i5 vs. i7 for Student Filmaker

peoplewhoneedsomething

peoplewhoneedsomething

New member
INTRO
Well, I'm about to start High School, and am going in with a fair share of filmmaking prowess thanks to a dozen 2-5 minute "films". I plan on upgrading my current computer should I find a seller and so I am faced with the following question: an i5 or an i7?

Let me begin by saying that I don't have an infinite budget. The way it works is I'm allowed to spend as much as I want, but I have to pay it off some way or another (in other words, working). I don't have a problem with that, but seeing since I'm gone for all of August and July's halfway through, with school around the corner I'm going to be hard-pressed for time.

In terms of cash flow, I have one $10/hour official job (webmaster for mother's company) and one $20/hour unofficial job (teaching younger sister math), but they're more part-time than full time. I plan on getting an actual part-time job come the new year, but for now that's what I have to work with. As you could probably tell, both jobs are subjective to multiple things (i.e. something to do as webmaster, sister cooperating), but I can get through with it.

I've made $300 so far, and I believe that I can get an extra $100-150 from the webmaster gig as we're in the middle of a website overhaul (in terms of everything), and the sister thing has (for now) an unlimited ceiling. Hopefully my current rig will sell for $850, but I'll go for $750 or $800.

As an added bit of information, my current build is an i5-750 w/ an HD 5770.

Uses
- Video editing w/ Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, with the intention to learn After Effects. Currently at 720p but will upgrade to 1080p
- Photoshop CS6
- Light gaming (Team Fortress 2, Portal 2)
- Word Processing
- Web Browsing


Film Gear
Here's the gear I currently have:
Camera: Canon T1i w/ 2x 4GB Class 10 SDHC cards
Audio: iPhone 4S
Software: Adobe CS6

The Build
Here are the finalized parts:
MoBo: GA-Z77-DS3H
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600
Fan: 1 x BitFenix Spectre 120mm
DVD: Sony AD-7280S
PSU: Rosewill Capstone 550W Modular/PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mark III 600W
Case: Fractal Design Define R3
Card: Rosewill 74-in-1 USB3.0 Card Reader

Here are the I'm not so sure parts (slashes indicate options, price difference in brackets):
CPU: i5-3570/i7-3770 ($105 difference)
GPU: GTX 550Ti/560/560Ti/650Ti/660 (Ranges)
SSD: Samsung SSD 830 64GB/128GB (~$75 difference)
HDD: Seagate 7200RPM 2TB/2 x Samsung F3 1TB in RAID 0 ($113 difference)
Monitor: Dell U2412M vs. LG IPS231P (~$100 difference)

With my current build I've taken account an i7-3770, a 650Ti, the 64GB SSD, the Seagate drive, and the Dell monitor.

So here is where I come to you, dear experienced filmmakers. What would you suggest? Skimping with the build and getting better equipment earlier or the opposite? What features will provide me with the most benefit?
 
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Most people will swear by the i7, and with good reason, but I certainly empathize with your student budget. That said, you can save money in some places while still maintaining good performance. I also recommend some other changes simply for quality reasons.

- On a budget, go with the i5 3570, but if you can spare it, go with the 3770. For Adobe software, GPUs have become much more important, but CPUs are still a major player here unlike games. That said, the beauty of CUDA acceleration in Premiere is the very fact that you can get away with a slightly underpowered CPU if the GPU can handle the weight. Don't feel pressured to go all out here, you're already keepin' it smart by not getting the highest clocked i7 (diminishing returns).

- Switch out that PSU to something a bit more powerful and from a more trustworthy supplier. Rosewill is a budget brand, and you do not want to go budget on a power supply. Using them for the card reader is acceptable, but I'd go with something like an Antec or Corsair PSU. Go for 600 or 650w just to give yourself some headroom, especially with the GPU.

- You don't need the extra 120mm fans. They're nice and will give you some heat dissipation, but the Intel Core series is quite efficient, so you can shave off a few bucks. Of course, we have another thread in the Cafe right now about broken fans, but that's a CPU fan I believe.

- Your case is fairly utilitarian but you can save a few bucks and still have a good case. A starting point is the Cooler Master HAF912.

