A Video Editing Rig for about 60k (without GFX)

1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Stupid answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work. Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.')
Ans: Video editing.
Softwares to be used: Adobe Premiere, After effects and all that it needs to edit videos professionally.
Also might Final Cut Pro on Hackintosh.

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: 60k

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: If its necessary to speed up rendering.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Windows 7 (and Maverick if Hackintosh)

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: 1 TB (since there is no 2 TB WD Blue)

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, again mention the size and resolution of monitor you have.
Ans: Yes. Have selected a 1080p 21.5" monitor for around 10k as mentioned below.

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: GPU. We want to decide on the GPU later, and it doesn't include in this budget.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: ASAP. (might be this week only).

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: Yes. Will be assembled on my own.

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: 25k in cash (from Nehru Place) and rest online on EMI.

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: I was planning this rig for a friend who is currently opening a Startup in Video productions. And I have already planned a rig with following configuration. But not sure if its optimal, or if something needs to be changed. We might order this week only. So I thought to make sure we have made a right decision. Following is the config which I planned after much research:

Component	Model	Available Online?	Price1	Price2
Monitor	Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Backlit LCD Monito	Yes	10000	10000
Cabinet	NZXT Beta EVO	No	2600
	or Cooler Master Elite 371 and Cooler Master Elite 311 (3K)	No		3000
CPU	Intel Core i7-4770 Processor	Yes	21800	21800
Mobo	ASRock H87 Pro4 Motherboard	No	7457
	or Gigabyte H87M-D3H Motherboard	Yes		7420
Cooler	Hyper TX3 Evo	Yes	1494	1494
PSU	Antec VP450P I 450 Watts PSU	Yes	2870	2870
HDD	WD Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive	Yes	4334	4334
Ram	Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)	Yes	6046	6046
Keyboard & Mouse	Dell KB and HP Mouse	Yes	738	738
UPS	APC 600VA 12.5%	No	2002	2002
	Total		59341	59704

for cpu, try to find xeon e3 1230v3 and a cheap used gpu until you get the powerful gpu. else go with xeon e3 1245 v3 which has igpu, same as i7 4770 but at a lower cost and longer life. 600va ups may not suffice if you add a powerful gpu later.get apc 1100va ups. for psu, i will suggest to go with seasonic s12ii 520. for the mouse, it is better to choose one with higher dpi. look for lenovo m6811. for mobo choose asus h87 pro or the selected gigabyte one. for ram try kingston hyperx blu/corsair vengeance/gskill ripjaws X. get whatever cheaper. monitor price should be around 9k or lesser.

Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Monitor - Buy Online @ Rs.8880/- | Snapdeal.com

Thanks for the reply.

According to the differences listed on Intel site, the only difference between i7 4770 and Xeon E3 1230v3 is that Xeon lacks Graphics and also is clocked lower. I don't think it justifies Xeon.
About Xeon E3-1245 v3, it baffles me to see that it has low price despite of the fact that both have almost same specs!

But even I choose Xeon, something tells me the availability of Xeon will be an issue, since couldn't find it on FK, SMCInternational and also Cost2Cost.

APC 1100VA is priced at 4933 (plus tax) as opposed to mere Rs 2000 for APC 600 VA (plus tax). Steep difference. I would have to think about it.

Difference b/w Antec VP450P I 450 and Seasonic S12II 520 is 2380. And as per my calculations on eXtreme Power Supply Calculator
, I think 450 watt suffice.

Difference between ASUS H87 pro and that Gigabyte one is also 2809. Again steep.

If I consider these changes and reduced price of the monitor overall price increase to around 8k.

you need gfx for video rendering

or it takes ages to render even small changes
it would take an hour to render a 5 minute 1080p movie
on intel HD

why do you think mac pro has dual amd firepros?
its not for gaming

Xeon has better CPU performance than regular desktop CPUs
but it does just that
a dedicated CPU without any gfx bs

^the gfx will be decided later and not included in the budget i think

S

Well with a 450w psu, the gpu options become limited.

Also try to get Gigabyte mobo if Hackintosh is a priority.

Check out the golden builds on tonymacx86 for hackintosh setups that are tested to work.

