Inexpensive CS5 PC

N

notharrylume

Active member
I've done a bit of research and I think that I've come up with a relatively inexpensive PC configuration for CS 5 for those who don't want to build their own.

Dell XPS 9100
i7-930 Quad processor
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
8 GB DDR3 Ram
NVida GeForce G310 512 MB ***(to be discarded -see below)
System Drive - 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA
Media Drive 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA
Blue-ray Burner
21.5 HD Monitor
$1,446

From Newegg
NVidia GTX 285
$260

Total: $1,700





Notes:
  1. See Adobe Premiere System requirements also - especially for list of approved Mercury cards - one can "hack" other cards if they're so inclined - I'm not
  2. See Videoguys very helpful System Requirements article
  3. Dell doesn't appear to offer any Mercury approved video cards for this computer so I've selected their cheapest card with the idea of getting the cheapest CS5 approved card (GTX 285) from Newegg and throwing away the ATI card from Dell
  4. This is a minimum or budget system for CS5.
  5. The XPS 9100 has a 525w power supply which is adequate but minimum
  6. Ideally you would get two media drives Raid 0 striped, but Dell only appears to let you Raid the system drives, which I don't think you want to do.
 
Unless you're in a hurry, I advise you wait for Sandy Bridge. SB's got a dedicated "Media Engine" and it should boost encoding and decoding speed.

"Sitting alongside the GPU is Sandy Bridge’s Media processor. Media processing in SNB is composed of two major components: video decode, and video encode. The hardware accelerated decode engine is improved from the current generation: the entire video pipeline is now decoded via fixed function units. This is contrast to Intel’s current design that uses the EU array for some video decode stages. As a result, Intel claims that SNB processor power is cut in half for HD video playback...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3922/intels-sandy-bridge-architecture-exposed/6
 
Hi

here is my bit of advice and chance to your set up

Dell XPS 9100
i7-930 Quad processor
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit go with the Pro version
8 GB DDR3 Ram go with the 4gig modules and fill up the slots the more ram the better 8 gig is far to little , 12gig would be the min
NVida GeForce G310 512 MB ***(to be discarded -see below)
System Drive - 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA
Media Drive 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA
Blue-ray Burner
21.5 HD Monitor
$1,446

From Newegg
NVidia GTX 285 go with the GTX 470 which has replaced the gtx 285

get a good power supply min 800w Antec or coolermaster


Hope this helps
Or go to Adobe forum to the hardware section there is a lot of info that will help,I made the mistake to buy somthing under spec and it is giong to cost me a stack to get the current system to spec.
 
Abe:

Do you know if the Dell XPS is set up so that other power supplies can be used? I seem to recall that Dell uses proprietary suff that might preclude such a substitution. Also - what about warrenty? Thanks.
 
I as I cannot comment on dell due to them not been very well supported in my country the dell range is aimed at the house user here , All I can give you is the advice I have been diong and seen on th net net from other users , Most user biuld custom machines they as a rule
Have a look at this page it may give you a idea what you would need before you spend money and fine the system does not do what you thought it would.
http://ppbm5.com/ hope this helps
 
As of now the MPE only takes advantage of about 100 CUDA cores. You might want to opt for a GT240 with 1 GB of RAM instead of the GTX 285. In a test the GT 240 with DDR 5 RAM out perfomed a GTX 285 with DDR3 RAM. That is not to say the GTX 285 would not out benchmak the the GT 240 for games and 3-D animation programs but for Premiere Pro CS5 the GTX 285 might be over kill.

Any desktop core i7 with 8 GB of RAM and a GT 240 (with DDR5 RAM) should make for a good starting point if you are on a budget.
 
I'm totally kidding that 5 grand kit. I don't like DELL. I hate that they preload your computers with all kinds of crap. Home built is always better. Check this combo out for about the same price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.519239




  • Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor (Model: BX80601960)
  • ASUS Rampage III Gene LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Motherboard
  • Kingston HyperX 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (Model: KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX)
  • Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Model: WD1501FASS)
  • ASUS GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (Model: ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5)
  • Antec Sonata Elite Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  • Antec TruePower New 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply (Model: TP-750)
  • ASUS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk (Model: DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS) – OEM


I don't think Gavin is correct. 8gigs is more than enough. It's just premiere. You're not rendering in 3d for the next pixar movie.