- As for GPU, the x60 series (meaning either 560 or 660) tends to be the mid-range bang-for-the-buck cards with Nvidia. the x50s tend to be a bit less powerful, and the 70s/80s are much more expensive. 660 will probably ensure you get the most recent instruction sets, but the 560 is a good card still if it saves you something.

- LG monitor from what I've seen. Dell has been known to use great panels at times, and not-so-great panels at other times, but I'd suggest reading reviews to find out. For example, years ago they had excellent PVA panels that they replaced with lesser PVAs in the half life of the monitor line. It's just a consideration.

- DVD is irrelevant, you shouldn't spend more than $25 on one a burner.

- SSD is good, I recommend 128GB minimum though, as I'm a little paranoid and stringent with my 64GB. Read up on controller differences and speed, I think I've heard good things about Samsung.

- HDDs are hard to discern between these days, but the F3s are good from what I've heard. I'm personally a Western Digital user myself, but I've heard their practices as of late have been questionable (purposely crippling their Green drives to be less capable in NAS usage). You don't need 10,000RPM drives to work with DSLR footage, just keep that in mind. Some people here have legitimate needs for ultra fast drives due to raw and uncompressed data. You will likely not be dealing with this, nor should you concern yourself. I know you didn't choose a 10k drive, but just don't listen to anyone who tells you you need it!
 
Most people will swear by the i7, and with good reason, but I certainly empathize with your student budget. That said, you can save money in some places while still maintaining good performance. I also recommend some other changes simply for quality reasons.
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A large thank you for doing so. To be honest, in terms of real-world usage scenarios, I've been lost on the i5 vs. i7 debacle.

- On a budget, go with the i5 3570, but if you can spare it, go with the 3770. For Adobe software, GPUs have become much more important, but CPUs are still a major player here unlike games. That said, the beauty of CUDA acceleration in Premiere is the very fact that you can get away with a slightly underpowered CPU if the GPU can handle the weight. Don't feel pressured to go all out here, you're already keepin' it smart by not getting the highest clocked i7 (diminishing returns).
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In terms of budget I was actually considering getting the S variant of the i7 to shave $15, but thanks for this.

- Switch out that PSU to something a bit more powerful and from a more trustworthy supplier. Rosewill is a budget brand, and you do not want to go budget on a power supply. Using them for the card reader is acceptable, but I'd go with something like an Antec or Corsair PSU. Go for 600 or 650w just to give yourself some headroom, especially with the GPU.
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In terms of wattage here, I've had to take efficiency into account. Since Ivy Bridge is the name of the game I know I'm looking at a maximum power draw of 77W from the i5 or 65W/77W from the i7, so add that to the maximum 150W of the GT560 and the probably lower wattage of ~130W for the GTX660 (thanks to Kepler's architectural changes), plus a maximum of 60W for everything else, I'm looking at a total of ~290W max. Add 20W if I want a GTX 670, so for a total of 310W. At full capacity, that gives me 52%/56% usage, which is the sweet spot for PSU efficiency.

However, your points have been taken. It's just that I've never felt limited by an OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W on my current build, where I have a (relative to Ivy and Kepler) power-hungry i5-750 and HD 5770. I'll admit to this making me biased, and the fact is that I don't want to spend the extra money towards a Corsair, but maybe an Antec. So far I'm looking at the PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mark III series, 600W and the Antec EarthWatts Platinum 550W. The links are for the PSUs, respective to their order in the last sentence.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703036
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371055

- You don't need the extra 120mm fans. They're nice and will give you some heat dissipation, but the Intel Core series is quite efficient, so you can shave off a few bucks. Of course, we have another thread in the Cafe right now about broken fans, but that's a CPU fan I believe.

- Your case is fairly utilitarian but you can save a few bucks and still have a good case. A starting point is the Cooler Master HAF912.
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I'll sacrifice the fans, but coming from a P180 the sound is something I care about, so I'll stay with my pick here. If I'm to go on a budget here, I'll get the Corsair 300R:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139011

- As for GPU, the x60 series (meaning either 560 or 660) tends to be the mid-range bang-for-the-buck cards with Nvidia. the x50s tend to be a bit less powerful, and the 70s/80s are much more expensive. 660 will probably ensure you get the most recent instruction sets, but the 560 is a good card still if it saves you something.
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The answer I've been looking for! Thank you!

