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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

New Workstation Build - i7 X99, Titan X, Overclocking...

Hi there,

Just read through the first 100 posts and was wondering if I could ask you a question about your build as it's a build I've been eyeballing for awhile. I'm curious what your CPU percentage is at when playing the 6k ftg on an HD timeline? I want to compare it to my current setup which runs a 4930k.

Thank you. Great thread!
 
This is a real informative thread for sure...not sure I have the guts to do it though. I've got an HP840 I'm about to order all spec'd out for Avid Symphony 8.4. It's not a cheap build but I know it's going to be able to chug through all the footage, and bring it into Avid no problem. Thanks for all the tips!
 
Just something I feel fits here. Just upgraded my main workstation and mobile workstation to Windows 10. Took about 30 minutes on each system. Don't seem to be having any issues with my RAIDs and software packages. 4K display support seems a bit snappier. New GUI has been certainly optimized a bit. Windows 10 seems to be sort of the progression of where versions Vista, 7, and 8 were going while squashing a few of the nasty things people have been complaining about.

So far, so good.
 
Well,

If you guys are moving to Windows 10, there are a few things you should know.
Here's a document I created (very technical), so make sure you're comfortable with changing registry settings and running CMD scripts.
Link to WORD DOCX (MEGA).
Note: If you're using Chrome, click on "Download through your browser".

Quick How-to:
1. Create a new Text document.
2. Copy the snippet you wish to apply to your Win10 system into the text document.
The code part is all that's needed to be copied, but I advise to copy the green REM comments as well.
3. Save as XXX.CMD (not TXT).
4. Double-click to run it.
5. It's a good idea to restart, as some changes only apply after a restart.

Good luck.
 
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Thanks for this thread.

Actually i am looking for the 5960x, i run a 4790k and with SSD I am able to read the 6k in 1/4 at 25fps, so I hope I could to read the 6k in 1/2 on 2k timeline.

For info, here is a speedtest of this morning, 2 samsung 850 evo 1to in raid 0 via windows 10 (software), with x99 it could be very good because actually even my 4790k it's a lot of fresh air on my workflow !

raid0.jpg
 
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Hi Jeff, Great thread. I need a rendering only server, fairly heavy GPU, so want to put two titan-x's in it. Will this build make sense for two titan-x ? Also what is the best CPU to put in this for rendering? (mental ray and nuke rendering). I might also need to do a bunch of unreal rendering on it.
 
This build works great for two Titan-X GPUs. It will even serve up 3 or 4 of those GPUs if you have no other PCIe cards to install, (you'll lose your RAID). The go-to CPU is the 8-core i7-5960X. However, you may really want to consider the 14-core Xeon CPU. It's the sweet spot for price/performance, IMO and will allow you to install more RAM at the moment since the larger DDR4 modules are only starting to hit the desktop market. But we can get large RDIMMs and put 128GB in the system pretty easily.
 
What was the final cost of building a rig like this? Ball park?
 
I think there's already a post somewhere in the thread that details pricing. Anyway here's a quick rundown...

Case $115
Motherboard $470
CPU $985
RAM $775
2x Titan X SC GPUs $1900
Samsung 512GB M.2 SSD $450
RAID card $495
Decklink 4K Extreme $900
6X 6TB SAS HDDs $2200 (I actually paid less, got a deal)
Optical Drive $65
CPU cooler $120
Extra fans $25
Extra SAS cables $35 (needed for above drives, as the RAID card didn't come with the right ones)
Misc. parts and stuff $8
RED MiniMag reader $195
1300W PSU $175

That's $8913 for everything. Or almost $6600 if you take out the HDDs, but you'll want something else. I don't recommend the 6x6TB. They're fine for now, but too much storage in one place. I plan to upgrade the RAID to 8 x SSD once 2TB SSDs [which are up to the task] hit a price point I'm happy with.
 
Thanks, that's perfect. Want a ball park idea and around $9K. So I'll keep plugging away at this Mac Pro tower and admire your computing power from a far!

Are you looking to achieve editing in 4K Native full Res with a 4K screen?

Jeff Kilgroe said:
I think there's already a post somewhere in the thread that details pricing. Anyway here's a quick rundown...

Case $115
Motherboard $470
CPU $985
RAM $775
2x Titan X SC GPUs $1900
Samsung 512GB M.2 SSD $450
RAID card $495
Decklink 4K Extreme $900
6X 6TB SAS HDDs $2200 (I actually paid less, got a deal)
Optical Drive $65
CPU cooler $120
Extra fans $25
Extra SAS cables $35 (needed for above drives, as the RAID card didn't come with the right ones)
Misc. parts and stuff $8
RED MiniMag reader $195
1300W PSU $175

That's $8913 for everything. Or almost $6600 if you take out the HDDs, but you'll want something else. I don't recommend the 6x6TB. They're fine for now, but too much storage in one place. I plan to upgrade the RAID to 8 x SSD once 2TB SSDs [which are up to the task] hit a price point I'm happy with.
Click to expand...
 
Hi guys,

The workstation is running great under Windows 10, everything is stable after two months of use!

I have a stupid question but what format do you guys export your final projects (4K) so you are able to play them on the workstation flawlessly? DNxHR or H264 doesn't work it's like 1fps, but I can play my R3D raw in 6K at 24fps... Should I try H265?

Thanks!
 
Hi Jeff,
I need your expertise, I have a very unstable system, the build is based on your post.
Here is my config :

i7 Intel 8 cores 5960x
Noctua NH U14s for cooling
2X G.Skill RipJaws 4 Series Rouge 32 Go (4x 8 Go) DDR4 2400 MHz CL15
Asus Rampage V Extreme
Samsung SSD EVO 840 500Gb for system
2X Samsung SSD EVO 840 1Tb for Raid 0 for Daily editing R3D
2X Hitachi 3Tb for Stock
1 Geforce Titan X 12Gb
1 RED Rocket X
Cooler master 1000W PSU

I am running Windows pro 10 64bits.

This thing is the most unstable PC I ever built, Sometime I got stopped at Bios saying the overclock failed. I never tryed to overclock yet...
One on Two times I got blue screen when windows boots, I hear my red rocket X fan running full power
When I could get to premiere cc2015 and start to work on my red project, it is very laggy and super slow in general, even at 1/4 with the red rocket X enabled.

A pro here told me the Asus rampage have bad reputation regarding quality control, so I ordered a more simple MSI X99 A Mpower motherboard waiting to be installed.

I am desesperate after spending time and great amount of money on this machine. I need your guys help please !
 
The OC failed message you reference is the Watch dog message for the Asus boards. That is a generic message that means the system didn't start up or shut down correctly. Based on the information you list so far the bios is not setup right and you likely have the ram kits mixed in the slots. When you use 2 different ram kits you have to make sure 1 kit is in the A1, B1, C1, D1 slots and the other kit is in the A2, B2,C2, D2 slots. The timings can be subtly different between the 2 kits especially if from different production runs. If you are not sure how to setup the bios you want to just run 1 kit in the primary 1 slots until you get the stable settings. Then add the second kit. Quality control is no different between Asus and MSI that we have seen over years. What you are seeing is the systemboard manufacturers buy higher grade components in the beginning of production when they buy large volumes. Then as it the timeframe gets far longer into production the systemboard manufacturers order far smaller quantities at a time in components which requires them to buy cheaper components from other sources. This reflects the quality change in production.
 
Eric Bowen said:
The OC failed message you reference is the Watch dog message for the Asus boards. That is a generic message that means the system didn't start up or shut down correctly. Based on the information you list so far the bios is not setup right and you likely have the ram kits mixed in the slots. When you use 2 different ram kits you have to make sure 1 kit is in the A1, B1, C1, D1 slots and the other kit is in the A2, B2,C2, D2 slots. The timings can be subtly different between the 2 kits especially if from different production runs. If you are not sure how to setup the bios you want to just run 1 kit in the primary 1 slots until you get the stable settings. Then add the second kit. Quality control is no different between Asus and MSI that we have seen over years. What you are seeing is the systemboard manufacturers buy higher grade components in the beginning of production when they buy large volumes. Then as it the timeframe gets far longer into production the systemboard manufacturers order far smaller quantities at a time in components which requires them to buy cheaper components from other sources. This reflects the quality change in production.
Click to expand...

Hey, Eric thanks for your answer.
Attached is the blue screen I am dealing with everyday.
You are saying it might be the 2 Ram kit messed up, is there any way I can test/install the good kit on the right slots if they already messed up ? They look exactly all the same
Premiere is also crashing lots of time and the PC reboot like pressing reset button without saying anything...This happens when I play my R3D files... Any ideas please ?

Thanks
 

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Gwen Bertaut said:
Hey, Eric thanks for your answer.
Attached is the blue screen I am dealing with everyday.
You are saying it might be the 2 Ram kit messed up, is there any way I can test/install the good kit on the right slots if they already messed up ? They look exactly all the same
Premiere is also crashing lots of time and the PC reboot like pressing reset button without saying anything...This happens when I play my R3D files... Any ideas please ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would need the dump log to tell you what triggered the BSOD. If you look at the label on the ram, you will see the S/N for each stick. The last 4 digits of the sticks from 1 kit should be in order or very close. That is how you know which sticks were what kit.
 
Gwen Bertaut said:
Thank you Eric, here is a link to the mini dump file tnow.it/83304830hwbh
The "normal" Memory.DMP is close to 1 gigabyte. Do you want me to upload this one too ?
Click to expand...

No shouldn't need it. The error was a general Kernel error. That can be any number of things but I suspect the ram and bios settings are the cause. The ram is often the most likely cause for this error.
 
Eric Bowen said:
No shouldn't need it. The error was a general Kernel error. That can be any number of things but I suspect the ram and bios settings are the cause. The ram is often the most likely cause for this error.
Click to expand...
Cheers Eric, your help is precious to me.
I will get the ram fixed when I get back. I hope it will work smoothly after that.
I will keep you updated when I get back to the studio in 3 weeks.
Right now I am traveling to Bruxelles to shoot tv commercial.
 
Gwen Bertaut said:
Cheers Eric, your help is precious to me.
I will get the ram fixed when I get back. I hope it will work smoothly after that.
I will keep you updated when I get back to the studio in 3 weeks.
Right now I am traveling to Bruxelles to shoot tv commercial.
Click to expand...

NP at all. Let me know how it goes.
 
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