Considering a gaming/video editing build

[Avinexis]

Hey OCC! I'm in need of some expert advice and support in looking for a new build.

 

I've recently been accepted for a new job, and as such I now know I have the means to consider a new build! I've been out of the PC Hardware game for a good, long time now so I'm essentially about as close to a n00b as I can get.

 

I need a build that would ideally be used for both gaming and video editing. I would ideally like to be able to use my GPU to speed up video rendering times and have since learned that Sony Vegas hasn't supported new Nvidia cards since the GTX 5XX series.

 

The PC would need to be able to both capture and play games without taking much of a performance hit too. Shadowplay is fantastic but it looks like I might have to lose it I'm order to speed up rendering with an AMD card. What do you guys think?

 

I currently have an AMD FX4300 (I believe) and an Nvidia GTX 960 which I got for pretty cheap.

 

I have also considered maybe just getting a good laptop for video editing and then upgrading the PC I have a little.

 

Any tips, advice... Ideas?

 

Cheers everyone!

[bp9801]

What all do you have in your current system other than the FX 4300 and GTX 960?

[El_Capitan]

So, I've been doing a lot of stuff for a while now, and I have a dedicated photo editing / 3d modeling / animation system, and a dedicated video editing / NAS system.

 

For a video-editing system, don't do anything with hardware acceleration, etc. Have it encode via just your CPU cores. So, find a used hexacore. If you're lucky, you could get a used XEON hexacore 1366 for $40 and overclock it to 4.2GHz, but finding a LGA 1366 motherboard will be tougher. If you do find one, they usually sell for $110, but heck, for $150, it would still be worth it.

 

Otherwise, you might find a used 3930K for $250 or under, and a X79 motherboard for ~$120. Overclock to 4.5GHz easily, and you're good for a few more years.

 

There are three reasons you'd want a graphics card for video editing.

1. Color calibration. To get the full 100% sRGB for a monitor that supports it, then you'll want a graphics card. If you are particular about getting the colors right, then you'll also want a calibration tool, like a Spyder Elite 4 Pro (or Elite 5 Pro).

2. Faster preview/rendering and in HD. All video editing software nowadays allows this, and if the task is handled by a capable graphics card using OpenCL, OpenGL, or CUDA, then you'll be able to trim, playback, etc., in your preview pane. This is really handy if you're editing high resolution videos.

3. If you don't care about the quality, and want to encode your video using hardware acceleration for faster encoding using OpenCL or CUDA. However, encoding 1440P @ 60FPS 5 minute videos doesn't take more than a few minutes on a 3930K at 4.5GHz, so you really don't need hardware acceleration for super speedy encoding.

 

I hope that helps.

Edited January 1, 2016 by El_Capitan

[Avinexis]

So, I've been doing a lot of stuff for a while now, and I have a dedicated photo editing / 3d modeling / animation system, and a dedicated video editing / NAS system.

 

For a video-editing system, don't do anything with hardware acceleration, etc. Have it encode via just your CPU cores. So, find a used hexacore. If you're lucky, you could get a used XEON hexacore 1366 for $40 and overclock it to 4.2GHz, but finding a LGA 1366 motherboard will be tougher. If you do find one, they usually sell for $110, but heck, for $150, it would still be worth it.

 

Otherwise, you might find a used 3930K for $250 or under, and a X79 motherboard for ~$120. Overclock to 4.5GHz easily, and you're good for a few more years.

 

There are three reasons you'd want a graphics card for video editing.

1. Color calibration. To get the full 100% sRGB for a monitor that supports it, then you'll want a graphics card. If you are particular about getting the colors right, then you'll also want a calibration tool, like a Spyder Elite 4 Pro (or Elite 5 Pro).

2. Faster preview/rendering and in HD. All video editing software nowadays allows this, and if the task is handled by a capable graphics card using OpenCL, OpenGL, or CUDA, then you'll be able to trim, playback, etc., in your preview pane. This is really handy if you're editing high resolution videos.

3. If you don't care about the quality, and want to encode your video using hardware acceleration for faster encoding using OpenCL or CUDA. However, encoding 1440P @ 60FPS 5 minute videos doesn't take more than a few minutes on a 3930K at 4.5GHz, so you really don't need hardware acceleration for super speedy encoding.

 

I hope that helps.

 

My focus is definitely on a MUCH better processor, although I was under the impression that GPU rendering would cut times in half over using just the CPU, what with CUDA and OpenCL, etc. However it does seem as though GPU rendering in most capacities isn't all that important anymore, so I'll definitely factor that into keeping with Nvidia and Shadowplay.

 

What is a 3930K on the price/performance scale? Processors are my least knowledgeable area to be completely honest!

 

What all do you have in your current system other than the FX 4300 and GTX 960?

 

That would help! Apologies! 

 

We're on 8GB of DDR3 RAM (unsure of the speed though,) plugged into a GA-78LMT micro-ATX motherboard. Pretty low-key Coolermaster Case with 1 intake fan and 2 exhaust fans, too. The PSU isn't fancy. It's a Corsair CX430, which will more than likely need to be replaced in a new build, too. The power supply is a big contributor to my decision to go for the GTX 960 over the equivalently priced AMD card, as the power requirement was quite a bit lower. Hasn't let me down, in any case!

 

Also running a single 1TB HDD as well, which may bottleneck slightly when playing and recording simultaneously.

 

I feel so out of the loop. Hopefully I've been clear and concise enough 

Edited January 1, 2016 by Viexi

[El_Capitan]

I am still on 3930K's, and used prices, nothing can compare price/performance if you can get them for what I suggested. For video encoding, it will beat out an overclocked 6700K at 4.8GHz easily.

