Video Editing PC upgrade help

[joejoe666]

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 Ghz
MB: Asus Crosshair V
Graphics card: Radeon HD 6800 series
OS: Windows 7
Software use: Adobe CS5.5 & 6

We use this PC primary for photo/video editing. What should we upgrade CPU or graphics card? What is the best bang for the budget?

Budget is dependent on the benefit (ie if i can reduce rendering time from 1hr to 5 mins, i can justify more)

thanks for your help!

 

[mfenn]

Are you currently using GPU acceleration on Premiere CS 6 via OpenGL? If so, then a new GPU would speed up encoding, but only a little. If not, you should enable it with your current GPU and see what sort of improvement you get.

Beyond that, the CPU is what you want to upgrade. If time is money (sounds like it is), then LGA 2011-3 is the way to go for speed. If time is more loosely related to money (i.e. this isn't your livelihood), then an LGA 1150 setup will get you good benefits for a lower entry point.

2011-3 upgrade:
i7 5820K $390
ASRock X99 Extreme4 $226 AR
Crucial DDR4 2133 4x4GB $199 AP
Total: $815

 

[joejoe666]

sorry for late response...i dont' really know what LGA 1150 vs LGA 2011 would be.

Can you recommend a LGA 1150 mobo, Cpu combo too so i can compare.

Also, can i install LGA 1150 or 2011 on my current mobo?

(yes, i am not very familiar with computer hardware)

Also, no clue what GPU acceleration via openGL means??

 

[Cerb]

sorry for late response...i dont' really know what LGA 1150 vs LGA 2011 would be.

CPU socket. New Intels don't use pins, but simply flat pads. LGA = Land Grid Array, which prefixes the common name.

Also, can i install LGA 1150 or 2011 on my current mobo?

No. An LGA1150 CPU needs an LGA1150 motherboard, and an LGA2011-3 CPU needs an LGA2011-3 motherboard (Intel has had multiple LGA2011 revisions, now).

Also, no clue what GPU acceleration via openGL means??

The video card handling some of the work.

Core i7-4790K $330 (AP)
ASRock H97M Pro4 $79
2x8GB DDR3 $133
$542

It may be slightly faster during editing, assuming you are CPU-limited in that task, but will still be a bit slower actually encoding the result, compared to the LGA2011-3 setup. Modern h.264, and even some other codec, encoders, can scale almost linearly by core, so you could look at the two CPUs as 4 cores x 4GHz (16 core-GHz) v. 6 cores x 3.3GHz (19.8 core-GHz). Most tasks don't scale quite that well, and prefer faster CPU cores over more of them.

AT's bench has video encoding benchmarks, which should be in the ball park:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/146?vs=1260
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/146?vs=1320

So, 1hr ot 5m, no. That kind of fast advancement of processors year over year is gone. But, it looks like you could get down to somewhere around half the time, or thereabouts.

 

[mfenn]

:thumbsup: Thanks Cerb.

OP, whether to go for the hex-core versus the quad-core depends on how important rendering speed is to you.

 

[joejoe666]

ok, sorry for the delayed response. so i have been give the go ahead for upgrade. i will be buying CPU, Mobo, ram.

final verdit, per mfenn, buy LGA 2011-3....so is this the best option?

i need 32gb ram. why is this mobo so much more expensive than the one Cerb recommended for LGA1150?

2011-3 upgrade:
i7 5820K $390
ASRock X99 Extreme4 $226 AR
Crucial DDR4 2133 4x4GB $199 AP
Total: $815

 

[Essence_of_War]

Assuming you aren't overclocking, the 4790k is about ~80% faster than the 1090T in heavily threaded workloads, while a hexcore like the 5930k (or its Xeon LGA2011 equivalent) is ~110% faster. As mfenn and Cerb have already pointed out, the entry point for CPU+MOBO+RAM on LGA1150 is roughly ~$500-600, while the entry point for LGA2011 is ~$800-900.

How important is short term budget vs. long-term utility of faster render times?

i need 32gb ram. why is this mobo so much more expensive than the one Cerb recommended for LGA1150?

