Upgrading computer for video editing - $400 budget

[grrl]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
The most intensive work I do is Photoshop and video rendering with Pinnacle 16. I'm running Win 7 Home Premium, 64-bit.


2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
About $400.


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


5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
No.


6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Full tower case
2 320GB Western Digital HDs
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS (PCI)
XFX PV-T44F-RAMG GeForce 6500 128mb


7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Default


8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1920 x 1200. Will be getting a second monitor later.


9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within two weeks.


X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
No.


From the recent build threads these seem to be some of the better choices:

Intel i5-3570 3.2GHz - $199
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115234
OR
Intel i5-3570 3.4GHz - $215 (often on sale for $200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115233
OR
Intel Xeon E3-1220 3.1GHz - $215
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819117288

I'm still confused about what the Xeon offers over the i5. Just threading?

ADATA XPG Gaming Series (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211457

Would 16GB be better?


MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX - $53
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130654

EDIT: Eliminated HSF, adding PSU

Corsair Builder Series CX430 - $25 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-17171031-L0C
OR
Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus RS500 - $30 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Thanks.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I would go 16gb for sure. Also try to get a Xeon 1230 v2 and get the cheapest motherboard, which would be a b75 chip set

 

[lehtv]

On such a tight budget, it might be wise to get 2x4GB first and only add more RAM if it is needed. It would be good to know what sort of projects you do - HD video, what's the typical length of your final encode, what format are your input files?

Regarding the parts you're planning to reuse:

I would definitely get the PSU replaced. You don't need that many watts. Ultra isn't a good PSU brand, and a 6 year old Xfinity is already 3 years beyond its warranty. SPCR reviewed it, it's mediocre and loud. Compared to today's PSUs, it's very inefficient and will cost you dollars in electricity in the long term.

The XFX 6500 is extremely slow and probably can't play HD; Intel HD can play 1080p, and so can a 5450 which can be had for sub $20 after rebate. Also, what Photoshop are you running? CS6 will benefit from GPU acceleration when applying effects, and you don't need to pay much for a GPU to max it out (7750 at most).

I'm still confused about what the Xeon offers over the i5. Just threading?

That Xeon doesn't have hyper threading, you'll have to get 1230 V2 or better for HT. I don't know how much Pinnacle 16 benefits from more than four threads; Photoshop doesn't really benefit noticeably.

The aftermarket cooler as well as the Z75 chipset board are unnecessary.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I would go 16gb for sure. Also try to get a Xeon 1230 v2 and get the cheapest motherboard, which would be a b75 chip set

Mind that the 1230v2 does not have an IGP. You'll need the 1245v2 for that and its a fair bit more expensive.

I think you'll be best of with the 3570non-K + B75 MB + 16GB RAM. Though that Z75 board looks very interesting...

 

[lehtv]

Here's what I'd suggest initially:
i5-3570 $200 AP (with HD 2500 graphics)
MSI B75MA-E33 $53
Crucial 2x4GB low-voltage $44
Corsair CX430 $20 AR AP (80+ bronze)
Samsung 840 120GB SSD $93

= $410 AR AP

The SSD will make a huge difference to responsiveness. You could partition it in two and place the OS and programs on one partition (maybe 60-70GB), and use the rest as a location for current projects / scratch disk.'

If you do need more RAM, that means dropping the SSD for now or increasing the budget to $450.

 

[grrl]

On such a tight budget, it might be wise to get 2x4GB first and only add more RAM if it is needed. It would be good to know what sort of projects you do - HD video, what's the typical length of your final encode, what format are your input files?

For my current project I'm converting still images and wav files into videos. The final videos are about 15 minutes long. The Pinnacle settings label them "good quality" = MPEG-4, 640 x 480; 25fps; PCM 16-bit stereo, 48KHz.

Regarding the parts you're planning to reuse:

I would definitely get the PSU replaced. You don't need that many watts. Ultra isn't a good PSU brand, and a 6 year old Xfinity is already 3 years beyond its warranty. SPCR reviewed it, it's mediocre and loud. Compared to today's PSUs, it's very inefficient and will cost you dollars in electricity in the long term.

I'll add a PSU to the list. For the $10 I paid for the Ultra it doesn't owe me anything.

The XFX 6500 is extremely slow and probably can't play HD; Intel HD can play 1080p, and so can a 5450 which can be had for sub $20 after rebate. Also, what Photoshop are you running? CS6 will benefit from GPU acceleration when applying effects, and you don't need to pay much for a GPU to max it out (7750 at most).

CS5. I don't play HD and haven't had any problems with playback. I plan to eventually replace the vid card, but it's last on my list.

The aftermarket cooler as well as the Z75 chipset board are unnecessary.

I'll save the $30 on the HSF then.

lehtv, that's an interesting combination with the SSD. I could raise my budget to $450 to include that and 16 gigs of RAM. What is the advantage of Crucial RAM, just the lower voltage?

 

[Sleepingforest]

Essentially, the lower voltage RAM gives you an opprotunity to overclock it to "premium" RAM standards by upping the voltage to the standard 1.5V. It won't have a Huge impact on anything, but since that RAM is only about $3 more than the cheapest RAM, you might as well.

 

[lehtv]

I don't think 16 gigs of RAM is needed for the types of projects you do. Instead, since you can raise your budget a bit, get a board with four slots. That way you have the option to upgrade to 4x4GB in the future. Biostar H77MU3 at $60 AR + shipping is the cheapest one at the moment.

