Getting the right build is hard. I think I am almost there though. Comments please and any help welc

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So for the most part my system is being built as a replacement for a pc I built some years ago that seems to be just too slow for HD video editing. mainly using Powerdirector 12 and adobe photoshop. It all works but at times pauses and hangs or just doesnt flow which makes editing more of a task than it should be. I'll list my old system at the foot of this post for those who like to look at retro pc's lol.

So i want a system that is nice and fast and will make editing smoother and more responsive. After reading so many reviews, posts forums etc I think I have what I need. I also want to make a pc that I can look at and admire. Any comments or improvements please comment. Budget was around £1000 and this comes out and £1004 so not bad if just a little over.



CPU Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core
CPU Cooler Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid
Motherboard MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150
Memory Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" SSD
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Case Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower
Power Supply Super Flower 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

total £1004.84

May play the odd game even and have gone for this board and power supply so i have the option to get another GTX 660 and SLi if i fancy at a later date.

So as promised my older build

AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Dual core 2.61Ghz Artic cooling freezer pro
DFI Lanparty ultra D NT4
Corsair XMS 4 Gb DDR400 200Mhz
Nvidia Gefore 7800 GT
64bit windows 7 Enterprise
Win power+ 750w
Thermaltake Tsunami dream case
selection of HDD totalling 792Gb of storage.
 
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I decided to go i7 over the i5 as the hyper threading technology is very beneficial when it comes to rendering times. GPU wise its just to give some cuda cores as again advantageous when it comes to rendering, the 660 seemed to give the most cuda cores for the right money.
 
Thank you for the suggestion of the xeon. I hadnt really looked at them but makes sense seeing as i am not really bothered about OC and will be buying a seperate gpu so igp not really needed. Looking at my build with that CPU the saving could mean that i could get 2 gtx660 in sli. After reading about the xeon i have realised that the i7 4790 would have been better seeing as i am not going to OC. Learnt the k just means its unlocked for that purpose.
 
Photoshop is a single threaded program (in essence) so you'd really be better off with the 4790k, for core speed alone.

If you can afford it, the 4790k is the way to go...

If you can't push that far (budget wise) the xeon is a decent option.
 
Hi doomedspeed. I agree. After the xeon suggestion i have been back on the internet reading up. Any benchmark tests i saw the 4790k is a clear winner. I think its worth the extra money personally. Also read a few posts about xeon and motherboard compatibility issues and i thing the i7 is better supported.
 
The 4790K will beat out the Xeon purely because of the extra clockspeed, but it's not necessarily worth the price premium I don't think, if that bothers you. That £50 can go a long way with other stuff.
 
The 4790K will beat out the Xeon purely because of the extra clockspeed, but it's not necessarily worth the price premium I don't think, if that bothers you. That £50 can go a long way with other stuff.

It is very helpful for Photoshop (or some major actions within the program)
 
I also think it is worth the extra because if you look at the passmark cpu scores the 4790k (score 11,340) is much better than the xeon E3 1230v3 (score 8,849). The xeon that is comparable performance wise is the E3 1276v3(score 10,570) and atm is working out £10 more than the i7.
 
It is very helpful for Photoshop (or some major actions within the program)

Agreed, so if that's all you are going to do it will probably pay for itself...

Passmark kind of sucks as a benchmark. It's a compound average of all user submissions and this includes overclocked ones, and I imagine many 4970K users, if not all will have overclocked their CPUs. It will perform better than the E3-1230V3 though, for sure. Just a case of cost:benefit.
 
Was curious how much this would be from Ocuk so put this together, it's a hair more, but the memory is faster, windows 8 is the same price as 7, and it's got an R9 270 instead of the GTX 660, they're about the same in games but have a look at the opencl performance:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-270x-270-review-feat-asus-his/15

In Vegas Pro the 270 is about twice as quick as the 660. That should carry over to PowerDirector, although the newest supported GPUs on their list are the preceeding gen (HD 7000 series) so I suggest you do your research further.

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-ultra/spec_en_GB.html

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £235.99
1 x Corsair Graphite 760T Windowed Full Tower Gaming Case - White (CC-9011045-WW) £152.99
1 x Avexir Venom Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U21331108G-2CIG) - Green Light £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-06949) £109.99
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 270 TurboDUO 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £109.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x MSI Z97-G55 SLI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £88.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 750W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £73.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £38.99
Total : £1,080.90 (includes shipping : ).



Also personally I don't think it ever makes sense to get a huge PSU and SLI motherboard "just in case", by the time you want to SLI there'll be better, cheaper single cards out. You could easily use a 400 W PSU with this machine.
 
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will there ever be an end to my reading list lol?

Thank you for all your comments and advice by the way.

Joeyjojo those benchmark scores show quite a performance difference between the 660 and the R270. The price is very appealing too and powerdirector 12 definitely uses open CL to accelerate rendering.

With this mobo I can crossfire as well so that's a further advancement I can make If funds allow
 
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