Traveling with a desktop vs a laptop.

[ingeborgdot]

I don't know if this would be the right section but it does have to do with a case of some sort I guess so this is where I am putting this thread. We are starting a program in our school where we go around to different events and stream live. It will be several times a week and all year long. The computer we use will need to be powerful with many connection possibilities. That is what brings me to this question. A laptop is easy to transport. It is made fairly tough and can be pretty fast if you are willing to put the money into it. On the other hand you don't have a lot of input capabilities. I was wondering if a desktop would be the best solution. It is going to be faster than a laptop (ex. a $1000 desktop will cost about $2000 for the same speed and power is what I have found out). So you can get a lot more for you money with a desktop. Then you also get a multitude of connection possibilities with a desktop and it is so much more upgrade friendly than a laptop. The problem with desktop is it's portability. I don't really know what I am looking for. Are there travel cases for desktop computers? What do you suggest we use? Does anyone have a link or something to lead me in the right direction? Thanks.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The bandwidth available to you for uploading is likely to be a greater constraint than the capability of the CPU and codec you're using. In general, the portability of a laptop would seem to outweigh the component value of a desktop.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

You may get more help if you ask the mods to move this to general hardware.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

The computer we use will need to be powerful with many connection possibilities.

What exactly do you mean by this? The answer to what these "connection possibilities" are is the answer to your overall question.

 

[dma0991]

The connections you've described is vague. There are many types of connections that may or may not benefit you. What is it that you need? Dual Gigabit Ethernet capabilities? If portability is a major concern with desktop, it should be as small as possible and better with a handle that you could carry it around. Look at this Thermaltake casing, small enough and with a handle. Another possibility is the Fractal Design Core 1000; doesn't come with a handle but it is small enough that you could lug it around with one hand.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Firewire, 4 or more usb 2.0 but 3.0 would be best. Dual monitors would be best. Ability to use the machine to send wi fi signal to other pieces of equipment.
Our internet speed should have a very good upload because of what we will be using to do this with.
We will be streaming at the same time that we will be capturing and also doing other things on the computer at the same time. We need it to be as powerful as we can with a very good video card.

 

[dma0991]

Most of the connectivity that you've mentioned could be accomplished easily with PCI/PCIE expansion cards but it'll affect the size of the desktop, possibly an ATX case for an ATX motherboard. Not quite sure how intensive your workload will be but a decent low-mid range GPU with dual monitor support and Core i7 2600/3770 should be sufficient.

 

[Zap]

Thread moved to General Hardware.

If all you are doing with it is to live stream events (broadcast live video to web viewers) then there are dedicated devices that can do that for you with the ease of an appliance. For instance a quick web search found this $500 device that can take an HDMI input from a digital video camera and encode in real-time. Unfortunately it seems to be linked to a monthly service to do the web streaming.

For your original question of desktop versus notebook, we need more information from you.

Do you really need Firewire? I don't see it as very common these days. Regarding that plus 4+ USB ports, good luck easily finding that combo in a notebook.

What would you need a graphics card for besides dual monitors? Does the software you are planning to use actually take advantage of GPU acceleration?

What do you mean by "send WiFi signals?" You want the machine to be a pseudo access point or something?

How many CPU cores do you think you need? Is your software multithreaded? Multithreaded beyond two threads?

Is there any need for local mass storage? Any need for optical drive?

 

[greenhawk]

I would be wanting a better indication of what the thing is going to be for and how it is to be used. If doing video editing then I can agree, but if you are streaming it somewhere, any decent quality will be rather poor as I have yet to see good upload wireless bandwidth. Dual screens for just sending data seems overkill.

what are you recording with? hopefully not the laptop/desktop as a digital camcorder is better in lots of ways.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Well, there will be many things happening besides just streaming. We will have the company's software that will let us do multiple cameras for multiple angles so the device above won't work but it does look cool. The software from them will use GPU and CPU and the dual monitors will help us use the software to its fullest advantage to be able to see more than just a tiny picture. Our bandwidth will be top tier upload speed so hopefully we can get a decent quality going. I don't know for sure but we will find out after we try it for the first time. There is going to be a lot of growing pains but that is what happens when you start something new. A good video card is required for this to work effectively and also a great cpu. The video card and cpu will be more necessary for the video editing that will be done during and after the events.

 

[dawza]

Do you want to run two identical monitors, or would the laptop's display + one external monitor suffice?

Will you always have access to wall power, or will you need battery power at times?

IMO, this likely comes down to peripheral requirements (after cost, of course). An ITX system can be more portable than a powerful laptop, and at a much lower price point. However, if you can use different displays, then a laptop lets you pack only one external display vs. two.

For connectivity with a laptop, a business-grade system with a dock should address most issues.

 

[Zap]

The software from them will use GPU ... A good video card is required for this to work effectively and also a great cpu. The video card and cpu will be more necessary for the video editing that will be done during and after the events.

In which way will the GPU be used? You want to find out if the software requires OpenCL, or OpenGL, or CUDA, or Quick Sync, or a combination. This can highly affect your choice of graphics card. Just being "video and graphics heavy" does not necessarily mean integrated graphics won't work effectively. And there is no one single card that provides all the above. Find out EXACTLY what the software can take advantage of.

 

[ingeborgdot]

We will have several different programs. Vegas Pro and Adobe will be the two we will be using for the video editing.

