Suggestions on new edit droid?

[Gerry Jones]

The Antec 300 is a good case and I seriously considered it.

In the end, I think I’m going to go with the Cooler Master HAF 922 because of the great airflow and the completely tool-less design. I have great big bass player’s hands; me with a screwdriver near fragile electronics is a bad thing! 😉

My attempts at cost containment have failed miserably, but I think my final design is a far more capable edit droid due to your excellent and thoughtful suggestions. Thank you!

This is what I’m planning on ordering from Newegg tomorrow after final review:
What changed:

OLD CASE— Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $99.99
NEW CASE— COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $104.99

OLD CPU— Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) $229.99
NEW CPU— Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) $319.99

OLD VID— EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $199.99
NEW VID— EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-AR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $329.99

NEW ITEM— Arctic Silver AA-1.75G Thermal Compound $5.98

OLD RAM— G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL $46.99
NEW RAM— G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL $88.99

What stayed the same:

CPU Cooler— Rosewill RCX-ZAIO-92 92mm Sleeve Bearing Fan CPU Cooler $17.99

PSU— SeaSonic S12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $69.99

MOBO— GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $129.99

HD (2)— Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s (2)@$124.99 = $249.98

READER— Rosewill RDCR-11002 All-in-one USB 3.0 Card Reader $19.99

BURNER— ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner – Bulk – OEM $19.99

OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit $139.99

OLD TOTAL $1225
NEW TOTAL $1498 (+$273)

My old goal of a capable edit droid for around $1K is totally shredded.
My new goal is to totally enjoy working on a much faster machine, do more work in less time, and make this puppy earn its place in my studio!

Thanks again for all of your suggestions!
Gerry

[Joe White]

I’d scale back on graphics card as there has not been that much positive press for the money spend and get a small SSD for the System and program files.

the I7 2600k is totally worth the extra expense

[Gerry Jones]

So Joe, what are we talking about… maybe scale back to a GTX 550 TI on video and add a 128GB SSD to use for system and programs? That makes sense and actually cuts about $50 off the system price.

Thanks!
Gerry

[Steve Rhoden]

No, you cant scale back on the graphics card.
Despite the fact that there has not been that much positive
press for the money spent.
I personally hate all the confusion around this graphics
card and that graphics card, but you can say its a necessary evil.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Maker
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956
https://filmex-creative-media.blogspot.com/

[Gerry Jones]

How is a super hot video card necessary? It seems that the usual bottleneck for Vegas is CPU and RAM power which I’ve addressed with my design changes.

How does a GTX 570 make itself worth spending almost $200 more than the 550 Ti? I’m not a gamer. I just want to mix some sound and cut some video.

Thanks!
Ben

[Jeff Schroeder]

Gerry,

If I was maxed out and could trade the 560 for a 550 ti and get an SSD, I would get the SSD. I think your system will be faster over all.

The last 6 systems I built were around $2000, three with SSD’s three without. There is a difference!

Then Raid (stripe) the two hard drives (are they 64 MB cache?) and get some speed there. You will be happy with this system.

Jeff

Windows 7 64-bit, ASUS P6X58D, i7 960 3.20GHz, 24.0GB DDR3, 12TB connected storage
http://www.narrowroadmedia.com

[Gerry Jones]

I’m going to split the difference between the GTX 570 and the 550ti and get a superclocked 560 from EVGA. $190 after the MIR.

How big an SSD is needed so I can run Win7 64, Vegas, Acid, Photoshop off it?

Will a 120 or 128GB SSD do? A 128GB OCZ is $150. A 160GB is $235. A Sandisk 120GB is $140.

Thanks!
Gerry

[Jeff Schroeder]

I’m running two systems on 60GB SSDs, that are about 1/2 full. If you think about it the only stuff that goes on it is Windows and software. Go add it up. Your ‘My Documents’ and other user file folders will be relocated.

Jeff

Windows 7 64-bit, ASUS P6X58D, i7 960 3.20GHz, 24.0GB DDR3, 12TB connected storage
http://www.narrowroadmedia.com

[Gerry Jones]

Hmmmm… What about swap files?

I’m torn between getting the 128GB OCZ Agility($130 MIR) or the 240GB OCZ ($270 MIR). True, I could get a 60GB for $76 MIR, but I’m trying to future proof the box and be ready to run as much as possible off the SSD.

Thanks again for your astute feedback!
Gerry

[Gerry Jones]

Belay that last SSD order. OCZ drives are running in the high teens for 1 star reviews on Newegg. Many, many DOA’s and BSOD’s. Not good.

Crucial M4’s are down at 6% for the 128G and only 3% 1 star reviews for the 64G on Newegg. Much more reliable!

My data is crucial, maybe I should BUY Crucial! (ya think?) 😉

Gerry