New i7 System Build in anticipation of CS5

[Simon Dunne]

I need to get a new system in the next couple of weeks due to my current sytems dying!!! Waiting is not an option.

So, having seen DaveTechTables Video, Premiere is the way to go for me. So i was thinking, what system spec was Dave using for the demo in that video???

I'm guessing i7 processor with 6gb Ram (3 x 2GB). How benifical is a SSD for a system drive over to Raid1 7200K disc's???

As for work flow, i was going to dump all R3D files onto 2 2TB 7200k discs in a raid 0 configuration in an external drive housing, hooking them up via eSATA as and when required. Backing up all R3D files to Blu-Ray first to act as rushes.

I can dump a cheapo GFX card in for now, but i'd be looking to get the best NVidia Cuda when the offical Adobe realese of the engine comes out. I'm guessing this will need and PCI-E 16x.

Does it sound like i'm on the right track here, or have i gone way off couse???

TIA, Simon :auto:

 

[Christopher Grant Harvey]

The only thing you cannot be sure of is how stable CS5 is going to be with a lot of 4K R3D's on your timeline.

 

[Paul Bates]

As I understand it, Adobe recommend 12gb ram, but use 24 for "no headroom issues" and Davtech's machine is dual Quadcore hyperthreaded giving 16 cores, they recommend again, 3ghz processor speeds.

I use an SSD with CS4, it's way way faster, access is around 0.1 m/sec rather than 5ms: in other words at least 50 times faster seek times - I find that Premiere almost never crashes with the SSD, even if I jam it up with loads of 4K, it "comes to" after a while rather than locking up - with a standard HDD I can kill it very easily. RAM leak, which still haunts Premiere, is another problem too.

These are just my ideas, but an i7 overclocked to 4ghz with 6gb of DDR3 and an SSD C drive, with sata II raid 0 for media should be fine when coupled with a 2gb cuda card - 4gb if you can afford it! - all this said, once the Mercury Engine shows itself in the spring or summer?

Just my take on it all right now...

Paul

 

[Paul Leeming]

I'm on the beta team for CS5 and am using the following system with a newly added GTX285 for Mercury Engine playback:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=29761

With that system I am getting real time 2K playback with multiple clips on the timeline including hardware accelerated crossfades etc. It can almost do 4K in real time but not quite. That could be my system or it could just be that it's beta code and not yet fully optimised.

HTH

Paul

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

I'm on the beta team for CS5 and am using the following system with a newly added GTX285 for Mercury Engine playback:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=29761

With that system I am getting real time 2K playback with multiple clips on the timeline including hardware accelerated crossfades etc. It can almost do 4K in real time but not quite. That could be my system or it could just be that it's beta code and not yet fully optimised.

HTH

Paul

Hi Paul, can CS5 read TC now? this is the only dealbreaker for me right now, or is there a jedi trick how you handle BWF Files in CS5?

 

[Sven Seynaeve]

Is there an easy option to sync external 2 system audio right now. I know you can get away with transcoding to cineform which asks if there is seperate audio , but still like to have a native option on the host application.

Any idea when CS5 will be out for the mass?


I must say I'm leaning a little towards the mac because of livecut for the moment, but if we' d like to use it on the mac , would the mercury engine perform much better on the new macs as well?

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

I STRONGLY suggest you wait just a wee bit longer before building a custom PC.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Hi Paul, can CS5 read TC now? this is the only dealbreaker for me right now, or is there a jedi trick how you handle BWF Files in CS5?

There is still an NDA in place with CS5 - Obin gets a longer leash - but I strongly suggest other Adobe beta members refrain from answering feature specific questions like these.

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

ok thanks, i hope they do it, its not that i ask for the mystic editing button hehe

 

[Marc Berger]

Kaya what do you mean with this timecode thing? (I just started testing a demo version of CS4).
But now back to the hardware question thread. Simon, I don´t intend to hijack your thread. It´s somehow based on your questions of building a system in anticipation of CS5.
After 12 years on mac only I switched to PC workstation. Took me a couple of days to get it working, but now I´m ready for CS5 (in my head). I know CS5 will depend on the graphic card processor. In this forum are some top end specialists. Maybe one of you could enlighten me a bit, please:
Instead of updating the graphic card could I put one or two Nvidia Tesla C1060 for the needed processing power? Would it work with CS5?
Sorry for this maybe completly stupid question, but I´m a compidiot and never built a workstation before.
Thanks a lot!
Marc

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

Hi Marc,

I never build a PC myself, so consider me in the same compidiot realm.

I bought a HP Z800 with a Nvidia Quadro 5800 with SDI. While the SDI option is expensive the rest is a very solid, not overpriced workstation which is the workhorse for Linux FFF, Lustre and Smoke and often used for SpeedGrade, Scratch, etc... It's fast, reliable and even for a compidiot easy to service.

The new Adobe Mercury engine needs a Nivida Cuda graphics card. With a Quadro 4800 or 5800 you will match the specs., a old Quadro 5600fx won't do it. There might be a gamer card that will support Cuda as well.

AFAIK, Adobe takes 18 months for a development cycle. Hence I doubt that CS5 will be available before IBC 2010, surely not at NAB. There is plenty of time to wait for new and better Nvidia graphic cards and faster PCs.

