Editing/Workstation PC Build - Tips needed

[Xiauj]

So I'm thinking about getting a secondary PC which will be for Video editing, Photo editing, Development (_{Coding/UI based and maaaybe.... App/Game development}) and other Workstation intended purposes only, no gaming either. My budget is £700 GBP and I want/'would prefer' to do the following for this build because of the given budget:

• To Find a good, fast and reliable CPU that can be overclocked and can handle CPU-Core-based pieces of software. I would like to preferably find a reliable eBay seller (_{Feel free to recommend} ) who sells good condition Xeon/____ CPUs for a cheap price. The reason I want to do this is because of my budget as you can probably tell.
• To find out if the recently announced/released(?) AMD RX 480 performs well with Adobe's software just like NVIDIA's CUDA Cores would.
• To have AIR-COOLING FOR THE CPU, NOT LIQUID.
• To have a case with a window and good case fans.
• To preferably have 32GB RAM as opposed to 16GB (_{Or have 16GB then I can add another 16GB in say... 2-6 months later on..? Don't know if this would mess up some stuff!})
• To have NO SSDs (Because I'm not gaming on this PC) but will be getting 2TB HDDs (_{Can I add more hard-drives in say... 2-6 months later on..? I dunno if it would mess up some stuff or not!})

 

Thanks ~ Xiauj!

 

 

P.S - I do have an old PC that does some of these tasks but it's getting quite old and I dunno if I can upgrade it in any way  

[SeanAngelo]

55 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

So I'm thinking about getting a secondary PC which will be for Video editing, Photo editing, Development (_{Coding/UI based and maaaybe.... App/Game development}) and other Workstation intended purposes only, no gaming either. My budget is £700 GBP and I want/'would prefer' to do the following for this build because of the given budget:

• To Find a good, fast and reliable CPU that can be overclocked and can handle CPU-Core-based pieces of software. I would like to preferably find a reliable eBay seller (_{Feel free to recommend} ) who sells good condition Xeon/____ CPUs for a cheap price. The reason I want to do this is because of my budget as you can probably tell.
• To find out if the recently announced/released(?) AMD RX 480 performs well with Adobe's software just like NVIDIA's CUDA Cores would.
• To have AIR-COOLING FOR THE CPU, NOT LIQUID.
• To have a case with a window and good case fans.
• To preferably have 32GB RAM as opposed to 16GB (_{Or have 16GB then I can add another 16GB in say... 2-6 months later on..? Don't know if this would mess up some stuff!})
• To have NO SSDs (Because I'm not gaming on this PC) but will be getting 2TB HDDs (_{Can I add more hard-drives in say... 2-6 months later on..? I dunno if it would mess up some stuff or not!})

 

Thanks ~ Xiauj!

 

 

P.S - I do have an old PC that does some of these tasks but it's getting quite old and I dunno if I can upgrade it in any way  

you might want to get an SSD to make your editing faster.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£260.28 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (£44.48 @ More Computers) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£104.80 @ CCL Computers) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£53.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£69.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case  (£57.01 @ CCL Computers) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£69.47 @ Amazon UK) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM  120mm Fan  (£13.98 @ Ebuyer) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM  120mm Fan  (£13.98 @ Ebuyer) 
Total: £687.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-11 18:06 BST+0100

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-11 18:03 BST+0100

[Xiauj]

@SeanAngelo,

Yeah I agree about the SSD I do however have a question:

Wouldn't a CPU with more cores as opposed to 4 be more productive/less-CPU-intensive..? And less in terms of the overall cost?

I was thinking about getting a 6/8 -Core Xeon CPU but I dunno if 4 cores would handle.

[Omon_Ra]

2 hours ago, Xiauj said:

• To Find a good, fast and reliable CPU that can be overclocked and can handle CPU-Core-based pieces of software.
• To find out if the recently announced/released(?) AMD RX 480 performs well with Adobe's software just like NVIDIA's CUDA Cores would.
• To have AIR-COOLING FOR THE CPU, NOT LIQUID.
• To preferably have 32GB RAM as opposed to 16GB (_{Or have 16GB then I can add another 16GB in say... 2-6 months later on..? Don't know if this would mess up some stuff!})
• To have NO SSDs (Because I'm not gaming on this PC) but will be getting 2TB HDDs (_{Can I add more hard-drives in say... 2-6 months later on..? I dunno if it would mess up some stuff or not!})

1) Xeons can't be overclocked. But it's probably the most cost effective as far as getting a high core/hyperthreaded CPU; which you'll want for the stuff you want to do. You may want to keep an eye out for people selling Haswell-e CPU's with the Broadwell-e chips coming in, but it probably won't be huge numbers.

