A PC for 3D Modeling, Video Editing

[Skud]

My friend is contemplating buying a PC for home use. Apart from other stuffs he frequently dwells with 3D Modeling and Image and Video Editing. Plz suggest the following:-

1. Intel or AMD
2. Dual core/ tri-core/quad-core
3. DDR2/DDR3
4. then which mobo
5. which graphics card (i mean a low-end with more ram or a mid-range with lesser ram)

the above will accompany the following:-
1. monitor 19/20"
2. 500gb HDD
3. dvd writer
4. 2.1 speakers (may be even 2.0, doesn't matter much 2 my friend)
5. cabinet, smps, ups as required
6. microsoft/logitech kb & mouse

his budget is 40K-50K.

 

[Cilus]

Processor: AMD Phenom 955 3.2 GHz @ 9k
M/B : MSI 785GN-E65 @ 5.2k
RAM: Transcend 2GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM @ 2.6k
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB @ 4.2k
GPU: Zotac GTX260 896MB GDDR3 @ 10k or Sapphire HD4890 1GB GDDR5 @ 12.5k
Monitor: BenQ 22" G2220 FULL HD LCD Monitor @ 8k
PSU: Zebronics 600W Pro @ 3.7k
Cabinet: Zebronics Krish @ 1k
Keyboard/Mouse: Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 @ 0.9k

Total is 44.6k (Considering Nvidia vcard). Now you can add another 2 GB DDR3 module, And my suggestion is don't b buy the Graphics card now. Wait for few days for the DirectX 11 cards to be decreased. I suggested Nvidia card because it of its CUDA support. Now lot of multimedia and other editing softwares support CUDA and hence use GPU for the processing giving you significant performance increase.
Alternatively you can also go for trhe ATI HD5850. Its price will be redecused soon.n It is a DirectX 11 card and hence futureproof. it is also very good for gaming.

If your friend is not much interested at gaming then he can also go for Palit 9800GT 1GB GDDR3 @ 6.7k
I suggested DDR3 mobo here by thinking about the future. Now DDR2 to DDDR3 transition is taking place and probably after some days DDR2 will be going to be like today's DDR. So DDR3 is always is a step to the future.

 

[Skud]

Processor: AMD Phenom 955 3.2 GHz @ 9k
M/B : MSI 785GN-E65 @ 5.2k
RAM: Transcend 2GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM @ 2.6k
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB @ 4.2k
GPU: Zotac GTX260 896MB GDDR3 @ 10k or Sapphire HD4890 1GB GDDR5 @ 12.5k
Monitor: BenQ 22" G2220 FULL HD LCD Monitor @ 8k
PSU: Zebronics 600W Pro @ 3.7k
Cabinet: Zebronics Krish @ 1k
Keyboard/Mouse: Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 @ 0.9k

Total is 44.6k (Considering Nvidia vcard). Now you can add another 2 GB DDR3 module, And my suggestion is don't b buy the Graphics card now. Wait for few days for the DirectX 11 cards to be decreased. I suggested Nvidia card because it of its CUDA support. Now lot of multimedia and other editing softwares support CUDA and hence use GPU for the processing giving you significant performance increase.
Alternatively you can also go for trhe ATI HD5850. Its price will be redecused soon.n It is a DirectX 11 card and hence futureproof. it is also very good for gaming.

If your friend is not much interested at gaming then he can also go for Palit 9800GT 1GB GDDR3 @ 6.7k
I suggested DDR3 mobo here by thinking about the future. Now DDR2 to DDDR3 transition is taking place and probably after some days DDR2 will be going to be like today's DDR. So DDR3 is always is a step to the future.

Thanks for the response. Actually my friend is not much interested in in gaming so a 9800gt/hd4850 or even a hd4670/9600gt will do. I think win7 & dx11 card would have been a better combo; at least theoretically. And the monitor can be downgraded also increasing the RAM.

Any combi of Intel?

 

[sxyadii]

3D Modeling and Image and Video Editing requires good graphics card ..so HD4890 will be my choice too...

 

[Krow]

Cilus, why do you recommend Zebby PSU's? They suck!

For Intel, buy Intel Core i5 750 @ 10.5k
Gigabyte P55-UD2M @ 7.2k
Corsair VX550W or Antec EA650 or GlacialPower 650
Rest, same, except, for the purposes mentioned a workstation class card like nvidia quadro or ati fireGL should be best. For video editing try to get a GTS250 or higher nvidia card as it supports CUDA, so GPU acceleration is possible for rendering.

 

[Skud]

Cilus, why do you recommend Zebby PSU's? They suck!

For Intel, buy Intel Core i5 750 @ 10.5k
Gigabyte P55-UD2M @ 7.2k
Corsair VX550W or Antec EA650 or GlacialPower 650
Rest, same, except, for the purposes mentioned a workstation class card like nvidia quadro or ati fireGL should be best. For video editing try to get a GTS250 or higher nvidia card as it supports CUDA, so GPU acceleration is possible for rendering.

