Video editing workstation

[KillingTime]

I’m looking to get a Video editing PC built and have been talking to JIB computers here in Bangkok. I come from a Mac Final Cut Pro background and don’t know much about PCs. I would like to run Davinci Resolve if possible but don’t want to spend a fortune, and don’t currently need 4k capability. Nevertheless, I’d like my PC to be easily upgradeable at a later date should I need to give it some more power. I’ll probably run a couple of games – like Far Cry – on it too.

Here’s what JIB at Central Rama 3 are offering me for 55K baht:

Intel 17 6700k

MSI H170a motherboard

16 gbs RAM

2x2tb 7200 WD storage drives

GTX 970 4gb Graphics

Samsung 256 Pro SSD boot drive

Corsair Power supply

Case. TT, Cougar or Corsair

Does this look like a good deal and how upgradeable are these components?

Which case is best? I don’t want anything ludicrously big as I’m shipping the machine back to the UK in a couple of months. The guy said I didn’t need a cooler as the components already had them.

Also, does anyone know how I go about raiding the two hard drives for extra power?

Any advice/suggestions much appreciated.

Cheers

KT.

Edited May 2, 2016 by metisdead
Oversize font reset to normal.

[Dagnabbit]

Looks pricey to me.

Try Fortune Town.

[MJCM]

Take a look at http://www.invadeit.co.th and talk to Thomas the owner very knowledgeable and friendly

[Tywais]

Price seems reasonable. This is the total cost of components if purchased from J.I.B. including Corsair Case sans DVD/mouse/keyboard - 55370 Baht. J.I.B. usually has some of the best prices.

[KillingTime]

I think the price is ok. No big markup as far as i can see and it's next to my work so convenient. I will pop down to Fortune and see what they have to say. Invadeit is in Huahin i think. I'll give them a call and see. Thanks for the feedback folks!

[kkerry]

For overclocking, most people would use an aftermarket cooler and a Z series motherboard.

At Fortune, an alternative to JIB would be Jet Computers but probably not much difference price wise as JIB are usually competitively priced.

[IMHO]

What about the display? A decent one could add up to 35K to that price I guess.

For the total money you'd be looking at, I wonder why you're not sticking to a Mac?

[SpaceKadet]

I am not sure what you mean by "...raiding two drives for extra power". I assume that you mean more speed.

With only 2 drives, your RAID choices are limited. You can do RAID0, which is spanning the two drives to create one 4TB. This will not increase the data rate of the drive. Additionally, if one drive fails, you'll lose all data. Or, you can do RAID1, mirroring. This will create only 2TB drive, but the read data rate will be much improved. Write data rate will suffer in this case as you have to write the same data to both drives. But you can lose one drive and still keep your data.

If you add another drive, you could create RAID5. This will create 4TB array with good read rates, but write will depend on the host controller implementation. Sorry, don't have much experience with Intel on-chip RAID implementations, nor Intel RST, so can't really speculate there. RAID5 will give you resilience to one drive failure.

You could also invest in a small SSD drive, and use Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) as a fast caching for your drives. In this case perhaps you should go for one 4TB HDD of a good brand, like Hitachi or Toshiba, instead of 2 WD drives. Personally, I am not keen on WD anymore.

You don't say which Samsung SSD you want to use for the boot drive. I assume it's 850 Pro. If your motherboard has an M.2 socket, you should perhaps look into Samsung 950 Pro. Slightly more expensive, but currently the fastest SSD on the market. Read data rates over 2 GB/sec.

As far as cases go, I have always used Lian-Li for all my builds. I just like working with aluminum. The size will depend of the motherboard of your choice. You can get a nice small case if you use MicroATX board size, but the MoBo might not have all the features you need. I have one build based on GigaByte MicroATX MoBo in an Lian-Li PC-A04 case. Internally it has space for 6HDD's (8 if you push it). I brought it from outside, and it fits nicely in a medium size suitcase.

[Dagnabbit]

I do a lot of video editing, mostly for my youtube channel.

I would avoid an overclocked CPU. Heat is a big problem during the rendering process. I fried an i7 rendering video but even if you dont fry it, you can get the system shutting itself down when it hets too hot rendering.

I'd run at regular speeds and plump for liquid cooling. It doesnt cost much. I'd also up the ram to 32 gb - that's what i have.

I just use regular disk drives but an SSD for the system drive & it taked just a few seconds to boot. I also have 4 screens and a nvidia card druving them.

Total cost at Pantip without the Ram & screens was 38k

[WatUp]

You won't be able to output ProRes on a PC. Build a Hackintosh to get the best of both worlds. Plenty of blueprints out there, just use exactly the parts listed and they're solid.

[KillingTime]

What about the display? A decent one could add up to 35K to that price I guess.

For the total money you'd be looking at, I wonder why you're not sticking to a Mac?

I already have a monitor, and i didn't spend anything like that on it.