New PC for Adobe Production Suite CS5.5

[Herb Sevush]

[Aaron Cadieux] “I think you might be mistaken.”

Your right, I’m wrong, my bad. I guess I haven’t keep up with the changes in Decklink models.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Aaron Cadieux]

Colin,

I do a little bit of everything. The usual formats I work with include XDCAM and P2, but will also be dealing with some footage from the new Sony FS100 and various DSLRs. Premiere is my primary tool, but I also use After Effects and Photoshop on a regular basis. As I progress in my career, I have been using After Effects more and more, mostly for animating graphics and whatnot. My main goal is to not have this machine bog down when I’m trying to multitask. There are times when I want to render something in After Effects and author a DVD in encore at the same time. Other times I may be encoding in premiere and working on a print ad in InDesign at the same time.

I am aware that the machine I want to build is over-kill, but having built machines in the past, I always try to build on the high-end since technology progresses so quickly. The computer this is replacing has been my workstation for close to 6 years. It definitely doesn’t owe me anything, but when I’m trying to multitask, a single quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM will only take me so far (remember the days when that was a lot?). In order to run CS5.5 (or CS6) I need 64-bit. Soup to nuts with the Adobe upgrade, the total cost of the project is around $4,300. Amazing how much further $4,300 will take you when building your own machine compared to buying a turn-key system from a vendor.

Thanks in advance for any advice you wish to give me.

Best,

Aaron

[Aaron Cadieux]

Herb,

No worries. Thanks for contributing to the thread 🙂

Best,

Aaron

[Colin Lamb]

Aaron

For your use I myself would go along exactly the same route, you will have an awesome system at far less cost than buying from an edit PC specialist.

We are so lucky with the PC kit today, when I started NLE my frst PC was 100MHz and 32Mb RAM (no these are not typo figures you read them correctly)

May I suggest that you fit the boot disc in a trayless caddy and fit a second caddy in the system, also buy 2 identical boot drives. Once all the software is loaded clone the boot onto the second then you will always have backup that can get you up and editing again in a couple of minutes rather than hours of restoring from an image.

Good luck

Col Lamb
UK
Own build custom PC ASUS x58 MOBO, 12Gb RAM, GTX 580 GPU, RAID 1 and RAID 0 in PC + Store HD, Boot and store in trayless caddies for easy swap, Synology network RAID storage

[Stu Siegal]

Aaron, I’m in a similar position, coming over from a mac/fcp. I’ve never built a system before, but thinking of taking the plunge. Can I ask what other components you are thinking of buying, such as power supply, case, cooling system, rack, etc? Also, where are these prices from?

Thanks

http://www.verite-media.com

[Aaron Cadieux]

Hello Stu,

I actually have all of the information about the various components I’ve picked out saved on a computer at work. When I get back to the office on Monday, I will post them to the cow. I’d access the computer there remotely, but I shut it down for the weekend.

The computer parts, with the exception of the video card (ordered on B&H), were priced out on Newegg.com. I don’t think you’ll find prices and serice much better than Newegg when it comes to computers.

Thanks,

Aaron

[Stu Siegal]

Thanks Aaron, looking forward to reading it, appreciate you sharing your reaseach. BTW, I’m shooting w/an FS100 as well, love it.

http://www.stusiegal.com

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Hey Aaron.

You shouldn’t get a Quadro.

the GTX580 (which is cheaper) is a lot faster for Premiere. Faster even then the Quadro 6000.

Save your money and get more speed….

[Tom Daigon]

+1 on the GTX580 😀

Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digital / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3

[Aaron Cadieux]

Stu,

Here is the entire list of components I’ve picked out for my new computer. I maybe be going w/ a different video card, however. I will keep you posted.

3.06GHz Intel Xeon Quad-Core (Bloomfield) – $310 (2) $610

nVIDIA Quadro 4000 with 2GB RAM – $726 – may be changing

Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5″ 120GB SATA III MLC
Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) – $239

EVGA Classified SR-2 270-WS-W555-A2 LGA 1366 Intel 5520 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HPTX Intel Motherboard – $550

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL – $40 (6) $240

Intel BXSTS100A Active heat sink with fan – $31 (2) $62

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – $100

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RSC00-80GAD3-US 1200W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply – $250

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit – OEM – $140

Blackmagic Decklink SDI – $295

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Upgrade – $950

Best,

Aaron