Video Rendering Build

[Captain O Hair]

Hello all. I am building a system for a friend and have what I think is a solid build picked out. This system will only be used for video editing AND NOT GAMING. He wanted the 6 core proc and the ram because of the video editing he does, and since Sony Vegas 11 will be able to do GPU accelerated video rendering and preview, that is why I choose the video card I did. It is a high end option which might get down graded to the 570 or something to save a bit on money as this isn't a true gaming machine.

He wanted 1 hard drive for the OS, 1 for a temp work space for video work, and 1 for storage.

I got the cooler I did, as I am unsure as to how the super tower coolers from thermaltake would fit in the case. From my estimates, this one I have chosen would fit though. Open to options that are quiet and efficient.

Here be the build, thoughts and expertise gladly accepted on this(all on newegg):

Case:
Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811129174

Hard drives:
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136533

Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820148443

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Transfer Kit
Item #: N82E16820148448

Video Card:
EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814130587

Power Supply:
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 (CMPSU-750AX) 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active ...
Item #: N82E16817139016

RAM:
2x - CORSAIR Vengeance 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9
Item #: N82E16820233146

MOBO:
ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131641

Processor:
Intel Core i7-980 Gulftown 3.33GHz LGA 1366 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80613I7980
Item #: N82E16819116402

Optical Drive:
LITE-ON Black 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D feature SATA IHBS112-29 (Including CyberLink BD Solution) - OEM

CPU cooler:
Thermaltake CLP0554 80mm Sleeve CPU Cooler
Item #: N82E16835106142

Misc:
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Suggestions and thoughts are much appreciated!

[CNT]

Other than HDD/SSD arrangements, the system looks very good.

Chuck

[Captain O Hair]

Other than HDD/SSD arrangements...

What about them is weird or would you do differently?

[TheGlasMan]

128 Os, 256 temp, 1TB storage seems good to me.

CPU cooler, get one with at least a 120mm fan.

Also get good air flow onto the vid card, as those run HOT.

[CNT]

Other than HDD/SSD arrangements...

What about them is weird or would you do differently?

I would use a SSD (even 80GB might be enough) for C: and even-paired (500GB+500GB or 1T+1T) HHD for the capturing/storage. It's possible the client might want to setup the D: as RAID, so there the even-paired is ready. I don't think SSD would need a RAID (even if it's necessary), I am little behind with technology. Does this make senses?

Chuck

[Captain O Hair]

CPU cooler, get one with at least a 120mm fan.

I am afraid that those larger ones won't fit in the case... Any ideas on if those larger coolers would fit in such a case as the one I have chosen?

It also seemed to me that the design of the fan on this one is quieter than the blade style which was appealing on a rig that should run quiet.

I am very open to suggestions though. I had originally thought about thermalrights huge tower coolers, but wasn't sure about the dimensions

Also get good air flow onto the vid card, as those run HOT.

Now since this will be getting used as a GPU rendering device and not in games, will that still be an issue? Other than making sure I have good airflow in the case, what can I do to help that situation?

[Captain O Hair]

I would use a SSD (even 80GB might be enough) for C: and even-paired (500GB+500GB or 1T+1T) HHD for the capturing/storage. It's possible the client might want to setup the D: as RAID, so there the even-paired is ready.

I do understand the raid idea, and had considered something like a mirrored raid just for redundancy that he doesn't have to think about. He specified that he will need eSATA connections on the computer, which I have obtained a bracket for and I'm pretty certain the MOBO supports hot swapping. In all likely hood he will just end up backing up to an external device instead of doing mirrored raid.

Now if you are talking about a striped array to make things faster... that's a different story.

As for the "even paired" business, I'm afraid I haven't heard that term before and am not sure what you are referencing.

[Yeah]

Ok.. I'm going to add my two cents on the (storage) for this system.