In short, because they can. Consumer volume sales are smaller on LGA2011, so there isn't much motivation to make products with narrow margins. Also the CPUs are quite a bit more expensive, so the motherboards are too. You can get 32GB of RAM on either platform.

 

[joejoe666]

nope, no overclocking

i would use this system for 2-5 years...for video editing only. we are now getting into 4k editing (though in a small scale/volume....very small business)

if the gain between LGA 2011 & 1150 is not much different, then i would prefer to save teh $300 and maybe use that again in a few years to upgrade again...processor price is similar but the mobo is 3x

 

[Essence_of_War]

if the gain between LGA 2011 & 1150 is not much different, then i would prefer to save teh $300 and maybe use that again in a few years to upgrade again

If you're allowed to pocket the money for a later upgrade, I'd go for the LGA1150 build. If this is a workstation, I'd also see if you can pick up an aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock intel cooler can be pretty obnoxious loud and whiny under sustained load, the ACFZ i30 will be cooler and quieter.

 

[joejoe666]

yes, i can certainly keep the $300 towards other purchases. however, how much difference will we see in real life between LGA 2011 & 1150? also is one build more robust/better than the other? (can't have the machine break down)

 

[Essence_of_War]

Like I said above, if you're not overclocking, in heavily threaded workloads, the 4790K is ~80% faster, while the 5930k is ~110% faster than your current 1090T.

In not-so-heavily threaded workloads, the 4790K is actually faster than the 5930K because its base clocks and turbo are set VERY aggressively.

If you absolutely cannot have the machine break down, it might be more cost effective in the long-run to consider a workstation through Dell/HP/Lenovo because those come with service contracts and you won't have to wait on RMA's from the motherboard manufacturer. Reliability between platforms is probably a wash. CPUs virtually never fail. Some non-trivial fraction of motherboards from all manufacturers will have problems, regardless of chipset/platform, and the recourse will be RMA. RMA's are not terribly fast...certainly much slower than the next-day guaranteed service that you can get from Dell/HP/Lenovo.

 

[joejoe666]

not sure what "threaded" means, but video editing is more critical for me than encoding...we can just let it encode over-night if needed

i have to buy the components in the next few days so i will go to the store and purchase the components.

also, because a few people have pointed to asrock mobo, i should assume they are the best and not buy other mfg mobo?

 

[Cerb]

It's short for roughly, "uses many threads across many cores very well." Because total power consumption limits the chips so (yes, even at 140W, with so many PCIe lanes, and quad DDR4 controllers), you have a choice of faster cores or more cores, and they'll each benefit different things you do.

H97/LGA1150, with the i7-4790K, is definitely the safer choice, since the products are just minor refinements of the well-tested H81/B85/H87/Z87 platform.

Either choice should roughly double encoding speeds, possibly be even better over time, or with vectorizable effects added, and be a huge leap in terms of overall system responsiveness. The LGA2011-3 6-8 core CPUs will be faster doing the multithreaded batch workloads, while the LGA1150 i7 will be faster doing latency-sensitive interactive work (assuming the CPU, and not GPU, RAM, SSD, or HDD, are not the main bottlenecks).

 

[mfenn]

not sure what "threaded" means, but video editing is more critical for me than encoding...we can just let it encode over-night if needed

Like I said, the LGA 2011-3 platform really only has benefits when rendering/encoding speed is the primary consideration. If you're more concerned about speed during interactive tasks, the LGA 1150 option is more than adequate (and a heck of a lot less expenesive).

also, because a few people have pointed to asrock mobo, i should assume they are the best and not buy other mfg mobo?

ASRock aren't the only board manufacturer to consider: ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI all make good boards as well. It's just that ASRock often times comes in first in price/performance considerations.

