New PC Build question

[I-Hate-Hulse]

So I've been soldiering on with my old stock Q6600 since 2007. That's absolutely an epic record for me as I used to upgrade every year or two - but since I don't game a lot anymore....you know how it goes.

I'm looking to finally upgrade this Boxing Day and am starting to keep an eye on pricing.

- budget is anywhere between $500 and $1000 for CPU, MB, Memory
- would like to recycle the PSU (A corsair HX620 modular) and the GPU (EVGA GTX 280. However if you tell me the GPU is a wicked bottleneck I could be convinced to replace.
- I need a minimum of 1 DVI connector for my dual monitor setup.
- will be doing some light to moderate Adobe Premiere / PS work to tweak videos of the new baby. The odd encoding/rip of a DVD. Just need something reliable and maintenance free (ie no time to OC like the old days - unless it's simple.)
- will use stock cooler.

Got a few questions for the guys that are up to date:

- LGA1150 or 2011? I'm keeping this for another 5 years so please make this last as long as possible.
- i7-4820K or i7-4770k?
- Any recommendations on going with a Z87 or X79 chipset? (dictates CPU of course)
- Would love to have this run as quiet as possible and am open to suggestions (using a LianLi-PC70 case, has a bunch of 80mm fans unfortunately)

[PsYcNeT]

I won't have time till later to do a price out for you but:

- Why i7? Unless you do a lot of hardcore audio/video/media work, an i5 is more than enough. I run Premiere and PS (Audition too) through an i5 and it's more than sufficient. The big thing with video work is having an SSD and a HDD. In a budget build the extra $100 could be used on other things (like an SSD).

- A GTX 280 is a pretty damn old card. A modern $200 card would crush it.

- Your PSU will be fine.

- z87 chipset is fine, again unless you are a hardcore designer there's no need to go x79

- There are a lot of low price (~100$) cases that offer quiet solutions. Running a stock CPU cooler wont help though.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I've got an Intel 530 SSD - sorry, should have mentioned that. I'll take the biggest bang for my buck - the leap to i7 doesn't seem that much more pricewise. That said, if you tell me i7 really isn't that much faster than i5...

[To Be Quite Honest]

Just make sure you get an NVIDIA card if you're working with intel and Adobe. The GPU CUDA cores are designed for working on that software.

[PsYcNeT]

Well the i7 is a lot faster than an i5 for application work (uses hyper-threading in theory doubling your possible simultaneous computations), but the difference is negligible enough that the average use doesn't notice it, esp since an i5 is still damn fast.

If you're primary focus isn't on gaming mind you, you can splurge on the i7 because I would be lying to say it doesn't help with application speed.

[Hack&Lube]

For what you are doing the venerable Q6600 should still be enough. They also overclock to at least 3.0GHz on stock voltage. Just give yourself a new videocard, and a new SSD.

If you want a cheap upgrade, I'll sell you a Q9400 for $60

[zamler]

Originally Posted by To Be Quite Honest

Just make sure you get an NVIDIA card if you're working with intel and Adobe. The GPU CUDA cores are designed for working on that software.

CS6 mainly uses OpenGL not CUDA.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Originally Posted by zamler

CS6 mainly uses OpenGL not CUDA.

CUDA is strictly GPU acceleration so when you have your CUDA turned on and activated your processing power is increased massively.

*With my i7, 16 gig memory, and GTX660TI 3gig I exported a 2 hour video in and hour and 45 mins. I turn on Cuda and it exported in about an hour. It was impressive.

http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/...fects-cs6.html

This will help you turn on your cuda cores if you're not using it right now.

http://www.studio1productions.com/Ar...miereCS5-2.htm

[Hack&Lube]

Adobe supports OpenCL for AMD cards as well.

http://community.amd.com/community/a...creative-cloud

http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2...e-pro-cs6.html

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Thanks all. Hmmm a GTX 660 or 760 seem to be in the $200-250 range - are either of these a worthwhile upgrade on my GTX 280 (got to love the nVidia nomenclature)

A X79 based board seems to be the way to go if no one here has any real negatives to say?

[zamler]

660 or 760 is weak sauce IMO, get something more future proof. Some like a Radeon 280X WAS the best value going, but they have been all snapped up and are generally out of stock, and the price has gone up significantly due to demand.

BTW you need an Nvidia Quadro GPU (major $$$) to take full advantage of Premiere and AfterFX. I would not base a video card buying decision on the Adobe suite unless you plan on using it professionally.

If it was me I wait until the new year if possible.

[PsYcNeT]

Yeah the 760 is more or less a 670 with newer processes and a quieter fan.

Because I can only find a 285 vs 670 comparison, here it is (your 280 is a bit slower than a 285, and the 670 is nearly identical to the 760).

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/520?vs=598

Basically the 670/760 is 3x+ as fast as your 280.

Originally Posted by zamler

BTW you need an Nvidia Quadro GPU (major $$$) to take full advantage of Premiere and AfterFX. I would not base a video card buying decision on the Adobe suite unless you plan on using it professionally.

Lol what. No you don't. Quadro's are mainly for 3D rendering and large CAD projects.

[Phaneufenstein]

Can you fine gentlemen advise me on what I should focus on to upgrade my current 3 year old rig?

- i7 chip
- P6T mother
- 6 GB DDR3
- Radeon HD5700
- 750W PS

I'm guessing maybe RAM and video card would be the easiest.
Any suggestions on which video card I should be looking at nowadays?

thanks in advance.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Lol what. No you don't. Quadro's are mainly for 3D rendering and large CAD projects.

http://www.nvidia.ca/object/adobe-cs6.html

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Phaneufenstein

Can you fine gentlemen advise me on what I should focus on to upgrade my current 3 year old rig?

- i7 chip
- P6T mother
- 6 GB DDR3
- Radeon HD5700
- 750W PS

I'm guessing maybe RAM and video card would be the easiest.
Any suggestions on which video card I should be looking at nowadays?

thanks in advance.

I just got a GTX 760 on Black Friday. They are supposed to be the best bang for the buck right now.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=85...e&promoid=1115

Haven't installed it yet but it's supposed to be twice as fast as my GTX 460 SE.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

oh yeah, this particular card is 11" long, so check your case for clearance

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by zamler

http://www.nvidia.ca/object/adobe-cs6.html

And that means what exactly?

The gaming GPUs have CUDA cores as well, and at least rudimentary driver sets to use them. Adobe Suite isn't even considered mildly taxing by render GPU standards, most benching exams you'll see for Quadro/Firepro cards are in 3DSMax, AutoCAD, Maya, and CAM software because those types of programs benefit the most from having dedicated render cards. Programs like Premiere or After Effects have a much smaller performance gap between gaming cards and application cards.

That said, a graphics card’s hardware resources, especially its shader domain, are not the main factor that determines its performance in professional CAD/CAM applications. Driver optimizations and balanced specs are far more important, which is why you will typically see Quadro's do much better than gaming GPUs in application work. The caveat being, that the application work has to be taxing enough to see a major difference between the two card types.

[Hack&Lube]

Quadro cards have specific driver packs depending on the professional application required.

GeForce drivers are gaming optimized.

That said, a powerful high end gaming card will destroy an entry-mid level Quadro card in CUDA performance anyway.