Computer Build

taylormade

taylormade

Well-known member
I'm building a computer for Media Compser.

Cooler Master HAF 932 Case
ASUS P6T Delux V2 Motherboard
i7 920 CPU
12 gigs Corsair memory
Nvidia Quadro fx1800 video Card
500GB segate Hard Drive SATA
2 - 1TB hard Drive SATA
Pioneer BDR-203 Blu-Ray burner
Vista Ultimate 64 bit
AVID Media Composer
Adobe C4 Production Premium

Two questions - is it worth it to upgrade to a 950 CPU or a Quadro FX 3800 video card?
I'll be doing P2 workflow off a Panny 170 and lots of After Effects in post for a low-budget horror flick.

Any comments or suggestions welcomed.
RT
 
I would say if you're willing to spend as much as you already are, you might as well go all out. :)

Let us know how this unqualified system works out for you! Vista is a dog. But Windows 7 is solid. If you're going "unqualified," you may want to consider a Vista/Windows 7 dual-boot drive. I heard Avid runs smoothly for people who have tried it, though the DNA hardware might not yet be supported. But you didn't mention that anyway.

Also, make sure you invest in a top tier power supply from a company like PC Power & Cooling.
 
Yeah, I have a 1000 watt power supply on order. I'm still on XP with my old XpressPro setup, but the Vista on my laptop is a real pain. What makes 7 better? And I didn't think it came out untill the fall.
RT
 
If you're specifically building an editing station and not a computer you plan on gaming on as well, go with Vista Business 64-bit. If you buy now I believe you get a free upgrade to 7 when it comes out (double check that though), but hold out on upgrading until Avid qualifies it.

If you turn off Aero and all the fancy eye-candy crap in Vista and set your computer up as a workstation, not a regular PC, Vista is awesome. Load it up with RAM and work away. I ran XP Pro for years and just upgraded to Vista a few months ago and it's much, much faster, nicer, and the fact that it recognizes all my RAM is great. Remember, this is a workstation, not a PC. The OS is there just to hold the program, basically. You shouldn't have to deal with it too much otherwise.

Michael
 
Michael,
This computer will be used for editing only so I'll take your advice on the Vista application. I assume it's easy to turn off the "eye candy." You'll have to bear with me here as I'm computer illiterate other than editing on Avid.
RT
 
Yeah, it's pretty basic. Just go through the control panel and uncheck everything like "Fade transitions", etc... I actually set mine up to look exactly like Windows XP with a plain black desktop. The less the OS has to do, the happier I am. It's one reason why I abhor working on Macs. I've never figured out a way to turn all that crap off. Some of it, yes, but there always seems to be some animations I just can't get to go away.

M.
 
I just read on the forums over at avid people are reporting media composer locks up at the start under windows 7, stay with vista business for now. They also have some really good threads for building an i7 media composer computer.
 
Did you build this computer? If so what graphics cards did you use the fx1800 or the fx3800?

I'm getting ready to build a new i7 computer, it'll run the new Avid 4.0 and a mixed assortment of other video / audio apps.

Any problems?

BTW Avid got the windows 7 problem worked out and people are saying it runs 30% faster on 7.
 
Yeah, I've heard about numerous positive experiences running Avid on Windows 7. Definitely check over at the Avid forums. I still plan on running the latest Avid Media Composer on Windows 7, for better or for worse. I turned on my Vista box the other day and realized why I hadn't turned it on for months. It runs like complete crap, and I could never get Avid running properly anyway. Windows 7 is soooooooo much better, especially if it will do even a decent job of running the NLE.
 
I guess I'm lucky, I have never had a problem with Avid & Vista, I am going to run windows 7 on my new build, everything I have heard about 7 is really good.

Get this, I can get a buddy deal on a used fx4800 graphics card for $500, it's a $2800+ card new. I hope it works with Avid 4.0, I know it won't be certified for a while.
 
I could not, no matter how much I tried, get my Quadro FX 3400 to work properly with Vista 64-bit or Windows 7 64-bit. It worked fine on XP Pro 32-bit, but with these later builds I get massively bogged down graphics and buggy behavior (with the appropriate driver). So, I broke down today and ordered a Quadro FX 3800 for $800 off Amazon. I'm really hoping this new card solves the problems, because I would like to hang on to my current workstation for awhile longer (translate: save money).
 
