Canon 5D Mark II Super Computer for HD 1080p Production.

October 26, 2010 9:11:03 PM

I’m build a new computer for my studio (Red Gum Studios) and have less than $2,000.00

I already have a Dell 30” Monitor and Adobe Master Suite CS5.
Bellow is information I’ve gathered so far. I’d love more info and ideas from builders that use the canon 5D and CS5 in their work flow.

Thank you
D.J.

HAVE:

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930 $220 microcenter In-store. (I want to overclock.)

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $200
CPU Socket Type LGA 1366
CPU Type Core i7 (LGA1366)
FSB QPI 6.4GT/S
Memory Standard DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800
PCI Express 2.0 x16
2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2) (Note 1)
2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2) (Note 2)
Storage Devices
PATA 1 x ATA133 2 Dev. Max
SATA 3Gb/s 8
SATA 6Gb/s 2 x SATA 6Gb/s
SATA RAID
SATA 3Gb/s: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
SATA 6Gb/s: RAID 0, and RAID 1
USB 3.0 2 x USB 3.0
IEEE 1394 2 x IEEE 1394a
eSATA 2 x eSATA/USB Combo connectors
Features
Support for 2-Way, 3-Way ATI CrossFireX / NVIDIA SLI technology
Supports newest NEC SuperSpeed USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
3X USB power delivery for greater compatibility and extra power for USB devices
Provides newest Marvell SE9128 high speed SATA3 storage interface with superfast 6Gbps link speed

ANTEC nine hundred ATX Mid tower Case

What to get?
CPU Cooler?
RAM???
Hard Drives?

?
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $90

Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAA064MAG-1G1 1.8" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $140
?Best Monitor for color accuracy? I have a 4 year old 30” and just want to know whats out there (at any price range).

Adobe recomends one of these cards. Does any one know the differnces in them?

Create with confidence using NVIDIA Quadro.
Meet the tightest deadlines and most stringent budgets using Quadro graphics solutions, built for professionals. Quadro GPUs offer faster performance with superior image quality and provide a fully integrated and optimized workflow across the spectrum of Adobe Creative Suite 5 applications.

Quadro Features
> Easily integrate project files from After Effects and Photoshop into Premiere Pro and edit in real-time.
> Work with extremely large video files in Premiere Pro, such as 2K, 4K or RED footage; and apply complex,
multi-layered effects in After Effects by using the large graphics memory in Quadro ultra-high-end solutions.
> Experience rich, vivid image quality with the broadest dynamic range with 10-bit color fidelity.

Video Cards Nvidia
http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros.html

> Quadro 4000 $800
PNY VCQ4000-PB Quadro 4000 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Workstation Video Card

> Quadro FX 3800 $800
PNY VCQFX3800-PCIE-PB Quadro FX 3800 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Workstation Video Card

> GeForce GTX 470 $300
GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GV-N470SO-13I GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Average Rating (11 reviews)
GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series + WindForce™ 3X $350

> GeForce GTX 285 $250
GIGABYTE GV-N285UD-1GH GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

More about : canon mark super computer 1080p production

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masterasia

October 26, 2010 10:10:34 PM

Adobe is a memory hog. The more ram the better. I'd get the Quadro 4000. You might also consider getting something bigger than a 64GB SSD. I have an 80GB and I have 20 GB left of free space after CS5 Master, Acrobat 9, Lightroom3, Office 2010, and some other small photo editing program.

Also, you probably won't need a beefing motherboard because you won't be doing SLI or CFX with workstation cards, will you?. You can probably get away with a micro ATX board.

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Red Gum Studios

October 27, 2010 12:12:02 AM

I've heard that you shouldn't use up all your ram slots if your Over-clocking your CPU. Have you heasrd anything about this? Thinking of 12BG over 3 slots.

Is an SSD drive 6.0GBs the best for my programs?

I'm thinking of having 1 1or2 TB drive at 6.0GBs to hold my content. Can this also be set as my scratch disk or will it slow my performance.

Is an SSD drive good as a scratch disk or bad?