I would get a 60 Gig SSD for the OS (you shouldnt need more than this.) This will make it almost instantly boot up, and make sure that the windows environment has plenty of speed for renders.

I would get a 120Gig SSD for (working/editing) this will make it all the faster for working with rendering loading and editing.

you can get a 10k RPM 150GB raptor for 120 bux. for (internal storage)

And I would get a WD goflex usb 3.0- 2 or 3 terabyte drive for backup and real storage (storage)

When I was editing videos, I rarely took the time to copy a working file from my storage drive to my faster working drive.

What you truely want to do is not lose anything so .. make sure we have active back up on windows schedular.

That way he can be portable with his (work) and have plenty of room for backup and storage.

I just dont think that Raid is needed. I see it being needed for a IT file server for business use. I just think I'd rather get an SSD for speed than go for Striping with RAID to see speed. And as far as hard drive failure, as long as you have serious backup going on. You shouldnt need to worry about hot swapping.

[Captain O Hair]

I would get a 60 Gig SSD for the OS (you shouldnt need more than this.) This will make it almost instantly boot up, and make sure that the windows environment has plenty of speed for renders.

SSD's are already in the build, and while i agree that if it is ONLY being used for video rendering then yes, 60 is probably all he'll need. I am imagining that this will become a main home computer though alongside the rendering machine that it will primarily be used for. I used to run a 74 GB raptor as my OS drive and found myself wanting more space quickly, and when the adobe CS4 master quite takes up almost 10 GB on it's own, I'm inclined to go with more space. Although, he will be using Sony Vegas 11 and not the adobe suite for video. I am sure adobe products of some sort will be on there though for other things. This is more a video rendering machine and media creation center. And since he has the money in his budget that he gave me, i figured a bit more space wouldn't kill him.

I would get a 120Gig SSD for (working/editing) this will make it all the faster for working with rendering loading and editing.

this is what I'm doing already, but just with a drive twice as big I tried to render out a simple video in adobe premier pro myself and ended up with 150 GB of temporary files that filled my 300 GB raptor I'm running now... I was working with 1080i video (which he will be doing) and so having only 120 GB seems like it'd just be far too small for rendering temp files that are 1080 res.

you can get a 10k RPM 150GB raptor for 120 bux. for (internal storage)

And I would get a WD goflex usb 3.0- 2 or 3 terabyte drive for backup and real storage (storage)

Is the idea here that when you are working on a project you really only need a small bit of fast temporary storage and that when you are finished with the project you move it off to a large archival drive? I like that idea, but that would throw a forth hard drive into the mix, which I am ok with doing, but depends on if he can shell out the extra cash. Them 2-3 TB drives are more spendy

I unfortunately haven't had a chance to talk with him and really get a thorough understanding of why he chose the storage setup he did. (he actually specified the 2 SSD's and the 1 TB drive) He also mentioned needing eSATA. I am imagining that he will store on his 1 TB and then either add more storage externally or backup externally. Something I would recommend anyhow.

I'm not understanding why to go with a USB interface though when 1080 video files can be on the magnitude of many gigabytes of data. If you are transferring these with any frequency, USB leaves much to be desired... Heck, even gigabit networked NAS would be way faster, but that's getting more complicated than he can handle XD

When I was editing videos, I rarely took the time to copy a working file from my storage drive to my faster working drive.

What you truely want to do is not lose anything so .. make sure we have active back up on windows schedular.

That way he can be portable with his (work) and have plenty of room for backup and storage.

I appreciate this insight into practices of actual video rendering practices as I am not experienced in it enough to know what makes life easier. He had actually specified the sizes and amounts of hard drives and may have a specific way he was thinking of using them. I just haven't met with him again yet to discuss it further. I will definitely take this into consideration and propose this setup to him and see what he thinks about it and if that would work better with how he intends to use his machine. Thanks for the idea!

