were you.

The sound card that comes with it is only a basic one, and it doesn't support Dolby Theatre Surround, or Dolby Digital Live, which the Z906 is capable of decoding (and from personal experience, it's something you want. I have the same speakers).

I'd add something like this, to get the full value out of the speakers:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/7.1/29784/ASUS+Xonar+D2+PM%2C+PCI+%2890-YAA021-1UAN00%29.article

BloodBath

Might as well save some money on the board then and change to this one.

It pretty much has most the features of the other 1 minus the sound card.

HorseSea

Thanks for the suggestion on the soundcard and the change of mother board, good idea.

A couple of newbie questions, I have never build a PC before!

The suggested case is unavailable and I would prefer black, would this do instead http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=53132&agid=632&apop=6

If not, why and can you suggest alternative.

What does it mean when it says USB Firewire "via headers" ?

Finally if I wanted to add a second graphics card or additional HD in the future, does this set up allow for that?

Thanks for all your help.

HorseSea

Sorry Tij da feen, just realised I never replied about what software I use for editing.

It is mainly Sony Vegas 12, but some of the add-ins like Neat Noise Reduction, ProDAD Mercalli stabiliser etc seem to put the most pressure on the system.

Also on current set-up maximum preview during playback is only "half quality preview", I would like to improve this to "best" and also speed up rendering times.

I also use GoPro Cineform Studio for processing GoPro footage and that is very slow.

What is the important part of the PC for video editing? Processor, graphics card or Ram?

BloodBath

Yes that CM storm is a great case. Was going to use that initially. The cpu cooler/rad will fit the top of that too.

The mainboard headers are for front mounted usb's, firewire ect if the case has them.

The mainboard will take up to 3 graphics card's so yes you can add another. The board supports up to 10 hard drives as well so no issues adding more.

For video editing the processor is the main factor which is why I went for pretty much the best one you can get outside of the overpriced extreme editions. You will be able to overclock this way past the performance of those extremes anyway.

Serephucus

And yes, that setup will easily support a second card. The 660 is a mid-range card, so you could probably pretty easily squeeze three in if you wanted, but I don't know if the 660 supports Tri-SLI or not.

HorseSea

While I am waiting to order, could you link me to a real newbies, How to Build a PC, the real basic version! I have changed hds and memory, but that's it!

Thanks.

BloodBath

Linus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIJx6Y3tofg

A socket 2011 specific guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsQNIP7cTYA

Your water cooler radiator will be going into the top of the case with the fans blowing upwards. I'd do this job first to see how much clearance you have. The fans from the rad may need to installed into the top section of the case while the rad goes underneath depending on clearance since the thermaltake rad is thicker than some others. This is know as a pull configuration as it will be pulling air from inside the case through the rad.

If it fits inside then case with the fans on the bottom pushing air through the rad and out the top then do it that way as it should be slightly more efficient. This is the push configuration. You can have fans on both sides pulling and pushing which lowers temps a bit but you won't need to.

That case has hdd cages with fans on the side that can be positioned to take air in from 1 side and blow it out the other or take air from the front and blow it inside the case. You should position it to take air from the front to provide air into the case.

Serephucus

Better one featuring X79:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NvDMMrCNU&playnext=1&list=PLMHxS9HkaU_jPf-2PSyzHo4hJyykGO0qn

BloodBath

Thanks was looking for something closer to his own build. My searching sucks it seems.

HorseSea

Great the socket 2011 video was perfect. Doesn't look too bad, fingers crossed.

Just watched the X79 video, thank you. All those cables :S

BloodBath

I forgot to mention when you asked about adding a second graphics card.

If you are thinking about adding a lot more hard drives to this and/or a second gpu down then line then you may want a little more power. The 860w version of the psu should be enough for the cpu + 2 high end gpus overclocked + the rest with enough headroom to still run efficiently.

If it's just going to be 2 x 660's then it will be fine with the 760w.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/800+-+900+Watts/71336/Corsair+Professional+Series+Platinum+AX860%2C+860W%2C+ATX+2.31.article

HorseSea

Thanks for the suggestion to upgrade the psu.

Two or three days to go before I can press the purchase button, but I am getting cold feet, it's a lot of cash.

Am I really going to get a significant uplift in speed and performance for video editing. I was compared the new chip with my existing one, which is three years older, on the Intel sight and they don't look that dramatically different. Although I may as well be looking into a hen's ear.

Now that I have my head around building my own PC would I be better off upgrading what I have already? Details in original post. I could spend a €1000 on an upgrade and have enough change for a new lens!

Thanks for you patience.

indough

can you swap lenses on a go pro?

edit: oh wait just realised it's a secondary camera

BloodBath

The 3930k will handle tasks at least 50% faster. It has a higher running speed, higher potential overclocks and 2 addition cores + 4 additional threads. It depends on how much time you actually spend doing cpu intensive tasks on videos.

Here's a video example testing the 2 processors. The stock speed 3930k beats the overclocked 920 by 50%.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxemLu6EJHI

With overclocking on the 3930k I'd expect this gap to be as much as 70-75%.

You could get away with the 920 for a while alright. Some more ram, whatever drives you need and a good cpu cooler so you can overclock the 920 should do the trick. Maybe a new case depending on what one you have already.

HorseSea

indough wrote: »

can you swap lenses on a go pro?

edit: oh wait just realised it's a secondary camera

LoL. They are actually 3rd & 4th cameras and I love them, it's a pit that the workflow to get the best out of them is so slow and creates monster files.

HorseSea

Wow YouTube has a video for everything, I hadn't found that. Pretty impressive and very relevant, using a lot of the same software as well as the hardware I use. 50% sounds good enough, I will sleep on it, thanks for the prompt reply, I will let you know what I do.

HorseSea

Ordered this morning, everything as per the original suggestion, except I ordered the separate sound card (I didn't downgrade the mother board), the suggested larger PSU and Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. Paid by express transfer at the bank this morning. I bottled it when doing the order and got them to build it, I know that's not recommended here, but I think I trust DHL handling more than I would trust myself to build it.

Thanks for all the help, I am sure I will have more questions when it arrives. I still need to sort out monitors, old ones will do for the moment.

BloodBath

Nice. Hopefully it gets to you in 1 piece

Get overclocking that cpu when it arrives. That cooler should get it far.

HorseSea

Delivery arrived today, but sadly only one box, the speakers, the rest should be here tomorrow - hopefully.

First look at the speakers is that they look pretty cheapy. Not the quality of the six year old Dell branded Altec Lansings I have on this PC, but it is the sound I am interested in not the looks, so I'll see what that's like over the weekend.

Serephucus

Um, no? What speakers did you have. These aren't cheap feeling at all (with the exception of the control box, being so light)

HorseSea

Dell Altec Lansing ADA995. It is not the end of the world if I have to keep them I will swap the Z906 to the old PC, but would like the new one s with the new PC. I will do some listening over the weekend, assuming the rest of the stuff arrives.