Advice for building an editing rig w/Premiere Pro Avid FCP

[5thwall]

Hi, everyone. I'm looking for some advice on parts to get for a workstation editing rig or perhaps some links to other threads that might lead me in the right direction. I am pretty frustrated with the cost of Mac Pros, lack of expandability of iMacs, and FCPX seems to run better on an i7 than a Xeon.

I own and operate a small post production shop that currently runs 4 Mac Pros. I'm looking very seriously into converting one of the rooms into a Hackintosh for work. I realize the potential for disaster and, as such, I'll be spending some overtime geeking out here, researching the best way to move forward. Also, with NAB around the corner, I'm waiting to see what sort of announcements might be in store.

Currently, I have three requirements for the system:
1. It needs to be dual-boot. I figure if the Hackintosh side is too buggy, then at least I'm left with a killer Windows rig that I can put CS6 on when it launches and also Avid.
2. I would like a video card that works well with Premiere and Resolve. Also, I'd like the card to be dual-boot friendly. Do video cards need to be flashed to work on the mac side? I'm looking at the CUDA cards for Premiere support, but understand the 6870 might be the way to go.
3. I have a Kona 3 that I'll be harvesting from the Mac Pro that is currently in that room. Hoping that it will work with a hacked rig.

In the past, I built and troubleshooted the heck out of an HTPC, so I have some experience in putting together a system. I figure the experience will be similar in terms of building the parts, but more complicated in terms of the software installation and setup. I'll be researching all the installation guides to see what steps need to be taken in the coming weeks.

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks in advance!

 

[5thwall]

Anyone out there who's built a high-end editing rig have any advice?

 

[Gordo74]

Just go with the CustoMac buyers guide and throw in any Nvidia 5xx card. It will work fine

 

[antcuc]

I'm going to start building my workstation rig this week:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=55008

Soon as my new RAM comes in.

 

[5thwall]

I'm going to start building my workstation rig this week:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=55008

Soon as my new RAM comes in.

I'm following your post. Waiting for parts to arrive was the worst part when I built my htpc! Good luck with the build. Hope it goes smooth.

What was your budget for the system?

 

[5thwall]

Just go with the CustoMac buyers guide and throw in any Nvidia 5xx card. It will work fine

Thanks Gordo74. Which 5xx card do you recommend?

 

[5thwall]

Hi all,

One thing I've been reading here is that some people recommend the i7 970 for a video rig vs the i7 2600k. I understand the 970 is a 6-core vs the 4-cores of the 2600k. Is there a huge speed bump with the 970s? And are they as compatible as the 2600k's with the hack?


Many thanks.

 

[Vendetta]

You could go with a GTX 580, or you could go with multiple 470s, 480s, 570s, 580s, etc. They don't even need to the same, technically. Or if you want the best you could wait to see what the support will be like for the 680, as the benchmarks for it have been pretty impressive.

 

[Gordo74]

Hi all,

One thing I've been reading here is that some people recommend the i7 970 for a video rig vs the i7 2600k. I understand the 970 is a 6-core vs the 4-cores of the 2600k. Is there a huge speed bump with the 970s? And are they as compatible as the 2600k's with the hack?


Many thanks.

No, the 2600k performs just as well if not better in all video encoding benchmarks and is half the price. No brainer in my opinion.

 

[5thwall]

Understood regarding the processor. Reason I started thinking 970 was because of a post on Craigslist for a 970 system with a geekbench score of 19k. Does geekbench tell the whole story or is there more to it?

Edit: sys on CL has 460 card and was overclocked to 4ghz.