Need Advice - HDVideo Build - RAID Matrix Puzzle

[Igor Valentovitch]

Dear members of the forum, first of all I’d like to thank you for your posts as they help people like me build confidence to assemble their own systems. I want to ask for your advice regarding the parts I selected for my first PC. I want to build a machine for HD video editing – HDV and AVCHD files. I’m not a gamer but practice on MSX Flight simulator occasionally.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this month

BUDGET RANGE: 1000-1200 After Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: HD Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com,

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada

OVERCLOCKING: not presently but might in the future if I need to

SLI/CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 24” LCD 1920x1080 or 1920x1200

OS: Windows 7 x64

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I would like a quiet and stable PC

These are the parts I selected after reading numerous posts on the topic:

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz

Mobo: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359]

RAM: GeIL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10660)
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144287]
Will increase the ram to 12GB in the future

Graphics Card: EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339]

I opted for NVidia because of the allegedly better OpenG 2.0 and CUDA features which seem to work better with Adobe Premiere. But if this is not a proven fact, I can go for a cheaper and reliable card: XFX HD-477A-YDFC Radeon HD 4770 512MB
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369]

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006]

Chassis: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137]

HDD: 2X Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073]

I would take those 2 500GB drives and run them in "Matrix" Raid where I will create a Raid 1 array for the OS+Apps with the first 200GB and then a Raid 0 array with the last 600GB for media cache & scratch disk & page file.

HDD for storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136534]

Cooling: Since I won’t be over-clocking, I’m not sure if I need an additional cooling system for the CPU. In case the HD rendering would require extra cooling, I was thinking of getting XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight-S1283V
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029]


I will appreciate your input here as I’ve never built a PC before. Can you advice me also on websites which demonstrate the process of actual building and fine-tuning of the system.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Alvin Smith]

Merry Christmas !

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133266

 

[Alvin Smith]

Here's a silly question, for you ...

If that matrix RAID uses two drives to do some sort of hybrid "0+1" config, AND ... If the purpose of a RAID 1 Mirror is to provide a backup, in event one drive fails ... THEN ... *IF* one drive fails, and the mirror is split, across two drives, THEN WHAT GOOD IS THE FARGIN MIRROR ???

= Al = just curious

 

[Igor Valentovitch]

I was thinking about the same issue. As I mentioned, I'm not experienced in PC building and I got all the information about it from hi-tech guys like you. Here is a link to a forum where this RAID question was discussed: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264258-31-system-editing-adobe-premiere

Logically, I think it would be better to have one physical drive in RAID 1 for the OS+Apps and two other smaller drives in RAID 0 for Adobe's media cache & scratch disk & page file.

What do you tnink guys? Please comment also on my configuration before I order the parts.

Regards,

Igor

 

[i5-750ish]

Here's a silly question, for you ...
THEN ... *IF* one drive fails, and the mirror is split, across two drives, THEN WHAT GOOD IS THE FARGIN MIRROR ???
= Al = just curious

Simple. Twice as many tears for only double the cost.

 

[Igor Valentovitch]

It is easy to make jokes but is way more difficult and productive to make real comments that can help people.

 

[Alvin Smith]

Well ... with SSDs on our doorstep, who the hell needs the headaches of ANY sort of RAID ... I've had two arrays go down and couldn't even use the remaining drive, on one of them. Really not worth it ...

... What I would do is to RAID-0 an couple of 500GB Spinpoint F3s, and do a manual "full-tree" drag-n-drop to a cheap 1TB drive, in a removable drive tray (a.k.a. drive caddy or mobile rack) ... Removing the drawer/tray insures the drive does not spin when not in use ... increasing longevity significantly.

So, before you leave for work or school or shopping, ... just slide the backup drive into the hot-rack and drag-n-drop your entire apps or content tree onto it ... and leave the house. This is also a MUCH better way to "re-frag", but that is for some other thread.

= Alvin = (I REALLY HATE RAIDS ... ESPECIALLY INTERNAL ONES !!! )