Graphics card for Sandy Bridge set up???

TRACEY_BLAKE · 7 Jan 2011 at 19:35

Hi. I'm wanting to build a new set up for the purpose of photo/video editing & digital music editing, recording, mixing only, (please bear in mind that I'm not an overclocker or a gamer),yet I haven't built a pc since the days of the AMD Athlon 3800 & technology has come a long way since then, therefore I have no idea anymore! I'm still a novice so would appreciate Lamens terms please. I'm thinking of going for the new Sandy Bridge 2600 cpu with the Asus P8P67 Pro mobo. I have no idea of anything else & would really appreciate some advice on a graphics card that will easily handle the 2 tasks I need it for, any suggestions please? Would I benefit from more than one graphics card for what I want to do or is this only necessary for a gamer?? Thanks in advance, appreciate any help

the1gooner · 7 Jan 2011 at 19:37

I would go with a 2600K and H67 motherboard and then you wouldn't need to spend any extra on a dedicated graphics card as the onboard video from the 2600K would handle what you need.

TRACEY_BLAKE · 7 Jan 2011 at 20:05

Thanks for the advice. Are you sure the integrated graphics will well handle what I need? I've been told that video/photo editing & digital music production are demanding?? I'm also thinking about future proofing too.

Ezyryder · 7 Jan 2011 at 20:06

In fact I would go with a i7 2600 (without the K) as you are not overclocking and a H67 motherboard as stated above, not a P67 as that one doesn't have on board graphics.

You do not need a dedicated card for the tasks you are going to perform.

TRACEY_BLAKE · 7 Jan 2011 at 20:20

Ezyryder said:
In fact I would go with a i7 2600 (without the K) as you are not overclocking and a H67 motherboard as stated above, not a P67 as that one doesn't have on board graphics.

You do not need a dedicated card for the tasks you are going to perform.

Thanks for the advice. I plan on getting the 2600 (without the K) as I'm not an overclocker. Integrated graphics must have come a long way since building my last pc if they are now up to those tasks??!! Is gaming really the only thing I would need a dedicated graphics card for then??

Ezyryder · 7 Jan 2011 at 21:49

Well, the ones present in the i7 2600 series is as fast as a ATI 5670 I believe, so no slouch!

In fact, it looks I was wrong, you will need to buy the 2600k series in order to get that kind of graphic power as that has the HD 3000 unlike the 2600 which has only got the HD 2000.

Sorry for the confussion!

Purgatory · 8 Jan 2011 at 08:25

TRACEY_BLAKE said:
Hi. I'm wanting to build a new set up for the purpose of photo/video editing & digital music editing, recording, mixing only, (please bear in mind that I'm not an overclocker or a gamer),yet I haven't built a pc since the days of the AMD Athlon 3800 & technology has come a long way since then, therefore I have no idea anymore! I'm still a novice so would appreciate Lamens terms please. I'm thinking of going for the new Sandy Bridge 2600 cpu with the Asus P8P67 Pro mobo. I have no idea of anything else & would really appreciate some advice on a graphics card that will easily handle the 2 tasks I need it for, any suggestions please? Would I benefit from more than one graphics card for what I want to do or is this only necessary for a gamer?? Thanks in advance, appreciate any help

TRACEY how many screens are you planning on running on that setup ? Also is this for a studio (work) setup or just home hobby use ? Also if you have a screen(s) in mind what resolution are they ?

Let's start there 1st that way we can give you the best advice you need before you spend.

Also do you a budget to stick too ? Also please let us know what else you don't have there that you will need, example sound cards, do you need MIDI connection ?, speakers, keyboard and mouse , graphics tablet.. etc etc

TRACEY_BLAKE · 8 Jan 2011 at 12:16

Ezyryder said:
Well, the ones present in the i7 2600 series is as fast as a ATI 5670 I believe, so no slouch!

In fact, it looks I was wrong, you will need to buy the 2600k series in order to get that kind of graphic power as that has the HD 3000 unlike the 2600 which has only got the HD 2000.

