Feedback on Futureproof Video Editing/Photoshop PC Specs

[cjc1984]

Hi guys, first time poster and was all set to order the below computer (the Intel one). I will hold my hands up and it probably is overkill for what I actually do need it for, however I want a fast computer that will still be fast in 3 years time. However, would like a bit of feedback on the AMD option too. At the moment I am leaning towards the intel one.

Will use it for music, light-moderate gaming, blu ray movies, but primarily photoshop with some video editing/transcoding further down the line. And important to me to is I want a quiet computer.

Prices below are for just the tower, as I already have a monitor, mouse and speakers.

INTEL OPTION

PSU:Corsair TX650 Ultraquiet
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P6X58D-E
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHZ
CASE: Coolermaster Sileo 5000
COOLING: Titan Fenrir Evo Extreme Heatpipe CPU Cooler
MEMORY: 6GB SAMSUNG TRI CHANNEL DDR3 1333mhz
GRAPHICS: NVidia GTX460 1GB
HDD1: Western Digital 640GB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/Sec 64MB Cache (This will be the OS drive and for applications
HDD2: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 64MB Cache (This will be to store photos/movies/music)
MEMORY CARD READER
OPTICAL DRIVE: 10x Blu ray rom
NETWORKING: Wireless n PCI card
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
GOLD WARRANTY

TOTAL PRICE: £1239

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AMD OPTION

Identical to intel option with the following exceptions

PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom X6 1090T
MOTHERBOARD: Asus M4A87TD
MEMORY: 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL CHANNEL DDR3 1333mhz
GRAPHICS: ATI RADEON HD 6870 1GB

PRICE: £1172
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I also intend to add a soundcard in there, although will add that myself as I wanted an Asus Xonar soundcard as opposed to a creative one.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

 

[Rakk]

For photoshop/video editing, you should probably go for the NVidia graphics card since they have CUDA cores that the ATI's dont - and photoshop and video editing stuff loves those CUDA cores.

 

[cjc1984]

Cheers Rakk

For the intel one I basically edited the pre designed £1200 case for video specs. I know the i7 950 is considerably faster than the x6 1090T in most cases. I will probably plump for that one seen as though the price difference is less than £100.

Gutted bout the soundcard though, PC specialist said in an email they dont stock the ASUS ones any more due to issues they had with them, which surprised me to be honest as I have come across more people who have had driver issues/issues with crackling with Creative soundcards.

 

[Sleinous]

In the grand scheme of things is probably what they meant

Personally, I dont bother wih soundcard unless the user is doing specialist music work / production. Onboard is so good nowadays its not usually necessary / useful.

 

[cjc1984]

Cheers Sleinous, what do you think of the rest of the spec?

Was going to get the intel X25 80GB SSD as the boot drive but that was turning out a tad expensive.

 

[Sleinous]

Ah, the SSD speech, bleh another time wont hurt (ive typed this atleast 10 times now lol...)

So... inFebruary 2011 or slightly earlier possibly.... Intel will be releasing its new gen 3 SSDs, on a 24nm manufacturing process. (Write speed from 70mbs to 170mbs mainstream from what I remember and a significant read speed increase). But thats all figures blah blah, what I was interested in was another huge decrease in price, which has happened, From gen 1 to gen 2 prices decreased by 600% apparently, here, a 160GB Intel Gen 3 will cost the same as an Intel 80GB Gen 2, so this is what im waiting for In the value range: the 80gb module will move from mainstream to value, 40gb will remain in value.

A 320GB drive will release as well as a 600GB drive in mainstream, the extreme drives will be even more extreme I imagine but I prefer not to look at them or their prices lol....

I'd go with teh intel option, the quad core with hyper threading is the better CPU, good choice of 64mb cached drive and green backup drive

 

[cjc1984]

I think too WD have released (or are releasing) a 3GB version of their green drives too.

Ta sleinous, will probably plump for the intel option once payday arrives next week but may change the case to the coolermaster HAF 922

 

[Sleinous]

922 is also a v nice case ye 3TB, hmmmm, think id rather 2x 1.5tb, instead of putting all mah eggs in one basket

 

[Deklore]

Any news on hybrid drives? or are they too far away to be an option right now?

 

[Gorman]

We dont stock them at the moment, but they are good by all accounts.

 

[Deklore]

We dont stock them at the moment, but they are good by all accounts.

Any plans for PCSpecialists to stock them?

 

[Gorman]

not as far as i am aware

 

[cjc1984]

Just another quick question on cases, how well do you find the Sileo 500 actually works for noise dampening, and what would the noise be like re the above spec with the Coolermaster HAF 922 (Bearing in mind I will not be doing any overclocking, and the only likely future upgrades will be RAM, Possibly a sound card, and maybe an extra HDD

 

[PCS]

We have a sample coming to us from Seagate and we're planning to test this, with a view to offering them if they offer the performance levels they state!

 

[cjc1984]

Am going to go ahead and order a spec next week. Have narrowed it down to again 2 specs, one AMD, one intel.

Once again, the PC will be used for light/moderate gaming, media centre, transcoding DVD (potentially blu ray in future), Photoshop and video editing somewhere down the line.
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INTEL OPTION

Coolermaster Sileo 500 Case
Core i7 950 3.06ghz
ASUS P6X58D-E Motherboard
6GB SAMSUNG DDR3 1333mhz TRI CHANNEL RAM
1GB NVidia GTX 460
640GB WD CAVIAR BLACK SATA 6GB 64MB Cache (Boot drive and apps)
2TB WD CAVIAR GREEN DRIVE
10x BLU RAY ROM DRIVE
CORSAIR TX750 PSU
TITAN FENRIR EVO CPU Cooler
802.11n Wireless card
Windows 7 Home Premium
Gold Warranty

TOTAL: £1226
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OPTION 2: AMD

Specs same as above apart from the following

AMD Phenom X6 1090T
ASUS M4A89TD Motherboard
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 1333mhz Dual Channel RAM

PRICE: £1189
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A few questions I do have though before I go ahead and order

1) ESATA. This is an issue with the intel build. As far as I was aware the ASUS P6X58D-E does not have ESata, yet the Sileo 500 has a front ESata port. Would this mean that the front ESata port would not be functional if I went with the above spec?

2) RAM: Would it be worth upgrading to the Kingston 1600mhz RAM for the extra 40 quid or so?

3) PRICE: Is the intel system worth the extra 37 quid over the AMD system in proportion to the likely speed increase it would give over the AMD system?

 

[Phoenix]

1. Not sure.
2. No.
3. The i7-950 is currently faster (a few seconds, 3~) in applications like photoshop but with future updates to properly utilize all 6 physical cores of the 1090t this difference may go away.