What to expect for the $$$ - May 2014

[jackfalbey]

I should also mention the need for a UPS, or Uninterruptible Power Supply. This will provide battery power in the event of a power outage, allowing you enough time to save your work and shut down your PC.

[karri]

After reading the article, it appears the failure was the result of a particular combination of a specific Corsair power supply and Asus motherboard. I don't see much reason for concern.

Thanks Jack. I thought I could play it safe and configured a 6-core i7-4930K as an alternative, but it adds up to be more expensive than the 6-core i7 5820K. I thought I would be able to save especially considering the DDR3 memory (vs DDR4 for the x99 CPU) and the x79 motherboard vs the x99 but it doesn't seem to be so

[karri]

I should also mention the need for a UPS, or Uninterruptible Power Supply. This will provide battery power in the event of a power outage, allowing you enough time to save your work and shut down your PC.

Thanks again Jack! Indeed, the UPS on my Dell has saved my work on several occasions (sudden thunderstorms, random power outages, etc).

And thanks for going above and beyond with all your help and advice. Please mention anything you think of as my head is spinning from all the comparisons of components and vendors, etc.

[jackfalbey]

Yeah, the 6-core i7 5820 is by far the best bang for the buck right now.

Once I built my own editing PC I got "the bug." Since I can't build a new one for myself every 6 months (my wife would kill me!) I enjoy helping others with theirs. I'm just that much of a nerd. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

[karri]

Thanks Jack! I appreciate all your help and have learned so much from you and everyone here. I'd be lost trying to make heads or tails of this on my own

[karri]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all Jack, I learn something every time you post

So much great knowledge is shared here at Muvipix

[jackfalbey]

Muvipix was an invaluable resource to me back in 07 when I was getting started in video editing. Chuck, Steve, the Bobs, Twosheds, Chris, and dozens of others gave their time to answer all of my newbie questions. The things I learned here are a big part of the reason I was able to go from hobbyist to professional, and end up owning an ad agency. I don't spend as much time here as I used to, between business and family obligations, but I'm glad to be able to give back some of the help that was given to me.

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[karri]

The things I learned here are a big part of the reason I was able to go from hobbyist to professional, and end up owning an ad agency.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Awesome story Jack! That is quite inspiring!

[karri]

Sorry Jack, still working on understanding the Raid0 set up. Is this correct:

C (240 GB SSD) = OS, CS6, other programs

D (2x 1TB HDD in Raid0) = Media, Projects

E (1 TB HDD) = Previews, Cache, Exports

External HDD = backup finished projects

Thanks

[jackfalbey]

No worries, karri. It's a good question, but it's a bit much to reply to from my phone. I'll post back with more details when I get home later.

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[karri]

Thanks Jack!

[jackfalbey]

The main issue with hard drive arrangement is to keep the data flowing as quickly as possible. SSDs have a read speed of ~500MB/s. That's why the OS & programs go on the SSD - it allows Windows and other programs to access themselves very quickly. The raw video, especially with 4K files, needs to be on the RAID0 so Premiere doesn't bog down when editing. An SSD would also be great for this, but their capacity vs. cost is prohibitive unless you're getting paid very well for your editing. Spinning hard drives are much cheaper and bigger, so they have enough room for a lot of video. However, hard drives have a read speed of ~110MB/s, hence the need for RAID. There are many different types of RAID, but RAID0 is the fastest with the least number of disks. A RAID0 read speed increases by the number of drives: 2 drives = ~220MB/s, 3 drives = ~330MB/s, 4 drives = ~440MB/s, etc. The downside to a RAID0 is that if any drive fails, you lose ALL of the data on the RAID.

My own testing using the PPBM7 benchmark showed that the fastest configuration on my PC is this:

C: SSD - OS & programs
D: RAID0 - raw video, projects, previews, cache, scratch
E: 1 HDD - exports, user files (My Documents, etc.)
External: running backups of all files, PPro autosave (set to autosave every 5 minutes)

You can add more drives to the RAID if you find you need more throughput... just remember to back up all data before you do. And all drives in a RAID0 must be identical, so if you start out with 2x WD Black 1TB drives, you'll need to add more of those if you need it to be faster.

[jackfalbey]

Although, with 240GB SSDs going for around $100, you could put 4 of them in a 1TB RAID0 and have read speeds near 2,000MB/s for around $400.

I think I know what my next upgrade is going to be...

[Chuck Engels]

Jack are you still in Tennessee?

[karri]

Ohhhhh, OK It's all making sense now! Thank for the thoughtful, concise breakdown Jack. And thanks for the tip to auto save to an external hard drive (who knew!), I will follow your structure when I set up my new pc. Again, you've gone above and beyond and I am thankful for all your help!