Anyways, Pros about Dell:

Has 8gigs
BlueRay Burner
Comes with Windows
Includes a Monitor
2 TB Drives

Cons about Dell:
It is made by DELL
Has slower memory (1033mhz) and Manufacturer Unknown
Power Supply is only 550watts and Manufacturer Unknown
Windows CD more than likely not included
Unqualified Video Card
Motherboard Manufacturer and Specs Unknown


Now the Pros about this Home Built Kit:
Faster Processor
Faster Memory (1600mhz) and is made by Kingston (good brand)
Includes a seperate Nvidia Video Card with 1gig of DDR5 Memory(and the card looks awesome)
750 watt Power Supply
Computer Tower is easily customizable (has 7 drive bays)

Cons:
No Customer Support from Dell
No Windows
only 6gig of ram
only one hard drive with 1.5TB instead of two 1TB drives
No Blue Ray Burner


Note:You can get the system builders copy of Windows 7 64 bit for 100 bucks. Disadvantage is that you dont get microsoft customer support .
 
Hey guys -

I've got a Mac Pro (sorry, not a 'PC' by some peoples definition in here) and I've been running PproCS5 without CUDA acceleration with absolute beauty and speed. I think it's disingenuous to put so much emphasis on the CUDA part of the equation.

That being said -- I did order a GTX 260 (modded with mac firmware to become a GTX285) and I'll post my feelings about the difference in a few days.
 
Just a thought, if you're feeling adventurous... I'm building one of these any day now. Will run me $1650, but you COULD build the slightly cheaper one for about $1250. Worth a look I'd say, especially since they're gearing it toward maximum usage of CS5/CUDA

http://nofilmschool.com/build-a-hackintosh/comparisons/

Obviously, this depends if you want to use OSX. Although I imagine you could build the exact same computer and just load Windows...
 
BryantStanton said:
Just a thought, if you're feeling adventurous... I'm building one of these any day now. Will run me $1650, but you COULD build the slightly cheaper one for about $1250. Worth a look I'd say, especially since they're gearing it toward maximum usage of CS5/CUDA

http://nofilmschool.com/build-a-hackintosh/comparisons/

Obviously, this depends if you want to use OSX. Although I imagine you could build the exact same computer and just load Windows...
Click to expand...

I don't think either system will work for Windows or even OS X for that matter because I did not see a motherboard listed. Having said that they should run Widows if you get a motherboard.
 
Sorry, I accidentally linked to the 3rd page in the article.

A motherboard obviously gets mentioned. If you go to the 7th page in, it lists the recommended MB:

http://nofilmschool.com/build-a-hackintosh/motherboard-cpu-ram/

Anyway, my main motivation for loading this as opposed to Windows is mostly because many of my projects use FCP files already, or I am given files for FCP from other editors. I prefer Adobe at this point, so OSX lets me use both. There is a slight speed advantage to using Windows, even Adobe admits this, but it's something like 3%, so it seems outweighed for my needs.

Also, this model seems blazingly fast. If you go to the first page in the article, he has a video of starting up Photoshop and it takes 3 seconds.

Anyway, for the full parts list there's this:

$1250 model
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/w...al-price-desc&layout=standard&y=14&reveal=all

and this:

$1650 model
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/w...al-price-desc&layout=standard&y=13&reveal=all

If you read the whole article you'll see the video card he recommends is located on NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...BYTE-_-14125280&AID=10440897&PID=3878565&SID=
 
So guys: back to my original question - CS5 capable/inexpensive/ built by somebody else-not me! -

Here's where I'm at (i7 920/8-12gig ram/2 1 TB drives/gtx470/BD burner/24"LCD/750w/Windows 7-64b):

Under $2000 with monitor:
Dell XPS 9100 - negatives - marginal 525w power supply/gotta buy GTX470 somewhere else/ Dell bloatware/service
Cyberpower PC X58 - can be configuered precisely as needed/ no bloatware/ but some generic parts, service reputation not perfect
iBuypower X58 - can be configuered precisely as needed/no bloatware/ but some generic parts, service reputation not perfect

$3000 plus or minus:
Dell Precision T5500
Alienware
Maingear
ADK
Velcity
Puget Systems

The $1000 difference is not unimportant to me. What do you think?
 
Postmaster said:
You know that CS5 reads FCP files also on a windows PC?

Frank
Click to expand...

Did not know. I started editing on Premiere years ago and switched to Final Cu for my job. Back at home I started experimenting with Vegas but never liked it very much. Wanted to build a new machine and heard CS5 had been progressing greatly but still thought FCP might turn around eventually. But with this info, maybe I'll just keep using a PC.
 
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