Buying Advice For Video Editing Build

[rwillett]

Forum members have reported the best success with this model from Sapphire:
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-VAPOR-X-PCI-Express-Graphics-11221-20-20G/dp/B00RXA5G5O/

The XFX models have been problematic to get working. Not sure about that specific model
but just wanted to alert you to potential problems. Look for posts by @rwillet for more on
the Sapphire cards, dual card setup.

I have two of these exact models and they work very well indeed. You need to setup the EFI partition which is trivial but nothing special. You should be able to do an install end to end in less than 60 mins.

Dual 280X cards just work (they have to be more or less the same) though. I would buy two at once and have done with it if you can afford it. They do speed up rendering. The second card improved stuff by about 30-40% from memory. You don't need to do anything special with them to speed up rendering either. You do need to turn off the internal graphics cards as FCP X gets confused as to which system to use.

I can't comment on the XFX cards and their difficulties (or not). I know that both Multibeast and Clover installs are easy to do with the Vapor-X cards.

BTW my name has two T's at the end rwillett

Rob

 

[trs96]

Thanks for chiming in Rob, I believe that the problems with the XFX branded cards has been
that they stray from the standard, reference port layout. For example their 280X has two mini DP
ports instead of one full size DP, which leads to problems with OS X recognizing the card properly.

I've never bought any of the XFX models because of this. Haven't seen much success with them in the
forums over the last 3+ years or so.

 

[rwillett]

No problems with the help.

I'm currently trying to see if we can get triple monitors working on a single 280X card. I actually don't need it as I have dual cards, ibut we've got similar problems to the XFX getting the two DVI ports AND the full size display port to work. Nobody else seems to have done it and we're playing with config.plist files to see what we can do. Dual DVI ports fine, but can't get the DP to work.

Rather than hijack this thread, if you are able to offer any assistance see

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/161942-280x-7970-triple-monitor-working.html

It would be good to have one card that we know works very well and supports triple or even quad monitors.

Rob

 

[dakid712]

Forum members have reported the best success with this model from Sapphire:
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-VAPOR-X-PCI-Express-Graphics-11221-20-20G/dp/B00RXA5G5O/

The XFX models have been problematic to get working. Not sure about that specific model
but just wanted to alert you to potential problems. Look for posts by @rwillet for more on
the Sapphire cards, dual card setup.

I wished i would've seen your post sooner, I just pulled the trigger on the Visiontek R9 280x http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Radeon-VisionTek-Graphics-900652/dp/B00FV10GF2/ it'll be here in a few days I hope it works out. I also need to find a good case, can't font the corsair 600t in stock anywhere.....

 

[trs96]

I wished i would've seen your post sooner, I just pulled the trigger on the Visiontek R9 280x http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Radeon-VisionTek-Graphics-900652/dp/B00FV10GF2/ it'll be here in a few days I hope it works out. I also need to find a good case, can't font the corsair 600t in stock anywhere.....

You can always try out the Visiontek and return it if need be within 30 days of purchase.
You may want to study how to use Clover as your boot loader as it will help you get the
280x working with Yosemite.

Take a look at the Fractal Design R5. Should be plenty big and quiet enough for the work
you'll be doing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352048

If you need E-ATX they also make a case that size as well.

 

[pjjj]

Dual 280X cards work very well, triple even better

Does Final Cut really make use of a 3rd GPU? No genuine macs ship with 3 GPUs, do they?

Do you think it matters if all 3 slows have similar numbers of PCIe lanes? For example, on a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH board, there's 3 "x16" slots, with 16, 8 and 4 lanes. Would adding a 3rd 280X card in that 4-lane slot really matter much for render speeds?

 

[dakid712]

So here's the update, I ordered everything and all the parts are here except for the motherboard and GPU . I guess I will have to wait until Monday to put it all together. I modified my parts list, so this is what I have.....

ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION
CORE I7 4820K
CORSAIR H60
VISIONTEK R9 280X 3B
CRUCIAL BALLISTIX SPORT 32GB
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 500GB
SEAGATE BARRACUDA 3TB
CORSAIR 760 WATT
FRACTAL DESIGN R5
TP-LINK PCI EXPRESS WIFI ADAPTER

If all goes well I will purchase a second GPU to help rendering speeds and maybe an additional 32GB of ram for a total of 64GB....... Or would that be overkill?

 

[dakid712]

So I finally got all my parts and this system is up and running!!!!!! This thing is blazing fast compare to my 2010 Macbook Pro with 16GB ram. I run Bruce's test in about 25 seconds, is that good? Im thinking of adding another R9 280x video card and maybe another 32GB of ram for a total of 64GB but I'm not sure if its needed or not......How can I test and find out?

 

[golfleep]

You do need to turn off the internal graphics cards as FCP X gets confused as to which system to use.

rwillett - about turning off internal graphics for FCPX - did you do that in BIOS? I've read in your other posts, you use Clover, I do as well. Do you turn off Intel graphics in your config.plist as well?

Thanks!

 

[golfleep]

Just in case someone has the same questions:

I disabled intel graphics in the BIOS and booted without any problems. Intel graphics gone from system report and in Luxmark. Did not alter my config.plist, which has both Intel and ATI graphics injection enabled.