I just dont think that Raid is needed. I see it being needed for a IT file server for business use. I just think I'd rather get an SSD for speed than go for Striping with RAID to see speed. And as far as hard drive failure, as long as you have serious backup going on. You shouldnt need to worry about hot swapping.

I am in complete agreement that RAID is not needed. It can be a nice thing to have that gives you some redundancy for when things go really bad, but I have also seen it add a layer of complexity that might not be appreciated in this build when I won't be available all the time to assist should things get wonky.

The serious backup is something else that I plan to set up, and maybe i'll just propose that he get another external drive to use over eSATA to backup to. Windows 7 actually has very nice backup options in it that are robust enough that I trust my data backup to. I am using it to back up over a gigabit network to a NAS and it works like a charm for my wife and I.


I really do appreciate the insight into your video rendering work and how you had your computer setup and the thoughts on this build. Keep the ideas coming! This all keeps the wheels in my head turning looking for better ways to do things on this build.

[Yeah]

HI again.

I apologize for not being clear enough with my thoughts.

The OS drive (suggested SSD Smaller) to save money of course =)

The reason is the only thing that should go on the OS drive is the OS.

All programs, vegas, word, excel, ANY programs, should be loaded to either the working drive or the internal storage drive. - I know there are a few files from programs that always get loaded to the OS drive but they are usually smaller. So a Large OS drive should really not be needed. I think Windows 7 takes approx 16 GB Well .. with 60 GB you should have plenty space for updates and anything else that is REQURED to be on the OS drive.

Dont install your programs to the OS drive !

The reason I suggested a USB 3.0 external drive is:

1. The maximum throughput of USB 3.0 is ~5GB/Sec and eSATA 6
These are of course maximum so you will never see that in real time but the USB drive is backwards compatible so if you take it to a machine that has older USB 2.0 ports it will still work The same cant be said for eSATA if the machine doesn't have the port-- well.. you cannot connect to it.

2. for around 130 bux for a 2 Tera back up drive. I just dont think you can beat that. Unless as you said you go NAS but what are we looking at here speed/space/ease of portability?. I guess that is a question only you and your client can answer.

Is the idea here that when you are working on a project you really only need a small bit of fast temporary storage and that when you are finished with the project you move it off to a large archival drive? I like that idea, but that would throw a forth hard drive into the mix, which I am ok with doing, but depends on if he can shell out the extra cash. Them 2-3 TB drives are more spendy

Yes that is exactly the idea. Which is why you want to keep some of the costs down of a smaller OS SSD so you can have your 4th Drive.

[Captain O Hair]

The reason is the only thing that should go on the OS drive is the OS.

Dont install your programs to the OS drive !

I was thinking of the OS drive like I have it. I actually install all of my programs to my OS drive (hence 300 GB raptor) and then just have a secondary drive for storage. I never thought to use a third so that you have OS, programs, and then storage. Although, I do have my old raptor installed as my "Temp" drive so all of my scratch disk activities occur only on that drive, including my paging file for windows itself, allowing programs and windows to access C while it swaps to hard drive on a separate hard disk. Not that it does it that frequently though as I have 4 GB of ram.

The reason I suggested a USB 3.0 external drive is:

1. The maximum throughput of USB 3.0 is ~5GB/Sec and eSATA 6
These are of course maximum so you will never see that in real time but the USB drive is backwards compatible so if you take it to a machine that has older USB 2.0 ports it will still work The same cant be said for eSATA if the machine doesn't have the port-- well.. you cannot connect to it.

2. for around 130 bux for a 2 Tera back up drive. I just dont think you can beat that. Unless as you said you go NAS but what are we looking at here speed/space/ease of portability?. I guess that is a question only you and your client can answer.

Does USB 3.0 actually hit those speeds? I have yet to look into them and really don't know much about them and what speeds they are actually hitting compared to eSATA. The point about the backward compatibility is a very valid one and would allow him to take his work anywhere he chooses and get at it and not rely on a particular connector that someone may or may not have.

