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dual-socket Ivy Bridge or single-socket Z99 board for FCP

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rkelleyrtp

rkelleyrtp

Joined
Jul 23, 2014
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Motherboard
Gigabyte X99-UD4 - BIOS F22
CPU
1x Intel 5960X
Graphics
2x Radeon R9-290X
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
  2. Mac mini
  3. Mac Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
dual-socket Ivy Bridge or single-socket X99 board for FCP

Greetings,

I need to build a new system for FCP editing and am trying to decide on a dual-socket Ivy Bridge board or a single-socket Z99 board. I would like to build the fastest possible system for less than $3K. I already have a donor X9DAI board, RAM, case, PS, and SSDs. I just need to order the CPU and video card.

Before I drop the money on a CPU/cooler, I need find out which system would have better compatibility to run FCP:
(a) A dual-socket X9DAI (w/2x 2.6G E2630-v2 CPUs)
or
(b) a single-socket X99 system with the fastest CPU I can get

Thanks for any pointers.
 
Last edited:
The Haswell-E cpus for socket 2011-3 boards are looking really good in the early
stages of testing. The I7-5960X is the best performer in terms of multi-threaded tasks.
There is no support right now for the X99 chipset (not Z99) in OS X. That being said,
some community members have them working already. For video editing in FCP X the
I7-4930K is the best choice if you have a limited budget and can't afford to spend $1000 +
on the cpu. We will hopefully get a Mac Pro refresh to provide some support.

The other critical component is the graphics card. Best will likely be one of the AMD R9
2xx "X" series cards or dual AMD R9 cards if you can manage that within your budget.
 
Thanks for the quick reply! Just so I am clear, you feel a single-CPU X99 system would be faster than a dual Ivy Bridge V2 system (all other things equal) for FCP editing?
 
rkelleyrtp said:
Thanks for the quick reply! Just so I am clear, you feel a single-CPU X99 system would be faster than a dual Ivy Bridge V2 system (all other things equal) for FCP editing?
Click to expand...

Yes, I think so. Remember the Late 2013 Mac Pro was built to run FCP X better than any
other set of hardware. It uses just one CPU and dual AMD FirePro graphics cards. The only
place you'd see better performance with IB dual Xeons would be under heavy rendering
loads where more cores and threads can be utilized. For editing I'd go with Haswell-E.

Bottom line is: More cores = Slower clock speed.

The I7 extreme cpus can be overclocked which is another advantage over the Xeon chips. Just make sure to get a good liquid cooling system if you plan on that.
 
dual-socket Ivy Bridge or single-socket X99 board for FCP

@rkelleyrtp

Dual Xeons, 16 cores and 128 GB of ram are impressive numbers but it is way too expensive and too
much overkill for a FCP editing build. Maybe for someone in Hollywood working with 4-5K video where
the system is rendering massive video files all day long it might be useful. It's also a PITA for someone
new at this to get it all working. So if you can wait a bit for X99 support that is the way to go imo.
 
trs96 said:
@rkelleyrtp

Dual Xeons, 16 cores and 128 GB of ram are impressive numbers but it is way too expensive and too
much overkill for a FCP editing build. Maybe for someone in Hollywood working with 4-5K video where
the system is rendering massive video files all day long it might be useful. It's also a PITA for someone
new at this to get it all working. So if you can wait a bit for X99 support that is the way to go imo.
Click to expand...
I agree that 128Gb of RAM is excessive. However, the OP already has everything but the CPUs and dual E5 2630 V2 CPUs @~$600 each would keep him under budget and still make a strong workstation.

Also agree the X99 boards are looking good and am planning on X99 build later this year. Really depends on what the OP wants to go thru - hassle of getting the dual CPUs working right or teething problems on the X99 platform before it is supported by Apple.
 
Thanks for all the input! After pricing everything out, here is where I stand:


  • Finish the X9DAI system build: 2x CPUs ($620/ea), plus 2x heatsinks (2x $50/ea). This will give me 12 cores @ 2.6Ghz (no OC) for approximately $1,350.
-or-

  • Build new X99 system: 1x X99 Motherboard ($300), 1x I7-5960X CPU ($1,050), 1x heatsink ($50/ea), and 32G RAM (approx $500). This will give me 8 cores @ 3.5GHz (no OC) for approximately $1,900.

That is a difference of about $600. So, is building an X99 system worth the extra $600?
 
Here's two key questions I would be asking in this situation.

1. Will the video work I'm doing actually make use of 12 cores /24 threads ? Most of the
benchmarks I've seen show that the 5960X comes close to the G.Bench scores of the 12
core Xeon used in the first Gen NMP even though it only has 8 cores.

2. Is the documentation and support for a dual Xeon SuperMicro build good enough so
that it's level of function is acceptable for getting work done with it without
having a lot of down time and headaches with it ? Will it run the most current version of
OS X ? lightninhopkins first post was from April of 2012 and he has been absent for a few
years now. He actually gave up on the build and just ran Windows on it and eventually sold
the individual parts. There's much talk about Geekbench scores but no real helpful info on
how to get one of these builds working.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/lion-desk...m-16-cores-32-threads-x9dai-9.html#post317073

I would read that Supermicro thread previously mentioned and ask the folks that have built one what
their experience has been and whether they would go that route again. Then look at this thread http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...-iv-extreme-32gb-ram-gtx-770-4gb-success.html and read the build guide posted by Shilohh. Which ever build you choose both will require a lot of time and research to get one of them fully working.
 
rkelleyrtp said:
Thanks for all the input! After pricing everything out, here is where I stand:


  • Finish the X9DAI system build: 2x CPUs ($620/ea), plus 2x heatsinks (2x $50/ea). This will give me 12 cores @ 2.6Ghz (no OC) for approximately $1,350.
-or-

  • Build new X99 system: 1x X99 Motherboard ($300), 1x I7-5960X CPU ($1,050), 1x heatsink ($50/ea), and 32G RAM (approx $500). This will give me 8 cores @ 3.5GHz (no OC) for approximately $1,900.

That is a difference of about $600. So, is building an X99 system worth the extra $600?
Click to expand...

You probably should also include 1xPSU as the one in the X9DAI build is probably not Haswell ready.
 
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