 

So, rendering is different than encoding. Rendering is still very important utilizing a graphics card's GPGPU, as it takes the load off the CPU (which would be slow, anyway). Encoding, serial processing is going to give better output results than parallel processing. However, if you're just recording using NVIDIA's Shadowplay, GPU encoding will definitely be fine. However, you're not going to see crazy encoding speed results over a hexacore CPU, anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it so much.

 

One suggestion I would do is to get 8GB memory sticks with as much memory as you can. That will also help with your rendering/encoding speeds, and not only that, you could record your games temporarily onto a RAMDisk (which is what I do), and then if a recording session is a keeper, transfer it to your hard drive. This gives you a lot more throughput.

[Avinexis]

I am still on 3930K's, and used prices, nothing can compare price/performance if you can get them for what I suggested. For video encoding, it will beat out an overclocked 6700K at 4.8GHz easily.

 

So, rendering is different than encoding. Rendering is still very important utilizing a graphics card's GPGPU, as it takes the load off the CPU (which would be slow, anyway). Encoding, serial processing is going to give better output results than parallel processing. However, if you're just recording using NVIDIA's Shadowplay, GPU encoding will definitely be fine. However, you're not going to see crazy encoding speed results over a hexacore CPU, anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it so much.

 

One suggestion I would do is to get 8GB memory sticks with as much memory as you can. That will also help with your rendering/encoding speeds, and not only that, you could record your games temporarily onto a RAMDisk (which is what I do), and then if a recording session is a keeper, transfer it to your hard drive. This gives you a lot more throughput.

 

So basically I need to focus more on raw processor power than trying to jimmy my GPU into the mix That works out much better for me, really. That ensures I won't run into any issues during recording or encoding (in theory anyway.) So my focus is on a good CPU then.

 

Now, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm wondering if I should maybe buy into the 6th generation of i7 processors while they're still new and just starting to come back down in price (due to short supply) or if I should a) maybe buy a 4th gen new or b) see if I can work some Ebay magic.

 

I've seen an i7 4790K Devil's Canyon 4.00GHz for a similar price to the 6700 Skylake 3.40GHz which seems pretty good, and the performance is marginally better AND has a focus on overclocking (I quite like the idea of futureproofing.) As it's at the higher end of my budget all I would need to do is buy a new compatible motherboard and save myself a little extra on RAM, but I am bottlenecking myself there as we enter the cusp of DDR4. I'd essentially shoehorn myself into DDR3 for the next few years or risk needing to buy yet another motherboard and CPU. Not very cost effective. There is also some mention of DDR3L support on socket 1151 motherboards but... What does that mean? Would my current DDR3 RAM work and is it DDR4 compatible?

 

It essentially comes down to... Is DDR4 hugely better than DDR3? I've seen no figures or hurrah's suggesting so, and saving pennies is always a good thing provided that doesn't cause me to spend more in the long run 

 

This has all come from about 3 hours of browsing around and trying to make my mind up. Hopefully I don't come across as being completely clueless.

[ccokeman]

If you wanted to stay on the platform you have and depending on the motherboard you could go to an 8 core AM3+ chip and increase your memory capacity from 8 to 32GB as  the cheapest option. 

[Avinexis]

If you wanted to stay on the platform you have and depending on the motherboard you could go to an 8 core AM3+ chip and increase your memory capacity from 8 to 32GB as  the cheapest option. 

 

I've had a look at a few benchmarks and while it would be a lot cheaper to stay with an AM3+ chip it doesn't seem like the best performance gain/cost decision. I took a look at the FX-8320 compared to my FX-4300 and I'm not seeing a bold reason to upgrade to it. Looking at the FX-9590 as a top-of-the-budget upgrade compared to the (not much more expensive) 4790K still makes the jump to an Intel-based build look much more attractive It means changing out the board and a higher cost but I also get a little 2nd Christmas to myself 

 

Do you have much hands-on experience with AMD chips besides reviewing them? I could be going way over the top aiming for an i7 machine but I'm super happy to weigh up my options right now. It could also be the case that I've got performance figures for i7 CPUs stuck in my head right now, so I'll have another look tomorrow.

[ccokeman]

I personally use Intel in my daily drivers based on how AMD's current architecture performs. Because of that performance differential Intel can continue with the higher pricing on their chips.  You can tune and tweak to deliver decent performance with the top AMD chips but Intel still will drop the hammer on Intel in most instances.

 

If you want to go with current Intel parts then I would say go Skylake if you can. It runs cooler has better IPC and will clock higher. DDR4 performance is a little bit lower than DDR3 depending on the speed bin and timings. It can be tweaked and is fairly flexible.

 

I do however like the option proposed by El Capitan as well since I do own a similar system as my gaming rig. (4960X, Rampage 4 Black Edition X79 board and 32GB of system memory). At 4.4Ghz and water cooled it still is a beast of a rig. From a cost vs. performance perspective it will be hard to beat with a mild overclock.

 

Now if you want new parts you can save a bit over a skylake system buy going with a 4790K, Z97 board and 32GB of 2133Mhz DDR3 for about $500 to $550 if you shop around. Microcenter is the best place to get a chip if you have one close to you!      

[Avinexis]

A lot to think about and weigh up! That's fantastic

 

I'll shop around for a little while and see what I can find. I'm definitely leaning towards Skylake but we'll see!

 

Cheers guys! No doubt I'll have more questions soon

[El_Capitan]

Np, let us know how it goes!

[ccokeman]

And post pics when its built!