i7 build for photo/video editing

[ekatsumata]

My last build was in 2005, and it's time for an upgrade. Some answers to questions:

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Mainly image editing in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, and some video rendering in Sony Vegas and Quicktime. I am a heavy multitasker, often batch processing thousands of images while batch exporting QT videos while listening to iTunes while also browsing the web... Sometimes I watch movies too.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Budget is less than $2K

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Used to be an AMD fanboy, but realize that Intel is the way to go for speed.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I plan to re-use 3 WD Green 4TB sata drives (containing data only) inside of a 5-bay SATA enclosure (which fits inside three adjacent 5.25" external drive bays). These will become my data backup drives. I also plan on reusing my IDE Lite-on DVD-RW drive, but will probably get a blu-ray burner later this year. And I will be reusing my keyboard, mouse, and speakers for now.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes, and I've read various reviews on components, but just wanted to make sure that my setup (below) looks solid.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I've always run my systems at default speeds, but I've read that the newer chips handle OC'ing much better, so I'd like to keep that option open.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Soon (like this week!).

So here are the parts I am considering:
[*]ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
[*]Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
[*]CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory
[*]ASUS EN9600GT/HTDI/512M GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
[*]Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000 RPM SATA Hard Drive (OS and apps)
[*]Four (4) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (storage)
[*]LIAN LI PC-60BPLUSII Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
[*]CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
[*]Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[rollacorolla]

Your budget is high enough that I'd skip the WD Raptor and get two SSDs (OCZ Vertex or Intel X25-M) in RAID0 for your applications drive. Don't forget to add a good heatsink, it would be a shame not to overclock that build.

Overall though that seems like a dream build for video editing, perhaps a bit overkill for photo work, unless you're dealing with very large files.

 

[rob25]

Seems like a good build, I dont know how the sli 2x 9600 would compare to a cheap 260 gtx in price/performance ????
Someone in this forum recomended this card.

For Video & large file photography work one of the most important things is to get your Hard drive setup right.

300 gb is a lot just for Os & apps, I dont know how much the difference would be for two 150 raptors ,1 for os & apps & the other for scratch.

I am not quite sure on the amounts of scratch disk cs4 will use but I think it would be a good idea to partition the scratch disk to maybe 50 gb for photoshop cs4 & 100 gb for video editing, I doubt you will be doing both at the same time so it wont affect the transfer rate.

Then for storage you could use (segate barracuda)2 x 500 gb 32mb buffer & 1 x 1Tb for a raid 0/1 configuration. cost of 3 drives less than $300.

I am not too experienced with this but from what I have read this would be an excelent photo/video setup.

 

[Blain]

If you're serious about video editing, I'd buy the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R.
It's cheaper than the Asus and uses a TI controller for firewire vs. a VIA controller on the Asus.

Other than that the only thing I might change would be going from the 850W Corsair to the PC Power & Cooling 750W Silencer.

BTW, I would keep the VelociRaptor for the OS & Apps. The 300GB version is only slightly higher than the 150GB.