Get Seasonic s12ii 520w Minimum (will help in gpu upgrade)

For Cabinet - BitFenix Merc Alpha have No competition under 3k

For Mobo - Gigabyte H87-D3H @ 8.1k is Enough

Ram - Kingston hyperx blue

At nehru palce, Wd blue 1TB is available around 3.8k, Dell s2240l @ 8.6k

Vyom said:
Thanks for the reply.

According to the differences listed on Intel site, the only difference between i7 4770 and Xeon E3 1230v3 is that Xeon lacks Graphics and also is clocked lower. I don't think it justifies Xeon.
About Xeon E3-1245 v3, it baffles me to see that it has low price despite of the fact that both have almost same specs!

But even I choose Xeon, something tells me the availability of Xeon will be an issue, since couldn't find it on FK, SMCInternational and also Cost2Cost.

APC 1100VA is priced at 4933 (plus tax) as opposed to mere Rs 2000 for APC 600 VA (plus tax). Steep difference. I would have to think about it.

Difference b/w Antec VP450P I 450 and Seasonic S12II 520 is 2380. And as per my calculations on eXtreme Power Supply Calculator
, I think 450 watt suffice.

Difference between ASUS H87 pro and that Gigabyte one is also 2809. Again steep.

If I consider these changes and reduced price of the monitor overall price increase to around 8k.

Xeon E3 1230v3 is available at the price of an i5. it is basically a lower clocked i7 without igpu. if you purchase a gpu later, why do you care for igpu? get that xeon if you are really tight on budget. small decrease in frequency does not make drastic difference in performance especially when we compare the prices.
you have to seek locally for the availability. the ups you may choose will depend upon the gpu that you may use it in the future. so clarify on this?
s12ii 520 is available at rs 4500 at itwares. else you can get antec vp550p.

Getting a Xeon processor with no IGP would mean to spend for GPU also.

Now take these two scenarios (with price assumptions):
1. Buying a Core i7 with IGP = Rs 22k
And later a GPU of around 15k (if thats what it takes to render a 1080p video in acceptable time).
So Total Cost = Rs 22k + Rs 15k = Rs 37k.

2. Buying a Xeon E3 1230v3 with no IGP + a mediocre GPU of around 4k (max) = Rs 18k + Rs 4k = Rs 22k
And later replace the cheap GPU with a 15k one. So total cost = Rs 22k + 15k = Rs 37k.

As can be seen in both the scenarios, initial cost is Rs 22k. And final cost is 37k (for CPU + GPU).
BUT, in the 1st scenario I get HD4600 + GPU power. While in second only GPU power. Hence if god forbid something happens to the GPU, I can still work on IGP.

So it shows Xeon will actually be a loss in long run. Please correct me if I am wrong or to comment on my blatant assumptions, since I don't know the Indian price of a Xeon.

you can get i7 4770 @20.5k easily imo at nehru palce, my vote here is for i7

Vyom said:
Getting a Xeon processor with no IGP would mean to spend for GPU also.

Now take these two scenarios (with price assumptions):
1. Buying a Core i7 with IGP = Rs 22k
And later a GPU of around 15k (if thats what it takes to render a 1080p video in acceptable time).
So Total Cost = Rs 22k + Rs 15k = Rs 37k.

2. Buying a Xeon E3 1230v3 with no IGP + a mediocre GPU of around 4k (max) = Rs 18k + Rs 4k = Rs 22k
And later replace the cheap GPU with a 15k one. So total cost = Rs 22k + 15k = Rs 37k.

As can be seen in both the scenarios, initial cost is Rs 22k. And final cost is 37k (for CPU + GPU).
BUT, in the 1st scenario I get HD4600 + GPU power. While in second only GPU power. Hence if god forbid something happens to the GPU, I can still work on IGP.

So it shows Xeon will actually be a loss in long run. Please correct me if I am wrong or to comment on my blatant assumptions, since I don't know the Indian price of a Xeon.

You can't just decide what to buy based on what's happen when scenarios. Believe e or not, video editing and encoding professional software are pretty much CPU bound with GPU acceleration on certain areas. Pure GPU bound Video encoding software are nowhere near to professional level, they are for converting videos for your handheld at best. So get a beefy processor along side with a sub 7K GPU based on GCN architecture. You won't be needing a 17K GPU for professional Video editing unless it is a workstation card. So get the XEON with a card like HD 7750.

