Video Editing PC

[joejoe666]

My cousin has a video/photo business. His current desktop configuration is
CPU - AMD Phenom II x6 1090T 3.2 Ghz
Motherboard - Crosshair IV Formula
Ram - 32GB
GPU - don't know. but i think its a good one

My question is the new buldozer or i7 better than this configuration? What other hardware can he use to reduce rendering/editing time? Budget is under $2000.

 

[sm625]

If its a serious business I would think he'd want to spend $2000 on GPUs for the current system and get 200% improvement rather than upgrade the cpu/chipset for only 20%.

 

[Ken g6]

That's a pretty good configuration! An i7 would be faster; but not much according to the Sysmark benchmark. Edit: Oh, you mean the new 3900 series! Yes, that could be 50-70% faster.

What software is he using?

 

[piasabird]

I would not run out and purchase a band new chipset. See if it is buggy first. I would want to see some benchmarks for software designed for hyperthreading.

This type of software depends heavily on RAM usage, Quad Core processing, and maybe some specialized video cards with encoding capabilities. The throughput on the processor and the cache size may also be key. Not all i-7 processors are created equally. There may also be a sweetspot that beyond that is of little help.

This is a case where you want to see some benchmarks for proof.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, a Sandy Bridge-E will be a decent jump. Since he has a 1090T, I'm assuming that he has DDR3 already. If that's the case, all he would need are the CPU and mobo.

i7 3930K $600
GA-X79-UD3 $270

Now, is the performance boost worth $870? That depends on your cousin's hourly rate.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If you do a platform upgrade i vote 1155 socket.

Give us a little more info too on what app he'll be using, what file containers, etc.

thanks gg & gl

 

[joejoe666]

He uses the Adobe CS5 package and edits HD and SD videos and pics too. I know some about computer hardware, and he knows very little (he lives in asia). I will ask him to find out what GPU he has installed.

 

[joejoe666]

ok here are the specs...

CPU - AMD Phenom II x6 1090T 3.2 Ghz
MB - Crosshair IV Formula
GPU - Asus 1GB EAH6850
Ram - 32 GB
HDD - (4) 1+TB 10,000RPM

There is a lot of gaming info online, but i am having a tough time finding configuration info on video editing/processing. My questions are:

1) What can he upgrade to?
2) How much improvement will it be in real life?

 

[Ken g6]

Video processing benchmarks, from the link Mfenn and I both provided:

I would say he could get about a 50% improvement with:

3930k+mobo bundle $890
Hyper 212 Evo + bracket: $40

Hopefully he can get his RAM running at 1.5v; if it's higher he might need new RAM.

The above build is on the cheap end of things, except for the mobo which could accept another 32GB in the future. The 3960x provides a little more cache for $400 more, but I doubt it would be worth it. There are also more expensive CPU coolers, which might do some good if he overclocks a lot.