How Are These Specs for HD/Vegas

W

westegg

Member
I'm planning to create an HD-dedicated computer; I use Vegas 9.0 (I also have Edius). Do these specs pass muster as far as providing optimal HD performance and decent power?:

INTEL DX38BT LG775 intelX38 1333MHz FSB DDR3-13333 8GB
INTEL Core 2 Quad Q9550 Quad-Core 2.83 HGz
Kingston 8GB
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 850 MHz
Antec Earthwatts 650W
WD 1 TB Caviar Green
Cineforrn Neoscene
Windows 7 64 bit


Thanks for any comments or suggestions!

:shocked:
 
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It doesn't depend on the PC, it depends on the format you will be editing. Even the fastest PC won't be fast enough for Canon 5D/7D format for example. But even a 10 times slower PC would be enough for HDV. So it all depends on the format your camera shoots at.
 
She's right, but defiinitely go core I7, there's no reason not to on a new computer at this point, and spend a bit more on hard disks.

If you're transcoding footage to cineform, remember that the files are going to be at least 3x the bitrate of DV, HDV, and AVCHD, which means a couple of streams won't cut it on a slow drive (Neo Scene says in the neighborhood of 10MBps or 35GB per hour). That green one won't do you too mnay favors except for genral data storage (backups, etc.). I'd get a small, quick boot drive (SSD or VelociRaptor) to put windows on (speeds up program loading and general use), and put your footage and documents onto a seperate drive (or more if possible). Definitely stay away from "green" drives for editing and look for something that is 7200rpm (WD Black comes to mind, but there are others). By keeping your actual data on another disk, you'll have security if you have to reinstall windows and the computer will be faster since it doesn't have to run your programs and OS, as well as your footage all from the same disk. Also don't forget to invest in a backup drive for when the worst happens (and it does happen!).
 
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Thanks for both your input; I need to make the most efficient choices in components and I appreciate what you've posted.

:thumbsup:

How's this as a revised list:

ASUS P6T LGA1366 Intel X58
INTEL Core i7-920 Quad-Core 2.66Hz
KINGSTON 12GB RAM
ATI Firepro V3750
WD 74GB WD VelociRaptor
WD 1TB 7200RPM

Thanks again...
 
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Is there any reason you're stuck on the ATI video cards? I'd certainly be looking at an NVidia card instead with the CUDA processors. You can get a very nice card at a reasonable cost, and it will give you much better performance. Not necessarily with Vegas, but with some plug-ins and certainly with helper programs.
 
With a system like this for HD editing, would a more powerful PSU be an advantage, say, 750w?

I'm looking at the Cooler Master Storm Sniper for the case.

:huh:
 
I edit with the latest Vegas Pro 9 and have found my set-up very stable. The 750w power supply is my choice too.

My current system:

i7-940 2.93 GHz
Asus P6T Intel X58
12GB RAM
OS Drive 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
Video Drive (RAID-0) 2TB (500GBx4) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
Windows Vista (64-bit Edition) Service pack 1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 X2 1.7GB
 
Londude said:
So the safest option would be to get an nvidia card for sd video editing?
Click to expand...

Well,

Your CPU in a modern machine should cope with SD easily. So I wouldn't expect much of a boost necessarily. But as you do more complex things, and *IF* you are using an application that can leverage the NVidia card, you will certainly see improved performance with it.

There are some excellent options in the US$150-$200 range that should show you through nearly anything you do. There are certainly more expensive options out there, but for most users these are total overkill.
 
I would add, consider all the software you may use on your computer. Do you need open GL for 3D programs? You'll need a graphics card that is flexible. Build the baddest machine you'll be using for the next 3 years or so and build-in the widest capabilities. If you're editing SD today you may be editing HD next week. My machine is dedicated to Vegas, Photoshop and Lightwave 3D and a few other video based programs only. I don't even allow an internet connection to it.
 
ANewman said:
I
OS Drive 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
Click to expand...
is there any advantage to having such a large OS drive? What would be an ideal size for a dedicated OS drive (Win 7- 64 bit) on a strictly editing machine (not connected to internet) with Vegas, CS4 Master Suite, some 3D programs?
 
I've noticed many people have different file mangement systems, for me I only put video files on the Raid 0 drive and I put the stills, music and narration on the OS drive. I do it that way because I reuse the stills and music in other projects.

I work some very large projects at the same time and so far the 1TB OS drive is just fine for me. Besides, if it gets close to being filled, I'll back-up the files I don't need on a external drive.
 
ANewman said:
I've noticed many people have different file mangement systems, for me I only put video files on the Raid 0 drive and I put the stills, music and narration on the OS drive. I do it that way because I reuse the stills and music in other projects.
Click to expand...

Why would you and others use RAID 0? I understand getting the larger meta drive out of the smaller ones, but your data is at risk should a drive fail. At RAID 0, if a drive fails, you cannot rebuild the data by simply replacing a disk in the array.

If you're going to use disks that are smaller to make a whole (ex: 4x500GB=2TB), i'd recommend getting 5 of those same disks (or lose 1 of the 4) and going with RAID 5. This way, even if a drive fails, you still have data and capability of adding a new disk back into the array. It does take a slight I/O hit, which may or may not impact us in the video world...I cannot speak to that. This is coming from storage knowledge alone (without video in the equation), but have seen disasters caused by RAID 0 more than once.

I plan on "cheating" and building a x86 Solaris 10 system with ZFS to do my RAID and connect all the PCs/Macs to it via GigE.

I'm just asking that you plan your RAID carefully so you don't have heartache later (backing up often doesn't hurt).
 
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