[W] Custom PC for video & image editing

mastermamo said:
In the interim would u kindly quote the specs of your daughters pc and if possible since it's a built to order machine can u break it down into each component price
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Don't have all the individual prices with me, but this is what I bought back in 2015 for R26k. Can only remember 2 individual prices.

Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor
Biostar Hi-Fi Z97Z7 Ver. 5.0
NVIDIA Quadro K2200 4GB GDDR5 (R7900)
Vengeance® Pro Series — 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 DRAM 2400MHz C10 Memory Kit (CMY16GX3M2A2400C10R)
256GB Kingston SSD
1TB Seagate HDD
Samsung 28" S28D590D LED, Ultra HD, 4K, 1ms, 370cd/m2, 2x HDMI + DisplayPort (R9500)
Corsair CX750M ATX Power Supply — 750 Watt
Antec Performance One P280, Full Tower, Black, XL-ATX
Logitech trackball mouse and Bluetooth keyboard
Windows 10
Office 365
Adobe Creative Cloud (student package, not part of the cost)
 
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mastermamo said:
What were the prices of each component. Need to get a clear indication
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As stated above, I don't have it with me. As also mentioned, I am somewhere in a jungle on the equator. I could find some of the prices off my history with Rebeltech. Unfortunately I can not access Amazon from here. Some prices are guesses to get to the R26k, which I know was the total cost.

Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor (R1764est)
Biostar Hi-Fi Z97Z7 Ver. 5.0 (R1000est)
NVIDIA Quadro K2200 4GB GDDR5 (R8180)
Vengeance® Pro Series — 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 DRAM 2400MHz C10 Memory Kit (CMY16GX3M2A2400C10R) (R1300est)
256GB Kingston SSD (R750)
1TB Seagate HDD (Transferred from old PC - R600)
Samsung 28" S28D590D LED, Ultra HD, 4K, 1ms, 370cd/m2, 2x HDMI + DisplayPort (R9 529)
Corsair CX750M ATX Power Supply — 750 Watt (R1700)
Antec Performance One P280, Full Tower, Black, XL-ATX (R1777)
Logitech trackball mouse and Bluetooth keyboard (Transferred from old PC - R1200)
Windows 10 (Transferred from old PC - R450 I paid)

EDIT - The processor, motherboard and RAM prices are a wild guess here. I might be off by a few thousand rand, so work on total cost between R26k and R32k. I do not have access to the receipts for those 3 components, but know I got bloody good deals on them.
 
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[W] Custom PC for video & image editing

Thanks for taking the time to outline costs and specs. I will post a little later. OP if this is somewhat off topic and a "hijack" of sorts please let me know and I can start a new thread
 
mastermamo said:
Thanks for taking the time to outline costs and specs. I will post a little later. OP if this is somewhat off topic and a "hijack" of sorts please let me know and I can start a new thread
Click to expand...

To keep it on topic, you need to post some links to R14k Mac Pro machines.
 
[W] Custom PC for video & image editing

Ok let me see where and how to begin:
According to all I have read Farquart had to have this pc custom built i.e. Made to order for his daughter who is studying and using Adobe products (probably Photoshop and Illustrator if she's a graphic dragonet or Premiere and After Effects if she's studying film.)
So each competent e.g. Chassis, motherboard etc had to be bought on its own as part of the build.
Right, now on a Mac Pro these options aren't available. The chassis is a an all aluminum deign. There is an intake fan, exhaust fan and a PSU fan built in. I will use the following Mac Pro as the basis to draw examples.
1. A 3.03Ghz 5.1 12 Core (Intel Xeon X5765 dual CPU)
Factory specs as follows:
1. Aluminum Chassis
2. 4 SATA Drive Bays
3. 1TB OS drive
4. 8 gig DDR3 ECC RAM
5. Wifi Card
6. DVD Writer
7. ATI Radeon 5770 GPU (1gig)
8. 4 x PCIe slots
9. 1000 PSU
Here are the upgrade paths :
1. Each drive bay can house a 4TB drive which amounts to 16TB storage
2. The DVD tray can be disconnected and has 2 SATA connectors so u can add 2 Norman drives or 2 SSDs
3. The graphic card can be changed to ANY now supported including Nvidia 1070, Titan etc as the New OS now fully supports all third party cards
4. U are left with 3 PCIe slots for:
either another GPU, Usb 3 card, esata card etc etc
5. There are 8 RAM slots which can accommodate a max of either 96gig RAM (if running OSX) or 128gig (if running windows)

Base price (2nd hand deals) as these aren't sold new any longer. I am giving u prices that I personally paid on this machine.
2. 3.03 12 Core base R25000
Let's go down the upgrade route on the 3.03.
Added GTX780Ti @ R3500
Added 2 Samsung Evo 512gig SSDs @ R4500
Added 56gig RAM @ R3000
Added USB3 card @750
Added Firewire 800 card @ 750
Grand total : R37500