Sorry for the confussion!

Thanks for this, I remember reading that now in the reviews, will go for the 2600k like you say

TRACEY_BLAKE · 8 Jan 2011 at 12:35

Purgatory said:
TRACEY how many screens are you planning on running on that setup ? Also is this for a studio (work) setup or just home hobby use ? Also if you have a screen(s) in mind what resolution are they ?

Let's start there 1st that way we can give you the best advice you need before you spend. Also do you a budget to stick too ? Also please let us know what else you don't have there that you will need, example sound cards, do you need MIDI connection ?, speakers, keyboard and mouse , graphics tablet.. etc etc

I have no idea of what I need to be honest. I'm reading a lot trying to learn, but can't learn quick enough! Sorry I'm no help am I! I would only need one monitor (this is for a home recording studio-hobby and also for photo/video editing-hobby). I'm a singer & would like to record my own stuff you see. I'd like to have a 23" or bigger monitor but have no idea about resolutions I'm afraid, any suggestions? I'm wanting to buy the digital audio software 'Pro Tools 8.0' with digidesign MBox 3 Pro Rack hardware & connect it to pc. The MBox gives me mic inputs, midi inputs so that I can rig up a keyboard, guitar etc . I'm assuming I don't need a sound card as the MBox will act as my sound card if I've understood it correctly. I already have a pair of Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II speakers but I don't know if these will be sufficient for what I need. Any suggestions or advice here would be apprecated?? I've got an older USB 1.0 keyboard, would I need an upgrade as the new setup would be capable of USB 2.0/3.0?? As for budget, I'm not made of money, but I'd like decent/quality components that will easily handle the job so will be willing to spend what I actually need, (don't want to over spend uneccessarily, but then who does). Any suggestions or advice & info you can give me would be really appreciated, I'm a complete novice! Not only am I trying to learn about new computer technology now, but I am trying to learn the digital recording side too, I'm confused & my head hurts, but I'm determined to get there!! :confused:

Thanks.

Purgatory · 8 Jan 2011 at 13:38

No problem Tracey.. I understand now your needs.. I will sit down a bit later when I have a bit of time and work out a decent system at a good price for you that will do what you need. Just don't have the time at this moment and want to make sure to spec you everything you need so to cause you less headaches. I do a lot of music stuff on the pc too, mostly keyboards, MIDI, samplers and rack based instruments. The graphics editing side I do just as a side thing for tidying up some of the pictures I do with my digital SLR camera and sometimes the odd thing for websites and work, I use photoshop mostly for that. Okay will get back to you probably today with a spec of a system or tomorrow. Some of the guys here may start specing you some stuff too

. Are you 100% sure you will be able to build the system from parts or would you be more happy if I looked at a pre-built system and then add stuff to it ?

TRACEY_BLAKE · 8 Jan 2011 at 14:02

Purgatory said:
No problem Tracey.. I understand now your needs.. I will sit down a bit later when I have a bit of time and work out a decent system at a good price for you that will do what you need. Just don't have the time at this moment and want to make sure to spec you everything you need so to cause you less headaches. I do a lot of music stuff on the pc too, mostly keyboards, MIDI, samplers and rack based instruments. The graphics editing side I do just as a side thing for tidying up some of the pictures I do with my digital SLR camera and sometimes the odd thing for websites and work, I use photoshop mostly for that. Okay will get back to you probably today with a spec of a system or tomorrow. Some of the guys here may start specing you some stuff too . Are you 100% sure you will be able to build the system from componets or would you be more happy if I looked at a pre-built system and then add stuff to it ?

That's so nice of you to take the time to help me, please know it is much appreciated. Whenever you have time will be fine.

DIABLO · 8 Jan 2011 at 14:09

I'm no expert on video or audio editing but i do know that it best to have fast storage and lots of RAM and a fast processor if you re-encode these things. So something like this maybe?