Yeah, zebby psu's suck! Particularly 4 that price i can easily get a coolermaster. Regarding workstation class cards my friend's not a pro, so they r not needed right now. I think anything within 7K will suffice for the graphics card. Just tell me whether i need quad core or dual core will do.

 

[Cilus]

Cilus, why do you recommend Zebby PSU's? They suck!

For Intel, buy Intel Core i5 750 @ 10.5k
Gigabyte P55-UD2M @ 7.2k
Corsair VX550W or Antec EA650 or GlacialPower 650
Rest, same, except, for the purposes mentioned a workstation class card like nvidia quadro or ati fireGL should be best. For video editing try to get a GTS250 or higher nvidia card as it supports CUDA, so GPU acceleration is possible for rendering.

May be you are right. Actually I am not that much aware about the PSU thing, although I know it is one of the most important5 parts of PC. I suggested the Zebronics PSU considering its price tag.
Krow it will be better if you put a basic guideline about PSU, like Power rating, Current rating in Ampere, voltage etc.

And Skud, for 3D modeling don't ignore the Graphics Card. Let me give u an example: For converting a 2 Hour Full HD (1920X1024) movie (in Mpeg2 format., 18000 kbps) to H264/Mpeg4 AVC (The format for the Blue Ray Disc) at 4000 Kbps with high settings enabled will take any CPU off-guard, even the mighty Core i7. It will almost take 1.4 Hrs or more than that in Core i7 920. But in my friends GTX 285 card, using BADABOOM encoder, it just took 15 minutes to convert the whole video.

[FONT=verdana,geneva]ATI stream is also promising. According to Guru3d[/FONT][FONT=verdana,geneva] transcoding a 200 MB AVCHD 1920x1080i media file to a 1280x720P MP4 file, took 31 second in HD5770 card, 44 sec for GTX 285 and 42 sec for Cor i7 870.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,geneva]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,geneva]So you can understand the effect of a Powerful GPU in your system. Today's most applications like Cyberlink Mediashow Espresso, Tmpgenc, Adobe flash, Premier all the major software companies added GPU support to their products.
[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,geneva] [/FONT]​

 

[Krow]

Yeah, zebby psu's suck! Particularly 4 that price i can easily get a coolermaster. Regarding workstation class cards my friend's not a pro, so they r not needed right now. I think anything within 7K will suffice for the graphics card. Just tell me whether i need quad core or dual core will do.

Go for a quad core setup minimum. Athlon II X4 620 @ 5.5k is a cheaper alternative which is almost as good as Intel Q8400 @ 8.7k. But, nothing AMD beats the Core i5.

May be you are right. Actually I am not that much aware about the PSU thing, although I know it is one of the most important5 parts of PC. I suggested the Zebronics PSU considering its price tag.
Krow it will be better if you put a basic guideline about PSU, like Power rating, Current rating in Ampere, voltage etc.

And Skud, for 3D modeling don't ignore the Graphics Card. Let me give u an example: For converting a 2 Hour Full HD (1920X1024) movie (in Mpeg2 format., 18000 kbps) to H264/Mpeg4 AVC (The format for the Blue Ray Disc) at 4000 Kbps with high settings enabled will take any CPU off-guard, even the mighty Core i7. It will almost take 1.4 Hrs or more than that in Core i7 920. But in my friends GTX 285 card, using BADABOOM encoder, it just took 15 minutes to convert the whole video.

[FONT=verdana,geneva]ATI stream is also promising. According to Guru3d[/FONT][FONT=verdana,geneva] transcoding a 200 MB AVCHD 1920x1080i media file to a 1280x720P MP4 file, took 31 second in HD5770 card, 44 sec for GTX 285 and 42 sec for Cor i7 870.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,geneva]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,geneva]So you can understand the effect of a Powerful GPU in your system. Today's most applications like Cyberlink Mediashow Espresso, Tmpgenc, Adobe flash, Premier all the major software companies added GPU support to their products.
[/FONT]

I suggested the PSU's for OP, but let him finalise the GFX card, then we can finalise the PSU. Badaboom is a great plugin and works best on GT200 series GPU's AFAIK.

 

[Skud]

May be you are right. Actually I am not that much aware about the PSU thing, although I know it is one of the most important5 parts of PC. I suggested the Zebronics PSU considering its price tag.
Krow it will be better if you put a basic guideline about PSU, like Power rating, Current rating in Ampere, voltage etc.

And Skud, for 3D modeling don't ignore the Graphics Card. Let me give u an example: For converting a 2 Hour Full HD (1920X1024) movie (in Mpeg2 format., 18000 kbps) to H264/Mpeg4 AVC (The format for the Blue Ray Disc) at 4000 Kbps with high settings enabled will take any CPU off-guard, even the mighty Core i7. It will almost take 1.4 Hrs or more than that in Core i7 920. But in my friends GTX 285 card, using BADABOOM encoder, it just took 15 minutes to convert the whole video.

