Another set of z800 specs for ya

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Duke,

I’ve been following your threads for over a month and have been biting my tongue the entire time, as other posters that I respect were cheerleading for the HP purchase and also singing the praises of the XEON processors. They live in a different world than you and I.

To all that I say…the stuff is obsolete. You are buying stuff that is maybe 4-6 years old. Any new off-the-shelf Core i7 PC at Sam’s, Costco, etc. will be faster (with appropriate display card). You said you tinker as a hobbyist. You don’t need a dual-XEON rig. My core i7-2600 machine is nearly 5 years old and has served me well for HD editing, and over the weekend I cut my first 4K project and it worked. You don’t need dual processors.

Spend $800-1000 on a NEW system with Core i7, nVidia graphics, 16GB RAM, and get editing. The couple hundred you are “saving” with this old used garbage is not saving you anything – the systems are dogs as you are finding out, and you’ve wasted how much time and effort already? And even if you get one that works to your satisfaction, it is still OLD technology…how much life is left in it?

One thing with a new machine – you want a dedicated drive for video, don’t use the C: drive. I have seen new machines with an SSD boot, plus a 1TB SATA drive. That would work, using the 1TB for video. Or connect an external drive via USB 3.0 for editing if the PC comes with only one internal drive.

Just looked online, a Dell XPS 8700 would do the job for $799. BRAND NEW, warranted, with latest technology.

Just my two cents, as a friend

Thanks

Jeff

[Jeff Pulera]

PS – my office computer at work is a little Intel i5 system and I have Premiere CC 2015 installed and even this lowly computer works fine for editing HD and 4K. But I do recommend the Core i7 for best results/faster exports and such.

Thanks

Jeff

[Jon Doughtie]

Hey Duke, Jeff is speaking truth here. A contemporary machine as he describes is the answer, for less money. Spend the extra cash on a boot SSD, if the unit you pick doesn’t already have one. A 1TB or 2TB video drive as well, and you are off to the races, editing instead of doing battle with old tech.

System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2014 (as of 7/2015)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF.

[Duke Sweden]

Thanks, guys! I do have some reservations however, since I myself have an i5 dual core, and just recently added a second HDD, but this is the system I’m trying to get out of since it bogs down and all. Now, having said that, could it be that I only have 12gigs of RAM, and my graphics card is one of those built in Intel 3D graphics cards?

I will definitely look into the Dell you suggested. Thanks again for your input and thanks to Jon for confirming his advice.

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Duke,

An i7 is much faster than an i5 processor, and the Mercury GPU Acceleration in Premiere can make a big difference in performance, when using a proper display card. Built-in graphics do nothing for you. My i5 in the office here does have an nVidia-based GPU, so that is helping me out.

12GB is not terrible, so that shouldn’t be a big deal on current i5 system. Certainly better than 8GB. Is your second drive internal or external? If external, make sure you are using USB 3.0, as 2.0 is simply too slow.

As Jon stated, if you can get an SSD system drive, that really perks up performance.

Make sure you are not running anti-virus software such as Norton or McAfee, as they will make any system run like a turtle. I’ve used the Microsoft Security Essentials for years without getting any cooties, and I can’t even tell it’s installed, no nags, no performance hits.

I apologize for not speaking up sooner. With your initial posts, it sounded like you were pretty well set on getting the HP, and very excited about it. I was somewhat dismayed to find out you had to return it and got another one which is having similar issues.

The Dell I saw was listed at Sam’s Club. If you find something you are interested in, copy/paste the specs here for review and we’ll let you know if components look good or not for editing.

Just to be clear, if someone is doing professional editing for a living, then spending $2000-$3000 or more is a fair starting point, but for home/hobby use, a system for $1K will do just fine. While a $1K system and a $3K system might share the exact same Intel processor, differences might be:

* Larger power supply
* High-performance motherboard, more slots and ports
* Bigger (more expensive) graphics card
* More hard drives (RAID?)
* More RAM
* Nicer case and cooling

Thank you

Jeff Pulera

[Duke Sweden]

Hey Jeff. My second HDD is internal, a Seagate 3.5″ 7200 RPM 500gig Barracuda, which I pulled out of an old computer and, yes, I’ve heard they break down, but it’ll do for now.

I wasn’t hell bent on getting a z800. Someone here told me I could save a lot of money by getting a z800 instead of the z820 I originally asked about. He paid about $400 for his but after all the additions he made to it the cost must have been over a grand and I don’t want to spend that much since, as you realize, I’m just a hack. I’d like fast response times but not so much that I’d pay $1,200 or so.

I was just going to post here with specs on a Dell I found on Ebay. Let me know if these are good. I have the high bid but there are still 6 days left and 35 previous bids so I’ll probably lose, but let me know if these specs are good, in your opinion.

Dell XPS 8700 Desktop PC
CPU: Intel i7-4790 at 3.6GHz
RAM: 16GB DDR3 SDRAM
Storage: 1TB HDD
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745
Operating System: Windows 8.1 64 Bit

Thanks again for your help. Here’s an example of what I do. Just made it yesterday. Yes, I’m a little bit wacky 😉
https://youtu.be/WfQnLoNHdXU

[Jeff Pulera]

The video was fun, it’s neat that you can do that with your son.

How much for the Ebay PC? The Sam’s unit is similar at $799, but with 2TB HD and Windows 10

Dell XPS 8700 Desktop Tower, Intel Core i7-4790, 16GB memory, 2TB Hard Drive, NV GTX 745,Windows 10

Thanks

Jeff

[Duke Sweden]

Thanks. He’s mentally handicapped so getting a performance out of him can be a struggle sometimes.

The one I bid on is currently at $310 (my bid) so you can see with 6 days to go it’s not going to stay that low. It’s used, btw.

[Duke Sweden]

Hey Jeff, I sent you a PM but in case you don’t see it in time I’m gonna repost it here since you offered to look over the specs of any PC I might be interested in. I have until tomorrow morning to grab this one, below. Will it do the job?
***********************************************************************************************************************

Hey Jeff, I have an opportunity to pick up an XPS 8700 for $475.00 but I don’t know if these specs match the one you had suggested to me previously. Would Premiere Pro run smoothly with these specs?

Brand: Dell
Processor Type: Intel Core i7 4th Gen.
Product Line: XPS
Graphics Processing Type: Nvidia GTX 745
Model: XPS 8700
Memory: 16GB
Operating System Edition: Windows 10 Home

I’m most concerned with the graphics card. There’s so many Nvidia’s it’s hard to figure out which is good, mid-range, or lousy.

I have until tomorrow morning. Hopefully you’ll see this before then!

[Duke Sweden]

Sorry, it also has an 80 gig SSD with WIndows 10 already installed (I have a second HDD that I would install myself), the processor is an Intel i7-4765T