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Building A New PC

glamphotographer

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Haven't built my own computer from scratch in 10 years, it was a Pentium Duo Core, 2gb ddr ram, 160 gb hard drive, 512mb nvidia graphic cards. Need to catch up what the latest technology in PC is today. I generally like to go with Intel over AMD but may try AMD. Looking to build a video editing machine. Any advice on which processors? Also whats the latest power video cards on the market today? I have a $1600 budget and looking to build a new computer from scratch.
 

|2 /-\ | /|/

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I though about doing the same, however I went with this computer when it was on sale for $1300 http://m.bestbuy.ca/defaultpage.asp...etails.aspx?ajax=true&sku=10391778&lang=en-CA

Right now its on sale for $1399, normal price is $1599 and this one goes quite quick.

I had another similar thread on here about custom build gaming PC and received a lot of good advice, but decided to go with the phoenix, its still awesome and I love it so much. Chews 4k like cupcakes.

Here is a good resource for custom builds .... https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/builds/#X=0,44373&sort=a1&page=1
 

basketcase

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Plenty of component options at Canada computers.

Probably no reason to go absolute top end.

Overall, newer Intel chips are noticeably better than AMD as the later has focused on the mid range market. The new 14 nm i5 processors are nice (LGA1151). The i5 6600 is fairly comparable performance to all but the top i7. To go with it look at a Z170 motherboard for forward compatibility. In terms of graphics cards, doesn't make much of a difference whether nvidea or radeon. Plenty in the $200-$300 range are solid. The $400 range is as high as I'd go; after that you don't get much additional value for your money. Also probably better to get one good video card instead of running a multi-card system. Depending on what you want to do, you should just swap over your DVDROM and hard drives to save money for the more significant components but SSD drives (and liquid cooling for the CPU) make for a near silent computer. You may be able to reuse your power supply if it's 1000W or better (though after 10 years it might be nearing the end of its useful life). The modular power supplies save room and allow for better air movement. If you don't care about USB3.0 you can also save money by using the old chassis if its up to it. Also ram has become a fair bit cheaper over the years. 16 GB is fairly common for higher powered computers.
 

glamphotographer

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Thanks for all the advice.

I hear Nvidia is better suited for Adobe Premiere as Adobe designed their software to take advantage of CUDA which is what the higher end Nvidia cards have.
 

bishop

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What is the specs of the computer you are currently using and is there any particular task that you want to speed up; more specific than video editing, like perhaps it takes a long time to read the video from the disk or save the video to disk, you get warnings about low memory, your PC takes a long time to boot or shut down, etc...
 

Promo

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I'm more of a gamer, but I have a buddy who shoots and edits wedding videos as a side job. He's also an IT guy so knows his way around PCs. His suggestions:
1) Get at least 8GB RAM, preferably 16 or 32GB. Video files can be large and video editing programs love RAM.
2) Get a large fast hard drive (7200rpm - not 5400rpm). SSD will certainly significantly speed up your system, but at your budget a 4GB HDD may make more sense than a 1GB SDD.
3) Get a fast multicore CPU - will speed up rendering and conversion tasks i7 is prefered, but i5 will do if you are budget limited
4) More CPU cores/threads are better. Most modern video editing software can use multiple cores effectively
5) Nvidia video card - you are correct, most video editing software can use the CUDA cores.

I have two web sites I go to when I do a new build:
www.maximumpc.com it appears to be down right now, but go to "the builds" section. They suggest 3 systems (list out discrete components) each month based on price
http://www.tomshardware.com/
See: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html and http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html

Have a look here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/s/video+editing/
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

I buy all my parts at Canada Computer. Pricing is good and staff knowledgeable. All the above said, you can get some excellent deals at Best Buy. Generally the weak link with BB PCs are the power supplies and video cards, but you can always put a decent video card in afterwards and upgrade the power supply if needed..
 

Promo

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I had another similar thread on here about custom build gaming PC and received a lot of good advice, but decided to go with the phoenix, its still awesome and I love it so much. Chews 4k like cupcakes.
What video card are you running?

It takes a fairly decent video card to drive a 4K monitor for non-game applications. If you are gaming and want a minimum of 30fps with good video settings it takes a extremely serious and expensive video card. I have an Nvidia 970 series 4GB which I paid close to $450 for and it doesn't come close to "Chews 4k like cupcakes", whatever that means. Wanted a Titan, but couldn't justify $1200 for a single card that would be completely outclassed in 2 years. I shoot for the "above average card" and buy 6-12 month old technology as these cards provide respectable performance at a decent price.
 

glamphotographer

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What video card are you running?

