New build: 6770 or 6850 for video editing? 2600K or more RAM?

[Menicolas]

Hi, I am new here. I have been reading this forum a lot but never posted anything 🙂

Purchase Date: Within a week
Budget Range: 1300-1600 dollars
Country: Netherlands (but not Dutch lol)
Monitor Resolution: not sure??

Main use by priority:
1 Video editing with camcorder (once a week)
2 A bit of gaming but not latest games (1-2 times a week)
3 Browsing the web + lots of windows opened (every day)
4 A bit of overclocking for the fun (Aim: 4.3-4.5Ghz)

Build I have in mind: ********(Price target)
CPU Intel® Core™ i5-2500K ********(250)
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ********(160)
RAM G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 2x4GB 1600 ********(50)
Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit EN******(120)
CPU cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ********(40)
Hard drive "Seagate ST2000DL003 2TB interne 5900 rpm Green (200)
Video card Asus Video card Radeon 6670,1GB (Silent)********(120)
Tower Zalman Z9 Plus? ********(90)
PSU What do I need for this? ********(55)
DVD drive LG DVD Brander DVR DL 24X,SATA?? ********(25)
Monitor Samsung 22 inch SyncMaster B2230N? 22 inch?********(150)


Then in a year or so, I would get these:
SSD drive for boot (OCZ Technology SSD Vertex Plus - 60GB)
Raid of 2x 500GB HDD

My questions:

1. Memory + 212plus => no problem with 1st ram slot?
2. Is video card ok? Is nvidia better? (especially for video editing) Any brands adviced?
3. Is it an acceptable config for video editing? What would need upgraded for better?
4. For the tower.. So much choice… But here is me: Not many components, not too complex, not too noisy, good front ports (does the extreme3 allow for USB front ports?) (or CoolerMaster Elite 430?? cooler master cm 690 II?? Storm Enforcer? , fractal design arc)
5. What watt power do I need for all this? (400-500?) Any brand recommended? (not too expensive (60 about) Modular?
6. Is a silent video card a good idea? (I had twice fans dying before…)

Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

[Ken g6]

1. Should be fine as long as the heat spreaders are short. You don't need heat spreaders at all on RAM these days, by the way. Just get the cheapest DDR3-1333 or 1600 you can, without giant fins.
2. OK for video editing. You could do better for gaming, but that would require a fan. What video editing software? nVIDIA's better for Adobe Premiere.
3. If I was doing lots of video editing, and I didn't need to overclock, then I'd get a Xeon 1230. (I'd give a Dutch store link if you gave me one to look at.) It's not officially supported in most consumer boards, but anecdotally it works fine, and gives you hyper-threading without buying a full i7. But you may do just as well overclocking that i5.
4. Personal choice.
5. Depends on 2. (video card.) Current config doesn't need more than 400-500. Look for Corsair, XFX, Seasonic.
6. Not if you want to game a lot. Fine if you don't care about gaming performance. You could even use your onboard video if it weren't for those pesky games. 😛

 

[Menicolas]

Cheers for your reply 🙂

1. Should be fine as long as the heat spreaders are short. You don't need heat spreaders at all on RAM these days, by the way. Just get the cheapest DDR3-1333 or 1600 you can, without giant fins.
2. OK for video editing. You could do better for gaming, but that would require a fan. What video editing software? nVIDIA's better for Adobe Premiere.
3. If I was doing lots of video editing, and I didn't need to overclock, then I'd get a Xeon 1230. (I'd give a Dutch store link if you gave me one to look at.) It's not officially supported in most consumer boards, but anecdotally it works fine, and gives you hyper-threading without buying a full i7. But you may do just as well overclocking that i5.
4. Personal choice.
5. Depends on 2. (video card.) Current config doesn't need more than 400-500. Look for Corsair, XFX, Seasonic.
6. Not if you want to game a lot. Fine if you don't care about gaming performance. You could even use your onboard video if it weren't for those pesky games. 😛

2. I might be getting a fan on my video card... just easier to find something this way. I am maybe looking at GTX 460 1GB. Is the brand name, for the card, nvidia ok?
Yes, I was thinking of maybe using adobe premiere
3. Thanks for mentioning the "Xeon E3-1230 ". I didn't know about it, sounds good! Intriguing... I could get it from amazon germany for 40 dollars more than 2500K. I have to think about it...
6. I was thinking of maybe delaying my buying of the video card... as the change from my current system is already massive anyway (2400+, radeon X1650) But if feels good also to just get one... so I don't have to think about it later... as I am not sure I could do proper video editing with IGP

 

[mfenn]

You can do video editing just fine with the IGP. You won't be able to take advantage of the CUDA acceleration in Premiere CS5 though. Also, don't plan on gaming at all beyond Facebook games without a GPU.

The rest of your build looks fine except for the HDD. Video editing is very I/O intensive and a 5900RPM is going to completely choke and give you a bad experience. You'll want at least a 7200RPM drive, but the ideal setup is:
- an SSD for apps and OS
- a 7200RPM drive for scratch
- two big HDDs (5400RPM or 7200RPM) one for source material and the other for a render target.