The old video card you can just throw away or try to sell for a few bucks on eBay. It's almost worthless, the integrated HD 2500 graphics on an i5-3570 is faster and consumes a tenth of the power.

The advantage of that Crucial RAM is that it costs the same or less as any other 1600MHz CL9 kit but has a lower voltage, a lower profile and is very overclockable. Overclocking it won't really have any real world impact though, and with the Biostar board you're limited to 1600MHz anyway.

One more question- do you have a Microcenter nearby? They have excellent CPU+motherboard combo deals.

 

[grrl]

Unfortunately, there are no Microcenters near where I live.

I was thinking of getting a mobo with 4 slots, which the MSI doesn't have.

I haven't read much about the new integrated graphics, but the HD 2500 on the i5-3570 can easily handle two 1920 x 1200 monitors? So I could just do away with a separate vid card? (I do no gaming at all.)

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I haven't read much about the new integrated graphics, but the HD 2500 on the i5-3570 can easily handle two 1920 x 1200 monitors? So I could just do away with a separate vid card? (I do no gaming at all.)

No problem. If you get a board with both HDMI and DVI output, you can just use a HDMI-to-DVI adaptor. Or just run one off the VGA output...

 

[Ken g6]

For my current project I'm converting still images and wav files into videos. The final videos are about 15 minutes long. The Pinnacle settings label them "good quality" = MPEG-4, 640 x 480; 25fps; PCM 16-bit stereo, 48KHz.

Those look like strange settings to me. 25FPS is a European standard. Plus for still images on MPEG4, you should probably be doing variable frame rate encoding if possible. Also, 640x480 doesn't match any of the standard video display resolutions for TVs.

Photoshop CS5 can't use GPU computing at all - though some external plugins might. Premiere CS5 can use CUDA, but you don't seem to be using that. So, yes, you can drop the extra video card.

 

[grrl]

Those look like strange settings to me. 25FPS is a European standard. Plus for still images on MPEG4, you should probably be doing variable frame rate encoding if possible. Also, 640x480 doesn't match any of the standard video display resolutions for TVs.

Photoshop CS5 can't use GPU computing at all - though some external plugins might. Premiere CS5 can use CUDA, but you don't seem to be using that. So, yes, you can drop the extra video card.

Those are the standard settings that Pinnacle uses. I'm making a series of educational videos that will be hosted through a private YouTube channel. I'm not that involved with the technical end, but the IT department is using Moodle for the study site's main pages. My understanding is the videos will hosted by YouTube but run through one of Moodle's internal players. We've tested a few formats and these current settings look fine.

I'll check into the variable frame rate. I'm still learning Pinnacle so am only so familiar with its features.

 

[Ken g6]

Oh, YouTube. Apparently YouTube doesn't like variable frame rates.

 

[lehtv]

No problem. If you get a board with both HDMI and DVI output, you can just use a HDMI-to-DVI adaptor. Or just run one off the VGA output...

Or a HDMI to DVI cable, it should cost about the same as an adapter.

 

[mfenn]

The Pinnacle settings label them "good quality" = MPEG-4, 640 x 480; 25fps; PCM 16-bit stereo, 48KHz.

You definitely don't need 16GB of RAM for that kind of source. I like the build that lehtv posted except with the change to the Biostar board that he mentioned later.

 

[grrl]

The Corsair PSU has mixed reviews, especially on the rebate. I'd just as soon spend the extra money and avoid the hassle.

 

[mfenn]

The Corsair PSU has mixed reviews, especially on the rebate. I'd just as soon spend the extra money and avoid the hassle.

4 eggs with 542 reviews is not "mixed". That's "almost universally positive". It is very hard to to keep 5 eggs once you crack 500 reviews because there is always a certain percentage of idiots who will give an item a 1 egg just because it didn't work for them.

At any rate, Newegg reviews are not the end all be all measure of quality. In fact, they are barely a measure of anything at all. Professional reviews peg the CX430 as a solid, if unspectacular PSU. That's what you need for this machine.

 

[grrl]

Yeah, I'm getting the CX430 and the rest of lehtv's updated recommendations. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Professional reviews peg the CX430 as a solid, if unspectacular PSU. That's what you need for this machine.

I just thought I'd include jonnyguru's review for good measure.

The original:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=214

And the V2:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=239

 

[lehtv]

Then there's the third revision which is 80+ Bronze. I can only guess that it's better than the V2, can't find any reviews on it.

 

[grrl]

Biostar H77MU3 at $60 AR + shipping is the cheapest one at the moment.

FWIW. I just realized, that board has no PCI slot. I need one for my Audigy card.

Then there's the third revision which is 80+ Bronze. I can only guess that it's better than the V2, can't find any reviews on it.

The one at Newegg is the 80+ Bronze, although they call it V2.3.

 

[lehtv]

Oh sry. Hm. Other B75 and H77 boards with 4 DIMM slots are expensive enough that you might as well go Z77. This would allow you to OC the i5-3570 a little bit (+400MHz), it's just a matter of turning up the multiplier by four and leaving everything else to defaults. Stock cooling may be somewhat inadequate however.

Biostar TZ77B $90 ($80 AR)

 

[grrl]

I was looking at that Biostar and some of the MSI boards:

MSI ZH77A-G43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130674

MSI B75MA-P45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130655

MSI B75A-G43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130651

 

[lehtv]

Would rather have a Z77 board than any of those H77 or B75 boards, given the same cost

 

[mfenn]

Would rather have a Z77 board than any of those H77 or B75 boards, given the same cost

Agree. $80 for a 4 DIMM Z77 is pretty nice.