Editing Computer - what should i upgrade here?

[lawriejaffa]

4 x 750Gb Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD753LJ 7200 32mb Cache SATA II
1 x 750Gb Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD753LJ 7200 32mb Cache SATA II
1 x BFG Nvidia 9800GX2 1024Mb PCIe2 HDCP
4 x 1024Mb DDRII 800MHz CL5 ECC Fully Buffered (Crucial)
1 x Intel Xeon 5450 (4x3.00Ghz 1333FSB 2x6Mb) Passive
1 x Intel Skulltrail D5400XS Dual XEON 771 1600MHz SLI-Crossfire
1 x Coolermaster Real Power M850W Modular PSU
1 x LiquoCool Premium D (CPU+1xVGA+1xChipset)
1 x Non-LED fans
1 x Precise Machine-Cut Flames for meshing
1 x Creative 7.1 X-FI ExtremeGamer
1 x Heisei 3.5" Floppy Drive with Card Reader Black
1 x LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray RW-HD-ROM Black SATA
1 x SONY-NEC Optiarc AD-7203A 20x DVDRW Black OEM
2 x Revoltec Hard Drive Silencer kit for 5.25" bays

Here is the computer that I use for editing, doing 3d in cinema 4d, compositing in AE. It could do with a boost and im wondering chaps where you think the biggest investment in components could make the most difference in helping this computer process things like out renders, animation etc.

 

[Tommy K]

What is your budget for the upgrade? That will dictate what is recommended.

 

[lawriejaffa]

Hey there Tommy thanks for asking - basically about £2k ($3.5k ish)

 

[Tommy K]

For $3500 you have a lot of choices for a great system. It seems like the i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4 GHZ quad core is the latest greatest Intel cpu... but it did have a recall for a problem. It was supposed to be fixed by mid Feb '11. They are about $300 and are supposed to overclock near 5 GHZ. That may be the best bang for the buck right now. The intel 980X is a six core for $1000, but I wouldn't buy that when cheaper alternatives like the i7-2600 Sandy bridge or AMD six cores are available for a third of the cost. I built systems last year using AMD's Phenom six core 1055T and 1090T's. They do everything I need them to do. I do HD editing, graphics and animations. I'd start with the i7-2600 and go from there. My friend just built an editing/graphics system using the i7 Sandy Bridge and he raves about the performance. Get as much RAM as you can afford and your motherboard will hold.

 

[lawriejaffa]

I mean im really looking to upgrade the one ive got, so you reckon then that replacing the cpu (that would probably require me to upgrade the mother board too ugh) and then cram in more ram?

 

[Tommy K]

Yes I would use whatever you can from your old system and replace the motherboard and cpu. Yes cram in as much ram as you can. Your 9800 GFX card is a bit dated but should continue to work fine for your purposes. This is what I would do if I was you.

 

[lawriejaffa]

Fair enough! Cheers Tommy ill check out your recommendations and thanks for taking the time to give input too!

 

[mcshyd]

I would start with an editing raid. You'll notice a huge change in your system when you source your files on something that can do 4-500mbps. I use this- it's extremely cheap comparatively.

http://www.satasite.com/sr-hd-pro-enclosure-with-card.htm

I'd also think about getting a CUDA card. It will help in Cinema and enable you to use the Mercury playback engine.

 

[Richter Video Equipment]

use 1 drive for your os, the other 4 for a raid 5 array.

Get a new mobo and i7 cpu and new ram. It should run less then 1 g for a new mobo, ram and cpu. (newegg) The higher end I7's will get you a lot more bang for your buck. i run a i7-950 and haven't ever maxed it out aside from when testing it with programs that intentionally max it out. Triple channel ram is best so i recommend 6 sticks of 2gb for a total of 12gb. The gfx you have is fine although you may want to upgrade to some of the newer Nvidea Fx series. If you have the money left over consider adding more drives to your raid and a raid card. Also you could utilize an external raid. I recomend 6-8 drives in raid 10 or 4 drives in raid5. Raid 10 will increase your write speeds. With 3500 bucks you can practically build a real decent machine from scratch.