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Optimal price-performance rig for video/photo editing

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  • Performance
  • Components
Last response: in Components
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September 2, 2014 11:13:58 PM

After extensively reading various forums and reviews I came up with this, what I believe is an optimal price-performance rig for video and photo editing. Most of the time I am using sony vegas pro, adobe effects and lightroom.

http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/BrZn99

I am still not confident about couple of things and I d appreciate any input. I should mention that I do not plan to overclock the CPU so no need for “k” CPU and Z87 motherboard.

CPU
The i5-4690 should be a new version of highly popular i5-4670, and there is the new i7-4790 that supports multithreading. The question would be does i7-4790 really improve editing/rendering speed so much that is worth extra 100 € or so.

Memory
I am still unclear if 2x4gb is better than 1x8gb for video editing.

Video Card
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-27...
suggests that AMD is way faster for video editing compared to Nvidia, but that difference between r9 270 and r9 280 is relatively small. The question is does it really make sense to spend more on R9 280 or should I stick to r9 270.

I admit there is still place for improvement so any comment is very welcome.

More about : optimal price performance rig video photo editing

September 2, 2014 11:40:27 PM

You mentioned the z87 motherboard. When using a 4690 I suggest you get a "9 series" motherboard. If you got an "8 series" mobo you would need to update the BIOS. And since it wont be overclocked its obvious that the H97 chip set would be used. As for memory; yes. 2x4gb is always better than 1x8gb because 2x4gb takes advantage of dual channel memory. However this is not true with a motherboard with 2 DIM slots. 4x2gb would theoretically have the same performance as 2x4gb but the problem with 4x2gb is that A. it doesn't leave room for 16GB in the future and B. creates more heat. And the 270 is a very good card that should be just more than plenty for a price-performance rig whether it be for gaming or video editing.

Build suggestions: You will not be needing a CPU cooler because you wont be overclocking. If you really want one just get a CM TX3. What will you be storing on your SSD? It cant be your OS unfortunately as your OS will will use more than 40gb not to mention self provisioning. Also, the HDD should be changed to a WD caviar blue. Basically a few euros more gets you a more reliable drive :)  Very good job on the PSU.. Rarely no one ever gets that right!!

Changed build with suggestions:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€196.27 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€79.70 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€83.06 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Intel 320 Series 80GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€49.40 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€50.39 @ Pixmania DE)
Video Card: Club 3D Radeon R9 270 2GB Video Card (€159.66 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (€52.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (€59.90 @ Caseking)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (€16.39 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Monitor: Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (€298.12 @ Home of Hardware DE)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (€19.18 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1064.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-03 08:39 CEST+0200

After further inspection I noticed that There is only one H97 motherboard in Germany so I went with a Z series board simply because it was 40 euro less. A Z series motherboard will still work perfectly so there should be no worries there. And I changed to an 80GB SSD which should run a OS.
September 5, 2014 2:02:04 PM

Thank you MasterDell,
that is exactly the feedback I was hoping for. The PCPartPicker list does not have the complete database of the online shops so other H97 motherboards can be found. Idealo.de is a nice webpage that has a much better overview of the market for a given product. I will probably upgrade the SSD a bit more, to 120 gb for just 12 more euros to:
http://www.amazon.de/Samsung-MZ-7TE120BW-interne-SSD-Fe...
and it has an exceptional feedback.
September 6, 2014 12:37:57 AM

Awesome that sounds good :) 
!