It takes a fairly decent video card to drive a 4K monitor for non-game applications. If you are gaming and want a minimum of 30fps with good video settings it takes a extremely serious and expensive video card. I have an Nvidia 970 series 4GB which I paid close to $450 for and it doesn't come close to "Chews 4k like cupcakes", whatever that means. Wanted a Titan, but couldn't justify $1200 for a single card that would be completely outclassed in 2 years. I shoot for the "above average card" and buy 6-12 month old technology as these cards provide respectable performance at a decent price.
Wonder if it's this baby?

https://www.amazon.ca/EVGA-Installe...f=sr_1_23?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1461633264&sr=1-23
 

b4u

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What video card are you running?

It takes a fairly decent video card to drive a 4K monitor for non-game applications. If you are gaming and want a minimum of 30fps with good video settings it takes a extremely serious and expensive video card. I have an Nvidia 970 series 4GB which I paid close to $450 for and it doesn't come close to "Chews 4k like cupcakes", whatever that means. Wanted a Titan, but couldn't justify $1200 for a single card that would be completely outclassed in 2 years. I shoot for the "above average card" and buy 6-12 month old technology as these cards provide respectable performance at a decent price.
Had you clicked on the link he provided, you would have seen he has a Nvidia Gtx 960! While it's an adequate card for basic gaming(medium settings) and simple photo/video editing it is not nearly powerful enough to "Chew 4k like cupcakes"
 

|2 /-\ | /|/

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Had you clicked on the link he provided, you would have seen he has a Nvidia Gtx 960! While it's an adequate card for basic gaming(medium settings) and simple photo/video editing it is not nearly powerful enough to "Chew 4k like cupcakes"
Yeah it is GTX 960. I never had a problem with 4k with this card but I only shoot and edit family videos with the Panasonic LX 100 at 4k 30p. Comparing it to my 2011 top of the line Mac Book Pro it feels like cupcakes, however I would go with a 970 at least if I have the choice because of the oculus rift requirements, I got this computer because it was on a good sale at best buy... I was trying to be funny here...heheheee:spit:
 

|2 /-\ | /|/

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Since we are also talking about video cards, does it make sense to sell my GTX960 and upgrade to the 980 now, this way I am set for the Oculus Rift. However, looks like if I wait a year, the price should drop significantly? I don't mind waiting, I just hate wasting money when these cards drop in price significantly within a year. Is there any indication how much they might drop? $900+ for a video card is a bit pricey IMO but that occulus experience looks too attractive to pass.
 

glamphotographer

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Since we are also talking about video cards, does it make sense to sell my GTX960 and upgrade to the 980 now, this way I am set for the Oculus Rift. However, looks like if I wait a year, the price should drop significantly? I don't mind waiting, I just hate wasting money when these cards drop in price significantly within a year. Is there any indication how much they might drop? $900+ for a video card is a bit pricey IMO but that occulus experience looks too attractive to pass.
I say to wait until the price drop. The thing about spending 1K on video cards is that something is coming out.
 

|2 /-\ | /|/

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I say to wait until the price drop. The thing about spending 1K on video cards is that something is coming out.
Although, they seem to have a fairly study price with minimum decline. If I wait too long I might get peanuts for my 960, especially with the rift impact. Looks like I might also need to upgrade my power supply.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/video-card/



P.S. how do you know when you need a better cooling system. Is there a rule of thumb such as when temperature exceeds a certain threshold?
 

Promo

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Had you clicked on the link he provided, you would have seen he has a Nvidia Gtx 960! While it's an adequate card for basic gaming(medium settings) and simple photo/video editing it is not nearly powerful enough to "Chew 4k like cupcakes"
I did. That's why I asked what video card he was running as the GTX 960 for 4K gaming is on the low-end side. Since he said his rig "Chew 4k like cupcakes", I figured he had swapped it out for something more powerful and was curious what. The computer itself has quite decent specs at a good price.

Although the 960 would be fine for most business apps and his video editing at 4K, as a gamer card, not so much. Depending on the game and the settings (detail, anti-aliasing, etc. ) the card would be in the 20-40 fps area. It's more of a 1080p card. My 970 is only low-middle end at 4K, one of the reasons I still do all my gaming at 1080p as I can still crank the quality setting up.

LOL, I should have realized |2 /-\ | /|/ had exaggerated.
 

Promo

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Although, they seem to have a fairly study price with minimum decline. If I wait too long I might get peanuts for my 960, especially with the rift impact. Looks like I might also need to upgrade my power supply.

P.S. how do you know when you need a better cooling system. Is there a rule of thumb such as when temperature exceeds a certain threshold?
I don't know much about Oculus Rift, but it's requirements can be found here: https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/t...pc-sdk-0-6-released-and-mobile-vr-jam-voting/
"On the raw rendering costs: a traditional 1080p game at 60Hz requires 124 million shaded pixels per second. In contrast, the Rift runs at 2160×1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays, consuming 233 million pixels per second. At the default eye-target scale, the Rift’s rendering requirements go much higher: around 400 million shaded pixels per second. This means that by raw rendering costs alone, a VR game will require approximately 3x the GPU power of 1080p rendering."

