Need Opinions on CS6 Edit Computer Proposal

[Tom Daigon]

Shop around. Call ADK. They know CS6 and they know computers. Ask for Eric.

859.635.5762 | Hrs: Mon-Fri 10-7pm EST

https://www.adkvideoediting.com/choose.asp

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[Alex Gerulaitis]

Hi John,

I’ve responded to your post on Adobe forum as well – I’ll duplicate it here as well in case the discussion takes a different turn.

$2-3K is a fairly small budget for decent “pro” grade video editing system, but still feasible. Eric/ADK will certainly set you up with a good system for $3K; systems I sell start around $4K.

Concerning the proposal: Intel S1200 seems to be a “microserver” platform optimized for power efficiency, not performance, I’d stay away from it. The motherboard they use is most likely S1200BTL: no 16x PCIe slot, very slow CPU options. Not suitable for video editing unless that editing is very, very light duty – like two hours a week.

Most popular choices among mid- to heavy-duty editors:
1. DIY systems – mostly for tech-savvy people. “Sweet spot” (most performance and value for the money) – around $1.6-2.5K. Benefits: price, customization.
2. Custom systems from integrators like ADK, Puget. Sweet spot – $3-4K. Benefits: price (sometimes), performance, application-specific support. Eric does know his stuff.
3. Custom systems based on Tier 1 models such as HP Z820, Z420, some Dell models. Sweet spot – $4-6K. Benefits: on-site 3-year warranty, component quality, single point of hardware support, resale value, everybody knows what a Z820 is. Application-specific support is there as well, if you get such a system from a quality integrator.

Here is a more expanded post on the same topic.

It seems that you are in the (2) and (3) group; Eric will help you with (2); let me know if you have any questions about (3).

Regarding Tom’s recommendation for ADK: I believe he chose an HP Z820 system he purchased directly from HP and later hired Eric to help with some issue – that speaks lots for both choices. Tom is not the kind of a guy who makes his choices lightly, so there have to be good reasons for him to choose HP Z820, which I believe he describes in his Cow Magazine article, Hello PC: The Journey to Mac and Back.

Hope this helps.

Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA

[Dennis Radeke]

Looks fine except I’d suggest more RAM. 32GB is not a stretch.

[Ivan Myles]

Will there be external storage (NAS, eSATA, etc) for the source files? If not, consider adding another disk volume; during rendering the system can read source files from one disk volume and write the output files to another volume. This minimizes read/write processing delays.

– Samsung, Intel, and Crucial/Micron are reputable SSD brands. It is a good idea to format the SSD with additional spare area.

– Depending on work load, 1TB might be too small for the RAID drives. Performance drops after reaching 50-60% capacity, and will become noticeably slower beyond 70% (about 650GB).

– If network attached storage will be used (or files will frequently be transferred among other computers), consider a PCIe ethernet card(s) with 2-4 ports. The ports can be teamed together for higher throughput and data transfer redundancy. Intel offers a variety of good options. Note, however, that the network switch and other computers/NAS will need a similar setup to achieve maximum throughput.

– Depending on I/O requirements, an external sound card and video capture card might also be useful. They are easy enough to add in the future.

– I like having a 3.5″ snap-in mobile rack in one of the 5″ optical drive slots. It allows easy swapping of drives for project-specific files and periodic system back-ups. A mobile rack is fairly inexpensive ($25-$30).

Good luck with the purchase.

[Saied Marham]

Be quick and look on the righthand side of the Cow homepage !
The Recent Blogs feature “Videoguys DIY 9.5 – Hex Core Adobe CS6 Workstation” which deals exactly with your requirements.
The Videoguys DIY builds are always good to get an idea of things, but you can chop and change as you wish. Otherwise here is the link.

https://www.videoguys.com/Guide/E/Videoguys+DIY9+Its+Time+for+Sandy+Bridge+E...

Good luck.

[Saied Marham]

Actually, maybe this should be the link (sorry, I’ll get there eventually!)
https://www.videoguys.com/Guide/E/Videoguys+DIY9+Its+Time+for+Sandy+Bridge+E/0xe9b142f408a2b03ab88144a434e88de7.aspx