Problem solved!

The Quadro FX 3800 works very well with my system. My 3400 card was too old and wouldn't gel with my Vista/7 64-bit attempts. Now I'm running Windows 7 64-bit with zero problems so far. Soon I'll try installing Avid and see what happens.
 
ChipG said:
DC,

Did you install Avid yet on your Windows 7 system with the 3800 card?
Click to expand...

I did! Ran into some problems with the video display. I was getting the white flashing on the composer window when I tried to play a clip, then it only showed a black screen or a frozen frame. Scrubbing is fine though. I think it might be because I have the latest video driver installed (which is not qualified by Avid). So I need to downgrade the driver a bit but do a thorough wipe of the current driver first. Haven't had the time, but I will report back after I do this. :)
 
To get back to my original post, I just finished my computer build:

Hi,
I just finished building an editing system for Avid Media Composer 4.0.2. The computer I built is based on your DIY7 build:

Intel i7 920
V1AX Thermaltake cooler
Asus PT6
12GB Corsair 1600 PNY
Nvidia Quadro FX 3800
Coolermaster HAF 932
1TB Seagate Barracuda (Boot Drive)
2x1.5TB Seagate Barracuda Raid0 (Video Drive)
1.5TB Seagate (Backup) Pyro PVC-316 Firewire Pioneer Blu-Ray BDR2203 disk burner
PC Power and Cooling 860 Watt
Vista Business 64 bit

I loaded in Avid and everything seems to work very well with one big exception - I can't digitize from my DV deck. See my other post "No Deck" on that problem.

I'm very happy with the computer so far - it's very fast and seems to everything as advertised. A few weeks of working with it should tell the whole story.

I think my problem with Capture is directly related to using a 64bit OS, but I'm hoping someone out there has an answer.

RT
 
Just wanna say I hope you guys are overclocking :) You can increase those i7 920's by 50% with a $70 heatsink/fan/TIM setup.
 
Hi guys,

Just about to invest in a new PC and reading through this post, I can see that you guys are the ones to hand out sage advice in this regard. The last computer I bought, I really didn't spend what I should have done and less than 18 months later I am paying for it. So I am looking at spending a fair amount of money by my standards and wanted to know if I was heading in the right direction.

I intend to use it to edit with Adobe Premier Pro CS5 and maybe try to teach myself some After Effects stuff but nothing too taxing. I own a DVX100 but have recently fallen in love with shooting with DSLR's and would eventually look to editing HD footage.

I realize that I may be asking some silly questions but I have always had really kind people help me out in the past on this forum and I hope you forgive any glaring newbieness :)

Here is what I am looking at:

cpu i7 870
cpu heatsink noctua NH-u21P SE2 i5
Ram GSkill DDR3 PC3-12800 RipJaws
Zalman ram cooler
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P
FX 580 512MB Absolute
Power supply Coolermaster GX 650W
DVD Multi w/Light scribe
Tower coolermaster 690 Pure with firewire in the front
120mm Ultra Quiet Blue LED Case fan system
Custom anti dust mesh weaving for vents
Porfessional Cable management for maximum air flow

I already have a Seagate Baracuda and 1TB Samseung HDD

I am kind of already at the threshold of my budget but if there is anything you think I should definitely be including or upgrading I would much appreciate your input.
Any advice would be most welcome.

Cheers in advance guys.
 
I too am costing out a home-build "workstation". I use inverted commas since I'm too hard up / cheapskate to go the full Xeon / Quadro route, instead opting for a basic i7 950 and a Fermi build GeForce card (a 580 if I can push that far).
My question is, how tight is the Quadro requirement? would any Nvidia card (Of reasonable power) work?
Dave
 
Lots of people are using geforce cards successfully with mc4 and mc5. I believe the trick is to disable 'threaded optimisation' in the global settings of the nvidia driver, then you should be good to go. Worth doing a search on the forums, though, to double check.
 
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