1st Build in a long time.....Help Appreciated

Diabolicus

Honorable
Aug 1, 2012
16
0
10,510
Hi,
Its been a long time since I built a new system so I'd appreciate it if you could cast your eyes over my planned build and give any advice. Im building this system mainly to edit/encode HD video with Sony Vegas, work on several large photoshop files simultaneously, browse with large number of open tabs. And to have multiple programs running at once without grinding to a halt like this laptop does! Oh and not forgetting to play Diablo III which this laptop doesn't.

Case - Corsair Carbide 500R (£90)
PSU - OCZ Modstream 600W (£50)
CPU - i7 3770k (£220)
Cooler - Antec Kuhler H20 920 (£65)
GPU - Radeon HD7850 2Gb (£160)
RAM - 16Gb Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz Grey (£65)
Mobo - Asus P8Z77-V LX (£85) or is the PRO version worth the extra £15?
HDD - OCZ Vertex3 120Gb SSD
DVD - Generic DVD-RW x22 (£15)
OS - Win7 Home Premium (£40)

Monitor is probably going to be a 24" Samsung within the £100-150 range unless advised otherwise.

So is there anything I'm forgetting (peripherals aside)? Any compatibility issues or just bad hardware choices?
Any comments appreciated

 
-Great Case

-Poor PSU -

-Correct CPU for Video Editing

-Cooler - Eh.....like the Antec better than Corsair but that's not saying much. I'd look at the Phanteks
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/phanteks_ph_tc14pe_cpu_cooler_review,14.html

-Can't say I have seen many video editing builds with ATI cards .... eliminates use of

http://www.learningdslrvideo.com/sony-vegas-pro-10-released/

Editors using a CUDA-enabled NVIDIA® video card are able to encode to the Sony AVC format using GPU-accelerated rendering — providing improved AVC rendering performance and speed, ensuring final projects are published faster than ever before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Vegas

Find em here:

http://www.nvidia.com/content/cuda/cuda-gpus.html\

RAM - 1.5 volts is for the JDEC profiles .... but most RAM speeds are advertised and labeled based upon their XMP profiles......most XMP profiles for i5 and i7 RAM is 1.65. In fact, over 2/3 of the RAM on Intel's XMP compatible list are over 1.50 volts.

Intel's JDEC specifications stipulate 1.5 volts .... for JDEC profiles ..... but XMP "allows compatible DDR3 memory to perform beyond standard specifications" and is "predefined and tested" by Intel

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/gaming-computers/intel-extreme-memory-profile-xmp.html

Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (Intel® XMP) allows you to overclock compatible DDR3 memory to perform beyond standard specifications. It’s designed to enhance the gaming features built into Intel® technology–based PCs. If you like to overclock and squeeze as much performance from your PC as possible, then memory based on Intel XMP gives you that extra edge you need to dominate—without breaking a sweat.

Predefined and tested Intel XMP profiles can be loaded via BIOS or a specific tuning application through a computer’s operating system. Often the easiest way to load Intel XMP profiles is using a tuning utility, which may be available depending on the particular board manufacturer. To learn whether a tuning utility is available on your system, you should contact the board manufacturer.

Again, most listed compatible i5 / i7 RAM is 1.65 .... at least according to Intel's compatibility lists

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/gaming-computers/core-i5-processor-memory-datasheet.html
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/gaming-computers/core-i7-memory-suppliers-datasheet.html

Intel's approved i7 Compatibilty List (April 2012) includes:

34 1.65 volt modules
07 1.60 volt modules
19 1.50 volt modules
01 1.25 volt modules

All that being said ..... I still think it's a good idea to "go low" to save heat on the CPU's memory controller..... I like these 1.35 volt modules for that purpose .... and they white so will match ya case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233199

-Yes move up to the Pro...or if ya like the 5 year warranty, the Sabertooth

-The Vertex 3 is an entry level SSD ....

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4328/mushkin_chronos_deluxe_120gb_solid_state_drive_review/index13.html

Other than a few really oddball entries, SF-2281 'consumer' SSDs come in three flash flavors. Starting on the low end, you have IMFT 25nm asynchronous flash, a budget flash used in the Agility 3, Force 3, Chronos (non-Deluxe model) and a few other drives that in our testing perform at around the same level as last year's SF-1200 controlled drives when filled to 50 percent capacity. A majority of drives use IMFT 25nm synchronous flash; Vertex 3, Force GT, S511 and so on.

