Video Editing system

[Lionstarr]

Hello, I am a recent film graduate. I am beginning my career as an editor and seeking advice on building a great workstation!

Approximate Purchase Date: Two / three weeks

Budget Range: $2,500- $3,000.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: I will be running Avid Media Composer 6, Adobe After effects CS6, Adobe Photoshop CS6, ProTools 10, All Microsoft Office Applications.

Parts Not Required: Mouse, Keyboard or Speakers.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: recommendations would be great!

Country: (e.g.: India) United States.

Parts Preferences:

System Software - Windows 8

Processor- Intel Core i7 Quad Core.

Memory- 16 GB

Graphics Card- NVIDIA, Quadro Based Graphic Card.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Later on in my career, not now.

Monitor Resolution: 1080p

 

[Boxasauras]

It's late here in NYC, so in the morning I'll explain why I chose certain parts, but here is the build right now.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Jajk

 

[Lionstarr]

Thanks for the Advice!

 

[Lionstarr]

what case would be best for my system?

 

[Boxasauras]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Sorry for the delayed response. The best sites to buy from are Newegg, by far, and Amazon. If you want to go to a bricks and mortar place, go to Frys or Microcenter, depending on where you are.

Probably one of the best i7s out there. Since you still have a bit of money left over, you can go for the 3930k, a hexcore. Just as a side note, the price at microcenter is in store only. It'll be about $100 more at Newegg.
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)

Good budget cooler, even more so since you won't be overclocking, but if you decide to in the future, this gives you the option.
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)

This has lots of USB ports and sata ports.
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)

16Gb is plenty for anything.
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Use this SSD as a boot drive and for your applications to make your computer faster.
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($186.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Good amount of storage for all of your footage.
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)

The newer nvidia cards are much better than the old quadros, at least IMO.
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Newegg)

Quality sound card for your sound editing.
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DG 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($26.99 @ NCIX US)

Run of the mill wifi adapter
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N250PCe 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($21.90 @ Amazon)

I picked out two bluray reader/writers so you can do all of your DVD ripping/burning.
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Full (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1834.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-12 13:26 EDT-0400)

 

[Boxasauras]

Here's a good PSU

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss650km

I didn't pick out a case for you since a lot of the choice is based on aesthetics but I'll get back to you on that. Any idea what you're looking for? Big, small, flashy, simple, your favorite color? If you want to go looking, make sure it is an ATX case.

 

[Lionstarr]

I was recommended an Antec Three Hundred illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower, You as a second opinion mentioning ATX, settles that dispute!

 

[Boxasauras]

ATX is just the size of the motherboard, ATX being the largest, and mATX being smaller. Your motherboard is ATX, so we have to find a ATX case. Some of my favorites:

Antec 902

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129097

NZXT Phantom 410

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087

CM Haf XM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119257

And my absolute favorite (which is why it's in my build)
Fractal Design Define R4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352023

 

[krsATL]

I have been looking to build something similar in the same price range. I have been doing HD editing for a few years and have learned some valuable lessons. First, I would probably go with Win 7 to start with. Lots of reasons but the best is that Win 8 just isn't ready for EVERYTHING and you need everything working perfect. I would also go with a board that would allow for 64GB but don't go past what the mobo mfg recommends on speed. The six core chip is the way to go, spend as much as you can but if you aren't an OC'er don't go with xtreme. You don't need multiple GPUs, just go with one that will allow 3+ screens at HD (you will want to have at least two screens) I like the MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card for a number of reasons, but Radeon has more professional cards if you end up doing more high end work or using 3d tools to give you After Effects templates to use with your video. You can always add more cards if you need to but that card will work with 6 screens.
Also, one of the most important things I can mention is you can't have enough drives and fast drives. Use two to just run you OS, run it in a mirror, you can't afford to lose your system, also use 6gb SSDs but don't use anything larger than 250gb. Get a good one to use just as a OS temp/scratch drive. Run it with a 6gb SSD. Have a raid of SSDs for your working drive to use for rendering, these would need to be 6gb SSDs ideally. Then have a raid or disks for all your programs and footage. That can be just a bunch of drives, but keep that backed up.
I am still trying to figure out everything and could use advice as well, but I do believe these things will be helpful. Good luck.

 

[Boxasauras]

Sorry, didn't realize that I had put Windows 8. Yeah, definitely go with Windows 7.

64GB is way too much. Even 32 GB is somewhat overkill.

Nvidia is the way to go for video editing. Avid and Adobe both support only Nvidia cards, Adobe especially is better with Nvidia due to their GPU acceleration. If you don't have Nvidia, the Mercury Playback Engine will be stuck in software only mode, drastically reducing your speed.

Why would you get a 6gb SSD, unless you're talking about 60GB or 6GB sata.

Don't mirror your OS. That's just ridiculous. Since you have extra in your budget, get some extra drives. Can't hurt. Get another 3TB drive and put them in RAID 1. If you want, get four and put them in RAID 10.