Rate my $2500 Build

robin77 said:

TechnoMan said:

Is there anything I should change?

From my personal experience:
I would not get ANY component when it's brandnew. you meintioned before that CPUs are a different story... but the extremely high price just does not justify it.
I used to get everything on the first day.... but over the years changed my view completely.

See Technoman, I was right. New is not always better!

Also, as well as a possible dual processor, you should go for a cheaper graphics card, perhaps ATI Radeon hd 5850, but get two of them running together in crossfire x.

It looks pretty good to me. If you are going to be using Adobe Products for your editing, you will want to go with Nvidia cards since Nvidia is the only one that accelerates Premiere and After Effects.

The 600T is a great case but it's reported to have cooling issues with hot running GPU and SLI set ups. I think as long as you don't load all the hard drive bays to allow a good air flow into the case and only run a single wicked GPU then you should be fine but the reports are that the case creates a null air pocket in the lower rear corner. I love Corsair cases and for my next extreme build I will use the 800D. But the 600T is just as sexy in a smaller package and with out hot swap bays. That being said I settled on a cheaper Thermaltake Element V BE and I love it as well. It could have better cable management but at $125.00 delivered I couldn't go wrong.

I will just say that you will be wasting money on ANY hardware that is released day one.

You can get a lesser processor setups and spend the extra savings on other things.

As for Video and Audio editing,,,, it really depends on how much and how heavy you will be doing that stuff,, there is a point of over kill on RAM. I might start with 8G and move to 12G if I was editing large videos,,, because it really depends on the size of the video,, clips don't need as much RAM, as say, 1.5 hours would. The size of the videos would really determine how much ram you really need. and the length and number of tracks would determine with audio.

I might get an i7 950 instead of Sandy Bridge's 2600k (all depending on price though)

Edit: Online rumoured leaks have it at $300-$400. If that's the pricing then it's a definite buy as it will beat the i7 950

But, the i7 950 is a well known solid performer. People know the heat levels, OC-ability, power usage and just all around ability of it.

On the other hand, the 2600k is new and people won't know the problems etc with it and you may waste your money. My suggestion is that you get the i7 950 for at least 3 months until all the major issues with the 2600k are fixed.

Tepid said:

I will just say that you will be wasting money on ANY hardware that is released day one.

You can get a lesser processor setups and spend the extra savings on other things.

As for Video and Audio editing,,,, it really depends on how much and how heavy you will be doing that stuff,, there is a point of over kill on RAM. I might start with 8G and move to 12G if I was editing large videos,,, because it really depends on the size of the video,, clips don't need as much RAM, as say, 1.5 hours would. The size of the videos would really determine how much ram you really need. and the length and number of tracks would determine with audio.

Are you talking about video and audio editing from first hand experience?
I've been editing 30 second spots to 2 hour videos for the past 15 years on computers. For video editing, the length of your videos doesn't determine the amount of ram you need, video just reads off the drive as you edit and play.
For doing effects in After Effects, the more ram you have, the longer you can have a full motion preview.

For rendering your projects, you want to get the fastest processor you can afford, since time is money and you don't want to have to wait hours to render your project.