Offtopic but can someone explain to me technically, the behind the scenes of Xeon processors, how they are different from regular i7 ones and why are they special (or not)?

sam_738844 said:
Offtopic but can someone explain to me technically, the behind the scenes of Xeon processors, how they are different from regular i7 ones and why are they special (or not)?

Technically,Xeon are usually Better binned,it will use less voltage at same clock speed compared to i7.Xeon is designed to run 24/7 365 days at 100% load

Now between i7 4770 and Xeon E3 1230 v3 there is only few differences :

>Xeon have support of ECC Memory,Intel fast memory excess

>Xeon consumes less power than i7- 80w vs 84w.

>Most importantly Xeon E3 1230 v3 is 3-4k cheaper than i7 4770 and provide almost same performance

>i7 4770 Have igpu Hd 4600 while xeon is without igpu.

>i7 is @ 3.4ghz while xeon @ 3.3ghz

Alright. So looks like Xeon is going to be a better choice than i7 4770 for a Video editing and will be more efficient in long run. I think I would need to consider it. So tell me how does it work.

Will a Xeon PC won't even give a display without a GFX like HD 7750? Or there is atleast *some* amount of graphics capability in Xeon too so that atleast it loads a desktop in Aero mode?

Vyom said:
Alright. So looks like Xeon is going to be a better choice than i7 4770 for a Video editing and will be more efficient in long run. I think I would need to consider it. So tell me how does it work.

Will a Xeon PC won't even give a display without a GFX like HD 7750? Or there is atleast *some* amount of graphics capability in Xeon too so that atleast it loads a desktop in Aero mode?

any cheap gpu like hd 5450 or gt 210 will do... but do what cilus suggested.

xeon 1245 v3 do not need a dgpu to give a display. it has igpu. but 1230 v3 will require a dgpu to give display

rijinpk1 said:
any cheap gpu like hd 5450 or gt 210 will do... but do what cilus suggested.

xeon 1245 v3 do not need a gpu to give a display. it has igpu. but 1230 v3 will require a gpu to give display

In which case I may consider 1245v3 which have an IGP. Failure of the GPU or any driver conflict may render the display useless, something which can prove frustrating. So it will be better to have a fallback in the form of IGP.

Now from the prices from Amazon.com it seems Xeon 1245 v3 is still less costly than i7 4770. A lot will depend on the availability of the Xeon processor in nehru place and its price. Might need to make a decision in the market itself.

You can buy a very cheap 2K GPU and keep it for backup if you are so paranoid about it.

ASHISH65 said:
Technically,Xeon are usually Better binned,it will use less voltage at same clock speed compared to i7.Xeon is designed to run 24/7 365 days at 100% load

Now between i7 4770 and Xeon E3 1230 v3 there is only few differences :

>Xeon have support of ECC Memory,Intel fast memory excess

>Xeon consumes less power than i7- 80w vs 84w.

>Most importantly Xeon E3 1230 v3 is 3-4k cheaper than i7 4770 and provide almost same performance

>i7 4770 Have igpu Hd 4600 while xeon is without igpu.

>i7 is @ 3.4ghz while xeon @ 3.3ghz

same socket?

yes they both use same socket 1150

Almost all 1150lga based mobo's are compatible with xeon E3 1230v3

ASHISH65 said:
yes they both use same socket 1150

Almost all 1150lga based mobo's are compatible with xeon E3 1230v3

why don't people go with Xeon for gaming then, its cheap, as fast and able, who uses igpu for gaming now a days?

sam_738844 said:
why don't people go with Xeon for gaming then, its cheap, as fast and able, who uses igpu for gaming now a days?

99% of the people don't know about xeon cpu,even they never heard this name "xeon" :lol:

S

^^ True that. Even I hadn't heard of it until some days back

sam_738844 said:
why don't people go with Xeon for gaming then, its cheap, as fast and able, who uses igpu for gaming now a days?

lower resale value

V

Is it good for gaming?

Vish2a9l said:
Is it good for gaming?

yes. it is....

Let me clear it, The XEON we are talking about is a Core i7 Haswell CPU without IGPU and some added server feature like ECC Ram support, lesser power consumption. So it will just perform like a normal i7 4770 in gaming. Was it that tough to understand rather than asking several times about its gaming performance?

Alright. So I think this is the rig which I am going to built tomorrow.