Thank You for your time.

Videos can be seen at
RedGumStudios.com

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etk

October 27, 2010 7:25:11 AM

6.0Gb/s is the connector speed, not the drive speed. SSD's will run 200-300MB/s and a good HDD will run ~70MB/s So an SSD will be around 4 times as fast as a sctratch disk. I would use the SSD as a scratch disk, just make sure it has TRIM supposrt, and you leave a bit of free space on it. Compare the controller, not the SATA II/III.

edit: if you plan on getting a video card, you want a quaddro for this build.

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JackNaylorPE

October 27, 2010 2:50:05 PM

I'm not sure where the "Have" ends (other than you have the CPU) and the "need" begins, so I'll cover where'd I'd go with a blank slate and you decide what needs changing:

I'd go w/ a bigger case if this PC will be getting heavy hours .... the Antec case / CP-850 PSU combos are still an unbeatable deal

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

With the money you're spending, and your mention of overclocking, I'd be looking for a bit more board

ASUS P6X58D-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

SSD's - Would need to know a bit more of what you are doing relatively speaking .... stills, movies ... what about when ya not working .... are you gaming ? But if getting an SSD, I'd be getting the Vertex 2's. How many ? again need answers.....but I'd start w/ a OS drive w/ CS 5 on it, 120 GB should be plenty and perhaps a 2nd one for a scratch disk.

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX120G 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

RAM - I'd start w/ 3 x 2GB and add more if it shows that you need it. Yes, you can't generally be as aggressive with all slots field on OC's but 4 GB memory sticks are expensive. I have used the followinG CAS 6 DDR3-1600's in my last 4-5 builds

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

As for GFX cards, if the major part of the work leans towards stills, I'd go for the less expensive fermi cards like the 470. This will also be better suited if you wanna relive some after workday tension by killing off monsters in a PC game after the shop closes.

ASUS ENGTX470/2DI/1280MD5/V2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If leading more towards Adobe Premier and movies, I'd opt for a Quadro card, best one you can afford.

My son is a photography student and the general advice for the field is that 24" Dell IPS monitors are the affordable entry point into photo grade LCD's.

$1400 U3011 - 30" http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u3011.htm
$990 - U2711 - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2711.htm
$320 - U2311 - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2311h.htm
$550 - U2410 - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2410.htm

HD's - I'd use the THG storage performance charts to compare what works best for your applications. For example:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-har...[4055]=on&prod[2773]=on&prod[2772]=on&prod[3017]=on&prod[4056]=on&prod[3018]=on

yes, if you're overclocking a CPU cooler is recommended (note avoid hi profile RAM with tall heat sinks which may interfere w/ CPU cooler).

Best bets are:

$35 and under - Scythe Mugen2 2100
$50 and up - Prolimatech Megahalems

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_conten...

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warezme

October 27, 2010 3:44:21 PM

I have the 5D MKII camera also and you DON'T need to waste your money on a Quadro anything. Spend your money on a fast 285 or Fermi 470 or 480. Adobe products including Premiere Pro are optimized for the 280 series and have just recently been updated to work with 400 series. Quadro's are for CAD workstation which use high end CAD programs that use specific calls for drawing and modeling on that specific software. Spend your money on reasonably fast (7200RPM) large storage drives and a really fast boot drive that holds your adobe or video editing app like a couple of raided Raptor drives or a SSD. You will use this to buffer and scrub your video files and your large storage drives for storage. Also load up your motherboard with 12 to 24GB or RAM. Other than that a reasonably fast multicore CPU (4 cores or more) and some good calibrated monitors will work.

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Red Gum Studios

October 30, 2010 10:10:16 PM

Still reviewing this and my friends suggestions.

What about keeping the working files (HD video and Stills) on an external USB 3 Drive and only using the SATA 6Gb/s ports for the programs, scratch disk and Finnal output?

Using the iomega eGo Desktop 2TB USB 3.0 Charcoal External Hard Drive 34985
$210 as swap drives (and backups) for each projects assest files.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Thank You all for your input so far.

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