Building a SuperPC to do video editing+++

[MedicRiec]

Firstly I want to thank Rob for having this site available to us all and to all those who help others in this task. I have been working on this SuperPC for the last few days and am over it now and stumbled upon Rob’s MysuperPC site, then this forum, fantastic. I have a had a good read and am better informed as a result, just wish that I had found this site a week ago, I am impressed and grateful that this is available.

I would like to build a machine that is capable of doing video rendering with ease, have the ability to multitask at the same time and be upgradeable in the near future. A real nice thisng also is to have teh USB in fornt of the box and more then 2. At one stage was looking at MacPro (hope that’s not a dirty word :eek: ) but was put off as too hard basket to upgrade. My attempt to look at all the components and figure out what works together is also in the too hard basket. So any help from others would be greatly appreciated.

As far as money goes I’d like to be practicable, but not squeeze out performance either, so money is no object. Make sense? :p Would like a very fast machine that we can upgrade.

Want to again thank you all for reading this and in advance thank you for your reply. Waiting with baited breath from downunder. :)

[Chuckyfaz]

Hi Medic, i have just built my first pc, i built mine for video editing and gaming, here it is.... It runs super quick and does my video editing with ease.

Thermaltake Armour Case (ATX) £97
Corsiar HX620 PowerSupplyUnit £86 could get the 520 for £66
ASUS P5KC (ATX) MotherBoard £73
Corsair 2 x 1GB DDR2-800 RAM £37
Intel Q6600 with Arctic Freezer 7 £156 + 15
ASUS nVidea 8000GTX GCard £237
Creative Soundblaster Extreme Fidelity X-Fi from my old pc
Samsung Spinpoint 500GB HDD £58
My old nec dvd writer, keyb etc

I got everything from ebuyer. The case itself was quite pricey at £95 but it does have 2 x usb2 and a firewire connector on the 'top' of the box which u metioned might be handy for you. You could get a perfectly good case for £40

The graphics card i wanted for my games so perhaps you could save money here.

The motherboard has ddr3 capability so when it becomes more affordable u can upgrade in that sense.

Hope this helps

I am fairly new to this but i spent a lot of time looking into it all and the components i listed seem to me to be the best for there price.

Chucky

[Chuckyfaz]

Ive just noticed you live in Oz, maybe ebuyer wont be your best bet. lol.

[chunkylover53]

Medic: When you say video rendering, are we talking professional or amateur? What software do you use or are you planning to use?

[MedicRiec]

Thanks Chuckyfaz for your reply and specs, will have a look at the gear you have today. I like the fact that you are using Intel vs. AMD, as my understanding is Intel is faster. For those who are interested in purchasing gear here in Oz, this seems to be a pretty good site for price comparison: http://www.staticice.com.au/index.html

chunkylover53 I have over 12 years of various Hi8 and Digital video I want to burn before the tapes go bad. I have historically used Nero and Adobe for programs. I think Id like to make a professional PC as there may be options to use this here in the area for money. Something to think about really as not many ppl don’t this type of work. In addition I want a faster computer as I spend about 4-6 hours a day on it and gaming is on the agenda. :)

Again guys thanks for your reply, it is comforting to have others help in this area. I am a professional in the emergency medical arena and computers is my favourite past time.

[MedicRiec]

I think I'll start with this case: Thermaltake Mozart TX Black. Seems to me that it’s the only case that expandable for the future and has fantastic cooling capabilities. This cooling is very important as we live in the tropics.

Now the difficult part the highend motherboard.

[chunkylover53]

Yeah, me too. I have converted over 40 hours of Digital 8 tape since I built my new PC. My specs are a lot like Chucky's, and this thing is a phenomenal video editing rig.

http://forums.mysuperpc.com/showthread.php?t=1075

Only major thing I added after that original spec was a second 750GB internal hard drive for the video. Plus, if gaming is on the agenda, my graphics card is not the best choice. But for video, this machine cuts through it like a hot knife through butta. I use Pinnacle Studio software, but I would assume it would run Nero and Adobe just as well.

On my old store bought PC, it would take up to 3 hours to render 1 hour of video. Plus it would lock up all the time, forcing me to start over. Not to mention, you couldn't do anything else while it was running. Now it takes 40 minutes to render an hour of video, and I can do other things at the same time. In fact, I'm doing it in the background as we speak. :D

Good luck with your build. You can do it!

[MedicRiec]

Hey mate thanks for the input, will have a look at your PC as well.

At present I think at least I have chosen a case, well thats a great start after 5 days of sitting on the puter while on holiday shopping. I keep getting hung on the choice of mobo though. So many darn options, if I could get past the various manufactors and varieties I'd be on my way to heaven. :)

[MedicRiec]

Hey chunkylover53 mate your machine looks like a smoker.

