Building a PC - video.

[Mitch Martinez]

Hi All,

A highly computer savvy friend of mine helped build me an awesome PC for working with RED footage because I can't afford a brand new, tricked out Mac at the moment.

Throughout the whole process, I had a lav mic on him and shot the process from start to finish. I found the whole thing to be informative and will personally refer to the footage if I ever need to build another PC or add parts to the current one.

The video is roughly about 90 minutes and it's broken up into three parts. It really is informative if you don't know what everything is and how it goes together. I learned a lot from the process. I'm sure it could be done in a matter of minutes if there wasn't an explanation for a lot of the process but I think the info is good. Hopefully you guys will too.

Also, you're able to download these videos from vimeo - so if you want to download them and save them to the computer, feel free.

Here are the links:

Part One
http://vimeo.com/12832014
(the password is "red")

Part Two
http://vimeo.com/12830337
(the password is "red")

Part Three
http://vimeo.com/12828631
(the password is "red")



Cheers!

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

please do, that would be helpful for everyone who is interested building a new PC..

 

[Mitch Martinez]

You got it. I'll start with putting the parts list together with some of the variable options that were considered. I'll have the parts list ready tonight or sometime tomorrow for everyone.

 

[Barry Gregg]

Mitch,
Could you also post the specs for the system. I'm just getting ready to build a CS5 system. I'd love to see the video build as well.
Thanks

 

[Mitch Martinez]

No problem, Barry. I'm driving home today (1/2 day drive) and then will post the specs and parts list.

We did a test in RedCine-X last night rending the same clip of footage with the PC vs. my MacBook Pro (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM) and the PC was about 2.5 to 3x faster to export a tiff sequence than the MBP. Technology is exciting.

 

[Sven Seynaeve]

would be interesting if you could do that.

Thanks in advance.

Grtz

 

[Kim Frank]

I would be very interested aswell!

 

[Mitch Martinez]

Hi All,

Here's what we have for specs and parts list. We bought everything through NewEgg.com - so I even have links for those who want them.

Quick Overview of Specs
===========================
PC running Windows 7 (Platform/OS)
Quad Core - Intel i7 2.8GHz (Processor)
12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 (RAM)
3.5 TB of Hard Drives - putting more in soon (Hard Drives)
GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1536MB (Video Card)
Blu-Ray Burner
SD DVD Burner
Case fits up to 7 internal Hard Drives and is SSD compatible

 

[Mitch Martinez]

Parts List with Links
===================================
(Processor)
Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225

(RAM)
Patriot Gamer Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGS312G1600ELK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220477

(Video Card)
EVGA 015-P3-1482-AR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130551

(Wireless Internet Card)
ASUS PCE-N13 IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Wireless Adapter Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64-bit/128-bit WEP, TKIP, and AES WI-Fi alliance WPA, WPA2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320048

(Case)
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

(Hard Drives)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

(Power Supply)
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

(Motherboard)
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423

(Operating System)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

(Blu-Ray Burner)
LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner - LightScribe Support - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181

(Standard Definition DVD Burner)
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335

 

[Mitch Martinez]

a few notes:

we went with the above video card to take advantage of all the CUDA stuff coming up with programs like with Adobe CS5. that's supposed to help with render speeds and stuff, if I'm not mistaken. we originally had a different video card that would have been good but wasn't Fermi...

the case can technically fit up to nine internal hard drives but only has a total of 10 SATA connections. for my computer, two connections were used for the two DVD burners (blu-ray and SD), one connection was used for the front external ports (eSATA and USB)

we started with 3 internal hard drives and will go from there. two were listed above and the third was a free 1.5TB drive that came with the RAM. sadly, the time has expired for that free hard drive deal.

we're going with 12GB of ram to start - if there's a need for more RAM, we'll add another 12. the case can fit 6 RAM cards total so we're only utilizing half of the spaces so far.

I asked my friend about overclocking the processor. There are lots of mixed feelings about it. He put it to me like this... It's like driving a 5 speed car at top speed in 4th gear to get more power. It generates more heat, burns out the processor much faster, and presents a need for additional cooling methods like liquid cooling for the computer. It can be done but he personally wouldn't do it and I didn't want to do anything that he wouldn't do... He also noted, that if any of the cooling systems for the overclocked processor died - that might be a quick end of the processor if it overheats due to cooling failure. Even if it didn't, he couldn't be sure how long an overclocked processor will actually last.

Just for reference, the video card has two DVI connections and a mini-HDMI connection. It also came with a cable to bridge from mini-HDMI to standard HDMI. If more than that is needed, I believe an additional video card can be easily added.

 

[michael zaletel]

Excellent material. Thanks Mitch.

"Have fun storming the castle!"

-michael zaletel

 

[Mitch Martinez]

I'll capture the video footage on Sunday and try to have it uploaded this coming week.

Does anyone want any photos of any of the parts or connections? It could be helpful for anyone who doesn't want to watch the video footage...

 

[Martin Weiss]

Thanks for posting this.

How much did it roughly cost you?

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

did you test the GTX 480 with CS5's mercury?

 

[Paul Bates]

Swap the Spinpoint C drive out for an SSD, with your system as it is, you'll be amazed at how fast it will get by doing this - get a SATAIII 6GB/s SSD if you can afford it, and hook it up to one of the SATA III sockets on you mobo - woosh!

Paul

 

[Alan Zarnegar]

The stock i7 CPU coolers are shit. I recommend replacing it with something more robust and capable of moving more air. I have my i7 920 running at 3.3GHz on my cooler at the same temperature it was running while stock speed (2.66 turbo'd to 3 I believe) on the stock cooler. It also seems like I should have purchased 12GB of ram back when it was cheap a couple years ago. I got 6GB DDR1600 for 90$, and the exact same RAM now is $170+ >.<

 

[Mitch Martinez]

How much did it roughly cost you?

Invoice total was $2,539 including shipping

 

[Mitch Martinez]

did you test the GTX 480 with CS5's mercury?

Not yet. I just downloaded CS5 last night and will be testing it out on Sunday. I'll let you know what it's like after we fire that up.

 

[Mitch Martinez]

Swap the Spinpoint C drive out for an SSD, with your system as it is, you'll be amazed at how fast it will get by doing this - get a SATAIII 6GB/s SSD if you can afford it, and hook it up to one of the SATA III sockets on you mobo - woosh!

Paul

We were talking about putting in a SSD drive in addition to the existing internal drives. My friend was saying that they die relatively quickly in comparison to the spinning drives with a diminishing space capacity (in addition to the cost).

Do you have any personal experience with how long they last? I'm definitely interested... Any specific recommendations for a drive (brand/capacity/etc.)?

 

[Mitch Martinez]

The stock i7 CPU coolers are shit. I recommend replacing it with something more robust and capable of moving more air. I have my i7 920 running at 3.3GHz on my cooler at the same temperature it was running while stock speed (2.66 turbo'd to 3 I believe) on the stock cooler. It also seems like I should have purchased 12GB of ram back when it was cheap a couple years ago. I got 6GB DDR1600 for 90$, and the exact same RAM now is $170+ >.<

do you have any make/model info on your cooler that you're running for your processor? so you've overclocked the i7? how do you like it? is it a hard process? we haven't gone down that road for my PC (yet) so I'm curious about some personal experiences/stories...

since I haven't overclocked my processor, the cooling for my processor probably isn't an issue. also the case for the PC has three intake fans in the front, a huge exhaust fan on top, two exhaust fans on the back, and a grating for airflow on the left side. I think it should stay pretty cool as long as the room temp isn't 100 degrees.