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Finally; Got my wallet out for an i7 Entery Level PC - The Spec
does that put me in the SAD catagory?)
Reply With QuotePart 2-2
OK a little explanation of what I have chosen:-
CPU: This CPU is the best one to go for in my opinion, great to over clock. DO NOT attempt to over clock
unless you know WHAT!!!!!! you are doing. I generally don't advocate this, but as I bought the CPU to over clock slightly to get me over 2.8Ghz. For
HD editing at a later date, this CPU has four cores and seen by the OS as 8 cores (HT Technology) anyway. So I didn't see it as a problem, at
normal settings, I could be wrong, hey I have a plan (over clock). These processors (920) are going to be stopped in production and replaced with
something else (less over clockable I expect). As people have been buying the 920's and over clocking them, which has led Intel to have sold less of
the higher badge ones. So I am led to believe from my distributor, so these will be hard to come by soon (this information is unverified, might
just be more, distributor BullS*&T). This processor is coming up to be a year old, and development still continues.
AMD Phenom II processors; Still agreat processor, lags a little behind the i7, Intel are still Whooping AMD's Ass, I used to be a big AMD lover.
CPU FAN: OK; its common knowledge that the CPU fan supplied in the Retail Boxed version. Are usually not much cop, this FAN has 85% coverage on the CPU; imagine a box and draw a circle inside the box, the bits on the outside of the circle, are not transferring heat to the heat sink, leaving a slightly hotter CPU. The manufactures FAN!!! is totally fine if you are using stock settings, please DON'T worry if you are using this fan type in your machine. I personally like to go for a more beefy FAN, than the manufactures one. As I like to keep my CPU on the cool side as much as possible. Since I plan to over clock my CPU, I defiantly need a more substantial fan. With a more effective cooling air flow, in my system, the fan that I purchased, has a 100% CPU coverage and more substantial cooling fins.
Motherboard: This is a very high spec Asus motherboard (I do like Asus hence my purchase), the only downside to Asus for people in the UK, is that they don't have a UK technical helpline, there helpline is based in Germany (Europe). However; I didn't let, that little issue discourage me from my purchase. There are so many good X58 motherboards out on the market, another good brand is Gigabyte; it's well advised, to stick to branded high-end motherboards. Its only fair that we tackle this on another post as there are so many, I would like to recommend a selection based on budget, which you can choose from.
Memory: I went for 6GB 1600MHz DDR3 Triple Channel Memory Kit (Matched set) fast latency 7-7-7 20, to give a little extra boost. I put 6GB in because of my budget, I don't believe, in overloading a system with memory either, just because you can. However; I might find because I am new to video editing, that I will need more memory, at a later date. 6GB is a good starting point; 12GB maybe what I really need or too much as the case maybe. For now; I will see how I go and let my system tell me if I need anymore for my usage. However please stick to these makes; Corsair, Crucial, Kingston - These are branded names and reliable in my opinion.
Graphics Card: This gave me a little headache, not from the tech angle, but what my supplier had in stock. For some reason, they have a very wide range of graphics cards, but keep low stock values of them, from zero to 1 on some. So I chose the newer nVidia GTX 2 series of card, as this was the newer technology, twice as fast as the 98 series. I wanted a card with CUDA, around 500Mhz GPU with 512+ memory on card. About mid-range in the series, that’s why I chose the GTX 260 version 2. It's about comparable to a ATI 4870 card, they claim that this new version is faster, the same will do for me. Between manufactures of graphic cards for video editing, whilst not knocking ATI who also make excellent cards. I have to give nVidia the video editing platform, as they are more compatible with most video editing software on the market, please check yourself on compatibility issues (I have checked most popular editing suites for graphics brand). ATI however win the gaming platform hands down in my opinion, its just choosing the best equipment for the intended job.
Branded names, XFX, BFG, Zotac
I really had my eye on the NVIDIA Quadra FX 1800 Graphics Card, as this professional level entry graphics card has a plug-in to best optimise the
GPU. Please remember that; the graphics card, is all to do with what you see on screen, and has nothing to do with the final edited rendered file
you end up with. This is all CPU based; while I was choosing my components, I was thinking about an article I read many years ago on The Terminator film. If I remember right, for the render of the Silverman and the film, they used 50 parallel processed machines with 500MB onboard and the fastest CPU of the time. When they made this film; that was really out there doesn't seam much now. It apparently took 3 months to render the film, this had nothing to do with the graphics card, but all to do with the raw processing power of the CPU (loosely, as there are other things to consider).
However; things are changing, how software developers handle video output. Many video editors will know that they have to render there film to see
how it looks, this is true of Adobe premiere CS which I use, and I am just getting to grips with. (Whilst playing with after effects, I also fancy a
bit of 3d as well) The software makers are heading towards live previews of video editing, certainly with adobe CS4 (heard badly). I have read many things about CS4 and this forum is very opinionated lol.
What this means is; they will use the graphics card GPU to process the live preview information, usually the CPU just gives the graphics card the
information to display, once it has been converted/rendered to a file, the card just goes OK and displays it. with this new technology the graphic
card with live render of the preview, has to convert the software code into an image, on the graphics card. This technology, has some debate on the forum, this is a new approach by the software developers and has been taking sometime top get right, we have to thank ATI for this.
There is also a case for off loading some of the CPU work on to the GPU, hence freeing up the CPU to do other things during rendering of the final
file. The geekyness is coming out of me with a bunch of curiosity, Which is why I chose this card. To see if this is the case. I feel that I will
have more success with the Quadra 1800 card. As I was unable to purchase this card, at this time because of budget restraints. I thought I would have
a play with the GTX 260 v2, and lets see what it can do, a card I can afford now. My thoughts are to upgrade to the Quadra 1800 or equivalent at a later date.
Quadra 1800 - Mid Range
Quadro FX 1800
Quadra 3800 - High End (This looks very sexy)
Quadro FX 3800
Giving the reviews I have read and bench reports, I might not have to, giving my intended usage of the card.
PSU; Power Supply Unit: Because you are using a lot of juice, so to speak. It's better having a high spec power supply unit, for a high spec machine. This 750 watt should see you right, leaving some room for future upgrades, along the way. If you MUST!! you can even dress your case with a few lights, if your inclined that way, in this time of carbon foot prints; why on earth would you want to do that. lolol hehehe
That really sums it up; I have being chatting to Marc Peters about putting up some newer spec's to make sticky for some of you non-technical guys,
from entry level to advanced PC based NLE systems. I would really like to establish a squawk squad to debate some of these spec's, with
technically minded editors. To be placed in a private thread before the spec's are made public, as this idea is probably new to Marc, could you
(Marc) please reply if you feel that this is appropriate for your forum. And technically minded editors please register your support for the Squawk
Squad private thread, to have your input/opinions OH!! we know you'll have lots of those LOLOL aired before the specs are made public.
Please let me know your what your thoughts are; TY
Originally Posted by smifis
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