And yeah, much of this depends on his intended use which I have yet to find out. He tells me he doesn't have the budget yet, but that he suspects that it is on the way. So this isn't an urgent thing, I was just trying to brainstorm with the great community here at pcper.com and it has proved useful

[CNT]

The reason is the only thing that should go on the OS drive is the OS.

All programs, vegas, word, excel, ANY programs, should be loaded to either the working drive or the internal storage drive. - I know there are a few files from programs that always get loaded to the OS drive but they are usually smaller. So a Large OS drive should really not be needed. I think Windows 7 takes approx 16 GB Well .. with 60 GB you should have plenty space for updates and anything else that is REQURED to be on the OS drive.

Dont install your programs to the OS drive !

Why? I did that one time ( C Drive for only OS and D Drive for apps ) and that alone causes the apps to have problems finding where such are. But that was during the Win98 or WinXP. Yes, I could see that the apps would have better speed away from C Drive, but isn't that where the RAM come in?

Yeah, I am interested in watching how the USB3 is launching... That was one thing in stopping me in ordering this > link < some time ago... must have USB3.

Chuck

ADDED : BTW, the SSD would be SATA III too, so everything on C Drive should be fine?

[Yeah]

The reason I guess for me CNT goes back to when I had a bad virus attack my OS driv- Long time ago. And I had other programs on there that I basically ' lost ' little things, when I was dabbling in HTML and building websites I had dreamweaver installed on my C drive. All the little settings within Dreamweaver I lost. All my other programs I had installed onto my storage drive were fine.

I guess if worst came to worst and you had to re-format/ reinstall your OS, thats pretty much all you have to do when you have only your OS on your OS drive. All the other programs ran fine when I copied over the executable. I had to re-associate some files but- that is easy enough.

Maybe it is my personal preference. But why have more than your OS on an OS drive anyway? Something small and fast for when and if you get a corrupted OS. I guess all of this is moot if you do proper back ups.

Cheers!

[CNT]

I guess if worst came to worst and you had to re-format/ reinstall your OS, thats pretty much all you have to do when you have only your OS on your OS drive. All the other programs ran fine when I copied over the executable. I had to re-associate some files but- that is easy enough.

When you install apps, like on a D drive, there will be quite a bit of stuff that will be installed on the C drive. So, then if the C drive dies, you just throw a new C drive and install Windows. after that, the apps won't run. Even if you copy some files onto the new C drive, I am not sure if it would be good since settings are different, registry files, etc... even if you have a prog that lists what was installed/modified. Thats my point.

I remember in DOS days, it was possible, because only few files was necessary to be in C drive. But, again, I am not saying who is right or wrong, just opinion.

Speaking of this OT, does it make the OS and apps run faster by having C drive only for OS and D for apps? What about having larger RAM? Or Cache? I do wish apps wouldn't be as large as it is today (we call it bloatware).

Chuck

ADDED : I don't even do backups! I only do "backup" when format/reinstall Windows, that's it. I have been meaning to setup a external network backup, maybe it's time for me to do this!

[Captain O Hair]

When you install apps, like on a D drive, there will be quite a bit of stuff that will be installed on the C drive. So, then if the C drive dies, you just throw a new C drive and install Windows. after that, the apps won't run. Even if you copy some files onto the new C drive, I am not sure if it would be good since settings are different, registry files, etc... even if you have a prog that lists what was installed/modified. Thats my point.

This is exactly my concern. Every piece of software requires registry keys to run now, and if these programs were installed onto a different drive, and then you wipe the C: drive, you may as well just reinstall everything as those programs will be broken beyond repair with how entrenched they become in the C: drive for basic functionality. Most of these programs are not self contained in their extraction folder like some programs can be. Yes, you could redirect those files needed. But I don't think I'll be spending the time to redirect hundreds of them, let alone someone who is not deep tech savvy like ourselves.