[JamesonNorth]

I currently have a Dell Precision running 16GB ram, two Intel Xeon L5430 Cpus, and a nvidia GeForce 660ti with an Intel SSD. It's been great for a long time, but I need an upgrade from this old beast.

I can figure out motherboard and ram and everything else, but I need some help with the CPU. I have 8 cores right now and while I know cores aren't everything, I do 1080p video editing so they are very important to me.

I would like to have at least 6 cores, and I'm not opposed to going dual socket. An increase of 20-30% is what I'm looking for, possibly more. I really don't know AMD CPUs, so I need some help.

If it helps out, I use Adobe CS5. Specifically After Effects, Premiere Pro, and PhotoShop. I would like this system to be upgradeable as time goes on, as I may step up to a 2k or 4k video workflow. I do some gaming occasionally, but this isn't a primary concern as I know any modern CPU with a good graphics card can play. My main concern is the video editing power.

Thanks for any input!

 

[adtakhs]

MONEY ?

2X OPTERON 6376 16CORE /32MB CACHE = 32CORES
http://www.amazon.com/Advance-Device-Opteron-Processors-OS6376WKTGGHKWOF/dp/B009QFIQTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361989711&sr=8-1&keywords=opteron+6376

or

2X OPTERON 6348 12 CORE/ 2.80GHz = 24 cores
http://www.amazon.com/Advance-Device-Opteron-Processors-OS6348WKTCGHKWOF/dp/B009QFITOE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361989758&sr=1-1&keywords=OPTERON+6348

ASUS KGPE-D16
http://www.amazon.com/Asus-KGPE-D16-AMD-Opteron-Server/dp/B003JTHOB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361990034&sr=1-1&keywords=ASUS+KGPE-D16

or SUPERMICRO G34 4P (QUAD SOCKET) (For upgradeability +2 sockets)

KINGSTON 8 X 8GB DDR3 1600 REG. ECC

2X NOCTUA NH_U9DO A3 COOLERs
http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U9DO-Opteron-Cooler-Bearing/dp/B00512HZTG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361989978&sr=1-1&keywords=NOCTUA+NH_U12DO+A3

 

[PR-Imagery]

I'd go with E5-2670s or 2680/7s in the Z9PE-D16.

Plenty of expansion slots for 4k capture cards and external deck options.

 

[JamesonNorth]

I would upgrade the system I have now, but to max out processors I'm spending $300, and to max out RAM I'm spending another $170. That doesn't seem worth it to gain MAYBE 10-15%. I'd like to spend less than 700 for CPU, motherboard, and memory, but I'm not opposed to spending more and spacing it over a few months. It's not a do or die need it next week kind of thing. My next major editing and rendering job isn't until April.

Intel absolutely isn't an option, as much as I'd like it to be. I got my current rig second hand and pieced it together and upgraded over the course of about a year, so 1500 for a processor is out. I considered a dual 1366 build with some 56xx Xeons, but I doubt that would be that much faster, and it'd be more expensive than buying a new top of the line AMD desktop solution.

It's not in the same league as the Opterons you mentioned, but what about the FX 8350? Any knowledge about 1080p rendering and transcoding with that or similar procs? I get around 7fps when exporting right now, which is unacceptable. I'd like to be able to do realtime, but I'd settle for 20fps right now. Waiting an hour for a 10 minute clip is outrageous. If I only had to wait 20 minutes or less, I'd be happy.

My workflow stops at 1080p right now, so I don't need the ability to smoothly work with 4k righ tnow. I can upgrade again later, though preferably I wouldn't have to swap motherboards and everything to do an upgrade.

If I'm considering the FX 8350 ($199 at newegg right now) I should ask if anyone knows the future of AM3+? I think the FX 8350 is the top dog right now for AMD desktop and I wonder if AMD might be releasing a next gen processor family for AM3+. I have no idea how much life this socket has left in it, or if going Opteron would be a better choice for upgrade ability.

Sorry if this sounds like a lot of babbling...there are a lot of options!

 

[adtakhs]

AM3+ is upgradeable ! Next gen. AMDs CPU = STEAMROLLER

 

[sherlock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesonNorth

If I'm considering the FX 8350 ($199 at newegg right now) I should ask if anyone knows the future of AM3+? I think the FX 8350 is the top dog right now for AMD desktop and I wonder if AMD might be releasing a next gen processor family for AM3+. I have no idea how much life this socket has left in it, or if going Opteron would be a better choice for upgrade ability.

Sorry if this sounds like a lot of babbling...there are a lot of options!

AM3+ will stay for at least the next Gen Steamroller(28nm, Q4 2013 or later ), the generation after that is Excavator(Q4 2014 or later) and AMD might want to integrate DDR4 memory for it which means new socket.

 

[Hillskill]

I use CS6 all day everyday and am firmly an Intel man. That said I don't think its a deal breaker using a higher end AMD CPU. The key thing I have found with CS6 is to have lots of RAM (16GB minimum) and an Nvidia GPU for CUDA. I use a GTX580 (fermi is apparently better a CUDA processing) and it makes a massive massive difference in rendering and playback. Originally I planned to use a Black Magic Intensity Pro video output card for full screen preview out from Adobe Premiere however, the mercury playback engine in CS6 gives perfect realtime playback on a 2nd monitor output (HDMI output from my 580). The other key thing (if working with video in premiere) is to have a RAID array for your video data. Run your OS off an SSD and have a different drive (or ideally another smaller RAID array) for your scratch/render drive. This setup runs like a dream for me.

 

[adtakhs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hillskill

I use CS6 all day everyday and am firmly an Intel man. That said I don't think its a deal breaker using a higher end AMD CPU. The key thing I have found with CS6 is to have lots of RAM (16GB minimum) and an Nvidia GPU for CUDA. I use a GTX580 (fermi is apparently better a CUDA processing) and it makes a massive massive difference in rendering and playback. Originally I planned to use a Black Magic Intensity Pro video output card for full screen preview out from Adobe Premiere however, the mercury playback engine in CS6 gives perfect realtime playback on a 2nd monitor output (HDMI output from my 580). The other key thing (if working with video in premiere) is to have a RAID array for your video data. Run your OS off an SSD and have a different drive (or ideally another smaller RAID array) for your scratch/render drive. This setup runs like a dream for me.

Photoshop CS6 cant support cuda ! Only open CL & GL accel.
Premiere support cuda.

 

[JamesonNorth]

Well that certainly makes me feel better about AM3+. Intel has been kinda screwing with us for a while now, as we've had 1366, 1155, 1156, and 2011 all for Core i3, i5, i7. I got tired of it.

So if I go with the FX8350, does anyone have a motherboard recommendation?
Here's what I'd need:

• STABLE
• Minimum 16GB RAM, preferably more
• SATA 3
• Dual LAN (Intel, Broadcom preferred)
• At least one PCI-E x16 Gen 3 slot
• At least one PCI-E x4 slot
• Firewire 800 or an extra PCI-X, PCI-E x1 slot for a 3rd party Firewire controller

Also, is there a preferred brand of memory for stability? I use FB-DIMM right now, which is really stable, but very hot. Something cool and stable would be nice.

 

[JamesonNorth]

If I have enough RAM to do it, I use a RAM drive when doing renders. I write it out to a network drive over gigabit, so the only bottleneck in my workflow is the network, and I don't work with 100MB/sec final videos, so there's no problem.

I also use CUDA with my 560ti, and it helps quite a bit, maybe at the cost of a tiny bit of quality.

I'd chime in on the Intel vs AMD thing about video editing, but the only AMD machine in constant use at my house is a family PC that only does light gaming and internet browsing, and it encodes 1080p content at about 2fps.

 

[adtakhs]

GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3

 

[JamesonNorth]

I would never use CUDA in PhotoShop even if it did support it. The performance difference would only be seen in batch editing, but I'd rather have the quality of CPU rendering for photos.

 

[Hillskill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adtakhs

Photoshop CS6 cant support cuda ! Only open CL & GL accel.
Premiere support cuda.

Where did I mention photoshop in my post? The OP has clearly stated the workstation is for video editing. Irrespective, load up with RAM and photoshop will behave itself.

 

[PR-Imagery]

8350 is an option tho I would suggesting going Opteron versus FX for dual or quad socket.
Better buy in the long run since you'll have 1 or three more sockets you can populate and would generally have more lanes for expansion options which you'd need if/when you ever move up to higher resolution editing.

1x Opteron 6238 or 6344 (12core @2.6Ghz) +2p board (KGPE-D16 / H8DGi-F would run you about $800/$900. A bit quicker for encodes over your current system, editing not a huge difference.
32gig 1600Mhz bout $200 or 16gig kit for $100.

Bit more than you're looking to spend but, would be better in the long run imo.

 

[adtakhs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Imagery

8350 is an option tho I would suggesting going Opteron versus FX for dual or quad socket.
Better buy in the long run since you'll have 1 or three more sockets you can populate and would generally have more lanes for expansion options which you'd need if/when you ever move up to higher resolution editing.

1x Opteron 6238 or 6344 (12core @2.6Ghz) +2p board (KGPE-D16 / H8DGi-F would run you about $800/$900. A bit quicker for encodes over your current system, editing not a huge difference.
32gig 1600Mhz bout $200 or 16gig kit for $100.

Bit more than you're looking to spend but, would be better in the long run imo.

I believe OPTERON 6348 is better VFX than the others 12-cores !!

There is another 16-core opteron which is cheap 6272 in the same price ! good vfm !

The best choice is quad socket supermicro motherboard, but it is more expensive !

Supermicro H8QGI+-F Motherboard - Amd Magny Cours Quad Socket with on-board Ipmi - 18 Dimms
http://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-H8QGI--F-Motherboard--board/dp/B003VXWUQ0/ref=sr_1_12?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1362002458&sr=1-12&keywords=supermicro+g34

If he hasent other money to spend there is another G34 single socket motherboard .

Supermicro H8SGL-F Server Motherboard - AMD - Socket G34 LGA-1944 - x Retail Pack (MBD-H8SGL-F)
http://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-H8SGL-F-Server-Motherboard-MBD-H8SGL-F/dp/B004HCNPPO/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361994149&sr=1-2&keywords=SUPERMICRO+G34

 

[synge]

I'm assuming unless otherwise specified below that (a) you're interested in new parts only and (b) you're not overclocking.

FX-8350 is great bang for the buck for your application and should deliver around 30-35% improvement in speed over your current setup. The next iteration, "Steamroller" due next year should deliver roughly an additional 15-20% performance.
Also look closely at the Xeon E3 1230v2, which should deliver similar performance to the FX-8350 and much lower power consumption for a small increase in price.

The i7-3770k will perform just slightly better than the above choices for around $70-100 more. The cost increase isn't worth it at stock speeds, but if overclocking, the 3770k becomes a very attractive choice.

If you want future upgradeability, on your budget the i7-3820 on LGA2011 would be a fine choice. While it will perform similar to the i7-3770k and the platform cost is around $100 more, it has the potential to drop in future 6, 8, and possibly 10+ core CPUs at a later date.

If you're willing to shop used parts and can tolerate poor single-threaded performance, a dual socket Opteron system with a pair of used 12 core 61xx series CPUs with 16gb memory installed may just squeeze into your $700 budget and would give you the best possible (multithreaded) performance at that price point. Check in on the [email protected] forums for details, specs, and systems for sale. As a rough guess you may be able to double your current system's performance.

A dual socket Opteron setup bought new with a total $700 budget would limit you to 6 core CPUs, and so probably wouldn't give you any better performance than i7-3770k or i7-3820, while costing more and having much lower single thread performance.

Hope this helps.

 

[synge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Imagery

8350 is an option tho I would suggesting going Opteron versus FX for dual or quad socket.
Better buy in the long run since you'll have 1 or three more sockets you can populate and would generally have more lanes for expansion options which you'd need if/when you ever move up to higher resolution editing.

1x Opteron 6238 or 6344 (12core @2.6Ghz) +2p board (KGPE-D16 / H8DGi-F would run you about $800/$900. A bit quicker for encodes over your current system, editing not a huge difference..

For about the same amount of cash, I'd rather have an i7-3930k setup. Not as expandable, no, but FAR better performance in the here and now for the same money, and more versatile.