Building a Image Editing System...

[Ashley]

Hi everyone,

I'm preparing to put together a system geared towards editing large
files in Photoshop as well other graphic-based functions. I was hoping
for some input on the potential build which includes:

Processors:
Dual AMD Opteron Model 146, 1MB L2 Cache 64-bit Processors

Motherboard:
TYAN "Thunder K8W

Memory:
6 GIGS of Crucial 400DDR.
Allocated as follows - 2 for Photoshop, 3 for RAMDISK for PS scratch
disk, and 1 FOR OS.

Hard Drives:
2 Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA in RAID 0 and a
Western Digital 200GB 7200rpm SATA for deep storage

DVD/CD ROM:
NEC 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive & Lite-On Black 52X32X52X16 Combo
Drive

Video Card:
ATI RADEON 9600XT

Power Supply:
Antec 480W

Questions:
1. Any recommended alterations to the above?
2. Is the 3 GIGS to RAMDISK for the PS scratch disk valuable move
since editing large files?
3. What other motherboard, without PCI-X, could be substituted for the
Thunder K8W? (Keeping in mind the amount of SATA drives (4), and the
amount of ram (6 sticks).)
4. Would it be beneficial to use socket 939 chips instead of 940.
5. What advantages, if any, would there be if an ATI 9800
(XT/PRO/ETC) is substituted for the 9600XT in a PS environment?

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts,

Scott

 

[Keith]

Questions:
1. Any recommended alterations to the above?

Sure! Would you adopt me? I could only afford a single 144 w/s2875s.

2. Is the 3 GIGS to RAMDISK for the PS scratch disk valuable move
since editing large files?

Why would you want a RAMDisk? ...using Win32X? You shouldn't need such
an archaic thing, since your OS will page what it needs. I see no point
in paging from RAM to RAM these days.

3. What other motherboard, without PCI-X, could be substituted for the
Thunder K8W? (Keeping in mind the amount of SATA drives (4), and the
amount of ram (6 sticks).)

If you have the money, IMO, you have the right system.

4. Would it be beneficial to use socket 939 chips instead of 940.

NO. Socket 940 is what you want. For a large memory system like that you
really do want registered/ECC DIMMs. You're paying for a premium system,
don't cheap out at the last minute.

5. What advantages, if any, would there be if an ATI 9800 (XT/PRO/ETC)
is substituted for the 9600XT in a PS environment?

No clue, though I'm not sure why you need a hot 3D card for what your
intended application though.

I'm also a little curious about your choice of disk drives. I'd think (no
recent proof) that your application would be more sensitive to STR than
latency. The "hot" disk drives really don' thave a better STR than the
lesser drives, since semiconductor physics limits STR more than RPMs. I'd
think *hard* about spending much-bux on marketing gizmos here.

 

[AD.]

Processors:
Dual AMD Opteron Model 146, 1MB L2 Cache 64-bit Processors

Shouldn't they be 246s for SMP?

Or maybe I wasn't paying attention earlier

Cheers
Anton

 

[Rob Stow]

Sure! Would you adopt me? I could only afford a single 144 w/s2875s.




Why would you want a RAMDisk? ...using Win32X? You shouldn't need such
an archaic thing, since your OS will page what it needs. I see no point
in paging from RAM to RAM these days.

Depends on the software used to make/manage the RAM disk.
The good ones, like at http://www.superspeed.com/,
don't get paged.

If you want to RAID those four SATA drives, keep the
PCI-X so you have the option of getting a good SATA
RAID card. The Sil3114 controller on the mobo is
64 bit/66 MHz capable, but every mobo manufacturer that
uses it seems to be putting on a legacy 32 bit/33 MHz bus.

If you have the money, IMO, you have the right system.


NO. Socket 940 is what you want. For a large memory system like that you
really do want registered/ECC DIMMs. You're paying for a premium system,
don't cheap out at the last minute.

And you are not going to get more than 4 DIMM slots with a
socket 939 board. To get the 6 slots you want, you'll
be getting a dualie. Dualie means socket 940.

No clue, though I'm not sure why you need a hot 3D card for what your
intended application though.

For video editting, take a look at what Matrox has to offer.
Their stuff sucks for 3D but is unbeatable for everything else.

 

[RusH]

For video editting, take a look at what Matrox has to offer.
Their stuff sucks for 3D but is unbeatable for everything else.

Like for example ? No, really what are those magical advantages ? 3
monitors ? He wont be needing that. Buggy drivers and lots of
unsupported platforms ? Either of those. Matrox is no faster in 2D than
an average ~50$ NVidia/ATI.


Pozdrawiam.

 

[Rob Stow]

Like for example ? No, really what are those magical advantages ?

I build video editting machines for a few video professionals.
About 2 new machines per year for the 4 of them, plus lots of
upgrading in between new machines. When I build a new machine,
they all want the latest ATI or nVidia cards they've been
reading about, but after a few days they all want their old Matrox
cards back. When the pros will pick a two year old Matrox
card over the latest ATI or nVidia cards, that is all the
reason I need to recommend Matrox to other video editors.

3 monitors ?

For video editting, 2 monitors plus a TV works very well.

Add a Matrox RT.x100 video editting card to your system
and you can have three monitors plus a TV.

 

[Ed]

Shouldn't they be 246s for SMP?

Or maybe I wasn't paying attention earlier

Cheers
Anton

Yep, 1xx is only for 1-ways.

AMD Opteron™ Processor Model Numbers and Features Comparison
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_9240,00.html

Ed

 

[RusH]

When the pros will pick a two year old Matrox
card over the latest ATI or nVidia cards, that is all the
reason I need to recommend Matrox to other video editors.

two year old Matrox is fine, since Matrox is not making any money on
it. I refuse to give any to a company claiming Linux support and
failing to provide one. Old Matrox card is well reverse engineered and
has feautees Matrox didnt know aboud (TVout with aceleration in DVDmax
mode while X server on VGA monitor displaying independent picture - on
G450).

But parhelia is pathetic.

For video editting, 2 monitors plus a TV works very well.

Add a Matrox RT.x100 video editting card to your system
and you can have three monitors plus a TV.

add cheap NV MX400 Dualhead PCI and good framegrabber and you get the
same.


Pozdrawiam.

 

[Dorothy Bradbury]

You list 3 HD yet refer to 4 SATA HD unless I miss-ready.

If this is for commercial editing with a deadline:
o Why not use 4 Raptor drives in RAID 10
o You get the benefit of Striping, but also reliability of Mirroring
o Use a 3Ware 4-port SATA card, expensive I know

Depends on the amount of time editing and original source.
o RAID-0 is a cryptic joke where R-edundant is followed by a 0
o So if you lose EITHER drive your whole data-set can be trash

Losing a drive can be simply snapping an SATA connector off,
it need not be a problem with the drive. Do remember they will
need a bit of cooling - nothing remarkable but SOME cooling.

The 74GB WD Raptor are a good drive, expensive but good.

If commercial I would also want an UPS if you did just RAID-0.