Component	Model	Available Online?	Price1	Price2
Monitor	Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Backlit LCD Monito	Yes	10000	10000
Cabinet	NZXT Beta EVO	No	2600
	or Cooler Master Elite 371 and Cooler Master Elite 311 (3K)	No		3000
CPU	Intel Core i7-4770 Processor	Yes	21800
	Intel Xeon E3 1230 v3	No		~19000
Mobo	ASRock H87 Pro4 Motherboard	No	7457
	or Gigabyte H87M-D3H Motherboard	Yes		7420
GFX	Not with Core i7 for now	-	0
	~~XFX ATI Radeon R 7750 1 GB DDR5~~ Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7770 1 GB GDDR5	Yes		8162
Cooler	Hyper TX3 Evo	Yes	1494	1494
PSU	Antec VP450P I 450 Watts PSU	Yes	2870
	Seasonic S12II 520 Watts PSU	Yes		5250
HDD	WD Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive	Yes	4334	4334
Ram	Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)	Yes	6046	6046
Keyboard & Mouse	Dell 104 Quiet Key USB 2.0 Keyboard HP KY619AA USB 2.0 Optical Mouse (better KB and mouse later)	Yes	738	738
UPS	APC 600VA 12.5%	No	2002
	APC UPS 1100VA	Might		4933
	Total		59341	70427

GFX is still not fixed. And if all the upgrades with Xeon then I need 70k. :hyper:

Get an HD7770 or r7 260x.

Ok then. Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7770 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card = Rs 8162.

Cost increased to Rs. 70427. :cry:

Vyom said:
Ok then. Sapphire AMD/ATI HD 7770 1 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card = Rs 8162.

Cost increased to Rs. 70427.

at nehru palace cost are very less

don't get from online

So I finally bought and assembled the rig (without GFX) today. Bought all the components from Nehru Place from the only three shops which are also popular:

1. SMC International (SMC)
2. Cost2Cost (C2C)
3. Computer Empire (CE)

*i.minus.com/ibyYF8hH6Cx57U.JPG

Component	Model	Bought From	Price (to update with exact figure later)
Monitor	Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Backlit LCD Monitor	CE	8900
Cabinet	Cooler Master Elite 311	SMC	2400
CPU Motherboard	Intel Xeon E3 1245 v3, AND Gigabyte H87-D3H Motherboard	CE	28000
PSU	Seasonic S12II 520 Watts PSU	CE	5200
HDD	WD Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive	C2C	3790
Ram	Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)	C2C	6000
Keyboard & Mouse	Logitech MK 200	SMC	800
UPS	APC UPS 1100VA	C2C	5550
Thermal Compound	Cooler Master V1	SMC	200
DVD Writer	HP DVD Writer	SMC	1000
	Total		61840

* Since all the bills are with the friend for whom I built it, I will update the Exact prices later.

Anyway, it was quite an experience purchasing components from Nehru Place. First I went to SMC International. Asked if Xeon processor is available. Got to know they have the E3 1245 but didn't quote the exact price of CPU alone. Told us that with the required mobo it will cost us 28000.

We decided to look for more prices in other shops. And went to "Cost2Cost". There also they had the processor and the mobo. We got a quote from there. Then we went to another popular shop "Computer Empire" and got the quote of price there also. After which we sat down and started comparing the prices from each shop. After some discussion, we realized that none of the shops had all the components at lowest price. So we went ahead and bought the products with lowest prices from each of the respective shops. Above table shows the bifurcation. Computer Empire quoted the price of Rs 28800 for the CPU and Mobo but after saying that we have a better deal somewhere agreed to provide us the same on 28k.

In Cost2Cost we were provided the Green version of the WD 1 TB hard disk. After we said we wanted the Blue one, I was told by one of the employee that "there is no difference between Green and Blue one. We only can sell what WD provide to us. But black *is* different from the other two". I literally did a facepalm, and requested to provide a Blue one or else return the money. After few min of searching they did provide the Blue one, but the way they tried to slip me a green WD on the pretext that it was no different than a Blue one baffled me.

Anyway, so none had the NZXT cabinet or Cooler Master Elite 371. So we bought the Elite 311 from SMC. And I also bought the thermal compound which I will use it on my Core i5 rig too. The guy at SMC recognized us from before and asked us if we got the processor and mobo. I couldn't lied and agreed. He was grinning. And it made me feel bad that I didn't buy the CPU + Mobo from SMC instead, since they already quoted us the same price the first time.