Based on the above, you might be able to use 2 x GTX 960s in SLI mode, but I'd wait till someone tests that before spending the cash. I tend to stay with singe card solutions, although I have friends running SLI no problem. For SLI you have to have the right motherboard, the cards need to fit in the case and power supply and heat becomes an issue.

In my limited experience, I've found video cards come down ~25% just as the new technology rolls-out and then discounted as low as 40% as it approached EOL. Your chart is interesting, but the 980 is still current technology so it would be more interesting to see a similar chart for a 770 which I couldn't find on the site.

As long as you are not overclocking, have a single GPU and the case itself has adequate fans, heat shouldn't be a problem. You can monitor temperatures using a variety of utilities including: GPU-Z, http://openhardwaremonitor.org/, or the software from your video card vendor
 

WoodPeckr

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Any advice on which processors?
I have a $1600 budget and looking to build a new computer from scratch.
Intel all the way! AMDs don't last as long.

Why build one when you can get one like this ready made and tested.

Dell - XPS Desktop - Intel Core i7 - 1TB Hard Drive $849.99 USD, not sure what it comes out to in CAD.

Comes with an 6th Gen Intel Core I7-6700 processor and 16GB DDR4 RAM!

I still have and run a 1st Gen Intel Core I7 CPU that is now 6½ yrs old that still SCREAMS and runs like new, that cost me $1019.
 

|2 /-\ | /|/

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I don't know much about Oculus Rift, but it's requirements can be found here: https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/t...pc-sdk-0-6-released-and-mobile-vr-jam-voting/
"On the raw rendering costs: a traditional 1080p game at 60Hz requires 124 million shaded pixels per second. In contrast, the Rift runs at 2160×1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays, consuming 233 million pixels per second. At the default eye-target scale, the Rift’s rendering requirements go much higher: around 400 million shaded pixels per second. This means that by raw rendering costs alone, a VR game will require approximately 3x the GPU power of 1080p rendering."

Based on the above, you might be able to use 2 x GTX 960s in SLI mode, but I'd wait till someone tests that before spending the cash. I tend to stay with singe card solutions, although I have friends running SLI no problem. For SLI you have to have the right motherboard, the cards need to fit in the case and power supply and heat becomes an issue.

In my limited experience, I've found video cards come down ~25% just as the new technology rolls-out and then discounted as low as 40% as it approached EOL. Your chart is interesting, but the 980 is still current technology so it would be more interesting to see a similar chart for a 770 which I couldn't find on the site.

As long as you are not overclocking, have a single GPU and the case itself has adequate fans, heat shouldn't be a problem. You can monitor temperatures using a variety of utilities including: GPU-Z, http://openhardwaremonitor.org/, or the software from your video card vendor
Thanks promo :thumb:
 

bishop

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New cards are being released in june, they will be mid range cards with high end cards being released end of this year. From what I know these new mid range cards will be within a performance arm's reach of today's high end cards, 970 to 980 performance levels, they are mid range only WRT other cards in their generation.

So now would be the worst time to buy a video card, especially considering in the best case scenario you would get your VR headset in June, you might as well wait for the new cards to come out.
 

|2 /-\ | /|/

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New cards are being released in june, they will be mid range cards with high end cards being released end of this year. From what I know these new mid range cards will be within a performance arm's reach of today's high end cards, 970 to 980 performance levels, they are mid range only WRT other cards in their generation.

So now would be the worst time to buy a video card, especially considering in the best case scenario you would get your VR headset in June, you might as well wait for the new cards to come out.
Thanks guys, looks like consensus is wait and do more research which I fine with. I did the same until that HP PC and paid off. Although I am looking forward to the rift, looks very promising, however I'd rather do it right then rush into this.
 

glamphotographer

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P.S. how do you know when you need a better cooling system. Is there a rule of thumb such as when temperature exceeds a certain threshold?
I believe there is no right and wrong answer to that. One answer is for sure you definately want to run a CPU with a cooling system but as for temps there is no real rule of thumb. I hear some i7 CPUs can run as hot as 107 degrees F and they last. I guess it comes down to personal preference, some feel safer running it at 55 degrees while gaming. While others will run it into the ground as they plan on getting a new CPU every 3 years. If your CPU is like an expensive $1000 power horse then it makes sense to spend another $150 on a top of the line cooling system. I never knew cooling systems like these existed. https://www.amazon.ca/Corsair-Extre...13241&sr=8-2&keywords=cooling+systems+for+CPU
 
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