$1800 silent HD video editing computer

[kimrjdk]

The setup below is probably expensive, but is it balanced, and can the parts be fitted together?
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Dec 15, 2009
BUDGET RANGE: about USD 1800
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: video editing, sound editing
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, OS, speakers, monitor, sound card, BD burner
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I'm Danish, actually
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 at least
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must be quiet. The parts below may be bought cheaper, but I shall buy them in the EU, anyway.
Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk, $289
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive, $229.99x2=$459.98 (RAID 0)

ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard, $113.99
Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 - Retail, 289.99
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1333LV4GK - Retail, $99.99x2=$199.98
HIS H467PS1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card Retail, $104.99
Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler Rev B, $64.99
Antec Performance One P183 Black Midsize Tower, $139.99
Antec CP-850 850W, $119.99

, giving a total of USD 1782.90

 

[Shadow703793]

1. The VelociRaptor is by no means quiet lol.

2. Total budget (from where you plan to buy)

3. Can you actually buy from Newegg? Dosen't seem like you can....

4. What sound card & speakers are you currently using?

5. Planing to upgrade GPU down the road? If not, you DO NOT need a 850W PSU.

6. That ATI 4670 is WAYYY over priced.

 

[kimrjdk]

Shadow70379: Thanks for the feedback

Ad 1: I thought the Velociraptor was comparably silent from this survey:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/Sound-Level,1032.html
From there it seems that the 150 GB variant is the the quietest among 10000 rpm drives.

Ad 2: I frankly admit that I wanted to discuss the technical setup in a US context. The various component prices are different in Denmark, and I just found the same components in some US shops to clearly define my technical intentions. The components listed should cost about DKK 12000 in Danish internet shops. I could spend some more if the benefits are evident. Or I could spend less as indicated in "5." below.

Ad 3: Probably not, and I never intended to. See "2." above.

Ad 4: M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 connected to a stereo set and a handfull of legacy sound input devices.

Ad 5: This may be a very good piece of advice, thank you. I am not a gamer, and I did not realize that the need for excessive power in large PC's was due to the GPU's.

Ad 6: The price level for that GPU is the same in Denmark, but I was attracted to the absence of a fan. Could you suggest something more suitable?

 

[overshocks]

VelociRaptor is loud, forget about it.

You do know that you linked to an opened box motherboard right? I know you are just using it as a reference, as you cannot buy from newegg since you are in Denmark..

Your build is good, it's nice and quiet. Except the VelociRaptors of course

This hard drive isn't bad:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&cm_re=spinpoint-_-22-152-181-_-Product

is the 4670 cheaper in denmark? because 4670 sucks and it's pricey on newegg.

agree with shadow, you don't need 850W psu because you are not using powerful gpu..etc

 

[kimrjdk]

overshocks:

Thanks, I'll try to forget VelociRaptor ;-)

Should I also forget about 10000 rpm? It seems that Samsung sell 7200 rpm disks only, or?

I have never done HD video editing due to lack of computer power, but I want my new computer to be a nice tool for about 3 years. I imagine that HD video editing is like the DVD editing that I know of, just with data quantities multiplied by a factor of 4.

The disk capacity of 600 GB is intended to contain a limited number of projects and project variants. I have a home-spun archive system which is outside the scope of this thread.

Today, I wait a lot for video data to leave the disks, be processed and get back to the disks again. Therefore the RAID 0 disk pair and my assumption that I will appreciate 10000 rpm. Any comments?

Concerning the GPU, I have only found one other possibility on the Danish market: The ASUS EN9400GT SILENT. I am still looking for a fanless entry level GPU with enough power to display HD video in any context and possibly some 3D headroom in case my son visits me and wants to play with Dad's new computer ;-)

You are of course right concerning my misleading choice of a URL to the Asus motherboard.

 

[ibnsina]

For the GPU I think you should go for ATI Radeon HD 5750 it can powerup three monitors ( 2xDVI, 1 HDMI ), this can be usefull feature for Video/Graphics editing, also is more future proof supoorting Direct X 11.
I hope you have a good HD monitor to go with this. (Price guide http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=ATI+Radeon+HD+5750&x=11&y=34)


As for the hard drive read the following review;-

500GB Per Platter: Three Next-Gen 7,200 RPM Hard Drives
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2tb-hdd-7200,2430.html

 

[kimrjdk]

ibnsina:

I have not foreseen that I would want to use three monitors. On the other hand, the CAD-users on my job use two.

I plan to buy a new monitor when my new computer is in place. I think I'll start with a single monitor.

Am I wrong to assume that the GPU fan will contribute to the noise level of my new computer? My advisors in this thread have all claimed that the HiSdigital HD4670 iSilence4 is expensive but nobody has suggested an alternative.

On the sound level of the VelociRaptors: Would 5 Samsung F3's (coupled in RAID 5) be more quiet than 2 VelociRaptors?

