Input/opinions required for new video-editing/gaming machine (Jan 2013)

[Mark757]

Hi guys,

After toying with the idea for a number of years I’m taking the plunge into building my own machine. I’m not an utter noob when it comes to this but realistically it’s been a looong time since I’ve played around with the ‘inside-bits’. So I’d like to make a short list of what I’m considering purchasing and I’d appreciate any constructive feedback on what I’ve chosen well, what won’t work, or if you see any plainly obvious compatibility issues that I missed 'cos I'm not yet pro at this stuff.

A relevant point to note is that the most resource hungry game I’ll likely play is Eve Online (I'm not overly into first person shooters and similar), although I am doing a lot of video editing these days and in all honesty that's probably more the requirement than gaming, so I figure I’ll need some decent hardware. I've been researching non-stop for the past couple of weeks and while I think I've got my head wrapped around most things I'm somewhat fried from focusing on it so hard for so long. So please excuse me if I've made a total 'beginner' mistake and point out where I'm messing up.

So here’s the list I’ve put together so far and aside from problem points I'd also appreciate hearing any thoughts on if I can get a decent upgrade in performance anywhere for a small-ish increase in cost. I've also included links to my local supplier in case anyone is interested in the specs or individual pricing (it's in AUD - NewEgg, Amazon and similar aren't available to me in Australia without reasonably big postage costs):

MoBO
Intel DH77KC Media Series ATX Motherboard, LGA1155, H77, DP, HDMI, DVI,Retail (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&bid=2&sid=92070)

CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K/3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/LGA1155 Ivy Bridge (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=&&bid=2&sid=92390)

Optional 2011 MoBo and CPU (…is it worth it?)
Intel DX79TO, ATX, LGA2011, X79, 8x DDR3, 2x PCIe x16 Gen 2, CrossFire, SLI, HD AUDIO, USB3.0, SATA2 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=178&bid=2&sid=86569)
Intel CORE i7 3820/3.60GHz/10MB CACHE/LGA2011/4CORES/ (NO FAN) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=13&bid=2&sid=85556)

Memory
Kingston 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL11 DIMM (Kit of 2) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&&bid=2&sid=101941)
I'm not sure what the CL11 means, and this also seems a bit cheap for 16GB of RAM so perhaps I'm looking at buying something here that I shouldn't - thoughts?

Video Card / GPU
Gigabyte GF GTX 650Ti OC EDITION PCI-E 3.0 2GB 128-bit DDR5, 1032/5400MHz, 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=247&bid=2&sid=101082)

Optional Video Card / GPU (…is it worth it?)
Leadtek GTX 660 TI PCI-E 3.0 2GB 192-bit DDR5, Base: 915 Boost: 980/6008 MHz, 2x DVI, HDMI, DP, Fan (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=153&&bid=2&sid=104450)

Case (has to be at least partially portable, and this one has a handle because I’m precious)
CoolerMaster Storm Scout 2 Gaming Grey Case (NoPSU) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=209&bid=2&sid=103999)

Harddrive (I’d love an SSD at least for the OS, but I figure I can upgrade this easily down the track and keep costs lower up front)
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=129&bid=2&sid=87001)

Optical Drive
LGE BH12LS38 Black BlueRay SATA LightScribe Writer Retail (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=20&bid=2&sid=80397)

PSU (this website (http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx) said I needed at least a 650W unit after I plugged in everything above)
CoolerMaster 720W Silent Pro MII Modular (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=140&bid=2&sid=84589)

OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=45&bid=2&sid=50676)

Wireless Card (going for internal rather than a USB dongle)
ASUS PCE-N15 WLAN PCI-Express N300 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=273&sid=79434)

Fans for additional cooling (1 comes with the case plus these two I'll buy - is that enough, I have no idea?)
Fractal Design Silent Series Case Fan 120mm* X2 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=227&&bid=2&sid=80310)

Thermal Compound
CoolerMaster IC Essential E2 Thermal Compound (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=188&bid=2&sid=78810)


Total Cost = AUD$1305


Any input on how to improve the above without destroying my budget ($1500 max) or pin-pointing any problem areas would be fantastic!
Thanks,
Mark


EDIT: I almost forgot... do I need to get a separate CPU fan for cooling or do they normally come with them? I'm going to start researching this now although if anyone has any information on this please feel free to let me know. In case it matters, I don't plan on overclocking as I don't know enough about it at this stage. Cheers.

[RickyTick]

If you have no plans on overclocking, you could save some money by not getting the "k" version of the cpu. The only difference is that the "k" offers an unlocked multiplier for overclocking. Either way, it comes with a heatsink/fan, so there's no need to buy anything else.

Going with LGA2011 adds a good bit of extra costs. Unless you're planning on doing a lot more than video editing and gaming, I don't think you'll benefit from the added performance.

That ram looks rather cheap. I suggest looking for something different, but stay with DDR3 1600. Kingston is great ram. Also consider Crucial, Corsair, or G.Skill.

Take a look at the GTX660. It falls right between the 650Ti and the 660Ti, and is a good "bang for the buck".

If you add 2 fans, then you'll have 2 intake and 1 exhaust for a fairly significant positive air pressure in the case. I would add one more to the front intake for a total of 2 intake and 2 exhaust for a better balanced air flow. Hope that makes sense.