My reasons for the CPU is the better onboard graphics not that you really need it as you don't do anything that uses graphics acceleration. I chose two 500GB drives to go into a RAID0 config because you're video editing and generally that involves loading large single files which a mechanical drive is perfectly suited for, and also a 1.5TB for storage this is also the readon why i speced 8GB of RAM. The case is subjective but i chose something with decent performance decent price and not to lary.

Purgatory · 9 Jan 2011 at 16:31

Reason for the 2600K CPU is because you will be doing video editing and photo processing (hyperthreading/larger cahce and Integrated HD 3000 video will help you here).

2 Seagate 1.5TB one will contain your operating system and programs while the other will act as a scratch disk and backup of your work... (I think RAID would cause extra problems then needed if the RAID failed means you can loose all your work, so I don't advise people who are not very technically savvy on a pc to use unless they backup a lot to external media).

Pioneer Bluray burner because i'm guessing you would want to burn you video to bluray disks and also it allows you to burn to DVD and CD aswell as play all current types of silver disks available.

8GB of memory because more memory you have for video and photo editing the better. (You may find in the future you will add more depending if you will edit very large HD video content).

The motherboard has video out and sound card built in and really you would only use the soundcard on the motherboard for playback of media on the computer.. your digidesign MBox 3 Pro will be doing all the hard work of recording and playing back what you create yourself.

I didn't add speakers because you said you had some but you may find you will buy some studio type monitors (Look for some used ones on Ebay

) and connect them to the digidesign MBox 3 Pro for much better sound then any pc speaker will give you.

I built you there a full system to get up and running without any suprises or headaches... I hope it's in your budget and if not change the CPU to a 2500k and see if it fits more in your budget but honestly I would stick with the 2600K as it will make the system faster when doing Video editing and photo processing.

Enjoy

::EDIT::
The TOTAL price for today 10th Jan 2011 is £1,025.17 for the above same parts from OCuk. Seems some of the parts have come down in price a little

cmndr_andi · 9 Jan 2011 at 16:57

Hi there,

Considering your uses, would you be interested in overclocking if someone else does it for you? I ask because OCUK offer bundles where they overclock the i5 2500K to 4.6GHz for you. This means you just buy the kit, install it and turn on the overclocked profile - very simple. For the applications you are using - the extra CPU power will come in handy.

As for the integrated graphics - it is better than before, but it is by no means great. This review shows that the HD 3000 performs roughly on par with a AMD 5450 and the 5570 soundly beats it.

If you do go for an overclocked system - then you will not be able to use the integrated graphics (as the P67 chipset does not allow it). Therefore you would need a discrete graphic card - this 5450 is £36.

As purgatory mentions - in the kind of task you will be doing the i7 2600K with hyperthreading enabled is a better chip. But the chip alone is £85 more -so you have to judge whether the extra performance is worth it to you (this chart shows how it compares to the 2500K in a range of tasks). OCUK also do overclocked i7 2600K bundles.

Purgatory · 9 Jan 2011 at 17:13

cmndr_andi said:
As purgatory mentions - in the kind of task you will be doing the i7 2600K with hyperthreading enabled is a better chip. But the chip alone is £85 more -so you have to judge whether the extra performance is worth it to you

Just correcting i7 2500k to what you meant i7 2600k

I agree with what you are saying there mate just she mentioned she's not an overclocker and in the tasks she's doing I wouldn't risk overclocking because the system may become unstable in some of her tasks like using the digidesign MBox 3 Pro .. Not sure if that will like overclocked systems and may introduce strange stutters or sync problems when she records.. I don't know never tried an overclocked system with that type of device (digidesign MBox 3 Pro).. Also the overclocked bundles only come with 4GB Ram and are using the P67 boards that don't allow the use of intergrated video, the H67 motherboards are only ones that allow you to use the cpus intergrated video so if she decided on one of the available Sandy Bridge 2600k or 2500K bundles she would need to add a video card too, which as you see now why I added the 2600K because with it being £85 more it saves her buying a graphics card and that £85 is spent on a faster CPU (at stock settings/no overclocking) with the added features I mentioned above.

cmndr_andi · 9 Jan 2011 at 17:24

Purgatory said:
Just correcting i7 2500k to what you meant i7 2600k

Cheers for pointing that out - I have corrected my post now.

