Video Editing Workstation Suggestions

[harley_mar]

Hi, guys! This is my first post on the LinusTechTips forum and I was hoping some of you in the community could help me out. This is going to be a rather long post so I hope you don't mind.

 

I'm thinking about moving up from my laptop and building/buying a nice desktop to use for my heavy-duty applications. My trouble is that I cannot decide what system to buy. I've told my friend who is as technologically literate as me about my situation, but I'd like other people's opinions. Maybe there are good points that neither of us could come up with.

 

Before you keep on reading, I'm begging you to not respond with a bias response (i.e. preferring Windows over Mac just because you don't like the company). Think objectively. I really need good points from people's responses.

 

BACKGROUND AND NEEDS (for your consideration)

 

I'm a 15-year old student. Despite my young age i have a part-time job as a professional video-editor for an American based multimedia company. Furthermore, I also work as a freelancer, taking on assignments from clients worldwide. I'm in need of something that could pass as workstation/professional grade in order to keep up with the demands for my services and have the least amount of downtime/waiting time as possible. I'm very concerned not only on reliability, but also excellent performance. I'm not very interested in gaming but leaning towards serious work. Something to add into consideration is that in a few years, I'll be moving away from home to attend college. This means that I'll have to leave whatever system I have behind to my parents, who are more comfortable with Macs. I need something that they'll be able to use as well, not having to worry about any parts breaking down.

 

PROGRAMS

 

For my work, I use the Adobe Creative Cloud, specifically Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition. Furthermore, I've been recently using Cinema4D more often as I am venturing into more complicated 3D renders, using models created in Cinema4D in After Effects. I also work on musical compositions and complex audio sessions using Pro Tools 11. 

 

Through a lot of research I had done, I've narrowed my choices down to two options.

 

Side note: I'm not very concerned about storage space for that topic is a very easy one to solve, no matter what system I decide on buying.

 

OPTION 1: MAC PRO

 

SYSTEM SPECS:

 

Processor - 3.5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5

Memory - 16GB 1866MHz DDR3 ECC Memory

Graphics Card - Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB DDR5 VRAM each (6GB VRAM TOTAL) *planned upgrade to 40GB total a few months later

Storage - 256GB PCIe Flash Storage

 

ACCESSORIES:

 

Monitor - ASUS PA248QJ

Keyboard and Mouse - Apple Wired Keyboard with Number Pad and Wireless Magic Mouse (I personally like the Apple mouse and keyboard)

 

TOTAL PRICE (w/ accessories): 228,189.55 PHP / Approx. 5071 USD

 

Reasons why I might choose this system:

• ECC Memory and Intel Xeon Series Processors are reliable and workstation grade - low chance of failing and will last longer than most consumer grade parts
• I've used Mac OSX for over six years as of now, used to it
• Most of my documents are dependent on Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (although I know iCloud is available)
• Small form factor
• Good cooling reputation, thermal throttling not present (BIG UPSIDE)
• When I leave for college, this computer may be used as a theater/security system for my parents. It's easier for them to operate and I can fix it remotely.

Reasons why I might not choose this system:

• Price (duh)
• Less flexibility/expandability

 

OPTION 2: CUSTOM PC BUILD

 

SYSTEM SPECS (that is relevant):

 

Motherboard - ASUS X-99 Deluxe

Processor - Intel Core i7 5930K (3.5GHz - Turbo Boost to 3.7GHz)

Memory - 32GB of GSkill F4-2400C15Q-32GRK

Graphics Card - ASUS (NVIDIA) TITAN X (12 GB VRAM)

Storage - Boot Drive: Crucial BX100 (250GB) / Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB (7200rpm)

 

Accessories include chasis, power supply, extra fans, thermal paste, CPU cooler, webcam, keyboard, UPS, and mouse. If you have any suggestions for any of the accessories, please feel free to include it in your response.

 

*full specs and price breakdowns (in PHP) are attached to this forum.

 

TOTAL PRICE (w/ peripherals and accessories not listed here): 194,103 PHP / Approx. 4313.40 USD

 

Reasons why I might choose this system:

• Better graphics performance (doubled)
• Slightly better processor performance thanks to Turbo Boost
• Graphics card has CUDA support
• Expandability is present
• Cheaper than the Mac Pro

Reason why I might not choose this system:

• No direct support, have to solve problems on my own through research
• Experience with Windows, but prefer the Apple ecosystem
• Parents aren't very familiar with the Windows ecosystem and wouldn't know how to fix problems when I'm gone
• Processor and memory aren't classified as workstation grade (not ECC) which means that they may wear out faster
• Have to figure out a good cooling solution to avoid thermal throttling (although I'll be only performing heavy-duty tasks in an air-conditioned environment)

Note: I cannot find any Xeon processors for sale in my area. I also do not trust international shipping to my country. Furthermore, I am NOT willing to buy recently used parts. Remember, this is a system for seriously intensive work.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Looking at the specs of each system and my reasons, they both have they're ups and downs. The Mac Pro is fully workstation grade with excellent customer support from Apple and reliable parts, despite it's typical high cost (an Apple trademark). As for the PC, it's somewhat more powerful but do not allow me to have direct technical support, forcing me to leave the Mac ecosystem, and using non-workstation grade parts.

 

I'm posting this to see if you guys can give me more opinions or introduce me to points I have yet to consider. Hope you guys could give me a hand!

