Workstation Hardware Poll - Interest in Turnkey solutions?

[Bruce Buck]

Making a strange transition in my career going from Design Engineer to doing more with video production. As such I am now working for a company that builds turnkey workstations/laptops for SolidWorks and Mastercam users. These are programs that are used heavily in the engineering/manufacturing world, and the hardware is configured specifically for these programs. The systems arrive to the end client with the software installed and ready to go as soon as you power up.

We're exploring the possibility of doing the same for folks who are in the video production industry, and who primarily use the Adobe CS family of products. The concept is, again, to provide a turnkey system that is specifically optimized for the Red/Adobe workflow, and is ready to go as soon as it arrives to your doorstep.

Since I myself am relatively new to this industry, I'd like to reach out to this community and see what type of things people are looking for when searching for their post-production hardware needs. What type of things are you looking for, and what must-haves are there? In addition to the basic poll of what type of system do you prefer to spec/buy, please leave in the comments any feedback and/or suggestions for the type of things you would want in the following areas:

Are you looking for just a box/machine, or a "complete" solution (box, monitors, external storage, audio)?

What type of support are you looking for in addition to the hardware/software manufacturer's support/warranty?

What type of "workflow" would you like the hardware optimized for (cinematography/eng/etc)?

How do you typically allocate assets among the drives (scratch discs, programs, backup, etc)?

 

[Bruce Buck]

For example, here is the setup I'm currently running. I'd like any feedback as to any changes you think would be necessary/vital to having an optimized setup for video production with Adobe Production Premium and Scarlet:

Dell Precision T5500
Xeon X5680 3.33Ghz 6-core
12GB DDR3 RAM
Nvida Quadro 4000
WD Raptor 10k SATA (OS/Programs)
WD Raptor 10k SATA (Project files)
WD 7200 SATA (Video assests)
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Dell U2711 Wide Gamut 27" Monitor
Onboard Audio

I'm currently working with what I have, which is a mix between camcorder/dslr/mirrorless cameras. Obviously, Scarlet will require a bit different workflow since it is going to be a RAW workflow. What changes would you recommend to the setup to get this setup to a good entry-level setup for something like Scarlet, and someone who is a one-man (or very small group) production facility? Obviously those in the "big leagues" would require much more, but let's just start with what you guys would consider a bare-minimum setup

My guess is definitely SSD for the OS/Programs, some type of RAID setup for the drives, and something better on the audio solution. Your thoughts?

 

[Zeb B]

Mac Pro . . . go from there

 

[Maz Mawlawi]

Mac Pro . . . go from there

I have to disagree with this. If you intend on mainly running cs5.5 (and don't intend on outputting prores files) then you are better off with a non MAC system as you will get much better performance on a win7 machine and have access to much more advanced and powerful Nvidia cuda cards. Our win7 workstations are constantly outperforming our macs and are just as stable. The only thing I would suggest is to get 24gig RAM if you can...

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

I have to disagree with this. If you intend on mainly running cs5.5 (and don't intend on outputting prores files) then you are better off with a non MAC system as you will get much better performance on a win7 machine and have access to much more advanced and powerful Nvidia cuda cards. Our win7 workstations are constantly outperforming our macs and are just as stable. The only thing I would suggest is to get 24gig RAM if you can...

I am still ashamed to admit this, but I jumped off the Apple / Final Cut Pro ship about 4 months before the FCPX fiasco. I had a feeling things weren't going well, Apple was taking to long for the next version, AND money was tight as hell but I needed a new computer. I built a PC for less than $2k that was more powerful than a Mac Pro for $3400. With the overclocking, Cuda Accelerating my CS5 Mercury Playback Engine, etc, the maching is a LOT faster. It breaks my heart.

OSX is heaven, Win 7 is not as horrible as Vista, but it's painful every day. I am still using a Macbook Pro (as I write this in fact) for my life (email, proposals, travel, etc) but my pro work is now PC. :-(

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

Jeffrey,

I'd be curious about your system specs.

Thanks sir.

 

[Mohammed El Sharqawy]

WD Raptor 10k SATA (OS/Programs)
WD Raptor 10k SATA (Project files)


those two pieces should be exchanged with SSDs, PCI-E would be more better..

WD 7200 SATA (Video assests)

use raid for video assets,

and also get more RAM as much as you can..

 

[Felix K.]

My system:
Win 7 professional 64bit, CS 5.

i7 930 @ 4,0 Ghz//
GA-X58A-UD3R//
Noctua NH-D14
24GB Kingston Hyper X DDR3 1600//
Colorful NVIDIA GTX 470
Corsair F120 SSD
2x 640 GB WD Black Caviar

soon:
Raid 5-System
Proavio EB 800MS
Highpoint RAIDROCKET 2322 Controller
4x Hitachi 24/7 2TB drives (another 4 added later).

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

Jeffrey,

I'd be curious about your system specs.

Thanks sir.

No problem!


i7 950 ( Over CLocked to 3.75 ghz )
Corsair H70 watercooler
12 gb ram
Windows 7 Professional
128 gb SSD for windows and programs
2x1gb Western Digital BLack drives in Raid 0 for speed
1x2gb Drive as backup
2x GTX 460 video cards in SLI ( you have to tell Adobe CS5 to support these, but it takes 11 seconds to do it )
Corsair 850w power supply
All this in a Rosewill Armor case with plenty of fans running quietly.


If I bought it today, I would get the i7 980 for $600 ( which I may upgrade to soon, or if I come across something I can't do real time). I would buy 1 GTX 560, 570 or 580. Also, I would get a different case, probably something like the Antec 1200 or the NZXT Phantom. But that is just about what was available 10 months ago vs now.

Last note is that this is a down and dirty powerhouse, vs a top of the line station. If money had not been an option I would do a lot different, but for something that just cranks through things, runs most everything real time, plays back red footage natively with real time effects, etc etc... I am happy.

 

[Bérenger Brillante]

Hi Jeffrey

How do you deal with SLI x2 in CS 5.5 ? Does it work better ?
With Resolve, i'm thinkingt of adding a GTX 580 to my quadro 4000, but i don't know how and if CS5 handle it.

 

[Tom Lowe]

SLI does not help in Adobe video programs.

I think there could be some interest in turn-key systems, especially PC systems built around Adobe software.

 

[Joshua Raven]

My System:

i7 970 ( Over Clocked )
Asus Rampage III Extreme MoBo
Corsair watercooler
24 GB Dominator DDR 3
Win 7 Pro
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD
5x2TB WD Blacks in Raid 0
USB 3 Drive Dock for Backup
Nvidia GTX 580 3GB
Antec 1200w power supply
Antec Dark Star DF-85 Case

Adobe does not utilize SLI. I originally had an Nvidia 590, but even though it uses a single slot, Adobe only recognizes half of it, so I went with the 3GB version of the 580 instead. When working with Red Footage in Premiere, it's nice to have a good video card, nice to have lots of RAM, but it's really all about processor power.

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

Mega delayed response, I updated my last post because I said my i7 950 was running at 3.4 ghz, when it is actually at 3.75. Brain fart.

Also, Adobe does not use SLI, as others mentioned, which is why I think cards like the gtx 580 are perfect. In fact, pass mark has the 580 FAR outstripping the QUadro 6000, which is $4,000 vs the gtx 580 at $469 or $600 depending if you have 1.5 gb or 3 gb of ram. Now I know Quadro is supposed to be better for 3d rendering programs, but I have yet to see any benchmarks, and for video work, in my research gtx is as good or even way better.

I really wish Adobe supported SLI.

BUT, its all a ton faster than my FCP systems.

Too bad windows is still windows.