Upgrading My Computer

Video rendering is just pure number crunching from the CPU, RAM and HDDs. If you add a fast quad and double the ram you will notice a huge difference but probably create a bottle neck at the HDD's which is why i suggested striping a few cheap HDD's. I think the i7 is definitely a way to go if you must have the latest and greatest and if its only a little more expensive it may be worth it. BUt if you just change the CPU and nothing else you should still see a massive improvement.

I'm with Jackie on this one. For video editing lots of ram and CPU power. The i7 is an amazing choice if you can afford it.

Hard drives, depends what sort of video editing you do but for huge HD files, faster drives would help a lot. Have you considered the VelociRaptors? A bit pricey but they're 10k rpm in 2.5" form factor and significantly faster. Instead of RAID0 I would go with multiple individual drives for each type of media. Video drive, Audio, Scratch, Export Drive etc. Is not the read / write speed that is the bottleneck but the low access time mechanical drives suffer from. This could be reduces when a drive doesn't need to read and write several files at the same time.

SSD for OS, Applications and Page file I would say is a must. Can't believe anyone would disagree on this one since they make such a huge difference in system responsiveness and multitasking.

i7 with 8GB-16GB RAM
Win7 Pro x64
60G SSD
2-4 Data Drives
Velociraptors if you can afford them

I think it's got to the point where I'm going to have to draw a line in the sand. The problem with computer upgrading is the price keeps going up and up and up. I'd love to go down your route Maxinc but I'm looking at another £200 if I get a couple of those drives. Then I could move on and say I'd be better off going for the 1155 Sandy Bridge socket since there's another 15 to 20 percent speed upgrade there. Next thing I know I'm knocking on for £1000.

Has anyone got any advice on the following setup.

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X58 Socket 1366
CPU: Intel Core i7 950 Socket 1366
Cooling: Artic Cooling Freezer 7 rev 2 with Artic Silver 5 Paste
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
Hard Drives: OCZ 60GB SSD SATA-II and Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA-III
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Cleaning: Artic ArctiClean

Thanks alot everyone for their input on this thread.

[hindle8907]

I wouldn't get that cooler it made no difference in temp really from the stock cooler.

I did have it as you can see here




and I changed it for a zalman which is excellent and lets me clock my 3.2 AMD Phenom II X4 to 3.6 and is very stable.



I would also swap the 1TB Seagate for a 1TB samsung spin point.

I loved those coolers when I was running air. Why not just try running A quad instead of a dual core. its effectively 2 more faster processors bolted onto your pc. As for the HDD's I agree about the access times and stuff but if you get to shooting and editing hd video you are going to need very fast (hence raided) throughput to avoid a bottle neck, these will be big files and you wanna move them quick!!

Also you can probably get a really stable Overclock of about 3.4 gig running air on the fastest L775 quads. I've been running my 2.4 at 3.1 gig for over a year and a half now.

i find a ssd help improve performace, I hold most of the core os on the ssd and other programs on a normal sata drive,

Why not something like the 1155 boards and sandybridge cpu,

Originally Posted by hindle8907

I wouldn't get that cooler it made no difference in temp really from the stock cooler.

Thanks alot for that advice. I never really thought to look up the performance of different fans. After a few hours pawing over reviews the Zalman does get a high review but the following cooler gets a better review. The Akasa Nero 2. From what I've read the Zalman is a bit on the louder side and a bit of a hassle when being installed. Plus the Akasa seems to come out with slightly lower temperatures overall.

Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

Why not just try running A quad instead of a dual core.

I have looked at the cheapest quad core and I worked out that I'm only going to be saving myself £50. My plan is to build a system that's going to last me another 4 years like this one has. I personally don't think a cheap quad is going to keep me happy for the next 4 years.

Originally Posted by james160987

Why not something like the 1155 boards and sandybridge cpu,

Do you know what, I've just about got everything set in my head until you come and post that. After doing some pricing and realising it's not as much as I thought I can get Intel Core i7 2600 plus the Asus P8P67 Pro for about £26 more. Now I'm all confuzzled weather I should now move to the Sandy Bridge or stick with the nehalem. Help?

[maviczap]

Certainly the Zalman I fitted to my media centre PC is a noisey beast, and the fan speed controller didn't work, so its always spinning at a constant RPM. I was stuck with the Zalman, as I needed a low profile cpu fan, because of clearance issues with the blu ray player in the case.

Originally Posted by Seggons

I have looked at the cheapest quad core and I worked out that I'm only going to be saving myself £50. My plan is to build a system that's going to last me another 4 years like this one has. I personally don't think a cheap quad is going to keep me happy for the next 4 years.

Well i'm due an upgrade too soon. I've toyed with building another complete system. I currently have a 2.4 gig quad in there and 4 gig of 1800mhz ram. I looked at the fastest I7's and I honestly think by just getting the 3 gig L775 quad and 8 gig of ram my pc will be great for another 3 years. My reason for not wanting to go I7 is quite simple. I think we are really starting to get to a law of diminishing returns with pc's at the moment and so my current platform will be fine until the next generation comes along. Just my twopenneth. My current 280 gtx grafix card is by no means cutting edge but it still plays all the games on my 27" screen. Saying that if you can build a complete PC for about £50 more then go for it. I tend to spend £250 on my mobos alone so thats why i like to keep me pc's running a while!!