Computer Build.pdf

[Electronics Wizardy]

Consider getting a used 2012 Mac pro. You can get one with dual 6 core cpu's and 32gb of ram for around 3000 these days and put a titan in it. Its faster than the 6 core cpu's you were talking about. Something like http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/MP10D7C16S24/. Its 2899 and you get some more ram and gpu's for it(it can use any gpu).

[spyder]

Based on the windows machine you specified, there isn't a whole benefit of using the titan X apart from the VRAM, the newer cards were stripped of double precision therefore impacting you render times in Adobe applications. You could save yourself some cash by using a 5820K six core over the 5930K and use the remaining difference to expand your storage. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Based on the windows machine you specified, there isn't a whole benefit of using the titan X apart from the VRAM, the newer cards were stripped of double precision therefore impacting you render times in Adobe applications. You could save yourself some cash by using a 5820K six core over the 5930K and use the remaining difference to expand your storage. 

Adobe doesn't use double prescion and has no need for quadros(unless you are using 10 bit in photoshop)

[colinreay]

I would go for the Custom Pc route personally, as a creative cloud user myself, I find the whole update process very easy and have no qualms with it. I would go for the 5820k though, no real tangible benefits going with the 5930k (One of the biggest factors are more pci lanes, for faster multi-gpu setups, but you won't be doing that). Personally I think 32gb of ram is the way to go, and while the Titan X is a great gaming card, but you might benefit from the similarly performing 980ti, with plenty of cuda cores for Mercury Playback (CC renderer.)

[Ethann_AKA_CPU1]

I think that you should get the PC because the temps on it are going to be much better than the mac

[KemoKa]

Get a 5820K, 32GB of RAM, the cheapest X99 motherboard you can find, an AIO, a 980Ti, a case to put it in, a 256GB SSD and spend the rest on lots and lots of hard drives.

Okay, perhaps I am biased towards building a PC over a Mac, but I can back that up with many many reasons, especially since this is going to be your powerful workstation for a loooooooong time.

 

The only benefits the mac has over a PC is that it's easier to use and is smaller. Other than that, the PC...

 

Has PCIe lanes that you can actually take advantage of, swap around, etc.

 

Expandability

 

Far superior cooling versus thermal throttling

 

Lots of delicious overclocking headroom

 

A more stable and efficient power supply, something that is crucial to a workstation such as this.

 

Better airflow

 

Is potentially quieter

 

Ability to use a hardware RAID controller

 

Higher-quality components (were you planning on trusting Foxconn?)

 

Room for a ton more storage.

 

Can't be rooted using Thunderbolt.

 

Upgradability for literally EVERYTHING.

 

And it's more inexpensive to boot.

 

I have no problem with Macs being a thing. They have their place in the market, I accept that, and for some people and use case scenarios they are good options. If you want to go with it then that's up to you. However, you asked for suggestions and for what you need this to do, a PC will serve you far better in both the short run and the long run.

[BigDay]

Honestly, go with a build from Puget Systems. They will give you better advice than anyone on this forum. You also get lifetime support with their company. They build custom PC workstations.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/

 

Awesome company. If they went public, I'd invest.

 

Go with the PC. Less expensive and will work very well. I would suggest you with the a XEON cpu.

[brob]

Perhaps you could try for the best of both worlds. A hackintosh. It will take some research on your part, but it is quite possible to build a system that only runs OSX or dual boots Windows and OSX. If you are comfortable in Windows, you could simply make sure the hardware will run OSX and install that when you leave the machine behind.

 

X99 is quite capable of using ECC memory. One simply needs to use an E5 cpu.

 

I have not verified Hackintosh compatibility of all the parts (notably the Titan X and M.2 drive), but something like the following should work.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1650 V3 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($550.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($64.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory  ($343.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung SM951 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($370.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Video Card  ($999.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($106.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2743.91
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-15 13:16 EDT-0400

[harley_mar]

Hey, guys. Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'd love to see if others still have anything to add to this post so I'll still keep it up. I do have a couple of questions for those suggesting that i go with the PC route (which is basically 95-ish% of you guys):

 

• I haven't really paid much attention to proper cooling for my system in the past. Any advice/guides that could help me ensure that I get the best performance out of my system IF I build a PC?
• Since I'm based in the Philippines, nice computer component brands and models are somewhat hard to come by. I saw someone suggesting an NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti (if I'm not mistaken). According to a LinusTechTips post about that, it provides TITAN like performance at a fraction of the cost for a TITAN X, but has less VRAM. Premiere and After Effects offers GPU acceleration to speed up render times. Would GPU-Acceleration work better using a TITAN or the GTX 980 Ti? How different would their performance be?
• Rather than getting the TITAN, do you think I would benefit from dual GTX 980 Ti's?

 

And for people who are going to post anymore replies after this response, please note that I'm not a fan of having components shipped to the Philippines from outside of the country because of the Philippine's fairly bad reputation of lost packages.

[harley_mar]

Also, I'm kind of concerned about reliability. I really want this system to last a long time, especially if I'm giving this system to my parents when I'm done. Something to consider is that they're not very tech savvy.

[BigDay]

Also, I'm kind of concerned about reliability. I really want this system to last a long time, especially if I'm giving this system to my parents when I'm done. Something to consider is that they're not very tech savvy.

 

if you go with puget systems, they can call them up anytime to get help. they also provide a self help binder specific to your system.

[harley_mar]

if you go with puget systems, they can call them up anytime to get help. they also provide a self help binder specific to your system.

 

Thanks for your reply. According to the website, they don't ship to the Philippines. 

[BigDay]

info on which cpu to choose for workstations:

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Intel-CPUs-Xeon-E5-vs-Core-i7-634/