Purgatory said:
I agree with what you are saying there mate just she mentioned shes not an overclocker and in the tasks she's doing I wouldn't risk overclocking because the system may become unstable in some of her tasks like using the digidesign MBox 3 Pro .. Not sure if that will like overclocked systems and may introduce strange stutters or sync problems when she records.. I don't know never tried an overclocked system with that type of device (digidesign MBox 3 Pro).. Aslo the overclocked bundles only come with 4GB Ram and are using the P67 boards that don't allow the use of intergrated video, the H67 motherboards are only ones that allow you to use the cpus intergrated video so if she decided on one of the available bundles she would need to add a video card too.

With a properly overclocked system (like the ones OCUK do) they are just as stable as a stock CPU using stock cooling. If it isn't then OCUK are duty bound to fix it.

As for the RAM - I would suggest sending OCUK a webnote and asking if they will install a 2x4GB kit into the bundle instead - it shouldn't put much more strain on the memory controller.

As for the video card - I mentioned above that a graphics card (like the 5450 would need to be added).

You mention going for a stock i7 2600K (with integrated graphics) instead of an overclocked i5 2500K + discrete graphics - this page shows how the two compare in CPU heavy tasks (admittedly the OCUK bundles are 4.6GHz, not 4.9GHZ - but this is still a very large jump from 3.3GHz stock).

titan13131 · 9 Jan 2011 at 18:09

Ezyryder said:
Well, the ones present in the i7 2600 series is as fast as a ATI 5670 I believe, so no slouch!

the i7 2600 k is as fast as the 5450 not a 5670 ! and the non K is quite a bit slower than that.

Ezyryder · 9 Jan 2011 at 18:35

still plenty enough for video editing and music production. To be honest, I would put a 2600k over a 2500k in those circumstances as that is where the HyperThreading gets beneficial.

xNytramx · 9 Jan 2011 at 18:51

This might be a side note, but I think with video editing it is quite highly affected by the monitor you use and getting a nice IPS over an LCD would be beneficial for better viewing angles. Also make sure you get one with high contrast and good colors out of the box. Putting a nice screen on top of what these guys have suggested as a PC spec, you'll have a wicked setup for photo editing and music.

All that said IPS panels are expensive, the Dell U2410 is one of the best atm i believe but your looking at spending as much as it'd cost to make your PC!
for a decent price and amazing contrast the Samsung SynMaster F2380M is probs your best bet
Just something to factor in

GL with it!

cmndr_andi · 9 Jan 2011 at 19:01

xNytramx said:
This might be a side note, but I think with video editing it is quite highly affected by the monitor you use and getting a nice IPS over an LCD would be beneficial for better viewing angles. Also make sure you get one with high contrast and good colors out of the box. Putting a nice screen on top of what these guys have suggested as a PC spec, you'll have a wicked setup for photo editing and music.

All that said IPS panels are expensive, the Dell U2410 is one of the best atm i believe but your looking at spending as much as it'd cost to make your PC!

Just something to factor in GL with it!

+1 For these uses an IPS panel monitor is a very good thing to invest in.

To the OP - here is more info on panel technologies if you're interested.

As for what monitor to go for - there are a few good options. The Dell U2410 is definately one of the best monitors in this size - it uses a H-IPS panel, 1920x1200 resolution and is an all-round cracking piece of kit. However, it is rather expensive at £460. Here is an in-depth review.

If you don't want to spend this kind of money, but want to get similar quality - then the Dell U2311H is where to go. It is a 23in, 16:9, 1920x1080, E-IPS panel monitor that costs £250. Here is an in-depth review. If you can afford it - this is one of the best value monitors available imho if image quality is important.

At the lower price points - there is still a decent monitor to go for. This £182 BenQ uses a VA panel (AMVA) which give is good colour accuracy, deep blacks and high contrast ratios. The viewing angles are also much better than standard TN panels - but not as good as IPS panels. Here is an in-depth review.