any good? spec for video editing - quiet PC

Hi, I'm trying to put together a high-spec PC for heavy HD video editing. My other important requirement is that the PC should be very very quiet.... I am a newbie when it comes to PC builds, so grateful for any tips or comments!

Case COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 650 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V LK: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 32GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 X 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 180GB INTEL® 335 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 10x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£79)
Processor Cooling Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Firewire 3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card (£9)
Operating System Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NORTON ANTI-VIRUS 2013 - 1 Year Licence for 1 PC (£9) *SPECIAL*
Monitor IIYAMA G2773HS 27" PRO GAMER, 120Hz LED PANEL, 1MS RESPONSE (£289)
Keyboard & Mouse Microsoft Arc Keyboard - Style That Works (£32)
Mouse Microsoft Arc Touch Wireless Mouse - Two-way Touch Scrolling (£48)

This looks way overkill for video editing - this is a high end gaming pc. It should run pretty quiet though.

I would say your monitor is totally the wrong choice - get an IPS not a TN panel for video editing.

What's your budget?

Hi,

Are any of the video editing programs you'll be using able to use the GPUs for processing?

Perhaps if you aren't sure list the programs you intend to use and we can find out.

ChrisByatt said:

This looks way overkill for video editing - this is a high end gaming pc. It should run pretty quiet though.

I would say your monitor is totally the wrong choice - get an IPS not a TN panel for video editing.

What's your budget?

Click to expand...

thanks for advice - I went for this high spec as quite frustrated with current old PC as it struggles with real-time preview when i add a lot of effects and colour grading. Also HD video files are quite huge... But any suggestions where I could save more than welcome! budget is up to 2,5 k

In terms of monitor do you think this one is more suitable? What is IPS (sorry)?

27" AOC I2757FH IPS Widescreen Monitor

thanks again!

hi, thanks a lot! I am using the Adobe CS6 Suite, so Premiere and Photoshop etc.

Jas said:

Hi, I'm trying to put together a high-spec PC for heavy HD video editing. My other important requirement is that the PC should be very very quiet.... I am a newbie when it comes to PC builds, so grateful for any tips or comments!

Case COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 650 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V LK: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM) 32GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 X 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 180GB INTEL® 335 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk 2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 10x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£79)
Processor Cooling Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Firewire 3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card (£9)
Operating System Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NORTON ANTI-VIRUS 2013 - 1 Year Licence for 1 PC (£9) *SPECIAL*
Monitor IIYAMA G2773HS 27" PRO GAMER, 120Hz LED PANEL, 1MS RESPONSE (£289)
Keyboard & Mouse Microsoft Arc Keyboard - Style That Works (£32)
Mouse Microsoft Arc Touch Wireless Mouse - Two-way Touch Scrolling (£48)

Click to expand...

Hi mate, our specs are pretty similar and I primarily use my PC for HD video editing with some gaming on the side. I would say your specs are more than ample for editing. The case is very quiet - it has padding all around to muffle noise and it also keeps cool temps. I edit HD video constantly and my PC handles it like a dream. (I use CS6 too)

ChrisByatt said:

This looks way overkill for video editing - this is a high end gaming pc. It should run pretty quiet though.

Click to expand...

I disagree, I wouldn't say it is overkill at all.

hey, great, that is so reassuring to hear! particularly about the quiet case: my current PC is soooo noisy, it drives me nuts. I even edit sometimes with earplugs and headphones on top.... crazy, I know....

If this is for video editing, I'd say a 680 GPU is overkill.

How about something like this? This is a really high end pc and will last ages. £2509. For some reason I'm not getting the unique url thing... I've changed the layout of your hard drives, so you use the 120gb for boot, 4tb for what you're working on now, then the mirrored 3tb drives for backups. Blu-ray writer drive so that you can burn your films to bluray. And a GREAT monitor with high res and 100% sRGB colour reproduction. Fan controller so you can control the fans if it's getting too loud for you.

Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 650 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LK: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
4TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD4001FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD30EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
4th Hard Disk
3TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD30EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Fan Controller
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£32)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
ASUS 27" PB278Q 2560x1440 W/S Monitor - DVI, VGA, DP, HDMI (£475)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Oh and SLI 670 - should give you the performance of a 690. The 670 is cheaper than a 680 and only about 5% slower (if that).

hey, thanks a lot - that's really helpful !

few quick questions:
What is the advantage of having a 2nd graphics card?
Can the Blue-Ray Drive also burn "traditional" DVDs? so I can choose the medium?
How much better is the soundcard you suggested versus the onboard soundcard?

thank you!

What is the advantage of having a 2nd graphics card?

Click to expand...

For video editing I don't think you will benefit from a 2nd gpu, it will be noisy as well.

How much better is the soundcard you suggested versus the onboard soundcard?

Click to expand...

I would suggest trying the onboard audio first.

Jas said:

hey, thanks a lot - that's really helpful !

few quick questions:
What is the advantage of having a 2nd graphics card?
Can the Blue-Ray Drive also burn "traditional" DVDs? so I can choose the medium?
How much better is the soundcard you suggested versus the onboard soundcard?
thank you!

Click to expand...

A second graphics card won't help any really for video editing,it will increase performance in some newer games and will make the PC a bit more future proof,it could also be advantageous if using multiple-monitors as in Nvidia surround,if not you could go for the one 670 for now then add another in future.
The 12x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW will burn both blu-ray and DVD disks,
the 10x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW will burn DVD's but not Blu-Ray disks,
the BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM won't burn Blu-Ray or DVD disks.
ROM means "Read-only memory"
I have a Creative Sound Blaster and it is better than onboard,especially if you have high end speakers/headphones,but I can't say I would recommend it, I would go for an Asus Xonar.that said onboard audio is pretty good these days.so give that a try first,unless your an audiophile or into music recording/production.

Jas said:

hey, thanks a lot - that's really helpful !

few quick questions:
What is the advantage of having a 2nd graphics card?
Can the Blue-Ray Drive also burn "traditional" DVDs? so I can choose the medium?
How much better is the soundcard you suggested versus the onboard soundcard?

thank you!

Click to expand...

Hi,

As far as I am aware there will be absolutely no benefit to having sli graphics cards for video editing. Having a gtx 670 will provide very similar performance to the 680 for a significant amount less money.

The blu ray writer will write dvds as well - these are the specs for it:
"Max. BluRay Read Speed 8x
Max. BluRay Write Speed 12x
Max. DVD Read Speed 16x
Max. DVD Write Speed 16x
Max. CD Read Speed 48x
Max. CD Write Speed 48x"


I use onboard sound on my gaming computer (slightly different motherboard but similar) and find the sound fine. However if you are really fussy then a sound card is an easy upgrade to do yourself.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

I would not go with the i5 for video editing because with most programs you will use will be totally reliant on the CPU. For not a huge amount more the i7 will give you better performance for video editing, although nothing of note for gaming.

An alternative is the Xeon processor. This is built to last and run all day and all night, rather than flat out for a few hours a day. If you are going to leave stuff running whilst you are out and overnight a machine built on the E3-1240v2 is about £150 more than the i7. It has the same clock speed, number of cores and is hyper-threaded. CPU benchmarks are pretty similar for both processors so the extra money is mainly for durability rather than speed. The 1240v2 is the best value in that range.

I'd go with one GPU. The GTX670 is the favourite for gamers performace/value wise but for GPU processing the GTX660ti is better value. For GPU work the bus width isn't significant but for gaming at higher resolutions it does matter. I do a lot of GPU processing work and did extensive testing on every card available before spending a lot of money. I don't do any gaming although I'd love to.

Your original spec listed mirroring two of the disks but they were all different sizes and types. Was that a typo (or a clicko)? Having a SSD for your OS and programs is a popular option. Then you put your files on regular disk. If you want some redundancy then mirroring two regular disks is a simple option.