Am considering spending a few more bucks and wondering if the Asus Maximus Formula might give us a bit more speed? The cost for your board is $164.00 AU and the Maximus is $385.00

[chunkylover53]

Is that their DDR3 board?

[MedicRiec]

These are the specs off their site:

Intel® Quad-core CPU Ready
- Supports Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-core CPU
- Intel® Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Duo Ready
- Intel® X38/ICH9R
- Dual-channel DDR2 1200*/1066 MHz Support
- Extreme Tweaker
- SupremeFX II 8-CH Audio
- CPU Level Up
- Voltiminder LED
- LCD Poster
- ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit)
- 2-Phase DDR2
- COP EX

[Chuckyfaz]

Medic: When you say video rendering, are we talking professional or amateur? What software do you use or are you planning to use?

Just amateur, i make videos for my clan on xbox360. I use Sony vegas 8 pro to edit and render. Pinaccle studio 11 to capture as i have a dazzle 150 capture card at the moment. I am looking for a HD one when i get some more cash together.

Here are the two promo video's i made for the clan, they are on youtube so they have been demolished quality wise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKuBr46iGsQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OorvtCiEcCI

Chucky

These other guys know a lot more than me so i'm taking some advice here too

[chunkylover53]

These are the specs off their site:

Intel® Quad-core CPU Ready
- Supports Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-core CPU
- Intel® Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Duo Ready
- Intel® X38/ICH9R
- Dual-channel DDR2 1200*/1066 MHz Support


Sorry, I was looking at the wrong one on Newegg. This is a higher end board, so I'll defer to Rob, Wise Monkey or Jamie. I went with a mid-range board, with a higher price/performance ratio. Despite the problems some folks have had with it, I chose the P5KC becasue it takes both DDR2 & DDR3 memory, and I felt that added upgradability to it. I don't USE an X38 motherboard, so I can't say from experience, but I've not read anything that shows it's worth the premium you pay. Be interested to see what others think.

[MedicRiec]

Well here we go, this is what I have put together. I would apreciate any comments on this rig, changes to make and the like would be fantastic.


Thermaltake Mozart TX Black case
ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA S775 M/B Intel X38 Chipset up to 1600FSB/DDR2/2x PCIE/SATA RAID/2x GLAN/2x 1394a/AUDIO
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450/ 2.66GHz/ 12MB Cache/ 1333FSB/ LGA775
Thermalright IFX-14 CPU Cooler
PATRIOT 2GB PC2-9600 1GBX2
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro
Thermaltake 1500W ToughPower
Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive

[MedicRiec]

Just amateur, i make videos for my clan on xbox360. I use Sony vegas 8 pro to edit and render. Pinaccle studio 11 to capture as i have a dazzle 150 capture card at the moment. I am looking for a HD one when i get some more cash together.

Here are the two promo video's i made for the clan, they are on youtube so they have been demolished quality wise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKuBr46iGsQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OorvtCiEcCI

Chucky

These other guys know a lot more than me so i'm taking some advice here too

Pretty cool stuff, must admit watching them I had an adrenaline RUSH. Not sure that I could play these games. :eek:

Looking forward to comments on the rig I think I'll build. :)

[MedicRiec]

Looks like a couple changes to the rig:

Thermaltake Mozart TX Black case
ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA S775 M/B Intel X38 Chipset up to 1600FSB/DDR2/2x PCIE/SATA RAID/2x GLAN/2x 1394a/AUDIO
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450/ 2.66GHz/ 12MB Cache/ 1333FSB/ LGA775
Thermalright IFX-14 CPU Cooler
PATRIOT 2GB PC2-9600 1GBX2
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GT ZL PCI-E 2.0 512MB 256-bit GDDR3, Core clock: 650MHz, Memory clock: 1800MHz
Thermaltake 1500W ToughPower
Samsung 750GB HD753LJ Hard Drive - SATA II 7200rpm, 32MB Cache


Change HDD to a Samsung 750GB 7200rpm SATA II as it has 32MB Cache vs. 16MB Cache

No Sound card, as the sound card that comes with the mobo looks good enough, was worried about audio resources being used by the mobo.

[Chuckyfaz]

Yeah that rig looks quality.

Thermaltake cases are very good, spacious and really easy to work with.
The Samsung hdd is a very good drive and came second only to its 1TB sister in the reviews that i have read. (in terms of speed of writing reading and £ / $ per GB.
The onboard sound of my Asus board is very good and i didnt notice too much difference when i disabled it and set my Xfi to work, so yours should be better if not at worst the same.

Get building!

Mine is up and running and i'm never off it at the mo cos i broke my ankle.
(dont ask)! I tripped over my new armour case... jus kidding!

That reminds me can anyone recommend a program to convert my vinyl records to mp3?

Chucky