It's been a while since the last hard parts recommendation, so here's a refreshed LGA 1150 list:

i7 4790K $330
ASRock Z97 Pro4 $100 AR
Team DDR3 1600 16GB $130
Total: $560 AR

 

[joejoe666]

Thank you so much! i will buy LGA 1150 platform parts.

few last questions (i hope)
* would DDR4 ram provide real life improvements over DDR3? if so, i would like to buy them (i need 32gb ram)
* CPU cooler...the pc will be in hot environments (35+ C ambient) is this (ACFZ i30) the one to get? or will any in $30 range be good?
* mobo...get any in $100 range? stick with the AsRock you suggested?
* i will be buying everything from mircocenter or other local B&M stores...no frys in my area

 

[sm625]

no. Absolutely none whatsoever.

* CPU cooler...the pc will be in hot environments (35+ C ambient) is this (ACFZ i30) the one to get? or will any in $30 range be good?

Yep that one would be fine if not overkill.

 

[Charlie98]

DDR4 and DDR3 are not compatable... LGA 1150 is DDR3.

Any reasonable CPU cooler in the $30 range will be fine; besides the ACFZ, there is the tried and true CoolerMaster 212EVO, which is available at MicroCenter (on sale this week, I believe.)

As mfenn mentioned... ASRock, Gigabyte, etc are all reasonable boards. ASRock usually comes in a few dollars cheaper over equivalent boards. I'm a Gigabyte man, myself, but I have used an ASRock board, too, when budget was a consideration. Either would be fine. Just make sure your board will handle everything you want to plug into it... Graphic cards, hard drives, etc.

MicroCenter rocks!

 

[joejoe666]

so i am purchasing the following...

i7 4790 - $280 (microcenter)
CoolerMaster 212EVO - $30 after rebate (microcenter)
ASRock Z97 PRO4 - $70 (microcenter)
32gb ram - can i just buy any (4) DDR3 1600 8gb sticks and install?

 

[mfenn]

so i am purchasing the following...

i7 4790 - $280 (microcenter)
CoolerMaster 212EVO - $30 after rebate (microcenter)
ASRock Z97 PRO4 - $70 (microcenter)
32gb ram - can i just buy any (4) DDR3 1600 8gb sticks and install?

That all looks good. I would probably go ahead and pick up a pair of these Crucial DDR3 1600 16GB kits ($150 ea.) at MC because they're a decent price and it's helpful to buy everything from one place.

However, if you'd rather save the extra money by going with a kit from Newegg, pick up these Team kits for $130 each.

 

[joejoe666]

thanks, i will buy (2) Crucial DDR3 16gb kits.

i will have to buy it from MC because i have to buy everything in next few days.

 

[joejoe666]

i went ahead and bought the following...the sales person convinced me to buy the ASUS Z97-PRO (WI-FI AC) ATX instead of the ASRock Z97 PRO4....i trust you guys more....did i pay an extra $100 for no reason? (he said the asus had better capacitors and better heat dissipation)

INTEL BOX INTEL CORE I7-4790K - 249.99
COOLMAST HYPER 212 EVO UNIV HSF - 36.99
ASUS Z97-PRO (WI-FI AC) ATX - 169.99
CRUCIAL 16GB 8X2 D3 1600 DIMM C9 - 149.99
CRUCIAL 16GB 8X2 D3 1600 DIMM C9 - 149.99

 

[Ken g6]

did i pay an extra $100 for no reason?

nope, no overclocking

Well, you overpaid. Do you have any use for WiFi AC? If so, then you didn't overpay $100. But close. :\

Edit: Still got time before building the PC? You could pick up a cheap H97 board, and re-sell the Z97.

 

[joejoe666]

I did overpay by $100. it was $209 but $40 off because i bought CPU & mobo.

i did not open anything yet, so i will go and exchange it for AsRock Z97 Pro 4 and save $100. thanks.

 

[mfenn]

I did overpay by $100. it was $209 but $40 off because i bought CPU & mobo.

i did not open anything yet, so i will go and exchange it for AsRock Z97 Pro 4 and save $100. thanks.

Good move. If you get home and realize, "I don't know what I just paid for", then you overpaid.

 

[joejoe666]

exchanged it!

final config...
i7 4790 - $250
CoolerMaster 212EVO - $30 after rebate
ASRock Z97 PRO4 - $70
Crucial 16gb DDR3 8x2 - $150
Crucial 16gb DDR3 8x2 - $150