Now as for the Adobe aspect. The school your daughter is at has totally misinformed u the whole Adobe graphic card requirements are. I lecture and develop for and with Adobe for the last 8 years so I understand this very well. Photoshop is reliant on ANY Nvidia card to accelerate certain functions like dynamic zoom etc. after Effects barely if ever touches the GPU as it used the RAM to preview and render. Premiere does use the GPU but not as much as u might think. The more the number of CUDA cores on a Nvidia GPU the better but interns of everyday performance it's negligible. So having a monster GTX1070 or a smaller GTX680 is not going to make any major difference.
Where u see GPU performance changes are in applications like Cinema 4D, MAYA, Resolve etc and of course in games.
Now this 12 core machine while whip most anything out there when u put it to the render test.
Here are the geekbench tests :
56f9226fba62de373256984228573316.png

And that's WITHOUT the addons of SSDs and more RAM. If u ask anyone about these figures they will tell u they are pretty impressive for a standard spec machine.
So my point is: there was no need to go and source a motherboard, a chassis, a power supply, etc etc. As the start for a base machine u get everything as an all in one which u then can begin upgrading slowly and as budget dictates.

You mentioned there's no need for a 1000 PSU but Apple has thought of this way in advance. If u were given a 500W PSU and needed to put in a bigger GPU or 2 what would u do. Yes, u would then need to go buy one like most pc users have to when upgrading.
Yes all pcs ship with a fan or 2 and every single pc owner I know has added a fan or 2 or even 5 for better cooling. Everything from extra fans to bigger heatsinks to liquid cooling is tried. All for that 1-5 degree drop in temp. Why does a mac not offer these options? Simple: it's thermally super efficient.
U said that windows runs as efficiently as OSX. This is incorrect. Windows has no idea how to manage itself and hence it has the ridiculous registry that keeps getting cluttered and eventually causes chaos.
But that's another conversation altogether.
Can u run a geekbench on your daughters machine and post the results.
I will addresses each of your comments that u made re: thermal management, app management, cooling etc in the next post
 
@mastermamo

If you lecture the subject, it is somewhat embarrassing how little you know about hardware and software. To think you tell your students this nonsense!

First, biggest problem is that you don't understand the OPs requirement. The OP has R14k to spend - you gave him a quote for R37.5k.

Imagine if a client comes to you with a video editing project and says they have R50k to spend for your services. You do the work and send them an invoice for R150k. What do you think is going to happen? You didn't understand the clients requirements and delivered something they didn't ask for.

Secondly, the Radeon 5770 is so old you can't even buy it anymore. Same with your "upgrade" GPU, the 780Ti. You could only buy one used, and even then you would be ill advised to pay R3500 for such an old GPU.

Third, you talk about thermal efficiency and not needing fans, and then you recommend that the OP purchase a 780Ti. If they purchased a 1060 (which incidentally is probably faster), they would need less cooling. Or even a 1050Ti.

Fourth, if you googled "adobe mercury engine supported cards", you would see that AMD video cards are now supported. So, they could buy an RX470 or RX480 if they wanted to.

As a lecturer, it is your responsibility to stay up to date with the latest developments in the products that you teach. That includes both the software and the hardware. That you did not know these things is frankly embarrassing. If I had a child who was in your class, I'd be furious that you knew so little. Or put it this way - lecture them on the creative aspects but you are in no way qualified to make hardware and software recommendations.
 
[W] Custom PC for video & image editing

Ancalagon said:
@mastermamo

If you lecture the subject, it is somewhat embarrassing how little you know about hardware and software. To think you tell your students this nonsense!

First, biggest problem is that you don't understand the OPs requirement. The OP has R14k to spend - you gave him a quote for R37.5k.

This detailed summary was not for the OP. I've asked his permission to highlight the differences between Macs and Pcs. The price of the mac is roughly the same as the pc described by another user hence the comparison at that price point.

Secondly, the Radeon 5770 is so old you can't even buy it anymore. Same with your "upgrade" GPU, the 780Ti. You could only buy one used, and even then you would be ill advised to pay R3500 for such an old GPU.

My 780Ti is older than a 1070 sure but for almost double the price I don't see any difference between performance unless u r a gamer looking for a few fps more. For spot production purposes the 780 is efficient enough and has never given me a single problem.

Third, you talk about thermal efficiency and not needing fans, and then you recommend that the OP purchase a 780Ti. If they purchased a 1060 (which incidentally is probably faster), they would need less cooling. Or even a 1050Ti.
Thermal efficiency as in the number of fans has nothing to do with the GPU. The GPU will need a bigger PSU to run it. I don't understand your point here.

Fourth, if you googled "adobe mercury engine supported cards", you would see that AMD video cards are now supported. So, they could buy an RX470 or RX480 if they wanted to.
Yes I know that but I prefer CUDA.