[FONT=verdana,geneva]ATI stream is also promising. According to Guru3d[/FONT][FONT=verdana,geneva] transcoding a 200 MB AVCHD 1920x1080i media file to a 1280x720P MP4 file, took 31 second in HD5770 card, 44 sec for GTX 285 and 42 sec for Cor i7 870.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,geneva]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,geneva]So you can understand the effect of a Powerful GPU in your system. Today's most applications like Cyberlink Mediashow Espresso, Tmpgenc, Adobe flash, Premier all the major software companies added GPU support to their products.
[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,geneva] [/FONT]​

Don't get me wrong Cilus. I am not at all ignoring the graphics card. But that 4890 really needs a beefy PSU which is actually a bit difficult to procure at our place. And what about a 5750? I think DX11 promises to do more with the GPU or rather "within" the GPU, so may be this will be a better investment. What do u think?

 

[desiibond]

HD5750 is totally not worth the price. Just because it has DX11 doesn't mean that it can picked instead of HD4870 and GTX260, which are lot lot powerful than this one.

 

[Cilus]

HD5750 is totally not worth the price. Just because it has DX11 doesn't mean that it can picked instead of HD4870 and GTX260, which are lot lot powerful than this one.

Keep Desiibond's suggestion in mind Skud. Just offering Direct X 11 support does not mean it will perform better than the previous era cards. HD 5750's performance is almost near to HD 4850 and the price in Indian market is too high right now. if you really want a Dx 11 card, which I think a better choice, then wait for few days for the card. price will be lowered very soon.
Otherwise go for a Nvidia 9800GT/GTS 250 series of card with 1 GB video memory.

 

[asingh]

@OP:
If your friend wants a mid card, go for 4850, slightly more high end go for 4890. This once can OC like crazy. 5xxx series are too expensive right now, cause there is too much demand, and less supply due to the cores not available to ATI/OEM from TSMC.

Infact the 4870 is also nice. Dx11 will not make too much difference for your friends need. Infact many gamers make-do with a 4850. If it can game well --- it can do about anything.

Or, then go for the nVidia suggestions, they are good. No use going for new parts as of now.

 

[asingh]

May be you are right. Actually I am not that much aware about the PSU thing, although I know it is one of the most important5 parts of PC. I suggested the Zebronics PSU considering its price tag.
Krow it will be better if you put a basic guideline about PSU, like Power rating, Current rating in Ampere, voltage etc.

The PSU is the most critical component of a system. I am saying this, because a bad PSU or mismatched PSU is the ONLY component in a computer that can cause damage to itself and this propagates to other parts also getting burnt out.

Imagine it as the heart of your computer, which feeds clean blood (electricity) to your system. If this is bad, the whole set up can be in jeopardy.

See the following scenarios:

1. Slow processor: System runs slow. Applications take ages to execute. At times the system will hang, and then you can restart it. No harm coming to the system.

2. Less RAM: System will take a while to boot. Multiple applications will cause system to hang. Again you can restart the system. No harm.

3. Low end GPU: Games will render slow. Might not load at time. Games will crash. Again no harm to system.

4. Bad HSF/Incorrectly mounted HSF: The processor will quickly get hot, and start to throttle. It will follow (1). If not OC'ed no real harm. The processor will keep shutting down to protect itself.

5. Bad PSU: During load, it falters, and starts to supply non-smooth current to the components. They start to heat up. Initially the system will "hiccup". Run -- get stuck --- run. Then slowly over time, parts will start to melt, or short circuit.

6. Underrated PSU for System: System will run fine. During load, it will suddenly stop. You will get BSOD. System lock up. Slowly it will follow the behaviour of (5).

Basically, people should give the most importance to PSU. It is the parameter which ONE CAN GO WRONG WITH. They do not have a fail safe. A CPU will throttle and shut down. A GPU will lock, and crash the 3D-Rendering, RAM will just --- run slow. Try to keep up. Motherboard..witll continue to function in inefficient manner, BUT a PSU continues to function even if it is bad. And if it is bad --- it spreads the problem to other expensive parts.

Anyone going for >mid-range GPU HAS to give PSU a good/perfect thought. I do not believe in Zebronice/Bijli PSUs (sorry no offense to current users).
2.

 

[Skud]

Thanks asigh for the suggestion and also for the detailed importance of PSU. Talking on this, is a CoolerMaster 600W PSU (Model No. RS-600-PCAR-E3) enough for a 4850 XFire setup? Plus how it will handle 4870 and 4890?

 

[asingh]

^^ 600W is too less for Xfire. You can manage it with 650W, a 750W would be perfectly ideal.

600W will handle a singular 4870 or 4890 just fine.

 

[Skud]

Thanks asigh.

 

[harryneopotter]

If it is Coolermaster Extreme Power 600w, than stay away as far as possible !!!

 

[Skud]

If it is Coolermaster Extreme Power 600w, than stay away as far as possible !!!

WHY FOR???

 

[Krow]

CM Real Power is the great series of PSU's. I'm sorry I cant say the same about the extreme power.

 

[Skud]

CM Real Power is the great series of PSU's. I'm sorry I cant say the same about the extreme power.

What does this mean? Is CM Extreme Power just like Zebbi/iball etc.?