New 4K Workhorse

[Dennis S.]

Hey guys,

we are about to say farewell to our MacPro 5,1 and want to purchase a new machine, that is capable of handling
mostly RED 4K/5K. We are mainly working with Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve.
I am an IT guy, so i have pretty strong ideas what we might purchase for our new workstation but on the other hand i lack
experience with Resolve and Premiere and got certainly little knowledge if these programs scale better with core numbers or core frequency
and to what extent.
I was hoping i can get some input from you guys about this, as we are on a tight budget and want to avoid making
decisions that may result in wasting money unnecessarily.
Therefor i did 2 different setups which i would like to have your opinion about.
Is the performance benefit of the more expensive setup in premiere and davinci big enough to justify the extra money we would have to spend on it
or should i go with the more affordable version and just invest in new hardware when new innovations and performance improvements call for it?
Anyway, here are the two setups i have in mind right now:

Single CPU Setup:
--------------------
CPU: Core i7-6900K (Broadwell-E)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 4x16GB DDR4-3200
GPU: ASUS GTX TITAN X 12GB GDDR5 VRAM
Mobo: Asus X99-E WS/USB3.1
Cooler: Noctua NHD15S
Case: Fractal Design R4 Black Pearl
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 1000W
SSD: Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB
BR: Pioneer BDR-S09XLT

Dual CPU Setup:
------------------
CPU: 2x Xeon E5-2687W v4 12x3,0GHz or
2x Xeon E5-2640 v4 10x2,4GHz
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 128GB DDR4-2133 reg ECC
GPU: ASUS GTX TITAN X 12GB GDDR5 VRAM
Mobo: Asus Z10PE-D8 WS
Cooler: 2xNoctua NH-U12DX i4
KVM: Asus ASMB8-IKVM IPMI 2.0 Module
Case: Fractal Design XL R2
PSU: Corsair Pro Series HX1200i 1200W
SSD: Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB
BR: Pioneer BDR-S09XLT

*Additionally a Decklink Studio4K and a ATTO 8Gb/s FC HBA that connects to our SAN will be installed from our old machine.

I may consider the upcoming 10 core version (Core i7-6950X) for the single CPU system but it depends on the price, if it really is around 500 bucks extra, then i probably won`t do it.
The Xeon v4 lineup is vast and full of options but only a few seem to be really interesting, because of the huge price difference. The E5-2687W is rather expensive but thats what you get when you
wanna aim for Xeons processors >4C/3GHz. The Xeon E5-2640 is half the price but i don`t know exactly how much performance i would sacrifice when i go this route, especially in davinci. The E5-2640 has a TDP of 90W only
so i am not sure how much the cpu will benefit from the turbo mode.
As for the GPU, NVIDIAs new Pascal generation will likely give us very interesting new options so i don`t wanna spend to much money on a dual gpu setup that might be overpowered by a single
pascal based gpu in early 2017. Can i get enough horsepower for 4K workflows in davinci out of a single GTX TITAN X?
I appreciate your opinions and feedback.

Thank you

 

[Eric Bowen]

Based on what Intel is telling us there is still some time before you see the Broadwell E CPU's in stock.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

...And even longer before we see the v4 Xeons, especially the ones of interest for performance workstations. On the bright side, the compatibility of the existing X99 platform with the upcoming Broadwell-E CPUs means that we can drop in a 6 or 8 core CPU and Titan X GPU now and then upgrade those two later.

A single Titan-X is fine for working in 4K on a fast system with 8+ cores. Of course, two GPUs would be better in Resolve, but not entirely necessary. Totally agree on not wanting to overspend.

 

[Elsie N]

Hey guys,

we are about to say farewell to our MacPro 5,1 and want to purchase a new machine, that is capable of handling
mostly RED 4K/5K. We are mainly working with Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve.
I am an IT guy, so i have pretty strong ideas what we might purchase for our new workstation but on the other hand i lack
experience with Resolve and Premiere and got certainly little knowledge if these programs scale better with core numbers or core frequency
and to what extent.
I was hoping i can get some input from you guys about this, as we are on a tight budget and want to avoid making
decisions that may result in wasting money unnecessarily.
Therefor i did 2 different setups which i would like to have your opinion about.
Is the performance benefit of the more expensive setup in premiere and davinci big enough to justify the extra money we would have to spend on it
or should i go with the more affordable version and just invest in new hardware when new innovations and performance improvements call for it?
Anyway, here are the two setups i have in mind right now:

Single CPU Setup:
--------------------
CPU: Core i7-6900K (Broadwell-E)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 4x16GB DDR4-3200
GPU: ASUS GTX TITAN X 12GB GDDR5 VRAM
Mobo: Asus X99-E WS/USB3.1
Cooler: Noctua NHD15S
Case: Fractal Design R4 Black Pearl
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 1000W
SSD: Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB
BR: Pioneer BDR-S09XLT

Dual CPU Setup:
------------------
CPU: 2x Xeon E5-2687W v4 12x3,0GHz or
2x Xeon E5-2640 v4 10x2,4GHz
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 128GB DDR4-2133 reg ECC
GPU: ASUS GTX TITAN X 12GB GDDR5 VRAM
Mobo: Asus Z10PE-D8 WS
Cooler: 2xNoctua NH-U12DX i4
KVM: Asus ASMB8-IKVM IPMI 2.0 Module
Case: Fractal Design XL R2
PSU: Corsair Pro Series HX1200i 1200W
SSD: Samsung SSD 950 Pro 512GB
BR: Pioneer BDR-S09XLT

*Additionally a Decklink Studio4K and a ATTO 8Gb/s FC HBA that connects to our SAN will be installed from our old machine.

I may consider the upcoming 10 core version (Core i7-6950X) for the single CPU system but it depends on the price, if it really is around 500 bucks extra, then i probably won`t do it.
The Xeon v4 lineup is vast and full of options but only a few seem to be really interesting, because of the huge price difference. The E5-2687W is rather expensive but thats what you get when you
wanna aim for Xeons processors >4C/3GHz. The Xeon E5-2640 is half the price but i don`t know exactly how much performance i would sacrifice when i go this route, especially in davinci. The E5-2640 has a TDP of 90W only
so i am not sure how much the cpu will benefit from the turbo mode.
As for the GPU, NVIDIAs new Pascal generation will likely give us very interesting new options so i don`t wanna spend to much money on a dual gpu setup that might be overpowered by a single
pascal based gpu in early 2017. Can i get enough horsepower for 4K workflows in davinci out of a single GTX TITAN X?
I appreciate your opinions and feedback.

Thank you

You may want to read this.

Or go here to get the beginning of the piece.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Er... Yah, you could build a dual 8-core system like that. You can also pick up any number of prior generation Xeon workstations of that calibre for a very reasonable price. Have one for sale myself in the marketplace here. But just because you have 16 cores, don't immediately assume it's far and away better. You're dealing with much slower memory performance and a trend toward legacy connectivity. There are trade-offs that are more than trivial here. For tasks that benefit from mostly CPU computational work and don't require maximum throughput from memory and other internal I/O channels, these are very compelling options.

 

[Dennis S.]

Based on what Intel is telling us there is still some time before you see the Broadwell E CPU's in stock.

Maybe you have access to better informations than i have but as far as i know it shouldn`t be to long until Broadwell-E hits the market.
From what oi heard it should be around end of April, early May maybe.

And even longer before we see the v4 Xeons, especially the ones of interest for performance workstations.

Broadwell-EP will be released before Broadwell-E, in fact it already has.
(http://www.anandtech.com/show/10158/the-intel-xeon-e5-v4-review)
The ones you would consider as interesting for performance workstations are already listed here in germany
(for example: http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Intel-XEON-E5-2687WV4-3-00GHZ_1035233.html)

You may want to read this.
Or go here to get the beginning of the piece.

Thank you, that is definitely something to consider probably difficult to beat for a dual cpu setup when it comes to performance/$, thanks for sharing.
Yet i agree with Jeff, the improvements since sandy bridge were nothing spectacular, so if it comes to the cpu performance alone sandy bridge would still perform very well, but there are improvements in the chipset area
that we don`t wanna miss and the performance/watt is somethign we need to consider too cause the machine will almost run 24/7.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Maybe you have access to better informations than i have but as far as i know it shouldn`t be to long until Broadwell-E hits the market.
From what oi heard it should be around end of April, early May maybe.

My sources, and my distributors are saying they should get first shipments of 6900K and 6950X in May. First shipments are all spoken for with pre-orders and OEMs taking the bulk of them. So a lot of the availability questions will remain until we see how fast Intel can produce quantity.