 

[Zap]

Vegas Pro 11 GPU acceleration

Vegas Pro™ 11 leverages the processing capabilities of modern GPUs (Graphic Processing Units) using the industry-standard OpenCL™ framework. Rather than being tied to a single manufacturer or technology, this hardware-agnostic approach enables Vegas Pro 11 users to enjoy remarkable performance improvements across a broad range of popularly-priced, widely available GPU devices.

GPU (CUDA, OpenGL) features in After Effects CS6

The GPU features in After Effects CS6 can be thought of in three categories:

• GPU-accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer (CUDA on specific graphics cards)
• Fast Draft mode, Hardware BlitPipe, and GPU acceleration of Cartoon effect (OpenGL with somewhat stringent requirements)
• OpenGL swap buffer (OpenGL with looser requirements)

OpenCL and Premiere Pro CS6

What can Premiere Pro CS6 process with OpenCL?

Everything that Premiere Pro CS6 can process with CUDA, with four exceptions:

• Fast Blur effect
• Gaussion Blur effect
• Directional Blur effect
• Basic 3D effect

In our first iteration of OpenCL processing, we weren’t able to get enough performance improvement for these four effects, so they are for now better left on the CPU. But everything else that Premiere Pro CS6 can process with CUDA can be processed with OpenCL, and that’s a lot.

So, if you are using these latest versions, best bet is to get an Nvidia based card to support CUDA. Note that Adobe hints at supporting only specific cards and not family of cards. I don't know why they would intentionally do this. For instance a GTX 285 is on the Supported NVIDIA graphics cards for GPU acceleration list, but GTX 275 is not, and the GPU itself is pretty much identical. Maybe someone who uses this software can chime in on such support.

Here is a possible build (minus monitors/peripherals/software) for performance and portability.

Lian Li PC-TU200B case $185
13.35" x 8.7" x 11.42", with handle and rugged corners.

Seasonic S12II 520W PSU $80
Decent quality, sufficient power, shorter for easier fit.

Core i5 3570K $215 (after promo GC)
Any quad core Ivy Bridge CPU should suffice.

Intel BOXDH77DF motherboard $140
ITX, Firewire, USB 3.0. What else do you need?

random 16GB RAM kit $80
Just make sure it is 1.5v.

Then choose a GeForce card, SSD, HDD, ODD.

 

[mfenn]

So, if you are using these latest versions, best bet is to get an Nvidia based card to support CUDA. Note that Adobe hints at supporting only specific cards and not family of cards. I don't know why they would intentionally do this. For instance a GTX 285 is on the Supported NVIDIA graphics cards for GPU acceleration list, but GTX 275 is not, and the GPU itself is pretty much identical. Maybe someone who uses this software can chime in on such support.

If you want to give Adobe the benefit of the doubt, the reason for the difference is that they can only validate so many cards. If you're feeling less charitable, you can call it intentional market segmentation. There is literally a text file in the CS install directory that controls which cards will work and which won't.

If you add your card to the list, it'll most likely work fine, but obviously Adobe isn't going to support you at that point. In a live production environment, you want to go with what's supported.

Here is a possible build (minus monitors/peripherals/software) for performance and portability.

Lian Li PC-TU200B case $185
13.35" x 8.7" x 11.42", with handle and rugged corners.

Seasonic S12II 520W PSU $80
Decent quality, sufficient power, shorter for easier fit.

Core i5 3570K $215 (after promo GC)
Any quad core Ivy Bridge CPU should suffice.

Intel BOXDH77DF motherboard $140
ITX, Firewire, USB 3.0. What else do you need?

random 16GB RAM kit $80
Just make sure it is 1.5v.

Then choose a GeForce card, SSD, HDD, ODD.

:thumbsup: so far. Will the TU200B take a GTX 570? It looks like it would probably fit under the drive cage without issue.

 

[vailr]

Were you planning on using USB 3.0 ports + maybe one (or more) Logitech HD USB web cams?
This full-sized ATX board includes WiFi support:
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128549

Memory: I'd recommend the Samsung 1.35 volt DDR3 memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147096

Might want to double-check first, on how reliable your (wired?) internet connection would actually be in your various remote locations.

 

[Zap]

There is literally a text file in the CS install directory that controls which cards will work and which won't.

If you add your card to the list, it'll most likely work fine, but obviously Adobe isn't going to support you at that point. In a live production environment, you want to go with what's supported.

:thumbsup: I figured it was something simple. After Effects CS6 has an official patch that adds Kepler support (GTX 680 was mentioned). IDK if Premier has any such patches.

I like how Vegas Pro does it, by supporting the standard itself and not specific cards. Imagine if your game doesn't support DirectX, but instead supported specific cards? PITA, I tell ya.

:thumbsup: so far. Will the TU200B take a GTX 570? It looks like it would probably fit under the drive cage without issue.

Yes it will fit. Lian Li specifies 300mm/11.8" long graphics cards will fit.

This full-sized ATX board includes WiFi support:
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128549

Memory: I'd recommend the Samsung 1.35 volt DDR3 memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147096

WiFi is easily added with a USB dongle.

That Samsung memory is awesome, but limited to 4GB per stick.

 

[paul878]

I think one of those Desktop replacement Laptop would fit your need.