Help with editing build please...

[JorLano]

Hi Guys,

So I have been looking to get into editing a little bit more seriously now, and the time has come to invest in a new computer…this begs the question Mac or cusom built pc?

Been looking at the 15″ macbook pro as it has the updgraded graphics card from the 13″, but could you guys advise me on whether or not this would be suitable? or should i go down the PC route which would provide a possibly better spec option.

Looking to use sony vegas pro and after effects mainly.
Would be using pcspecialist.co.uk if i can down the pc build route, so a couple of example build in the budget of the mac (£1600ish) would be good.

Cheers.

 

[Narcotics]

PC route FTW something like this would be good to overclock it just open AI Suite II Auto System Level Up to 4.8 best of buying a ssd separately

CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 400R MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£52)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£119)
Processor Cooling
SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39)
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
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,255.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/h6UAeDxndD/

 

[JorLano]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply...quick couple of questions...

Is overclocking worth looking into as i see you have based your spec around it?
Is the graphics card/psu overkill if this is not primarly a gaming system or do you still reconmend this setup for video editing?
Is SLI something that i will need further down the line? if this system is not primarily for gaming?

I adjusted a few things based on your comments, could you/or anyone else look over it for me?

Case
AeroCool X-Predator Evil Black Full Tower Gaming Case - (Is this a good case for my needs?)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW) - (added ssd for windows / programs - your thoughts?)

2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£52) (any reason for going with the blu-ray drive)

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£119) - Can downgrade is not going for SLI

Processor Cooling
SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39) - Can downgrade is not going for SLI

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
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,344.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/qxkhf5KWK7/

 

[keynes]

Is overclocking worth looking into as i see you have based your spec around it?

overclocking the CPU will increase the clock speed of the processor and would bring benefits in CPU intensive applications, there might be some instability issues if the overclock is not done correctly.

Is the graphics card/psu overkill if this is not primarly a gaming system or do you still reconmend this setup for video editing?

Not sure how well the GTX 660 ti performs in Sony Vegas Pro or whether the additional CUDA cores improves performance but a cheaper alternative is the GTX 570.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro/gpuacceleration

Is SLI something that i will need further down the line? if this system is not primarily for gaming?

You don't need to SLI

AeroCool X-Predator Evil Black Full Tower Gaming Case - (Is this a good case for my needs?)

It is advertised as a gaming case, it is a nice case but you could probably get a cheaper alternative.

120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW) - (added ssd for windows / programs - your thoughts?)

It will speed up windows and applications stored in your SSD.
http://www.samsung.com/uk/article/top-ten-benefits-of-ssd/

12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£52) (any reason for going with the blu-ray drive)

If you are not planning to play Blu-rays you wouldn't need one.

CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® SILVER MODULAR (£119) - Can downgrade is not going for SLI

Yes, the corsair 650w PSU would be a good choice.

SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39) - Can downgrade is not going for SLI

The SPIRE cooler is for the CPU not the graphics card or SLI, if you are not planning in overclocking the CPU you could get the triple copper heatpipe instead.

 

[Narcotics]

I would most definitely recommend overclocking it will help rendering a lot and to be honest I put the other stuff cuz what's not to say in a year or so you might want to start gaming. AI Suite II will set a stable overclock just pick 4.5 GHz & hit start It's as easy as that!

 

[JorLano]

Taking your reconmendations on board I have come up with the following build...please post your opinion / any changes you would make from an editing/future gaming point of view.
Is it ready for overclocking?


Case
AeroCool X-Predator Evil Black Full Tower Gaming Case

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready Minimal cost in upgrading from the 570

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW) - Would you reconmend this SSD?

