Help me build a system for video comparible to a Apple G5

[Joony]

I agree with going with (dual) G5 and FCP HD.

 

[wicktron]

Dual Xeons with Avid == WIN

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: drag
The Opteron, like the G5 and unlike the Xeons/Athlon/Pentiums, feature a memory controller for each CPU. This board allows you to have a independant bank of RAM for each CPU. This allows very large amounts of memory bandwidth.

Cheaper boards save money by only having 1 memory pathway. That means the CPU's have to share memory, like in a regular PC SMP setup. Which realy sucks.

It's crippling to the max performance the proccessors are capable of. The boards that only have one memory pathway typically can only support 8gigs of RAM, so it's easy to tell the difference. Boards that support 12 to 16gigs of RAM have independant memory busses.

It's worthy of note that in order to make independent use of both memory controllers, you need a NUMA-aware OS. Windows XP can't do it, but their upcoming 64bit OS should be able to. Linux should be able to do it, but you will likely have to compile support for this in the kernel.

 

[imported_Lotec13]

dual amd opterons (why easy 64 bit)
Dual Matrox set-up P-Gfx and RT.X100 (if you need more power go for a x800pro)
Two gigs of Ram Cosair makes a great two gig set
Tyan or MSI Mobo (tyan offers scsi on some boards)
3-4 main drives for raid level 5 or 0/1 up to you really
a 200gig or so back up Back up
A M-Audio sound card to get the best sound

and hey dual boot with a linux setup for a lot of good free (or close to it) video offerings
That should bring you close to the price of a good old mac G-fiver.
Also keep a eye out for pro monitors i just got two off of a lease and loving it

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: Lotec13
dual amd opterons (why easy 64 bit)
Dual Matrox set-up P-Gfx and RT.X100 (if you need more power go for a x800pro)
Two gigs of Ram Cosair makes a great two gig set
Tyan or MSI Mobo (tyan offers scsi on some boards)
3-4 main drives for raid level 5 or 0/1 up to you really
a 200gig or so back up Back up
A M-Audio sound card to get the best sound

and hey dual boot with a linux setup for a lot of good free (or close to it) video offerings
That should bring you close to the price of a good old mac G-fiver.
Also keep a eye out for pro monitors i just got two off of a lease and loving it

Just out of curiousity what editing software do you plan to run on that thing?

It's always amusing watching gamers spec out an editing rig.


Lethal

 

[mooojojojo]

LethalWolfe, yeah, I guess it should be easier to design software on a closed platform. What I was wondering though is whether there is any PC which can do a similar 5-6 stream HD editing in real-time with no slowdown. Or perhaps it has to have dedicated video editing hardware to acheive that.

I just don't get it why most people on the forum recommend a PC for video editing when the Mac is the clear choice among industry professionals. And if the OP's friend decides to get a job in video editing, the Mac will most likely be the platfrom he'll be using.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: mooojojojo
LethalWolfe, yeah, I guess it should be easier to design software on a closed platform. What I was wondering though is whether there is any PC which can do a similar 5-6 stream HD editing in real-time with no slowdown. Or perhaps it has to have dedicated video editing hardware to acheive that.

I just don't get it why most people on the forum recommend a PC for video editing when the Mac is the clear choice among industry professionals. And if the OP's friend decides to get a job in video editing, the Mac will most likely be the platfrom he'll be using.

The only thing that I can think of that could pull that many streams on the PC side would be an upper end Avid. Something in the $75k-$80k range maybe? I dunno, it's been a bit since I've priced an HD Avid.

Like I said in a previous post. You can edit on a PC. But doing it on a Mac generally provides a more productive, less frusterating experience. Almost everyone I've known who's edit on a PC for a length of time the switched to a Mac (usually to get their hands on FCP) always comment that they never realized how much time they spent hand-holding/fixing/managing/tweaking their PC until they started editing on a Mac and things "just worked." Are Macs perfect machines? Of course not, but in many instances (especially editing) they work right out of the box in ways that PCs don't.

The answer to your 2nd Q is just that this is a PC-centric board. I doubt very many people on this board have worked with/know that much about current Macs. Plus there are a lot of myths and stereotypes (for both Macs and PCs) that just will never die.

Even if your weapon of choice is a PC you still have to be "Mac fluent" in the entertainment industry because it is very, very Mac centric.


-Lethal

 

[jskagg]

You might also want to check out BOXXtech to look for ideas.