Otherwise, looks great.

[Mark757]

Hi Ricky, thanks for the input it's much appreciated!

I've taken the advice and will grab an additional fan, plus I've chosen a different set of RAM as well, Corsair branded this time:
Corsair 16GB (2x8GB) CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 Vengeance Performance Memory Module DDR3 1600MHz Unbuffered (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&&bid=2&sid=101941)


With regards to the CPU, I've noticed that the non-k version is 3.4GHz rather than the 3.5GHz of the k version -

- will this really make any noticeable difference to something like rendering/outputting a video file that's already been edited? (This process takes forever on my current system, so I'd really like to speed it up!)
- if I do learn how to overclock, would that make a significant different to video rendering times?
- again, if I do learn how to overclock, would I need anything else that's not in my original list? (just a Yes/No will suffice here thanks)


With regards to the video card, I've done some more searching around and found that I can get the following for about $40 extra on the original one I posted, and my research tells me that it's reasonably better than both of the options I posted above as well:

Power Colour AX7870-2GBD5-2DHV2 HD7870,10000Mhz,2G,DDR5,PCIE3.0,DVI,HDMI,2XminiDIS PLAY (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=153&&bid=2&sid=95266)


This has opened the door to some questions though if I may:

- This particular card has only the one DVI output rather than the normal two (at least I think two are normal...), and the two monitors I have only have the ability to accept DVI and the older VGA connections. So one of the monitors will have to be connected via a different output port from the video card via an adapter of some kind. Will this cause any kind of degradation in the output of the video card to the monitor?
- I've been trying to find suitable adapters to work around the problem outlined above although the only suitable one I've been able to find appears to be for Apple products (although should still work) but it was around $40 and that sort of defeats the purpose of not letting costs blow out - are there any cheaper products around that will still give me good image performance/quality that you know of off the top of your head? (I'm still trying to research this aspect as fast as I can having started this morning, but thought I'd ask all the same.)


Thanks again for the input!
Cheers,
Mark

[zburns]

Your statement: With regards to the CPU, I've noticed that the non-k version is 3.4GHz rather than the 3.5GHz of the k version will this really make any noticeable difference to something like rendering/outputting a video file that's already been edited?

3.5 is about 3 % faster than 3.4. So if it does make a difference it would be around 3 % faster.
----------
Your statement: if I do learn how to overclock, would that make a significant different to video rendering times?

If you overclocked to 4.5 GHz you would be about 25 % faster assuming most of the overclock Ghz went to speed, but the tradeoff would be excess power (watts) injection into the cpu which would shorten the life of the cpu by an unknown amount, even if you used very good liquid cooling. This is an Ivy Bridge cpu and it is physically smaller than its Sandy Bridge predecessor. It would run 'hotter' quickly and I do not how you would even begin to estimate the reduced life.

The only way I would go to a faster speed as you suggest would help the rendering is to go to a 'workstation' type design using two cpus which would net you substantial increased speed.

Under no circumstances would I choose to overclock for the purpose of video rendering; there is really no control over the time element involved. There is no way to 'judge' the extra heat to the cpu.

I just finished a monitor video card output post and it really took a while. I will look for an answer for you, but it will probably be in the morning before I have anything. Note: I took a quick look at your alternate video card and it has VGA via an adaptor and DVI, so you should be ok -- but I would still like to look at it some more to be certain.

Hope this helps!!

PS: It is about 9:35 pm Eastern Std Time here in the US. What time is it in Australia and what is the weather like this time of year?

[Mark757]

Hi guys,
Well after hours and hours and hours of research and reading forums I've finally made the purchase. Now it's down to a pile of boxes with all kinds of electronic coolness inside sitting on my dining table waiting until weekend so I can tackle the first build!

zburns: so it's reasonably linear then, the numbers don't lie I guess. Good to know, and I did end up going with the OC version - even if it doesn't help it was actually only marginally more expensive to get the 'k' CPU along with aftermarket coolers, etc. I'm curious to have a play anyway (once I'm VERY educated - I know this isn't something to take lightly).

I ended up buying the Power Color video card which I linked in a post above and I'm pretty happy with the choice. I've pulled it out to have a look around and confirmed it's got all the bits I need to run the double monitor setup. Sure the specs said it as well... but you know, I just had to eyeball it anyway. hehe


As for time and weather, 9pm for you on US EST is about midday for me on Aus east coast. Give or take a little anyway.

Weather... it's pretty unusual actually. For summer it's really dry this year which is a shame, more water restrictions coming no doubt. And interestingly the southern states have had some insanely hot days, enough that the country's meteorology department had to amend all of the weather maps, graphs and temperature scales to take into account 50+celcius daytime temps... crazy! So in your local terms they essentially stuck a section/field for 120-130 farenheite days and temps on our charts.

[Mark757]

Well, by all accounts the build was a great success - and probably the most enjoyable thing I can remember doing in quite a while!

For anyone still considering building your own system I highly recommend it!! (Just make sure you do your research first...)

[zburns]

Congradulations Mark,

Sounds like a great build.

Your quote:
and probably the most enjoyable thing I can remember doing in quite a while! A very true statement!!