- LG monitor from what I've seen. Dell has been known to use great panels at times, and not-so-great panels at other times, but I'd suggest reading reviews to find out. For example, years ago they had excellent PVA panels that they replaced with lesser PVAs in the half life of the monitor line. It's just a consideration.
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The difference between both IPS models is that the Dell has an extra inch (diagonally), better color accuracy and a 1920x1200 resolution (vs. 1920x1080 on the LG), and since IPS is made by LG both panels are LG too. The Dell has received only favorable reviews, and the only issue AnandTech found was high DeltaE values for Blue, but that was something common to all monitors with low AdobeRGB colorspace support. Living with a Sammy 24" @ 1920x1080, I'm sure that I'll appreciate the extra pixels, and I'll work for it here.

- DVD is irrelevant, you shouldn't spend more than $25 on one a burner.
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It's $18, and it gives me sleep functionality (unlike most other DVD burners).

- SSD is good, I recommend 128GB minimum though, as I'm a little paranoid and stringent with my 64GB. Read up on controller differences and speed, I think I've heard good things about Samsung.
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Since my current OS + Programs weighs in at 40GB, I should be fine with the 64GB, but I do understand what you mean. Should I cut costs somewhere else I'll definitely bump this up. The reason I picked Samsung is because it has very favorable reviews and it is the SSD supplier for Apple (alongside Toshiba, but Toshiba isn't really into the SSD space yet). The SSD 830 is also faster than Marvell Controllers like the Crucial m4, but slightly slower with uncompressed data compared to Sandforce. Overall, it provides a very good all-rounder drive with a not too aggressive garbage collection function (I have been known to leave my computer on), so it can survive without Trim on the Hackintosh side of things.

- HDDs are hard to discern between these days, but the F3s are good from what I've heard. I'm personally a Western Digital user myself, but I've heard their practices as of late have been questionable (purposely crippling their Green drives to be less capable in NAS usage). You don't need 10,000RPM drives to work with DSLR footage, just keep that in mind. Some people here have legitimate needs for ultra fast drives due to raw and uncompressed data. You will likely not be dealing with this, nor should you concern yourself. I know you didn't choose a 10k drive, but just don't listen to anyone who tells you you need it!
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I too am a WD person, with two 500GB Blacks bought before the Taiwan floods. Only one of them is coming over into this new build, being resurrected as the drive for Windows. At the end of the day I'll pick the Barracuda, as it is the one that is $100 cheaper.

In terms of tradeoffs, it's this:
Dell U2412M + GTX 650 Ti + 64GB SSD or LG IPS23P + GTX 660 + 64GB SSD
Assuming I get an i7. An i5 and then it becomes:
Dell U2412M + GTX 660 + 64GB SSD or LG IPS23P + GTX 660 + 128GB SSD
A token of gratitude must be given, and I can find none other than the smiley. :dankk2:
 
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I'll quickly chime in here and say that I recently bought a laptop with and i5 and it's great. I got an Asus K53e with 8 gigs of ram. Couldn't be happier.
 
i5-2450M, so it's the older version. It was only $500. I upgraded from a several years old dual core desktop, which still works very well for SD footage. I do all of my professional work on this laptop now. Running Vegas Pro 8.
 
To not distract anybody from their duties any longer, I will condense my build into the following statement:

Imagine you are a video editor. Out of the list below you may only pick 2 things. Which two would you pick?
1. i7-3770 (as opposed to i5-3570)
2. Nvidia GTX 560 (as opposed to GTX 550 Ti)
3. 16:10 monitor (as opposed to 16:9 smaller colorspace support monitor)
4. 128GB SSD (as opposed to 64GB SSD)

Specifics:
GTX 560 Ti may become a GTX 560 Ti 448 if prices fall.
The 16:10 monitor has a resolution of 1920x1200 and a size of 24", compared to a 23" 1920x1080 16x9 monitor.
 