 

[Menicolas]

You can do video editing just fine with the IGP. You won't be able to take advantage of the CUDA acceleration in Premiere CS5 though. Also, don't plan on gaming at all beyond Facebook games without a GPU.

The rest of your build looks fine except for the HDD. Video editing is very I/O intensive and a 5900RPM is going to completely choke and give you a bad experience. You'll want at least a 7200RPM drive, but the ideal setup is:
- an SSD for apps and OS
- a 7200RPM drive for scratch
- two big HDDs (5400RPM or 7200RPM) one for source material and the other for a render target.

Thanks for your input!
It would be a pity not to be able to do any games though... it's a pity to have a new pc then not enjoy it lol (I don't use Facebook)
For the HDD, I have got already the seagate (I was afraid with the flooding in Thailand, so I ordered early)... However... I might be thinking of returning the HDD I already have. Would a Western Digital WD15EARS Caviar Green 1.5TB (8.9 cm, 5400rpm, 8.9ms, 64MB Cache, SATA) be better than the Seagate 5900rpm I got? The rpm seems lower, so it looks like it won't be an improvement.
Prices have gone up on HDD... I might not be able to find at a ok price a 7200rpm.
I will get a SSD but later, and when HDD prices go back down... I would then buy one 7200. What do you think of that idea?

 

[mfenn]

No, a WD Green will not be significantly different from the Seagate that you already have. The bottom line is that if you want to do any kind of serious video editing without tearing your hair out, you need a good storage subsystem. You've got a decent start on one, so just pick up a 7200RPM drive to use as your OS and scratch drive until you can get the third and fourth drives.

 

[Menicolas]

Last check with you guys before the final decision...

I am mainly thinking of building my PC for video editing. If it can also do games, then it's a +.
For the HDD, it's not the best, but I will later buy a SSD, and use that drive as storage.

For the video card, I was going to go towards Sapphire 6770, as it seems better than GTS450.
Now looking at Sapphire 6850, I only see a difference of 28 euros (about 35-40american dollars).
Is that price difference worth it? I suppose yes for gaming...
But what about for video editing, is it worth it?
If I take the 6850 instead of the 6770, what does it mean for a PSU? how many more watt shall I plan for?

Also is it worth it taking 4x4GB but 1333 or better keep 2x4GB with 1600. I am thinking mainly about video editing here
Actually is it much better to go from i5 2500k to i7 2600k (hyperthreading), or from 2x4GB with 1600 to 4x4GB 1333? I ask that for video editing (more RAM good for video editing).
The move on RAM would cost me 40 more dollars, but the move on CPU would cost me 105dollars. So not comparable but is the move 2.5times better on the CPU?

 

[Ken g6]

The 6850 is about the minimum card I'd go with for gaming. It does nothing for video editing. The 460 you mentioned earlier is also good for gaming, and can accelerate video editing if it has 1GB RAM. What happened to it?

Compare the 2500k/2600k x264 benchmarks. That's about all the difference hyperthreading makes. If you get the GTX460, I'd go with the 2500k.

 

[mfenn]

If you are planning to build the machine for video editing, absolutely to not spend any money on a better GPU, more RAM, or better CPU until you solve your HDD problem. I'm not trying to be an ass here, but a single 5400RPM drive severely handicaps even a normal Internet machine. It will absolutely ruin the experience on a video editing workstation.

 

[Menicolas]

Thanks everyone for all your help!

I tried to follow a lot of advices from you all, and finally ordered everything and received just now all the pieces as follow: (I got lucky, as I ordered from different places and received all the parts at the same time 🙂 )

CPU Intel® Core™ i5-2500K ********(250)
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ********(160)
RAM G.Skill Ripjaws (no X) DDR3 4x4GB 1333 (not 1600)********(100)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit EN******(120)
CPU cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ********(40)
Tower Zalman Z9 Plus ********(90)
Corsair CX 500 ********(70)

The hard drive:--------------------
I did send back the Hard drive identified by a lot of you as the weak point in my system ("Seagate ST2000DL003 2TB interne 5900 rpm Green)
==> and got a blue caviar 500GB instead. It's 7200rpm, but I suppose that will be much better (even if it's not caviar black)

What else did I decide:
* I delayed until just after Xmas buying the video card, as I want to spend a bit more time checking everything, and most importantly because I am not planning to do any gaming before January. I might do a bit of video editing, but the IGP will probably be enough for the next month.
* I decided to put more than 400W for the PSU, but didn't go further than 500W as I am unlickely to use more than that.
* I will buy a monitor in the next couple of days but haven't got to decide what I want yet (22inch for sure)
* I did order the 4x4GB of RAM even if I am not very sure if I will need that much... That is maybe the one thing I might have gone wrong here.
* To get the Zalman Z9, and looking at it right now, really love it, black inside, nice design, lots of fans (too many maybe)
* I still need to get a DVD burner...

Please, do not hesitate to still react if you see some problem in my above config. I could always send things back to get an alternative (Ram maybe).

Thanks again for everything! You have been all great!

Nicolas.

 

[mfenn]

Looks good to me. You could have saved some money on the RAM, but NLE programs can use all the RAM that you can throw at them, so I would hold onto it.