2) CUDA or OpenGL acceleration in Adobe CC is more or less the same. It really is only effective for playback of certain unrendered effects (OpenGL supports everything CUDA does except for 3 or 4 effects). As long as you have a decent GPU, it should be fine. And if you stack enough effects, or use ones that aren't CUDA/OpenGL accelerated you'll still need to render anyways; and that is done with your CPU.

3) Hyper 212

4) If you end up on a DDR4 platform, prices have come down quite a bit for it, so 32 or even 64GB kits could be affordable

5) You want SSD's, or even m.2. Primarily for your render, cache and export folders. But depending on your source footage, fast read speeds are crucial for smooth playback. And fast write speeds will make copying the source files to your workstation faster as well. I personally have 2 SSD's and 2 HDD's in my editing rig; 1 SSD for OS/programs, 1 SSD for render, cache, export (and games and other random programs), 1 HDD for working footage, 1 HDD for backups, long term storage and archiving.

[Xiauj]

Ah ok cool @Omon_Ra,

 

1) Yeah I wasn't aiming specifically for a overclockable CPU, just a cheap one like a Xeon that has a good amount of cores (At least 6/8 or even maybe 10 but I doubt it, so 6/8 it is).

2) Reckon the RX 480 will be pretty good especially for a majority of Adobe's software(s)..? Hope the price isn't that much either because of my budget.

3) Yeah I was thinking about this even if I were to overclock or NOT overclock haha  

4) Really?  Wow nice. Does higher mhz improve speed or..?

5) Hmm ok, SSDs a lil' bit expensive but could I (If I wanted to that is) leave them out for now, but install them in say... 2-6 months time? Or will it mess up some settings/etc..?

[Xiauj]

Oh and in addition to #1 @Omon_Ra or anyone in general, 

 

If anyone knows a reliable seller on say... eBay or somewhere like that who sells good condition CPUs,

please leave a comment  Would be greatly appreciated!

[brob]

3 hours ago, Xiauj said:

So I'm thinking about getting a secondary PC which will be for Video editing, Photo editing, Development (_{Coding/UI based and maaaybe.... App/Game development}) and other Workstation intended purposes only, no gaming either. My budget is £700 GBP and I want/'would prefer' to do the following for this build because of the given budget:

• To Find a good, fast and reliable CPU that can be overclocked and can handle CPU-Core-based pieces of software. I would like to preferably find a reliable eBay seller (_{Feel free to recommend} ) who sells good condition Xeon/____ CPUs for a cheap price. The reason I want to do this is because of my budget as you can probably tell.
• To find out if the recently announced/released(?) AMD RX 480 performs well with Adobe's software just like NVIDIA's CUDA Cores would.
• To have AIR-COOLING FOR THE CPU, NOT LIQUID.
• To have a case with a window and good case fans.
• To preferably have 32GB RAM as opposed to 16GB (_{Or have 16GB then I can add another 16GB in say... 2-6 months later on..? Don't know if this would mess up some stuff!})
• To have NO SSDs (Because I'm not gaming on this PC) but will be getting 2TB HDDs (_{Can I add more hard-drives in say... 2-6 months later on..? I dunno if it would mess up some stuff or not!})

 

Thanks ~ Xiauj!

 

 

P.S - I do have an old PC that does some of these tasks but it's getting quite old and I dunno if I can upgrade it in any way  

 

If you are doing any amount of video editing a six+ core Intel cpu would be good. Further, X99 / X79 offers the advantage of quad-channel memory operation. While it makes no real difference in gaming, it does help in content creation workflows.

 

The explanation regarding ssd is completely wrong. Video editing, coding, etc. involve reasonably intensive i/o. SSD make a big, BIG difference. In fact I would suggest trying to do without an hdd initially.

 

It makes sense to wait and see how the RX 480 performs. If memory serves, AMD gpu actually do better than Nvidia in most current Adobe releases.

[Xiauj]

@brob, Ah ok, that makes more sense!  

