1k to 1.5K multimedia (video editing) build

[fjanicki]

I am building a new system for a friend of mine, he is a student in Cinema, so he is doing a lot of Video editing, photoshop, video rendering, and his Acer recently died on him (what a surprise...).

Anyway, he has a budget of about 1K to 1.5K, just for the tower. He needs a relatively small tower since he has a small apartment (no full size tower), wants it to be conservative looking, so no blue led and side windows. He will be working with Premiere, Avid, Photoshop and After Effects. There will be some occasional gaming but mainly older games like CSS.

I came up with an AMD build. I heard that multimedia applications are usually very multithreaded intensive, so I chose the 1055T.

Here the build list:

CASE: Lian Li PC-7B Plus II
100$
PSU: CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-520HX
100$
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
215$
RAM: No idea, 6GB of DDR3
150$?
Mobo: GIGABYTE 870A-UD3
110$
Hard Drives: OCZ Vertex II 60GB
125$
WD Caviar black 2TB
170$
Video Card: EVGA GTS 450 1GB
110$
Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
25$


Total: approx 1100$ before taxes and shipping.
Can go up to 1500$ if it is justified.

Please, feel free to suggest any change, or even a complete rebuild. I really don't have any preference.

Note the GPU choice. I chose a GTS 450 for CUDA and it's use in the Mercury Engine in Adobe products. ATI cards are not supported at all and won't work in this context.

[fjanicki]

Made more research and figured that an i7 build would make more sense.



i7 950 289.99 Buy Intel [BX80601950] Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R 200 Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

212+ 22.58 Buy COOLERMASTER [RR-B10-212P-GP] Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366 LGA775 LGA1156 120MM

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 133.36 G.SKILL F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM Ripjaws 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 240PIN Triple Channel i7 Memory - DirectCanada

Caviar Green 2TB 99.79 Buy Western Digital [WD20EARS] Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM

Caviar Black 1TB 83.88 Western Digital - Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5″ SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal... - WD1002FAEX

Corsair TX750W 750W 108.3 Corsair - Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC... - TX750W

EVGA GTX 460 1GB 202 eVGA - EVGA 01G-P3-1370-TR GeForce GTX 460 Video Card - 1024MB GDDR5,... - 01GP31370TR

CM 690 ii basic 69.03 Cooler Master - Coolermaster CM 690 II Basic ATX Mid Tower Case Black 4X5.25... - RC692KKN3

OCZ Vertex II 60 GB 117.99 NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Vertex 2 Extended Sandforce 60GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD - OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G In Canada.

total: 1326.92

[jcmaz]

I would pay a bit more for the AR (lifetime warranty) version of the 460 from EVGA.

[xlilmissmjx]

I like your 2nd setup better, but here are my changes for you...

I would swap out the TX for a HX750 - modular = easier cable management, better airflow, cleaner inside look, etc.

Drop the Caviar Green and stay with the Caviar Black instead, I know I'd still want performance in a storage drive, especially since you've got an ssd for an OS drive.

Now as for the case, if your friend really prefers Lian Li cases, then I believe I've got a sweet suggestion for him...

Newegg.com - LIAN LI PC-9F Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $140

It's a much better case than the PC-7B by miles!

Good luck with the build and hope your friend enjoys the new machine

[_dangtx_]

either or looks nice, although the modular psus are a bit more expensive than their fixed cables cousins

[Wurmer]

Unless you really need the power you can pick a modular version of the HX 650 instead and save a few $$.

[fjanicki]

Changed 2-3 things, here's the final result:



i7 950 289.99 Buy Intel [BX80601950] Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R 200 Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

212+ 22.58 Buy COOLERMASTER [RR-B10-212P-GP] Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366 LGA775 LGA1156 120MM

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 133.36 G.SKILL F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM Ripjaws 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 240PIN Triple Channel i7 Memory - DirectCanada

Caviar Green 2TB 99.79 Buy Western Digital [WD20EARS] Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM

Caviar Black 1TB 83.88 Western Digital - Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5″ SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal... - WD1002FAEX

Corsair Professional HX650W 117.39 Corsair - Corsair Professional HX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Modular... - CMPSU650HX

EVGA GTX 460 SuperClocked 1GB 213.86 eVGA - EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked Video Card - 1024MB... - 01GP31373AR

LIAN-LI PC-K7B 91.99 Lian-Li - LIAN-LI PC-K7B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Case 3X5.25 1X3.5... - PCK7B

OCZ Vertex II 60 GB 117.99 NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Vertex 2 Extended Sandforce 60GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD - OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G In Canada.

2.5 to 3.5" converter 6.89 SilverStone Technology - Silverstone SDP08 2.5″ to 3.5″ Converter Drive Bay... - SDP08


Total 1377.72

With taxes, basic insurance and 9.99 shipping promo it came up to 1502.44$

[fishingfanatic]

The final setup looks pretty awesome! My only suggestions would be to consider looking at a cpl of things. Look at the Asus P6X58D-E. Great board with sata 3 and usb3. If interested, ocing with this board is amazingly simple.

I like Mushkin memory, but as I said, these are something to look at, great products. Any lifetime warranty memory is a pretty good choice. The only other thing with memory is to either get a 12gb kit, or 6 2gb sticks.
Video Editing is somewhat more demanding when it comes to memory. Try 1 6gb kit, if it seems to top out, add another.

Definitely want modular psus. Seasonic. Corsair, XFX, and a few others are pretty good choices, with my preference being Corsair, like you.

While I generally like to have good leeway available when it comes to supply and demand, but a good 650 watt unit should be plenty for that system.

Looks like he's got a good system coming! It's nice to help out a friend, and of course you get to build it and tweak it. A goooood stress test.

Enjoy the build, as your friend will I'm sure!!!

[slay3r]

You may also consider Asus Sabertooth X58

[Luay79]

I would prefer Lian Li's latest Mid-Tower. 120$
Lian Li PC-8FI Case Review | Hardware Secrets