help build an editing computer....here is what i have.

R

Roman G

Help me build an editing computer. Will also be doing 3d modeling and sculpting. Will be working in:
After effects CS5
Premiere pro CS5
Cinema 4D
Tracking stuff for matchmoving (leaning towards pftrack)
Zbrush or some kinda modeling software.

Here's what I think I need so far. If you think this won't suffice feel free to make suggestions. I would like to really keep the cost down.

Generic case
Motherboard with an i5 which ill overclock for better performance
Atleast 1gb video card ( I know hd rendering uses proccessor not video card but I still need a good video card. Do you think its better to buy a video card with processor built in or without?
Around 250 or 300 gb harddrive with 7200 rpm speed.
I'll be using external storage.
At least 8gb ram or do you think I need to go 12gb

If you have parts in mind please post links. Which video card? Which processor?

A friend of mine said I can build an editing comp for 500 and I just don't see that happening . I think 700 is the price figure closer to reality.

What do you think guys?

Thanks

Roman
 
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There is very little benefit to keeping video files on an SSD versus and HDD since the speed it needs to transfer the data is below what an HDD can put out at 7200rpm. It is amazing to have as a boot/application drive. The benefit of an SSD does not come from data as much as running programs and OSs.

One benefit of installing the OS on the SSD is a wicked fast boot up time, but this is all about convenience. Running certain programs off of it is the other big benefit. Now something like MS Word will not benefit from an SSD, but CS5.5 will benefit from an SSD. It will perform much better/smoother/faster.

All this being said, you do not need a 120GB SSD. I have a 60GB SSD with CS5.5 and Windows 7 OS on it and it is not even half full.
 
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JohnJohnson said:
There is very little benefit to keeping video files on an SSD versus and HDD since the speed it needs to transfer the data is below what an HDD can put out at 7200rpm. It is amazing to have as a boot/application drive. The benefit of an SSD does not come from data as much as running programs and OSs.
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Oh, that I didn't know. I figured you'd also want to keep those files on the same drive. Good to know.

All this being said, you do not need a 120GB SSD. I have a 60GB SSD with CS5.5 and Windows 7 OS on it and it is not even half full.
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Depending on your technology suite 60GB could feasibly not be enough. It's nice to have extra wiggle room and space for Ways to Mindlessly Accelerate Your Impending Doom (read: video games).
 
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Wombat said:
Depending on your technology suite 60GB could feasibly not be enough. It's nice to have extra wiggle room and space for Ways to Mindlessly Accelerate Your Impending Doom (read: video games).
Click to expand...

What are you putting on that thing!? Windows 7 only take up ~13GB on install and can take ~15-20 as it "grows" (updates, User data, ect.). The largest CS5.5 suite (Master Collection) is only ~24GB (the next one down-Production Premium- is only ~16GB) giving you a total of 37GB and leaving 23GB of space on a 60GB SSD. Even throwing on 3D animation software like Maya will only be another ~10GB.

There is no reason to put every application on your SSD since not all of your application will benefit from it. Therefore, it is very easy to stay under 60GB on your SSD. If you are planning to build an editing/gaming computer, then this may be a different story. Games do perform better run off an SSD and as such you will likely want to install them on your SSD. Obviously if you installed all of your games, the OS, an NLE, and a 3D animation program, you will go over 60GB, but I see no reason to buy bigger otherwise. Especially consider the high costs per GB on SSDs.
 
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JohnJohnson said:
The i5-2500k has 4 physical cores and each of those act as 2 virtual cores giving the total of 8 virtual cores.
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Are you sure? I'm not saying you're wrong, I've just been googling trying to figure it out. I haven't really researched since I built my rig over a year ago. According to Intel, the i5-2500k only handles 4 threads, while it should handle 8 threads if it utilizes 8 cores.
 
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SinEater said:
Are you sure? I'm not saying you're wrong, I've just been googling trying to figure it out. I haven't really researched since I built my rig over a year ago. According to Intel, the i5-2500k only handles 4 threads, while it should handle 8 threads if it utilizes 8 cores.
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No I'm not...my information was false, plain and simple haha. i5-2500k will still do you fine though. Check out this chart (as well as the others to do with editing and 3d rendering). The 2nd gen i5s perform better than the 1st gens i7s. I say save the money and get the 2nd gen i5 over the 2nd gen i7. They have served everyone I have talked to extremely well.
 
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I lied too! Sorry..

you can go much lower with PER CPU ram allocations than 2gb in After Effects.

I did learn something tangitialy related, the hard way.

For very complex projects, Its better to have MORE ram allocated to FEWER processors in AE, then the other way around. My project is way too complex, nested HD streams, etc. anyway, with out enough ram the renders would be corrupted with black lines and what not in the video.. but if I set all the cpu to MAX ram, then Id get erors "did not render a frame" etc..
Reserve some CPU's and RESERVE some RAM for OS operations, a 4 GB at least.. ..
 
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