 

[zehpavora]

You can always try water cooling in order to reduce noises. However, it is hard to find cheap kits that perform very well. I would recommend you the ATi 5000 series, but finding a good water block for that may get you out of the budget.

The only noise made by water coolers is the radiator fans and maybe the pump you buy. Noctua fans have the reputation of being awesome fans while silent.

If you really want a silent machine, you should go for SSDs. If you do so, you also get performance as a prize. The higher the hard drive's RPMs, the louder it should be, theoretically.

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

My Velociraptors are actually pretty quiet when compared to my WD 1TB Black and especially compared with my older raptor X drives. But you won't see a huge diference in speed when you take the velociraptors vs. WD 1TB black drives in RAID 0. For a quiet case I would take the cosmos 1000 over the p183.
Cosmos 1000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138&cm_re=cosmos-_-11-119-138-_-Product

It's much easier to work in and actually does a nice job of keeping the parts quiet and dust free.

 

[ibnsina]

If you want to have silent GPU, try PowerColor SCS3 HD5750. This basically ATI Radeon 5750, features a passive cooling solution dissipating excessive heat with no noise.

http://www.powercolor.com/eng/NewsInfo.asp?id=845

http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2009/November/General%20News/powercolor_hd5750scs3_1.jpg
.............................................................................................................
I would give the 5 hard drives solution a big miss; this will generate lots of heat and noise hence more cooling fans.

Have the 80GB SSD as the main drive, and have two Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB for back up. This is 2 500GB plate, is fast, quite, cool and good value for money.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185


Spinpoint F3 500GB (single plate)
Read customer’s reviews here http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=22-152-181&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=100&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Page=1&Keywords=%28keywords%29



or

2 WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB for backup.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284&Tpk=WD1001FALS

.............................................................................................................

To find your silent CPU cooler, go through some of these reviews
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/

 

[Shadow703793]

@All:
1. OP's said not gaming. So he doesn't need any thing above a 4670. A 4670 can do Dual Display fine.

2. WCing this build is beyond this thread. OP will need a LOT of researching on WCing to even do a simple CPU loop. WCing just the CPU will add ~$250-300 USD.

3. Velociraptors are fast and not overly loud (not like some Delta fans :lol: ), but 2x F3s will perform equally with more space and silence.

4. As for SSDs, only SOME SSDs are actually worth considering. Most "cheap priced" SSDs DO NOT perform well at all (esp. the one's with the older JMicron) and become slow as the drive gets older. Also, take a look in to Kingston's SSD Now M series SSDs which use the Intel controller. They can usually be found cheaper than the Intel G2 X25-M and perform about the same. DO NOT confuse the M series SSDs with the V series,etc. The 160GB M series Kingston can be found for $450-550 online if you look. http://www.buy.com/prod/160gb-ssd-intelx25-m-kingston-sata-2-5in/q/loc/101/210851620.html
160GB should be enough for storing a few HD vids/photos while being edited. You can move them once editing is done.


@OP:
1. Drop the Raptor and get 2x F3s in RAID 0+1 or better. NEVER do just RAID0. And makesure you understand RAID and keep backups of your data.

2. If getting an SSD you MUST read this: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47212
It works for all SSDs, not just OCZ.

3. Don't get the 9400GT, it's WAY too weak imo.

4. Why not go for a LGA1366 platform so you can upgrade to 6 core CPUs down the road? It will be a bit more expensive, but depending on your software, you can benefit from having more cores.

 

[kimrjdk]

@Shadow703793:

Ad 1: In order to run RAID 0+1, wouldn't I need four F3 units? I dislike the notion that half of my harddisks consume power and generate noise waiting year after year for a disk crash which might never happen. Any crashed disk package would only contain one month of work, as I maintain a strict archiving policy

Other kinds of *** happens. My house might burn down (taken into consideration by my archiving policy...) or my camera might be involved in an accident with the world's most wonderful HD home video in it.

I know that the RAID 1 part provides both redundancy and better read performance, but can the performance effect be quantified?

Ad 2: Thanks for the advice, it seems most useful.

Ad 3: I have discovered that the 4670 card is getting out of stock. I had thought of a Gigabyte GV N98TSL-1GI, then, but would that be overkill? Should I get a fanless 4670 at a place where they are still in stock?

Ad 4: Moving to an LGA1366, wouldn't I get stuck with an older and more costly platform or is that a misunderstanding? I chose the LGA1156 because the lower power consumption and possibly higher performance of the i7-860 suggested a more recent technology. I guess my plan still is to get a fast quiet computer soon and then concentrate on something else ;-)

I think that the next Danish kroner might be used on upgrading the SSD, however (Intel seems to be the cheapest SSD in Denmark). I can see a point in having 80 fast GB's for the current project.