2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

Processor Cooling
SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39)

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
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

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 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1

Price: £1,313.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-ivy-bridge-pc/tqq7cMfoAM/

 

[keynes]

The SSD you selected is fine, if you are planning in overclocking you may want to consider a pre-overclocked system. It will be covered by your warranty and the difference in price is the better thermal paste used in your system.
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/desktop-pcs/intel-overclocked-computers/

 

[Narcotics]

Definitely go with the better thermal paste as rubensolo suggested
Case
AeroCool X-Predator Evil Black Full Tower Gaming Case
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-3770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
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
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,344.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-1155-overclocked/CxHxmTBLZ7/

 

[JorLano]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help... it's starting to take shape...

Is a 120gb SSD going to be enough to store the OS and after effects/vegas pro?

Is there any particular reason for the 750w PSU?

 

[keynes]

Is a 120gb SSD going to be enough to store the OS and after effects/vegas pro?

Yes

Is there any particular reason for the 750w PSU?

No, you should be good with a lower PSU as long as there are no warnings/recommendations given by the configurator. Since you are not planning in adding a 2nd graphics card you could go with a cheaper motherboard P8Z77-V LX.

 

[JorLano]

You've been a great help...Rep'd

Any reconmendations for monitors?
Looking in the 22-24" range...

Could also do with some advice on keyboard/mouse...
Was thinking a razer deathadder but unsure on a keyboard...

Is the standard soundcard decent enough for my needs? Will be ordering a set of 5.1 speakers...

Will also be going with Homeplugs, do I require anything else on the internet side of things or would that be me good to go?

Sorry for the overload of questions... lol

 

[keynes]

I'd suggest trying the onboard sound before considering a soundcard.

Looking in the 22-24" range...

What is your budget?

Will also be going with Homeplugs, do I require anything else on the internet side of things or would that be me good to go?

You need a pair of homeplugs.

 

[JorLano]

I had looked at the IIYAMA 24" at £159... so around that budget, if there was something worth stretching to i would consider it.

Any thoughts on the keyboard front?

 

[keynes]

I had looked at the IIYAMA 24" at £159... so around that budget, if there was something worth stretching to i would consider it.

Any thoughts on the keyboard front?

For your intended use any keyboard will do, the mouse you mentioned in your previous post is for gaming.
From previous posts IIYAMA seems to be a good monitor, you could also consider an ASUS monitor.
http://www.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/VE247H/

 

[Narcotics]

BenQ GW2750HM is an absolute best of a monitor for the money Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard & a Sharkoon Fireglider Laser Mouse

 

[JorLano]

Hey Guys,

Pretty confident that the below spec is along the lines of what I will be ordering... just a few final tips and any further advice you can think of...

Will be purchasing my OS seperately as we get student rates with the University...will this cause any problems with set up?

Can you advise on sound cards? I plan on buying a set of 5.1 speakers...will I need to uprgrade the sound card for this? (creative inspire from the drop down menu)

The Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard you linked looks like a good choice...thanks for that!

Case
AeroCool X-Predator Evil Black Full Tower Gaming Case

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-3770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.60GHz)

Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)

Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)

Processor Cooling
SPIRE GEMINI REV.3-THERMAX HDT TWIN FAN CPU COOLER (£39)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
2 x HomePlug 200Mbps - Turn any Electrical Socket into a Network (£38)

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,202.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-1155-overclocked/rh5BexobCk/

 

[Rakk]

Will be purchasing my OS seperately as we get student rates with the University...will this cause any problems with set up?

It will cause no issues at all, though do not be surprised when you find a non-activated version of Win7 already on the machine when you get it, the one on there will have been used for testing purposes but obviously will not be activated.

 

[JorLano]

Any advice on sound card selection for my needs? (posted above.)

Any thoughts on the higher MHz RAM taking into account I'm getting an overclocked CPU.

 

[keynes]

Any advice on sound card selection for my needs? (posted above.)

Any thoughts on the higher MHz RAM taking into account I'm getting an overclocked CPU.

The ram you selected is fine. The onboard audio supports 5.1 speakers, if you still want a soundcard you could go with Asus Xonar DG 5.1 (£22).