 

What type of CPU would you recommend? As mentioned I want to try and find a cheap(er) one from a very reliable seller but with 6 or 8 cores preferably.

Yeah I feel that the X99 'boards are very good. Some Xeon CPUs I believe are 2011-3 which means it should(?) be compatible.

 

I might go down the SSD route but would I be able to add it into the system in say.. 2-6 months later on after the system's been built/turned on for the first time or would it mess up some settings/etc..?

[brob]

19 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

@brob, Ah ok, that makes more sense!  

 

What type of CPU would you recommend? As mentioned I want to try and find a cheap(er) one from a very reliable seller but with 6 or 8 cores preferably.

Yeah I feel that the X99 'boards are very good. Some Xeon CPUs I believe are 2011-3 which means it should(?) be compatible.

 

I might go down the SSD route but would I be able to add it into the system in say.. 2-6 months later on after the system's been built/turned on for the first time or would it mess up some settings/etc..?

If you go X99 the i7-5820K is pretty much the entry level hyperthreaded cpu. 

 

One can move systems from hdd to ssd. Some ssd manufacturers offer software for moving systems from an hdd to their ssd. My opinion is that it would be better to start with the ssd and add the hdd later. If you have an old system, perhaps its hdd could be reused.

[Xiauj]

14 minutes ago, brob said:

If you go X99 the i7-5820K is pretty much the entry level hyperthreaded cpu. 

 

One can move systems from hdd to ssd. Some ssd manufacturers offer software for moving systems from an hdd to their ssd. My opinion is that it would be better to start with the ssd and add the hdd later. If you have an old system, perhaps its hdd could be reused.

As much as I hate to say it, it's a pre-built system that I've had for nearly 4 years and it's hard-drive can only hold up to 256GB and it's entirely full, only has a few MB worth of space  If you think it could be worth upgrading, I can post the specs if you want.

 

Is there any Xeon CPUs that are hyperthreaded? because an x99 mobo and 5820k would be half of the budget (£700) already consumed...  as well as an ssd on top of that.

[brob]

There are a number of Xeon that are hyperthreaded. Unfortunately on X99 the 6-core versions are all more expensive than the i7-5820K. 

[Xiauj]

2 minutes ago, brob said:

There are a number of Xeon that are hyperthreaded. Unfortunately on X99 the 6-core versions are all more expensive than the i7-5820K. 

Yeah that's the problem, I might try and look for a Xeon one on eBay perhaps.

 

 

As for my current 4-yr-old rig (lol), want me to post the specs and see if it's worth upgrading? I don't think it is but it could be.

It's pre-built btw...  

[brob]

Doubtful that there is much of use. Although if it has a reasonably decent psu and / or is an ATX case they might stand in until replacements could be afforded.

[Xiauj]

17 minutes ago, brob said:

Doubtful that there is much of use. Although if it has a reasonably decent psu and / or is an ATX case they might stand in until replacements could be afforded.

Just found out they sell it this pre-built system on Newegg and the PSU is 220W and as for the case, I can't find the info for that.

The case (irl) is very small though.

[brob]

Guess you will have to look at something else. Perhaps a Haswell LGA1150 Xeon, something like the E3-1231 V3. Only 4 hyperthreaded cores, but a solid performer.

[SeanAngelo]

3 hours ago, Xiauj said:

@SeanAngelo,

Yeah I agree about the SSD I do however have a question:

Wouldn't a CPU with more cores as opposed to 4 be more productive/less-CPU-intensive..? And less in terms of the overall cost?

I was thinking about getting a 6/8 -Core Xeon CPU but I dunno if 4 cores would handle.

try and fit a 6 core in a £700 budget.

[Xiauj]

1 minute ago, SeanAngelo said:

try and fit a 6 core in a £700 budget.

That's why I was asking if yourself or anyone might know a good CPU that I could pick up on eBay or somewhere like that from a reliable seller for a cheap(er) price.

[SeanAngelo]

3 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

That's why I was asking if yourself or anyone might know a good CPU that I could pick up on eBay or somewhere like that from a reliable seller for a cheap(er) price.

a 4C/8T 6700k is more than enough for what you want to do.

[Xiauj]

2 minutes ago, SeanAngelo said:

a 4C/8T 6700k is more than enough for what you want to do.

Ok cool, will look for some components and put it into a PCPartPicker!

 

Will make it on a new topic in "New Builds and Planning" btw