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Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:17 pm
by manni2010
I need to replace my aging Sony RA-840G quiet desktop. The current machine is used for video editing, HTPC and gaming duties all of which it performs slowly. It also lives in the bedroom and is on 24/7.

http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/miAE

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT ATX LGA1155
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card
Case: Corsair 550D ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 660W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit)
Blu-Ray Burner: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Internal 12x Blu-Ray Burner
TV Capture Card: Hauppauge 1213 WinTV-HVR2250 PCIe Dual TV Tuner
Card Reader: Sabrent CRW-UINB 7-Slot USB 2.0 Internal Memory Card Reader & Writer
Modem: Hiro H50006 56K V.92 Data/Fax/Voice PCI Modem
Firewire Card: Vantec UGT-FW050 PCI Host Card - 4 Port, Firewire 400

Total: $1972.67

I've been lurking on the site for sometime and have looked through a lot of post have come up with the following. However, it is about $400 over budget and I'm not sure how "quiet" it would be. Help and comments would be appreciated.

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 5:03 pm
by CA_Steve
Hi and welcome to SPCR. Here's a couple of suggestions.
- Don't spend $235CAN on the mobo. Drop down to the Asus z77-V (~$185) if you want Fan Xpert2, or all the way down to the uATX z77-M (~$131) for Fan Xpert+.
- drop down to the x-560 (~120ish). Your loaded/stressed power use is ~320W...probably closer to 250W when gaming. Or go with the G-550 ($90 with MIR at newegg.ca). The latter won't be semi-passive, but it'll be quiet.
- drop down to a $200 video card. You don't mention your monitor resolution or whether you want to game with all the bells and whistles on...in any case, if gaming at 1080p, the 7850/7870/gtx 660 are decent solutions.

- you can save $100 by buying an i5 instead of the i7. You won't notice a performance hit in games, your video editing will be slower. However, lets put it in perspective...Do you really have a Intel Pentium D 820 / 2.8 GHz in your current system? If so, do you want to pay $200 for an i5 that's maybe 8x faster or $300 for an i7 that's 9x faster? :)

- consider the Fractal Define R4...might be less pricey.

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:35 pm
by manni2010
I really do have a Pentium D 820/8.2 GHz running my system. I did upgrade the video card to a ZOTAC GeForce 210 Video Card. Allows me to have mediacentre running on a 40" TV, while also using the desktop, just about works.

I originally did look at the R4 case. However, I need at least 3 x 5.25" bays for the DVD player, burner and media card reader. Thats why I switched to the 550D.

I will switch down to the cheaper ASUS motherboard. The reason I went with the more pricey one was in the hope of futureproofing because of thunderbolt.

The video card situation becomes more confusing. I think I read somewhere that the video card performance will help decrease rendering time for AVCHD editing. I have switched down a GTX-660. Hopefully it will provide simliar performance in respect to noise levels also.

Will switching to the i5 just increase rendering time of the final product or would I also find that actual video editing is a little slower? If so maybe I should stick with the i7?

I've had issues with power supply noise in other builds and at somepoint down the road would be looking to increase the number of harddrives in the system or even switch to a SLI/ crossfire setup. So I'm thinking about sticking with the x-660 powersupply. I have also found it very difficult to sell used power supplies when upgrading.

I've updated the information on PCpartpicker
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mxQ0

Thanks for your help. Any additional comments and suggestions would be appreciated especially on the harddrive and blu-ray burner and player.

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:23 am
by CA_Steve
i5 vs -7: Here's Anandtech's CPU Bench comparison tool. There's a variety of video benchmarks and a lot of CPU's you can compare. They don't have the dual core Pentium D on there, but you can plug in the Core 2 E4500 for a ballpark (degrade the e4500 performance by ~30%).

You don't mention the s/w used...here's Sony's Vegas Pro 12 talking about gpu acceleration. I think the GTX 660 will do fine. That EVGA card, however, will be noisy. I've been tracking GTX 660 reviews here. Consider the MSI or Asus cards.

futureproofing and thunderbolt: I think it's likely that there will be inexpensive PCI-e T-bolt interface cards when you need them.

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 4:39 pm
by manni2010
I've updated the build and the price is much more reasonable. Love the Anadtech benchmarking tool, thanks for pointing me in that direction.

I'm currently using Adobe Premiere elements. Am looking to upgrade to Adobe Premier CS6 one day ($$$$) or stick with elements. As you said the GTX-660 should be able to handle either Adobe or Sony Vegas.

Heres a link to the latest build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mEEh

On a side note my original build as also dropped by $150 over the last few days.

Any guidance on the Blu-ray burner or reader?

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 7:53 pm
by CA_Steve
Glad the links helped. Samsung 830 pricing has some severe swings depending on various sales. I've seen it as low as $80 US at Newegg just this past weekend. I haven't had to buy an ODD in quite a while and haven't been tracking what's good, sorry.

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:44 pm
by manni2010
Just wanted to give some feedback...the build took a little longer than expected. Ended up buying components over a couple of months due to budget issues.

Its finally built and its quiet and its fast. I dont use the door on the case it just gets in the way I need access to the DVD drives on a more frequent basis. There are times when I'm not sure whether its on or not :-)

Here's a link to the final build
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ogjs

Re: Mid range Gaming / HTPC / Video editing machine

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:41 am
by CA_Steve
congrats on your build.