Synchronous flash, also called ONFi 2.x is really the first step for enthusiasts, especially now that prices have really dropped. The final flash type used is 3Xnm Toggle Mode flash from Toshiba, a form of ONFi 2.x without the JEDEC classification. 25nm IMFT is rated for around 5K P/E cycles and 3Xnm Toshiba Toggle Mode flash is rated for around twice as many. Even though we are talking about writing a lot of data for a very long time, the 3Xnm flash will still last even longer.

That toshiba toggle mode stuff is what populates Tier 1 on THG's performance charts and I think this is where ya wanna be for video editing

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/buy-ssd-recommendation,3255-6.html

Tier 1 - SandForce controller with Toggle DDR NAND (Mushkin Chronos Deluxe, Patriot Wildfire, OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS, Kingston HyperX 3K, OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G, Corsair Force GS) .... Samsung 830 SSD 256 GB
Plextor M3 Pro 128 GB/256 GB

Outta the bunch, only one comes in at $0.75 per GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226226

Ya still gonna need a HD for storage, I love these buggers .....have the 2TB version
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=708&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=10

-On the chance ya wanna watch a BR movie

Player http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247
Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135252

 
Sorry ... too lazy to link to ScanUK, or something a bit more 'local'

AMD FX-8120 Zambezi: $150 with code

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3: $150 before $10 rebate
(if you are a serious over-clocker, be sure to snag rev 1.2)

or

Asus Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3: $165 with $10 code (ends today)

Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866: $59

AMD FirePro V4900 1GB 128-bit GDDR5: $162

I suspect a separate 60GB SSD for your OS/Apps with a second 60GB SSD work drive might work quite spiffy.

Lookee here ---->> Benchmarking Sony Vegas Pro 11 using GPU on FirePro V4900 ... vs Quadro 600, 2000, 4000

sony-vegas-render-times.png


Vegas Pro 11 is designed to take advantage of GPU acceleration for video FX, transitions, compositing, pan/crop, track motion and encoding. The series of test discussed below used an AMD FX 8150 8-core processor, 3.6 GHz, 8GB RAM, running Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit. The benchmarks evaluated preview and rendering with OpenCL GPU acceleration enabled on the AMD FirePro v4900, V5900 and V7900 and compared to the comparably priced NVIDIA Quadro 600, 2000 and 4000.






 

Diabolicus

Honorable
Aug 1, 2012
16
0
10,510
Thanks for the replies so far, gave me plenty to read past night.

Ok so taking on board the advice received thus far the build is now looking like:


Case - Corsair Carbide 500R (£90) White
PSU - Corsair CX600 Builder Series V2 (£50)
CPU - i7 3770k (£220)
Cooler - Phantek PH-TC14PE (£70) White
GPU - Radeon HD7850 2Gb (£160) or Nvidia GTX 570 ??
RAM - 16Gb Corsair Vengence Low Profile 1.3V (£80) White
Mobo - Asus P8Z77-V PRO (£100)
HDD - OCZ Vertex3 120Gb SSD
DVD - Generic DVD-RW x22 (£15)
OS - Win7 Home Premium (£40)

Compromises, will make do with the entry level Vertex 3 SSD, at least its not a basic model like the Agility 3.
Is this PSU a better option that in the OP?

Im really torn between the HD7850 and the GTX 570. From what I understand the HD7850 can also utilise GPU acceleration in Sony Vegas Pro 11 using OpenCL.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/gpuacceleration
(If I am understanding the data at that link correctly a 6870 is of similar performance to a 570, so the 7850 should perform better still?)

My reasoning for going with the HD7850 are due to its lower power drain, lower temperatures, more VRAM, better overclocking ability and slightly lower price.
It seems the only advantage the GTX570 has over it is it's CUDA, but if what I read about OpenCL GPU acceleration under Vegas 11 is true then maybe the 7850 card is equal to it?

As vegas encoding is currently under 10% of my total workload I dont want to choose the GPU based soley on this, but it is a factor I must consider if the Nvidia is vastly superior over the AMD card.

Any further information much appreciated to help me finalise my GPU choice. I want to get all this ordered tonight or tomorrow.

Many thanks for any help.