So in the end after reaching to my friend's place, I assembled the rig and installed Win 7 which took only 10 min! its fascinating to note that it took us about ~~Rs 63k~~ Rs 62K in total for all the components which was coming near to Rs 70k from online prices. Graphics card is still to buy. But with the HD4600 graphics of Xeon E3 1245, I think we can manage for now.

Thanks to all of those who helped! :doublethumb:

I will post some benchmarks later.
Watch this album for more pics: Xeon Video Editing Rig - Minus

Congo

congrats

^^ Thanks. Btw, updated the table with the actual price. Costed me around 62k from buying with the cheapest price from all the three shops.

Anyway, there's a problem lurking in this rig. Facing random BSOD's : BSOD - Xeon Video Editing Rig - Pastebin.com
Trying to find the root of the cause. Will have access to the dump files tomorrow.

Btw, here's the temperatures after running a 3D mark benchmark. Idle temps are even below this!!!

*i.minus.com/ibrlTaaMKgP9J4.PNG

Temperatures are very good!

V

Could've gotten a better cabinet than that!

Vish2a9l said:
Could've gotten a better cabinet than that!

I know. But we had a tight budget. So we focused on performance not aesthetics.

Anyway, so now that the dust is settled, we are facing a problem. The system is encountering random BSOD. So far since the rig is assembled, we have got 7 BSOD's. I tried to analyse the dump file with Windows Debugging Tools. I am quoting the analysis of the latest dump file:

Code:

021214-11918-01.dmp

4: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)
A fatal hardware error has occurred. Parameter 1 identifies the type of error
source that reported the error. Parameter 2 holds the address of the
WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure that describes the error conditon.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000000, Machine Check Exception
Arg2: fffffa8007d24028, Address of the WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure.
Arg3: 00000000f607f740, High order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.
Arg4: 0000000000040150, Low order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.

Debugging Details:
------------------


BUGCHECK_STR:  0x124_GenuineIntel

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME:  svchost.exe

CURRENT_IRQL:  f

STACK_TEXT:  
fffff880`009d6b58 fffff800`02e1c903 : 00000000`00000124 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`07d24028 00000000`f607f740 : nt!KeBugCheckEx
fffff880`009d6b60 fffff800`02fd9513 : 00000000`00000001 fffffa80`07a118f0 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`07a11940 : hal!HalBugCheckSystem+0x1e3
fffff880`009d6ba0 fffff800`02e1c5c8 : 00000000`00000728 fffffa80`07a118f0 fffff880`009d6f30 fffff880`009d6f00 : nt!WheaReportHwError+0x263
fffff880`009d6c00 fffff800`02e1bf1a : fffffa80`07a118f0 fffff880`009d6f30 fffffa80`07a118f0 00000000`00000000 : hal!HalpMcaReportError+0x4c
fffff880`009d6d50 fffff800`02e1bdd5 : 00000000`00000008 00000000`00000001 fffff880`009d6fb0 00000000`00000000 : hal!HalpMceHandler+0x9e
fffff880`009d6d90 fffff800`02e0fe88 : 00000000`00000000 000007fe`fafa5148 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : hal!HalpMceHandlerWithRendezvous+0x55
fffff880`009d6dc0 fffff800`02ec37ac : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : hal!HalHandleMcheck+0x40
fffff880`009d6df0 fffff800`02ec3613 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KxMcheckAbort+0x6c
fffff880`009d6f30 000007fe`fd671740 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiMcheckAbort+0x153
00000000`01c4fa58 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : 0x7fe`fd671740


STACK_COMMAND:  kb

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: hardware

IMAGE_NAME:  hardware

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  0

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x124_GenuineIntel_PROCESSOR_CACHE

BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x124_GenuineIntel_PROCESSOR_CACHE

Followup: MachineOwner

After reading lots of threads on the Internet I was unable to come to a conclusion. Fault can be in any one of the following: RAM, Mobo or even CPU.
Now I can try swapping the RAM with mine to see if the problem is RAM, but not sure if I can pinpoint the cause of the BSODes.

Very sad.

I realize I didn't updated this thread, after I started facing BSOD.

After testing every component with a replacement one, it turned out it was the faulty Processor. I RMA'ed it, and now the PC works flawlessly! :doublethumb: