Recommended PC specification?

[C Barker]

Hi there,

I need to buy a new PC and am looking for something capable of working with 4K sequences at 1/2 resolution in Premiere and 2K sequences at 1/1 (although I am unsure if it is the case that 4K files in 2K sequences only require half the processing power?). My budget is about $2k.

Based on this (and on the availability of parts for what looks to be the cheapest custom build website in my area) I am considering:

Processor: i7 4930k (6x3.4GHz)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB
RAM: 32GB
Motherboard: P9X79

If anyone can please advise whether this is sufficient I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[Timo Teravainen]

There are several threads about this subject, for example:
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?124946-Best-PC-Build-Options

The X99 motherboards are the newest and fastest with DDR4 memory.. it all comes down to how much you want to pay for it.

 

[Eric Bowen]

5960X preferably clocked at 4GHz+
Asus X99 board. The WS is definitely back into the top options with the new Beta bios that should be live soon I would expect.
DDR4 2400+ ram - 2666 is ideal and still before the pricing gets really bad for DDR4. Make sure you get CL15 ram and dont buy any where the first 3 timings are different ie. You want sticks where those are the same ie 15 15 15
Samsung 850 Pro SSD drive or Micron M600
980GTX card for now with the 900 series Titan cards coming. Probably would hold off even on the 2nd GPU at this point if you use Davinci until the new Titans are out since they should be releasing soon.
Asus Thunderbolt EX2 card
Storage is down to workflow, archive, and requirements.

 

[David Kuhn]

How much do you want to spend... everything will derive from that. Assuming that you don't need a Xeon beast (certainly the case if you've been OK with a laptop), X99 is the way to go if you're OK spending ~$2k+ (excluding monitor), less than that it'll depend... but the z97 is possibly the best way to get an 'affordable' machine. I recently built a decently equipped x99 machine as well as a z97 gaming system (wish I had a new xeon box for a 3 way comparo... but my z820 is getting too old for apples to apples at this point). The X99 was $2800'ish, the Z97 was $1600'ish. Specs were: X99 - 3ghz i7-5930k, 32gb DDR4, 512GB Samsung 950 PRO SSD +1TB hdd, GTX970. the Z97 - 3.5ghz i5-4690k, 16gb DDR3, 128GB 950 PRO +1TB hdd, GTX970.

Both those systems will be a lot faster than a laptop (especially an older one)... the x99 will be faster than the z97 at heavy multicore leveraging workloads. The z97 is nearly half the price and will actually be faster for some workloads due to the clock advantage (gaming for instance... zero reason to go x99 for gaming at this point).

 

[C Barker]

Thanks very much for the info...

I have edited the initial post accordingly.

 

[Eric Bowen]

That should definitely be in the 2K budget range. It would handle 1/2 res preview on Red 4K but that is about it. 2K should be fine even at full res preview.

 

[Timo Teravainen]

If you plan on using Resolve for grading, I'd suggest a GPU with at least 4GB of ram, especially if you work with 4K.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I wouldn't recommend buying a GPU with less than 4GB RAM for any use now... Serious games, Adobe Premiere, Resolve, etc.. can all benefit from 4GB+ If you're working with 4K+ imagery, it's a must!

 

[David Kuhn]

the GTX970 is pretty good bang for your buck... personally I think if you're spending $1k-$2k for the machine (excluding monitor) than the 970 - at $350'ish... is about the right amount for the graphics subsystem. $2-$3k and the GTX980 starts to look like a better proportion (to me). Over $3k and I think Titan or more exotic sli setups start to look appealing. (I'm sure there are amd options too... but I tend to stick with Nvidia myself... just more familiar to me).

 

[Tom Lowe]

I wouldn't recommend buying a GPU with less than 4GB RAM for any use now... Serious games, Adobe Premiere, Resolve, etc.. can all benefit from 4GB+ If you're working with 4K+ imagery, it's a must!

This is a key point.

 

[a_ruiz]

and dont buy any where the first 3 timings are different ie. You want sticks where those are the same ie 15 15 15

Hello,
What is the problem with sticks that have different latency values?
A stick like say 12 14 15 would be faster than a 15 15 15, why would you prefer the latter?

 

[Eric Bowen]

There is a certain dram chip manufacturer that uses those timings. I wont name and shame here but I have dealt with them in the past and the issues especially with compatibility and inconsistent production runs on the same production. Normally I give all the info and leave for the clients to decide. However in this case there are atleast 1 prominent DDR4 Dimm manufacturer almost exclusively using chips with those different timings which tells me what chips those are. So I am warning people in general avoid the sticks with those timings. If anyone decides to get them anyway then thats on them if they run into problems after.