New Video Editing/Motion Graphics Build.. Need Advice!

KID8BIT

Honorable
May 9, 2012
3
0
10,510
Hi everyone,

This is my first ever post, but I have read loads of the communities threads before,
and have learnt loads of interesting information. I have never built a PC before
but am about to pull the trigger on components for a new build that I will be
using exclusively for video editing, after effects, 3D and general graphic design.

This is what I have put together, I would really appreicate any feedback before I
buy.

CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K

COOLER
Noctua NH-D14

MOBO
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H

RAM
Corsair Vengeance 4 X 8GB

GPU
MSI GTX 560 TI Twin Frozr OC 2GB

SSD
Crucial M4 128GB

HDD
Samsung Spinpoint F3 2 X 1TB

OPTICAL
Pioneer BDR-206DBK BD-RE

PSU
Corsair TX750M

CASE
Fractal Design Define R3

My biggest point of contention right now is to whether to go for a 3770k or a 2700k?
I will be overclocking the CPU to max I can with stability, I have heard with the 3370K I
will be looking at 4.5GHZ while 2700K would possibly go up to 5GHZ. As my apps
are very CPU intensive, which of these two will serve me best? And will it be advisably to go
for water cooling for the 3770K or would the Noctua be sufficient and if I am going air, would
a 212 Evo be good enough to save some money?

I have decided to go for the Gigabyte board as it is a good price for the latest chipset and as I don't
game, will not need dual graphics, though the other option is ASUS P8Z68-V LX which
looks good but doesn't provide front USB 3.0 support for my R3 Case, but heard it's
a good overclocker.

Anyway, please give me any suggestions you have, I'm looking for this system to take
me to the Release of Adobe CS7 in 2014, so don't want any regrets and hopefully
will be able to sell in on for a little by then too.

Cheers
 
Hello,

For your system since you will be doing a lot of CPU intensive work - I would suggest going with the 3770K. The 3rd gen I5/i7 has about 7% better IPC than 2nd gen I5/i7.

Please note as well - not all CPU's perform identically. One might be able to OC to 5Ghz, and another exact same CPU from the same batch might only do say 4.7Ghz.

As for water cooling, for somewhat of an expensive system, I would advise against it.

This is just due to the fact of a slightly harder install than a regular HSF (I might get bashed for saying that, lol). For the Noctua vs 212 Evo - I would pick whatever one is cheaper, as they perform nearly the same.

Also here is a reference for Windows 7 RAM support:


Version

Limit on X86

Limit on X64



Windows 7 Ultimate


4 GB


192 GB



Windows 7 Enterprise


4 GB


192 GB



Windows 7 Professional


4 GB


192 GB



Windows 7 Home Premium


4 GB


16 GB



Windows 7 Home Basic


4 GB


8 GB



Windows 7 Starter


2 GB


N/A


You would need at least Windows 7 Pro to use all 32GB of RAM.
 


...My bad! Apparently editing is a problem for me today! :p

Plus you know, copying and pasting. lol.


Wisecracker has some excellent advise though.
 
Now, for the rest.

You need to be clear about the RAM. That's not enough info.

Aggressively overclocking obviously carries financial risk, both in parts and time. If you are set on that, then the i7 2700K is your best option.

You do not need to use extreme water cooling to get good results. An H100 will do the job with no fuss, and it's easier to install in the right case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181017

A list of compatible cases with the H100
http://www.overclock.net/t/1144409/h80-h100-case-compatibility-thread-page-1-for-full-listings

How the H100 compares to air cooling:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

If you choose that cooler, get a case that will accept push/pull fans on it... that's 4 fans. That's how you get good cooling.

Finally, depending on your specific programs that GPU may not be what you need.
http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus
Note that some newer cards are listed as having a "compute capability" of 3.0.

Tests in CS5 would argue that CPU does play an important role:
http://www.lostcircuits.com/mambo//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=42&limit=1&limitstart=11
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-15.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-3770k-i5-3570k_7.html
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/Core-i7-3770K-vs-AMD-FX-8150-and-Core-i7-2600K-CPU-Review/1537
 

KID8BIT

Honorable
May 9, 2012
3
0
10,510
Thanks everyone, really great input.

@Wisecracker: From what I understand, the GTX 560 Ti can support OpenCL and I
don't necessarily need to get a pro Quadro card?

I've also chosen the GTX 560 Ti as it is on the CUDA supported list and
also has 2GB VRAM which will help with larger files.

@Proximon: My Ram is Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz.

Something on one of your links got me thinking, I quote:

"What can you expect from a Core i7-3770K at 4.5 GHz compared to
a Core i7-2700K at 4.7 GHz? Nearly exactly the same performance,
it turns out. Though I’m not entirely certain you’d want to leave
the -3770K running with one core at 88 degrees for very long, it is stable."

So basically at realistic overclocks, both processors performs the same, but
the 3770K will be crazy hot and not recommended to keep it that way for long periods.. which would not suit me as I will routinely be doing all night renders.

So at the moment, I'm thinking my system looks okay, I don't think the R3 will
support a H100, so I think I will go for a 212 Evo with Push/Pull.

I'm still undecided on the CPU, I'm veering towards the 3770K, just because
it's newer, but am worried about how the heat might present a problem at 4.5Ghz
and long renders. Anyone got opinions on this?
 
It's worth mentioning one set of things that Premiere Pro CS5 doesn't process using CUDA: encoding and decoding.

Here

the newly enhanced Adobe Mercury Playback Engine that incorporates OpenCL™ heterogeneous compute for the very first time on a number of Apple® MacBook Pro laptops

Here

You will not be able to use OpenCL for GPU acceleration in Premiere Pro CS6 on Windows.

Here

How do you like Vegas? :lol: