High Definition Video Capture Station

[Seraphic]

Hi,

I'm looking to do a build that will be used as a high definition video capture/editing station (480p, 720p, 1080i/p).

Below was my preliminary design. I wanted to know if anyone could offer improvements/suggestions and thoughts on if there would be capability issues. Also, could anyone recommend a good motherboard (Asus?), good 750W or so PSU, and two fast 500gb sata HDD for a raid?

Would like to OC and budget is around $1250 (can go more if worth it)

Thanks

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109140

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - 2 sets for 4GB total
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

EVGA 640-P2-N825-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130080

Antec Nine Hundred Black Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Sound Blaster X-Fi (for digital audio capture)
http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16559&nav=technicalSpecifications#iodrive

 

[skyline0511]

Motherboard Asus P5k for your memory and 2x500gb WD Caviars. Are you planning to SLi in the future? If not get an OCZ 700watt PSU. The components you've got are fine.

 

[soloscribbler]

Given your criteria, I'm going to make a radical suggestion. This option will fit in your budget, is the power choice for HD capture, editing, real time scrubbing of timeline, rendering, encoding--it's what professional post production Premiere HD, After Effects, choose most often. Most important, it's where the future is headed--when it comes to high definition video, anything else will be obsolete in less than eighteen months. It's what I built, and i have never regretted it.

Build a 5000x-based 771 pin dual socket Xeon. and build the bare bones; for your under $1500, you will get a complete, functioning system that will tear through the timeline in Premiere Pro HD as is, but most important, you will have a system that is the ultimate in expandability. It will continue to grow for five years. Here's the basic idea:
get a mobo with the Intel 5000x chipset--this has superior PCIe, IEEE1394, S/PDIF, and SATA II over the 5000V or the5000P. I chose the Tyan s2696 for around $395, but the Asus DSGC-DW is also a great choice for $415.
Then buy just one CPU, either a dual core at 2.0GHz/1333fsb or a quad core at 186GHz I think and 1066fsb. Either one is about $320-$340. 2GB FB-DIMM is about $160 it seems. Put it all in an Antec Titan650 case, the most affordable CEB/EEB (which you must have since the coolers bolt through the mobo to the case which must have the right holes) which also has a TruePower 650PS which is more than equal to the task.
For capture and editing, dont get a gaming card. For $277 you can get a PNY Quadro FX560 PVE, which is designed especially for this type of workstation. so far you're still under $1200 I think, and all you need is a system drive (Seagate SATAII 160 works great and can be mirrored later using Intel Matrix Storage Manager without reinstalling) and a data drive (Seagate 320 can be striped later with one or two more 320 SATAII, again without reinstalling since Matrix Storage Manager can expand and convert various RAID arrays on the fly). The most important thing to remember is to install the AHCI and RAID drivers at the beginning of XP install using F6 method. You'll never get another chance unless you start over with a bare drive. Don't use Vista, and XP Pro x64 isnt the best choice either, becuase of driver limitations. one last thing to add is a Blackmagic Intensity Pro PCIe x1 card for HDMI I/O, which is great for real time monitoring of the capture and editing timeline using a garden variety HDTV with HDMI input.

 

[rootjd]

g0 stepping on the q6600? will it be 45nm? what is the difference between one without g0 stepping?

 

[darkangelism]

i agree with solo about socfket 771 dual procs, preferrably dual quads, are you wanting on the fly encoding? cause then you need a lot more power, dual quads, 8 or 16GB ram, multiple raid arrays.

 

[Seraphic]

g0 stepping on the q6600? will it be 45nm? what is the difference between one without g0 stepping?

Better over clocking and lower temps

 

[Seraphic]

Given your criteria, I'm going to make a radical suggestion. This option will fit in your budget, is the power choice for HD capture, editing, real time scrubbing of timeline, rendering, encoding--it's what professional post production Premiere HD, After Effects, choose most often. Most important, it's where the future is headed--when it comes to high definition video, anything else will be obsolete in less than eighteen months. It's what I built, and i have never regretted it.

Build a 5000x-based 771 pin dual socket Xeon. and build the bare bones; for your under $1500, you will get a complete, functioning system that will tear through the timeline in Premiere Pro HD as is, but most important, you will have a system that is the ultimate in expandability. It will continue to grow for five years. Here's the basic idea:
get a mobo with the Intel 5000x chipset--this has superior PCIe, IEEE1394, S/PDIF, and SATA II over the 5000V or the5000P. I chose the Tyan s2696 for around $395, but the Asus DSGC-DW is also a great choice for $415.
Then buy just one CPU, either a dual core at 2.0GHz/1333fsb or a quad core at 186GHz I think and 1066fsb. Either one is about $320-$340. 2GB FB-DIMM is about $160 it seems. Put it all in an Antec Titan650 case, the most affordable CEB/EEB (which you must have since the coolers bolt through the mobo to the case which must have the right holes) which also has a TruePower 650PS which is more than equal to the task.
For capture and editing, dont get a gaming card. For $277 you can get a PNY Quadro FX560 PVE, which is designed especially for this type of workstation. so far you're still under $1200 I think, and all you need is a system drive (Seagate SATAII 160 works great and can be mirrored later using Intel Matrix Storage Manager without reinstalling) and a data drive (Seagate 320 can be striped later with one or two more 320 SATAII, again without reinstalling since Matrix Storage Manager can expand and convert various RAID arrays on the fly). The most important thing to remember is to install the AHCI and RAID drivers at the beginning of XP install using F6 method. You'll never get another chance unless you start over with a bare drive. Don't use Vista, and XP Pro x64 isnt the best choice either, becuase of driver limitations. one last thing to add is a Blackmagic Intensity Pro PCIe x1 card for HDMI I/O, which is great for real time monitoring of the capture and editing timeline using a garden variety HDTV with HDMI input.

So would a duel socket Xeon using two duel cores out perform a Core 2 Quad Q6600? I guess you mean a motherboard that has two cpu slots? For a hard-drive those 74GB 10,000 RPM would be too small. Going to need a lot of space, something like a sata II 500gb or 750gb with 16mb/32mb cache would be better. Also, would it be smarter to go for two 2gb sticks, rather then four 1gb? Although, 2gb sticks have slower timings vs 1gb. Is EPP ram only for SLI duel video cards?

Thanks