 

[Shadow703793]

1. True, but the failing of RAID0 (software side) is quite high. And yes, you will need 4 drives.

2. No problem. You'r welcome.

3. Yes, a 9800GT will be an overkill.

4. LGA1366 isn't that "old" rather it's more mature and will get the 6 core CPUs with a simple BIOS flash for the current X58 boards.

5. Are you serious Intel is cheaper there than the others!?!?!? Also, it's the G2 SSDs right?

 

[kimrjdk]

@Shadow703793:

Ad 1: Thinking about it, I might opt for the 4 unit RAID10 setup. Thanks for the advice.

Ad 3: And order the HD 4670 GPU soon...

Ad 4: I guess you have a point there. Sony Vegas Pro (which I have not bought yet) claims to support multiple CPU's (as well as 64-bit). Professionally, I do Finite Element Analysis on a 64-bit Dell Precision Workstation, and the only application which can really entertain Quad-core there is 7-zip. Therefore, I have yet to see multiple CPU's making a difference, but I should not be surprised when it happens.

Ad 5: How will I recognize a "G2"? The Intel 80 GB SSD is called "Intel X25-M Mainstream Solid State Drive - 34nm Product Line 80 GB", and it is slightly cheaper than the "Kingston SSDNow M-Series 80 GB".

Seeing SSD Gigabyte prices as proportional in this range, could I benefit from having two 80 GB SSD's instead of one 160 GB SSD? I like the thought of one I/O connection taking care of the OS and doing nothing else.

 

[nofun]

Hi Kimrjdk,

There's a lot of great advice here, a couple of things I'll add:

1) It may be more attractive to use a RAID 5 system rather than Raid 0+1. In RAID 5, you would only need 3 drives, rather than 4, and you would still have some redundancy. Anything more than 7,200 RPM really just isn't worth it if you already have an SSD for your software and active projects. You will get a lot more raw storage for your money, and ultimately these disk are just for archives anyways. You can pull items onto your SSD when you need to work on them.

2) It hasn't been discussed here yet, but the use of a low-power processor may not be a bad idea if noise is such a big issue. Low power processors GENERALLY run cooler, which means less cooling needs, which means quieter fans. The AMD Phenom II x4 905e runs at 65W, but of course there is a performance hit. Looking at this recent round of benchmarks (2009 Desktop CPU Benchmarks: Adobe Premiere Pro CS4), the i5 and i7 offer much MUCH better performance, but the 905e is not too far behind. If you're talking 1156 vs. 1366, keep this same mantra in mind too, the Lynnfield core is a 95W processor, while the Nehalem core is 130W.

 

[Shadow703793]

Ad 5: How will I recognize a "G2"? The Intel 80 GB SSD is called "Intel X25-M Mainstream Solid State Drive - 34nm Product Line 80 GB", and it is slightly cheaper than the "Kingston SSDNow M-Series 80 GB".

The G2 drive uses 34nm. Damn, I'm surprised it's cheaper than the SSDNow over there.


As for 2x80GB vs 1x160GB that's you'r call.

Ad 4: I guess you have a point there. Sony Vegas Pro (which I have not bought yet) claims to support multiple CPU's (as well as 64-bit). Professionally, I do Finite Element Analysis on a 64-bit Dell Precision Workstation, and the only application which can really entertain Quad-core there is 7-zip. Therefore, I have yet to see multiple CPU's making a difference, but I should not be surprised when it happens.

I run Pro and COSMOS and from personal experience the i7 vs C2Q, the i7 benefits quite a lot.

 

[kimrjdk]

Thank you all for some most valuable contributions. I guess I have learnt that

1) I should go for SSD storage for the "current project" and move data around a little more than I do today. This way, the only components with moving parts will be used for what they do best: large-volume, affordable, redundant storage. I see a general agreement that Samsung Spinpoint F3 is a good choice for harddisks.

2) Bandwidth to the physical harddisks, then, should not be assigned top priority. I think I'll go for 3 F3's coupled in RAID 5, as this setup will be more silent and less heat-producing than 4 F3's in RAID 10.

3) The huge GPU market is not meant for guys like me. The fanless HIS HD4670 remains on my list. Btw., it appears to stay on the market. They have just added an HDMI connection and now call it "HIS HD 4670 iSilence4 DDR3 1024MB Native HDMI Dual-DVI, PCI-Express".

4) My choice of the LGA1156 has only been commented once for blocking a possible upgrade scenario. I'll stick to the LGA1156, anyway.

5) Specifying the Antec P183 cabinet led to an alternative suggestion: The Cooler Master Cosmos. They differ w.r.t. aestethics and price, and the documentation of their relative silencing capabilities seems somewhat emotional (no offence, psykhiqzero, you are in line with the results of a Google search). With my present level of information, I shall take the P183.

6) I should downgrade from the Antec CP-850 PSU originally planned. I try to take advice from http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs but the Seasonic X-650 seems hard to get in the EU.

7) The whole project got better and cheaper thanks to this thread . Cheaper because of the harddisk strategy change described in 1) and 2).