Need help building a computer for rendering 4k

[Admiral Steam]

So me and a friend are trying to build a computer for him to edit and render videos with a budget of $1500. I've only ever built my gaming pc so I'm pretty clueless on what i should be looking for and would appreciate some input or maybe even a pc part list to show me what an end rig should look like. With this said, the build has to be able to run three 4k monitors, render relatively fast, and have plenty of memory. I appreciate the help and look forward to your responses.

[techguru]

what programs?

[rhyseyness]

I think you're gonna struggle with only a $1500 budget

[techguru]

I think you're gonna struggle with only a $1500 budget

it will be a slower render

but doable

[rhyseyness]

it will be a slower render

but doable

Oh for sure, but you said you wanted it to render relatively fast...

That's why I said you'd be struggling on a $1500 budget

[BigDay]

i would recommend nvidia quadro series gpu's with some sort of intel xeon processor and lots of ram. the workstation gpu's have special drivers that the desktop ones do not. they are very specific for workstation programs and allow for better performance than their desktop equivalents in most cases.

[BillytheSkids]

Admiral Steam,

 

     While ideally everyone should have workstation equipment for heavy lifting applications such as CAD or video rendering real world budgets do come into play.  Rendering is a complex multifaceted beast which is the reason for asking what software your friend plans on using.  Primarily rendering is a CPU intense application my easiest way to explain how it works is to use CAD as an example.  When rendering a single object such as a part for a CNC machine it uses purely 1 core to render that object.  So the most important aspect of the computer is pure Ghz speed on 1 core.   The higher the Ghz the faster the render.  When you do CAD 3D animation it is the same principal but the split up on a core per frame basis an 8 core CPU will be able to render 8 frames at a time.  Let's say we are rendering 1 second of animation at 24 FPS.  Then let's say it takes 20 seconds per frame of the 4.0 Ghz of the AMD 8370 not overclocked.  You will be able to render that 1 second (24 frames) of video in 1 minute (24/8=3*20=60).  This is the same that is happening with video rendering.  The frames are split per core and pure speed reduces the time per frame.  Software can make an exception to this, there are some technologies that can take advantage of graphics hardware to accomplish the rendering.  Quicksync is one that I try to use when I can (when it can render equally as fast as processor) because it uses the Intel integrated graphics on the processor which for me is mostly unused silicone.  So in answer to your question http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qn2ydC is a basic build for you to modify to your own tastes.  I primarily focused on the 5820k due to 6 core 12 Thread capability and most people being able to easily overclock it 4.0 Ghz+ making it theoretically faster then say a 4790k by 50% (4 core 8 threads).  It also has an integrated Intel graphics for quicksync potential which you will not get on a Xeon.  Then of course a good graphics card that has CUDA but without looking into your software solution there is no guarantee of use.  One thing to keep in mind, you can tailor your rig based on software but if your friend is just getting into video rendering, etc which I assume they are they might want to try out a few.  Having the flexibility that this built out PC provides will allow then to try out different tools to find what works best for them.

 

Hope this helps.

[Admiral Steam]

I'm not sure on his software he's using and I'll get back to you on that, but if it helps he's planning on doing a hacintosh (not my idea). I mention that because I'm sure there aren't too many mac specific video editing software.

[Admiral Steam]

Admiral Steam,

While ideally everyone should have workstation equipment for heavy lifting applications such as CAD or video rendering real world budgets do come into play. Rendering is a complex multifaceted beast which is the reason for asking what software your friend plans on using. Primarily rendering is a CPU intense application my easiest way to explain how it works is to use CAD as an example. When rendering a single object such as a part for a CNC machine it uses purely 1 core to render that object. So the most important aspect of the computer is pure Ghz speed on 1 core. The higher the Ghz the faster the render. When you do CAD 3D animation it is the same principal but the split up on a core per frame basis an 8 core CPU will be able to render 8 frames at a time. Let's say we are rendering 1 second of animation at 24 FPS. Then let's say it takes 20 seconds per frame of the 4.0 Ghz of the AMD 8370 not overclocked. You will be able to render that 1 second (24 frames) of video in 1 minute (24/8=3*20=60). This is the same that is happening with video rendering. The frames are split per core and pure speed reduces the time per frame. Software can make an exception to this, there are some technologies that can take advantage of graphics hardware to accomplish the rendering. Quicksync is one that I try to use when I can (when it can render equally as fast as processor) because it uses the Intel integrated graphics on the processor which for me is mostly unused silicone. So in answer to your question http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qn2ydC is a basic build for you to modify to your own tastes. I primarily focused on the 5820k due to 6 core 12 Thread capability and most people being able to easily overclock it 4.0 Ghz+ making it theoretically faster then say a 4790k by 50% (4 core 8 threads). It also has an integrated Intel graphics for quicksync potential which you will not get on a Xeon. Then of course a good graphics card that has CUDA but without looking into your software solution there is no guarantee of use. One thing to keep in mind, you can tailor your rig based on software but if your friend is just getting into video rendering, etc which I assume they are they might want to try out a few. Having the flexibility that this built out PC provides will allow then to try out different tools to find what works best for them.

Hope this helps.

This helped a ton! The programs he uses are but not limited too, Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop, Lightroom, Go Pro Studio, After Effects, Logic, Ableton...

[BillytheSkids]

Admiral Steam,

 

     To be sure I am completely upfront, my specialty is in CAD (Maya, Solidworks, etc) so I am familiar with some but not all of those Applications.  While I will be happy to assist and help if I can this is not my specialty and this is your learning process and requires you to research a bit if you want to build a perfect system.  Finding which have Quicksync (Intel Integrated GPU), Direct X (DXVA?), or OpenCL optimizations and which of these overlap is a starting point but remember technology is a moving target.  Building a perfect system for an application today may change tomorrow.  At their core if you do not have those capabilities it defaults to processor and in some cases those optimizations may be slower then processor rendering.  In CAD we run into an issue with your price point because you can build a higher core or multiple systems in a render farm configuration due to graphics only being utilized in on the fly display rendering versus actual video rendering.  There are three reasons however I would still recommend an Intel based system for your application.  First is some software have instruction set optimizations on Intel (Solidworks is estimated to have 30% better performance on Intel chips) and AMD tends to fall behind in adoption of this optimization.  Second I'm unsure of how long of render times your friend is looking at 4k and while I'm sure they do not compare to CAD with renders taking days to weeks, power consumption and heat is a factor to highly consider.  Third is that while I would verify with component compatibility, the system I parted out should be Hackintosh capable.  This is also not an easy task for some and I do not recommend it as it is not technically legal especially if you do not currently own an Apple product, etc, etc, but it is a factor to consider if evolution in career and preference require an OS X system and you are willing to undertake the task.  As I said it is a multifaceted problem but I think the system I parted out is in a good general direction but someone with more specific software experience may be able to shed some light on specific hardware.

 

Hope this helps.

[Admiral Steam]

This helped alot and I was just wondering about your thoughts on what display to run?

[BillytheSkids]

Admiral Steam,

     Assuming video editing is your primary purpose then having high frame rate is not necessary (standard film is only 24 FPS) so I would focus more on color quality and go with an IPS based display.  If he is planning on editing 4k video then a 4k display is of course recommended.  If you are looking for a specific brand and model number, displays tend to be subjective, something that pleases my eye's might not please everyone's.  Ideally you would want the most color accurate but bear in mind that the content might not also be re-displayed on a display that is color accurate and the adjustments you make to colors for your own tastes might be off-putting on someone else's display.  The fact of the matter is that there is no perfect solution to this and your best bet is pick a display that you think looks good and fits your budget.  Do not worry about response time and go with an IPS panel and you should be fine.  If you are twisting my arm I prefer Dell, Asus, and Samsung display's.  I hear good things about Acer and Benq but have no experience nor opinion either way.  I stay away from all LG products as I have had terrible luck with them in the past but that is my own opinion.  Either way if it was me choosing a display for myself or a client I would narrow down to those 5 brands and weigh cost benefit from there while ignoring response time as much as possible.

 

Hope this helps.

[Admiral Steam]

Thanks again for all your help it really made this build way less of a headache than I thought it would be (until assembly ofc).