Concerning Kaya's TC thing: PP CS4 is still not able to read TC in audio files for TC audio-video syncing. A major flaw for Red users, IMO.


Hans

 

[Marc Berger]

Hi Hans,
as always you´re very helpful. Thanks!
Do you know anything about the Nvidia Tesla C1060? As I understand it, its a very powerful graphic processor for CUDA without DVI or SDI, not for monitoring, just for processing.
I hope CS5 will be out in April, like announced.
Cheers,
Marc

 

[Simon Dunne]

Cool - thread got going!!! Thanks for all the replies. Right, comments and questions........

Paul - Nice system!!! Thats sort of the minimum i was looking at.

Mark - Trying my best to hold out as long as possible. Without breaking any NDA your signed up too, can you give me some sort of time scale on how long to wait and whether it's for Software/Hardware or both?!???

Marc - No problem with the Hijack, it's relevant and a good question!

Sooo, the story so far.....

-12GB triple channel DDR3 is the minimum!!!
-For 4K, your probably going to need a CUDA with at least 2GB
-SSD for system OS (2 ideally in RAID 1)
-Windows 7 64bit Professional
-i7 2.6 Minimum + Overclocked if possible
-A tower case with built in cup holder
-Motherboard - ASUS or Gigabyte (USB 3 and SATA III necessary??) or any other good brands??? Are there any dual i7 boards (non server class) that might be worth looking at??

The graphics card plays the biggest part here i think and choosing the right one will be crucial. Looking on the Nvidia site at Pauls GTX285, how big a difference do board manufacturers play in card construction and drivers?????

The GTX285 can be had from ASUS, BFG, EVGA, GALAXY, MSI, PALIT, PNY, XFX & ZOTAC!!!!! Same chip but different performance????

Also, is it worth build a custom system or would a HP Z series out of the box solution be better???

More food for thought! Keep it coming gents! Simon :emote_popcorn:

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

Simon,

personally I would never build a PC by myself, because:

1. No experience.

2. No time. My core business is filmmaking.

3. Lack of warranty.

I bought a HP Z800 because it is a sort of industry standard, like the MacPro. The Nividia GTX 275 has Cuda acceleration. It should work with CS5.

As said above, the next Adobe CS release will take some time, say another half a year or more. Buying a PC then is much more meaningful then buying one now in anticipation of CS5. We don't know yet what kind of hardware CS5 exactly is going to support and not.

Overclocking: Running a production workstation over it's specs. does not make it more reliable. On my Z800 with Nvidida 5800 I can debayer 4K half in 2K RT with SpeedGrade. No overclocking needed. An 8-core 7i is fast enough now, this barrier is passed.


Hans

 

[Uli Plank]

Careful! Since CUDA has different capabilities depending on the card, Adobe might limit the list of cards. I'd wait for an official list of supported cards from Adobe.

 

[Tom Lowe]

I'm about to build an i7 machine myself. Now I'm wondering if I should just hold off. These new 6-core Core i7 980X are said to be on the way in March?

A lot of the articles I've read, though, state that it will be limited to triple-channel 1066MHz memory? Why would that be? Considering that After Effects is my main program, wouldn't the slower memory kill me?

 

[Kujtim Ereqi]

Waiting would be the wisest decision.. if you have that option..

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Waiting would be the wisest decision.. if you have that option..

100%.

 

[Simon Dunne]

Waiting would be the wisest decision.. if you have that option..

But how long......there's always something new round the corner???!!

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

waiting is a good thing for these days for two things... and you can get the rest of the system now..

one is the CPU the i7 980X will be an amazing performer.. especially that it will be multiplier unlocked .. so, really cool overclocking.. aka, extreme edition,, not to forget that it is 6 cores..

two is the upcoming nVIDIA fermi.. its now rolled on some tesla cards that will be released in the second quarter of this year.. that is said by adobe that fermi is supported in CS5.. don't know if they support it in tesla flavors??

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_tesla_C2050_C2070_us.html

http://www.nvidia.com/object/fermi_architecture.html

these new tesla cards runs with 512 cores and 6GB of GDDR5.. performance from HELL,,,
ofcourse there will be quadro and geforce versions of fermi by the time.. nvidia is loosing a lot of business coz the lack of DX11.. so, they will bring it on soon,,
...

I got my i7 920 system on march 2009 as an intermediate stage for 980x it was called core i9 then.. coz simply you can just slip the new cpu in your system at no extra charge except for the price of the new cpu... beware 920 is about $280 and 980X will pass the $1000 price tag..
adding a graphics card is not a big issue.. any decent new i7 board will offer three PCI-E x16 if not four for some boards..

you can get your system now with 920 and ordinary graphics card like I did.. I got 9600GT.. and then slot in the two new babes when CS5 is out..
not to forget to roll in a nice cooling device for overclocking.. the thermalright 120 extreme is a real good performer.. can bring your 920 to 4.2GHz ..
check this pdf for overclocking http://images.tweaktown.com/imagebank/Core i7 920 oc 4G 2008.12.12_(ENG).pdf
and when you get the 920 make sure it is the D0 stepping.. it runs cooler..