As a lecturer, it is your responsibility to stay up to date with the latest developments in the products that you teach. That includes both the software and the hardware. That you did not know these things is frankly embarrassing. If I had a child who was in your class, I'd be furious that you knew so little. Or put it this way - lecture them on the creative aspects but you are in no way qualified to make hardware and software recommendations.
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I've commented on your concerns within your thread above.

I have both a media and an IT company so am well versed in the ins and outs of both hardware and software and as such keep up to date on a daily basis with what's new on the tech industry.
I feel having a MCPD and writing in several languages qualifies me to make comments within this arena.
Being an ACE and ACI would also let me make informed comments as far as Adobe products go.

I appreciate your comments though. By the way I assume u own a pc?
 
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@Lord Farquart .
The above is why I would rather have had a private chat.
I don't want to ruffle any tail feathers as I don't have the time so I am stopping my comments here.
OP my apologies for these long drawn explanations etc.
u choose what suits your budget bro and if u ever need any advise or assistance I have sent u my number
 
Well versed about hardware? Sorry, you simply aren't.

The 780Ti consumes 250W of power. That means that in order to run it, you need a PSU that can supply 250W and your case needs to get rid of 250W worth of heat. If you use a card that consumes less power, there is less heat that you need to get rid of. Understand? A card that uses 250W is acting like a 250W heater in your case. A card that uses 150W is acting like a 150W heater in your case. This is why the thermal efficiency and hence fans has a LOT to do with the GPU. A more efficient GPU needs less cooling and less fans.

I didn't recommend a 1070. It is too expensive. But even a 1050Ti very likely to be faster than your 780Ti, and do so while using 75W of power. Cheaper power bills and less heat, therefore less noise. And R2500 not R3500. A 1060 is definitely a lot faster than a 780Ti and those can be had for about R4500 - which is probably overkill for the OP.

It has never given you a problem but you've never bothered to research new GPUs? And yet you claim to know about hardware.

You prefer CUDA? Why? What makes CUDA better? What experience do you have with AMD cards?

Doesn't matter whether I have a PC or not. What matters is that you are making recommendations claiming you know what you are talking about when in reality you have no idea.

mastermamo said:
I have both a media and an IT company so am well versed in the ins and outs of both hardware and software and as such keep up to date on a daily basis with what's new on the tech industry.
I feel having a MCPD and writing in several languages qualifies me to make comments within this arena.
Being an ACE and ACI would also let me make informed comments as far as Adobe products go.
Click to expand...

Qualifications do not matter, the knowledge that you can demonstrate does. Your knowledge in the arena of hardware is simply insufficient to be making any hardware recommendations.
 
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Last year, I started putting together a photo editing machine (Windows, i7) but still want to finish it off, so I'll be following this thread, with interest.
 
mastermamo said:
Now as for the Adobe aspect. The school your daughter is at has totally misinformed u the whole Adobe graphic card requirements are. I lecture and develop for and with Adobe for the last 8 years so I understand this very well. Photoshop is reliant on ANY Nvidia card to accelerate certain functions like dynamic zoom etc. after Effects barely if ever touches the GPU as it used the RAM to preview and render. Premiere does use the GPU but not as much as u might think. The more the number of CUDA cores on a Nvidia GPU the better but interns of everyday performance it's negligible.
Click to expand...

You need to read better dude. First of all, same as you and your learning institution, the institution she is studying at is just punting Apple. No issue there, but they have to be informed and willing to share alternative specs. They never informed me about the Adobe graphics card requirements. I found that out myself.

If you go to the Adobe website and search for all the Creative Cloud app/programs, you will find recommended/approved/supported video cards for each and every one of those programs. These are the ones with drivers that integrate with Adobe. You might find that one card is supported for 80% of these programs and one for 100%, but to buy one that is supported on all will cost more. I was trying to work inside a budget, so bought the K2200 that is supported by those programs she will use for 3D design and some others she might. It was the lowest spec/cost one that would suffice. I did all this homework as the institution was only willing to supply me with Apple info. Sad actually as when she then started, her lecturer mentioned he also only uses a MS machine and they do the job just as well as a Mac. Pity I did not have access to him when I built the machine.

Here is an example for Photoshop, but I found similar lists for all suites. For the life of me Google is not playing along from my current location, maybe because it uses Belgium Google. :)

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html
 
So you getting the same scores as a windows machine with a Intel Core i7-6700K (4 cores) https://browser.primatelabs.com/v4/cpu/multicore?page=454. Incredible :whistle:

You could probably build a whole machine which would whip yours for about 20-26k saving like R10 000 - R17 500, which you could use to go to the beach put your feet up and drink cocktails or buy a monster graphics card so you can have a multi purpose system that can game and design.

or

Own a 5 year old Mac.

Tough choice for some I guess
 
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