Lightroom rig to LIghtroom/Premiere rig

[Son of Mike]

So in November 2013 I built a PC specifically for some photo editing work that came my way, some months later now this has worked out really well, and now extended into some video work.  Here is what I built - in part complemented by components I already had from my Q6600 rig:

 

ASRock H87 Performance Motherboard

Intel i7 4770 (with stock cooler no less)

16GB GSkill 1600 Ram

Samsung EVO 840 250GB SSD

3 x 2TB WD Green (only two of which are currently used due to mobo issues)

1 x 4TB WD Black (recent purchase when I ran out of storage)

1 x Seagate 1TB (my oldest drive - and not currently used but still functional)

Corsair 620 PSU (on its third or fourth build now)

Corsair 600T case

LG BluRay writer

 

And I've been really please with how it all worked, however moving to more video work (in combination with quite a few really good billable projects and gaining fulltime employment), I thought I'd take another look and see what I might change.  This update has also been promoted by a couple of SATA ports on the H87 no longer working (right now I have one of my HDD's connected externally getto style).  So here's what is now being shipped to me:

 

Asus Z97 Deluxe

1 x Samsung Pro 840 256GB SSD

1 x 4TB WD Green

1 x Noctua NH-D15

1 x Noctua NF-F12 120mm

2 x BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm fans

And some cables.

 

So this has been put together for my specific workflow and user needs.  The fans are primarily to reduce noise, heat isn't an issue (even in the tropics where I live), however noise is.  Often my CPU will be at 100% when exporting from Lightroom or Premiere, and the stock fan is too loud - particularly when I'm trying to work on audio in video editing.  The WD Black is my workhorse drive, the WD Green will be a weekly backup of the Black which I'll most likely store offsite, while the Samsung Evo will become my scratch disc.  The three 2TB Greens that I have from my current build, will be retained and I'll use one of these as my private photo drive, with the other two being backup drives with either one or both being stored offsite.  While the old Seagate 1TB drive will hold my downloads folder, and also my iTunes library.   With the Samsung Pro taking over duties as the system drive.  For many the motherboard may be considered overkill, the reason for this board is pretty simple - I need SATA ports.  This was the best priced board with 10 SATA ports, and with being a Z97 it will support the next 1150 CPU's if I choose to upgrade at that time.

 

Now about the lack of a dedicated GPU, and a non K CPU...well lets tackle the CPU first.  When I first built the system I had a budget to adhere to, so while I'd overclocked in the past I decided to go with a non K version and save...well basically on everything (CPU, motherboard, and cooling).  When the new CPU's come out I'll take a look at them, and if I'm still getting this kind of work I'll most likely upgrade at that point.  So about the GPU, you can't edit video without a GPU right...well.  The kind of work I do is digitisation and restoration (i.e. digitising VHS tapes), so I don't work in After Effects, and I don't work with large files in terms of HD etc.  So far the things that I do aren't GPU accelerated (as far as my research has revealled - very happy to be proven wrong if it gets me more performance), so the bang for buck isn't quite there in terms of my requirements - however this may change later on. 

 

Right now the biggest bang for buck is getting faster storage, hence my using a SSD as a scratch disc, I'm curious to see how this goes and may add more SSD's into the system as project drives etc.  As an example of the advantage of storage speed, I tried exporting to my Green drive vs my Black drive, exporting the same file resulted in a 8:40 export to the black, with a 15 minute export to the Green.  My EVO SSD was the same export time as the Black - however my SSD is currently my system drive so curious to see what happens when I have an SSD which doesn't have programs on it, alternatively I'm keen to export from the SSD to the WD Black and see what happens if I use an SSD as my media drive.

 

The one unicorn on my list that I haven't yet been able to order (and the part I'm most looking forward to), is an Asus PA279Q monitor - they are as rare as hens teeth right now in my part of the world.  While I have looked at the Dell U3014 30 inch, the reviews are scattered all over the place - some love it, some return it.  So its just about waiting for the Asus to finally get back in stock, and yes I've looked at the ultrawide screens (LG etc), but the majority of my work is in Lightroom where a monitor that can do portrait mode is a huge advantage over an ultrawide screen.

 

Once the new gear arrives I'll post some before and after pics.  Happy to answer any questions if people are interested.

 

 

 

 

[Young Enthousiast]

I don't know which editing software you use but in Adobe Premier Pro CC you can use your GPU to render video's which does significantly reduce render times.

BTW (especially when you have added a GPU ) it looks like a killer video editing setup!

[Son of Mike]

Cheers, the monitor will really top it all off - which has an eta of two weeks or so. The other parts arrived today, and it's looking great - the side panels even close which is a bonus. I'll get some before pics up shortly, too dark now to take completed pics.

The video files I work with don't seem to need any assistance in rendering, all my editing is in real time as the clips are all SD - hence my thinking that currently a GPU won't add that much to performance overall. This of course may change in time. I've actually reinstalled an old HD5770, in part because I don't have a Mini DisplayPort adaptor, but also to see if taking the graphics load off the cpu I get any faster export times.

[Young Enthousiast]

Well you can always try it and see if it helps  .

Have fun with your PC!

[Son of Mike]

So here's a before pic:

 

[Son of Mike]

A 'the bits have arrived pic':

 

[Son of Mike]

And the finished product*:

 

 

So while I ordered two BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm Black Fan's, only one will fit.  The fan size is correct, but due to the fan surround size it won't fit in the top of the case.  And I've actually unplugged the one that sort of fitted in the front (I could only attach via two screws not four), it's too loud.  I think this is more a function of the fan in combination with the grill it brings air in through, rather than the fan alone.  $44 dollars wasted there, but for a $900+ upgrade, $44 of wastage probably isn't too bad.  The only other aspect I would change would be SATA cables, I needed more right angled plugs than I had, the back panel takes a bit to get on as they protrude more than is ideal.  In my location the local PC shops are a rip off, so it was either guess what I needed, or wait for cables to arrive once I knew exactly what I needed - in truth with the backpanel on now, I probably won't bother replacing cables with right angled connectors.  I just thought I'd mention it, as some builders will want better cable management that I've achieved.

 

Overall the rig is quite much better sound wise, if I listen very closely I can hear a very low level hum, however this is with the PC on my desk next to me - while its usual position is down on the floor.  So the noise issue has been solved.

 

For those interested in the Noctua DH15 and not standard RAM modules, I think mine are 36mm high (G.Skill Gipjaws), raising the front fan wasn't a big deal and it didn't have to be raised that much.  With super tall ram, I'd probably look to move the fans around so the fan that overhangs the RAM is moved to the back in a pull configuration. 

 

*Sorry about the crappy photo, you'd think I would have a better camera given my photo work has paid for all this.  I have an agreement with one of the project sponsors to use their facalitites and equipment, hence the camera phone pics.

[Young Enthousiast]

Dem harddrives 

[Son of Mike]

Dem harddrives 

Thanks, I have a Zalman three bay hot swap caddy occupying 3 of the 4 5 1/4 inch drive bays, that's how I fit them.

1 x Samsung 840 Pro 256gb (os drive)

1 x Samsung 840 EVO 250gb (scratch disk for premiere)

1 x WD Black 4tb (main storage drive for photo and video work)

1 x WD Green 4tb (backup for the WD Black)

3 x WD Green 2tb (family photos and backups)

1 x Seagate Barracuda 1tb (iTunes)

And one optical drive. One lonely SATA port left :-).