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If rendering is a big part of your work, go with i7 (specially a K version, easily go to 4.5ghz) and at least 16GB RAM.

And get a Corsair TX PSU, they are the best.
 
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On my phone, so I can't type much.

I would definitely get an i7. The i5 does not support hyper threading, which will become increasingly important in the future.

I don't know if you are set on building it yourself? This is what I built for $1,000.

1. Started with a Dell XPS 830 with an i7. This was 3 years ago, so it was a 920. Today it would be a 3770 or similar. They can get the case, CPU, motherboard, and OS much, much cheaper in volume than you can! $500.

2. Added 24 GB or ram, 3x8GB, for $170 to 27GB total. (Pulled 3 of 6 GB it came with.)

3. Added a GTX 560 with 2GB DDR5 Ram for $160 after rebate. (Newegg)

4. Added a 750 watt 80% gold power supply for $60 after rebate (Newegg)

5. Added an OCZ 120GB SSD for scratch for $65 after rebate (Newegg.)

I also have 2x 2GB Seagate Barracuda project & media drives in a RAID - RAID card came with the Dell. I had the drives, but you could either do the SSD or the 2x2GB. Use the base drive with the machine as the OS.

Dont know how close that is for you on cost? I apologize if I am off base - long, detailed thread for a phone.

You might also try to upgrade the T1i to a T3i? I sold my T3i with 18-85 for $520. They should come down to $445, $400- for body only as people buy the T4i, mirror less, or the rumored full frame Canon in the fall.

Also: check out ppbm5.com

Cheers!
Michael
 
Also: I have a super cheapo $350 Asus laptop with an i3 and 8 GB RAM. No Cuda or CL - software only.

I have been editi g quite happily in CS6 on that, although I never intended to edit on it. Still - I love my dual monitor desktop which is devoted only to editing - no other applications, no Internet browsing, etc. I would never give up a good desktop for critical work.
 
if i had to choose, i would pick the cpu and the gfx card, affects and speeds up your work much more than a superfast boot or 16:10 monitor...
 
Imagine you are a video editor. Out of the list below you may only pick 2 things. Which two would you pick?
1. i7-3770 (as opposed to i5-3570)
2. Nvidia GTX 560 Ti (as opposed to GTX 550 Ti)
3. 16:10 monitor (as opposed to 16:9 smaller colorspace support monitor)
4. 128GB SSD (as opposed to 64GB SSD)

1 and 2, no question about it.
More math tutoring??? :happy:
 
I'd choose the GTX 560 and 128GB SSD, as they'll likely provide the biggest increase in performance per dollar, along with fitting the needs of a student. A student likely doesn't need a high-gamut monitor, and should only concern themselves mostly with if the panel is at least IPS. The processor is also beyond the needs of most students, and can be replaced easily.
 
Looks like simplifying (at least in some situations) helps. :D
I want to thank you all for your responses, and notify you that I'm going with the i7 and the GTX 560 (Ti if the price comes lower). A 128GB SSD isn't going to be that beneficiary to me, as my OS and all my applications only occupy 32GB (this includes the Adobe suite), and I can live with the performance loss associated with less packages.

groveChuck said:
More math tutoring??? :happy:
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That can always work, but I think that money can be better spent elsewhere (i.e. cheap laptop, new DSLR, new bike, et cetera). Feel free to prove me wrong though, but in the meantime I'll mark this thread as solved.
 
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Please report back and let us know your final build, costs, etc. Always useful for others going through the same process.

You could also benchmark with ppbm5.com or ppbm6.com to get comparison timings. I am a big believer in data driven decisons. Nice to have comparisons.

Good luck!
Michael
 
unadog said:
Please report back and let us know your final build, costs, etc. Always useful for others going through the same process.

You could also benchmark with ppbm5.com or ppbm6.com to get comparison timings. I am a big believer in data driven decisons. Nice to have comparisons.

Good luck!
Michael
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Once I sell my current hack (sorry for advertising), I'll build this. I'll update the original post to include the build and install guides (since it's a Hackintosh) once I build this rig, but be warned that may take until mid-September.

Thanks for the giving of luck - I certainly hope someone decides to buy my current Hack.
 
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