Broadwell-EP will be released before Broadwell-E, in fact it already has.
(http://www.anandtech.com/show/10158/the-intel-xeon-e5-v4-review)
The ones you would consider as interesting for performance workstations are already listed here in germany
(for example: http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Intel-XEON-E5-2687WV4-3-00GHZ_1035233.html)

Yes, they have launched the initial entries to the series. If you want 8+ cores at 3+ GHz, don't hold your breath. I can show you listings here in the USA for the chips as well, don't need to go all the way to Germany. You can order the E5-2687W v4 CPU from NewEgg, Amazon, even B&H right now. The reality of it is that they're not actually shipping yet. They were only launched to production a couple weeks ago. We're looking at end of May here for primary channel availability, although I don't expect demand to be all that high. Good chance you could get dual 2687Wv4's well before a 6950X, just due to market demand, even though the chips should be shipping about the same time. Given the pricing and other considerations of the V4 chips, I'd probably still build with the current 14 or 18 core v3 chips instead and save my excitement for the "tock" portion of the cycle in another 12~18 months with the v5's. All things considered here, I would do the X99 build unless you really feel you need the additional CPU power. Put dual GPUs in it right from the start. Upgrade GPUs next year and you're still a lot of money ahead of that dual Xeon build.

 

[Dennis S.]

I can show you listings here in the USA for the chips as well, don't need to go all the way to Germany.

I only picked a german source cause we live here, hence would order from a german retailer of course.
I was aware that resolve prefers gpu power over cpu power (if you have to prioritize one for financial reasons) but unfortunately there are not much benchmarks who
show a picture of how well resolve behaves aka scales with cpu cores/core frequency.
Thank you very much for your opinion.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

For the primary apps the OP cares about, it's hard to argue with Jeff's suggestion to just add a second Titan-X if the single CPU X99 build doesn't cut it. The dual CPU option does have benefits for Resolve/Adobe, but, IMO, not enough to justify the price differential vs adding a second GPU to the X99 build.

Cheers - #19

 

[Eric Bowen]

Thanks for the updates all. We just found out there are certain Xeon 2600 series V4 chips like the 2687V4 in atleast 1 Intel Authorized Disti. Not many but atleast a few. Very interesting since the word for the i7 chip was May as some have already stated here. Intel once again not the best with communication.

 

[Jason Rivera]

My sources, and my distributors are saying they should get first shipments of 6900K and 6950X in May. First shipments are all spoken for with pre-orders and OEMs taking the bulk of them. So a lot of the availability questions will remain until we see how fast Intel can produce quantity.




Yes, they have launched the initial entries to the series. If you want 8+ cores at 3+ GHz, don't hold your breath. I can show you listings here in the USA for the chips as well, don't need to go all the way to Germany. You can order the E5-2687W v4 CPU from NewEgg, Amazon, even B&H right now. The reality of it is that they're not actually shipping yet. They were only launched to production a couple weeks ago. We're looking at end of May here for primary channel availability, although I don't expect demand to be all that high. Good chance you could get dual 2687Wv4's well before a 6950X, just due to market demand, even though the chips should be shipping about the same time. Given the pricing and other considerations of the V4 chips, I'd probably still build with the current 14 or 18 core v3 chips instead and save my excitement for the "tock" portion of the cycle in another 12~18 months with the v5's. All things considered here, I would do the X99 build unless you really feel you need the additional CPU power. Put dual GPUs in it right from the start. Upgrade GPUs next year and you're still a lot of money ahead of that dual Xeon build.

Jeff,

Would you still go this route as of 11/26/2016 if working with 8K helium footage in Premiere and/or Resolve?
Specifically, building a 10-core 6950X X99 setup today and wait for the "tock" cycle before building out a dual xeon v5.

For an X99 build, would you go X99-E-10G WS or X99-E WS/USB 3.1?
I feel like the former is the better option since I can put in a Xeon E5-2687 v4 instead of the 6950X.

Your input on this is highly valued. Thanks!

 

[richard peterson]

for a all purpose box for 3D rendering, simulation and color/video work i think this (dual) cpu is a good balance between clock speed and core count. what do you guys think

Xeon® E5-2687Wv4 3.0 Processor
Turbo Mode up to 3.5 GHz
12 cores 3.0 GHz 24 Total Cores
Aggregate Frequency 72.0 GHz