 

[imported_Lotec13]

Lethal lets see why not use the Adobe software that comes w/ the matrox X100 which allows you to do more then the avid systems and costs less the only reason i put the x800 pro is in case you do perhaps you do want to game. and lose some 2D. anyway buy the mac system less trouble once you get used to it

 

[mooojojojo]

Lethal - Thanks.

jskagg, yeah, I checked out their site the other day. They're offering an Opteron 146 with 1GB of RAM and a Quadro FX500 with pretty much nothing else for $2675. Now I don't know much about that Quadro card (except that it's basically at the bottom of the line), but $2700 for a simple entry level Opteron and 1GB of RAM is laughable. And people think Macs are expensive. For $2500 you can get the dual 2GHz G5.

As I'm looking at it, I actually find the spec on BOXXtech's site quite funny. It's mostly things like "6 available hard drive bays for up to 1.5TB of internal SATA storage" or "(6) USB 2.0 Ports:", it's like the PC is composed entirely of ports and slots, with nothing else in it. hehe.

 

[mooojojojo]

Lotec, the second you mention gaming on the workstation, it's not a workstation anymore. It's a gaming machine used to edit home videos on the side.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: LethalWolfe

Originally posted by: mooojojojo
LethalWolfe, yeah, I guess it should be easier to design software on a closed platform. What I was wondering though is whether there is any PC which can do a similar 5-6 stream HD editing in real-time with no slowdown. Or perhaps it has to have dedicated video editing hardware to acheive that.

I just don't get it why most people on the forum recommend a PC for video editing when the Mac is the clear choice among industry professionals. And if the OP's friend decides to get a job in video editing, the Mac will most likely be the platfrom he'll be using.

The only thing that I can think of that could pull that many streams on the PC side would be an upper end Avid. Something in the $75k-$80k range maybe? I dunno, it's been a bit since I've priced an HD Avid.

Like I said in a previous post. You can edit on a PC. But doing it on a Mac generally provides a more productive, less frusterating experience. Almost everyone I've known who's edit on a PC for a length of time the switched to a Mac (usually to get their hands on FCP) always comment that they never realized how much time they spent hand-holding/fixing/managing/tweaking their PC until they started editing on a Mac and things "just worked." Are Macs perfect machines? Of course not, but in many instances (especially editing) they work right out of the box in ways that PCs don't.

The answer to your 2nd Q is just that this is a PC-centric board. I doubt very many people on this board have worked with/know that much about current Macs. Plus there are a lot of myths and stereotypes (for both Macs and PCs) that just will never die.

Even if your weapon of choice is a PC you still have to be "Mac fluent" in the entertainment industry because it is very, very Mac centric.


-Lethal

Hey could you list some stuff like that?

I do some 'very basic' video editing for my stuff. NOTHING FANCY at all. BUT I have no trouble capturing from FireWire and cutting and chopping at it. And then encoding it to something I want. BUt what I'd like to know is what stuff needs to be done to the pc to get it to work better?

Just wondering.

And you don't need FAST HD's anymore. I capture without dropping frames on my Sony Vaio witha PIII 850! And 20Gb HD tha tis probably a 4800rpm one.

Just get plenty of storage space.

IF indeed a faster HD would make work faster then go that way. I have 3 WD SE on my pc and they work great.

Koing

 

[LethalWolfe]

Lotec13, you are half right. Premiere Pro and the Matrox X100 (plus computer) does cost less than an Avid setup but it is no where near as goodas , let alone better than, an Avid. There is usually nothing wrong w/getting a nice 3D card (except sometimes they'll conflict w/video hardware), it's just not needed. I always point it out because many people on this board, who are used to spec'ing out gameing rigs that need a good 3D card, mention them when spec'ing out editing rigs even a good 3D card isn't needed.

I'm not saying Premire Pro is horrible I'm just saying there are better solutions out there, IMO. Especially for someone who wants to get seroius about editing.

Koing,
I can only offer the general advice of going to the editing software and/or hardware manufacturers site and following their "recommened" system specs to the letter. Of course if you are doing simple things w/simple consumer software you probably have few problems. The more complicated projects you work on, and hardware/software you use the more likely you are to run into problems because you are asking more of your system. I've gone as far as having to install hardware, software, and updates (drivers, patches, firmware, etc.,) in a specific sequence in order to get everything to work right. And it was just me, this sequence was recommend by the mods on the Matrox support forum. For me it wasn't really a huge deal because 1. I'm a computer geek so I know my way around (especially when it's a PC I built myself) and 2. I wasn't earning a living from my machine. Now, if back then I depended on editing for my income the "minor" problems I evaded would have been deal breaking issuses and I woulda jumped ship and bought a Mac way sooner than I did.


Lethal