Video Editing Suite of Unending Fury

[El_Fiendo]

Alright, now I've got myself an order for one of the most brutish and ballsiest of machines I've ever built and it comes with a plethora of requirements and questions. I've had limited success in talking to Avid (as it will be their software and hardware that it has to be compatible with) and now find myself needing more answers than what they've provided me. To clarify, I haven't been able to reach Avid at all, and so now you guys are hopefully going to fill some gaps while I await their correspondence.

So the company I'm doing this for is upgrading from a dual core Xeon that was purchased roughly 5 or 6 years ago, and although I can't recall it at the moment I believe it was P4 architecture. Right now they're wanting a dual socket motherboard with dual quad core Xeon processors and a sufficient enough Quadro card for their needs. These guys do everything from local car dealership commercials to government contracted documentaries to series for smaller, community networks. Of course, they do it in SD and HD.


I'll list off the current equipment I know of:

Avid Raid (SCSI) -> this is getting reused in the new setup
Avid Adrenaline w/ DNXcel -> potentially getting reused
Quadro 1400
Dual Core Xeon, 2GB Memory
Nothing else of much note


I'm toying around fitting them a rig with an SR-2, 2x Xeons (5520ish), and 6-12GB of memory (leaning 12). If a true server board will suit me better I'm open to suggestions. I originally went away from the idea of server motherboards as they seemed to not only be of limited availability, but also limited in features. And yea, I want to build an SR-2 system so maybe its just because of that. I'd also top it off with a Quadro 3800/4800 (don't get me started on the apparent requirement for a Quadro card).



So my questions as of now are:

- Will an SR-2 function well in this scenario and does anyone have experience trying to get Avid to work on a similar setup? They're going to be going with Media Composer 5 eventually.

- Does anyone know the specific advantages an Adrenaline w/ DNXcel vs a Nitris DX? This one is a bit more specific to Avid but I thought I'd take a shot in the dark and see if anyone has experience here.

- I'd need to get a SCSI add in card to get the Avid Raid going on the new system, but I assume I'd need to rebuild the array as well. Does anyone have any experience with Avid Raid?

- Is there any reason why Avid lists low end Quadro cards in the requirements but will refuse to sell you anything but one of the latest models? Is this simply profits or do the Quadros play an integral part that cheaping out on them will cause all sorts of issues for you?


That's a good enough start I suppose, I'm probably missing vast tracts of information but we'll likely get to that soon enough.

[ZZLEE]

Vidio rendering loves lots and lots of Ram. If I remember I saw a post on EVGA web forims saying so.

The SR-2 Is dreem Vidio bord 5680 and as much Ram will fit in .



EDIT: EVGA forums

"
I do 3D animation and let me tell you this thing is amazing. Overclocked Xeons? Crazy. It's silly fast when rendering 3D scenes. For example, my company bought a few HP Z600's with dual E5620's in them. They allowed me to build my own rig. I went with an SR-2 and dual E5620's myself to keep things even.

Overclocked to 3.6GHz (3.8Ghz turbo), my rig is about 65% faster than the HP Z600's. A particular 3D scene takes the HP Z600's 72 seconds to render while my SR-2 does it in 48.

Two words: Jealous coworkers
<message edited by krazynutz on Monday, November 29, 2010 12:25 PM>

My Rigs:
Home: Asus P6T, Ci7 920 @ 3.9Ghz, Xigmatek 1230, Corair XMS3 6GB 1600, GeForce GTX 285, SB X-Fi, Antec True 650, Antec NineHundred II
Work: EVGA SR-2, 2x E5620's @ 3.6Ghz (3.8Ghz Turbo), 2x V6 GT's, Corsair XMS3 12GB 1600, Quadro 4000, SB X-Fi, Corsair AX850, Lian Li PC-A77F

"

[El_Fiendo]

Yea I figured it'd munch up the RAM so I'll definitely be putting 12GBs in. This thing doesn't seem to have any hardware or software compatibility issues when it comes to functioning so I'll be moving forward and doing this.

My main problem will be finding a case to cram it in. I've seen a list of cases that range from $400-600 to buy and I'd really prefer not to spend that much on the case. Does anyone have any secret cases up their sleeve to recommend? I know the 700D can but after parts and tools I'd be back up at the $450 range plus my time spent modding it. I think I'm going to try to go for a U2-UFO but those aren't exactly cheap either. Does anyone have a U2-UFO they'd like to sell?