Can you comment on this computer configuration?

[zapta]

A friend wants to build a desktop computer, mostly for home audio and video editing and asked me about his planned spec. Since I know very little about desktop computers I thought that some people here can provide helpful insight. The configuration doesn't have to be 'perfect', just reasonable.

Any suggestions to pass to my friend?

[DimitriP]

i-7: a K running at the highest GHz available. (so it should start with 4. something)
Video card  -  GTX 7xx  , 9xx or 1xxxx depending on $$$  available.
 
It will also help to know what he/she is using now now because sometimes "new" doesn't mean "faster"

[Mechatrommer]

Transcoding and effects consume lots of CPU power and RAM. Be sure to grab a very powerful CPU.

true but how powerful you want? Dave uses 8 or 12 cored processor iirc and the price is nasty. my old Quad Core can do video editing as well its a cheap arse by today's standard i guess. so where is the borderline? i believe the borderline is what is the OP's friend going to use with it?

If he does not game om this computer, then single core speed does not matter. I would suggest a Xeon E5.

single core should be a abomination, they should be wiped out from the PC planet and locked up in android world where you edit picture by sliding and tapping thumbnails at the bottom.

i would say anything better than my Quad Core, larger than 4GB RAM, 500GB of storage is good enough. 3D GPU is a must though, whether you think you are going to use it or not, you are going to use it allright, whether you know it or not, the OS will, so dont think about MOBO built in graphic card. if you want your PC to look "current". what's missing in "MOBO" spec in the OP is bus speed but i wont bother as i believe anything today is good enough...

[whitevamp]

just a quick put together.
you could drop to 32gig of ram and then add in a hd/ or 2nd vid ( not 3 vids with the 10XX series. )

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($368.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($143.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card  ($409.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1237.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 22:52 EDT-0400

[bitslice]

mostly for home audio

Need to know exactly what he's doing before rushing out a random spec.

People in that arena tend to value a silent computer, if he's using a condenser mic then it's going to pick up a lot of machine noise.

Ask him if this is important

If so, start with a silent case, some come with pre-cut sound absorbent foam,
I could mention a bunch of other components but you might as well look on www.quietpc.com for the usual approach.


Dual screens are handy for sound editing, what software is he using?

What is he using to record sound and video?

[Mechatrommer]

ahh the sound card, there a lot of audio phewlery out there, for mini theather is suggest at least 7.1 card. (i used built in sound card anyway)

[zapta]

Need to know exactly what he's doing before rushing out a random spec.

People in that arena tend to value a silent computer, if he's using a condenser mic then it's going to pick up a lot of machine noise.

Ask him if this is important

My understanding is that he will not record on the computer but on some camera and will then edit on the computer.

[dexters_lab]

A friend wants to build a desktop computer, mostly for home audio and video editing and asked me about his planned spec. Since I know very little about desktop computers I thought that some people here can provide helpful insight. The configuration doesn't have to be 'perfect', just reasonable.

Any suggestions to pass to my friend?

spec seems fine to me, i do my editing on an old i7 3770k with 16gb ram, though i would expect it to struggle if i was working in 4k, but it's fine for HD. An X99 with the latest i7 would be considerably faster than what i have.

check what software they are going to edit with, some have GPU acceleration but support can vary between GPUs so check requirements before you buy the video card.

i also have an SSD to store my source video files while editing, it's not essential but does help speeding up the editing process

i would second comments about two monitors, this helps a lot. Means you can have a full HD preview on one screen and the editor in another

[dannyf]

mostly for home audio and video editing

I would suggest that you take a look at a typical workstation configuration.

I have done video editing on dual- and single xeon workstations (x5450 x 2, w3690/x5650/e5-2670 x 1) and I can see from personal experience that either approach is sufficient (for me). Typical cinebench benchmarking is quite indicative of real life experience with those configurations.

so i would recommend an older multi-core xeon, 16gb memory (ecc for lower cost), ssd + OK video as a starting point. a dual core configuration provides more upward upgradability in the future. the cost will depend on specific cpus picked. but a lga1366-based workstation should start at less than $100 used, $100 - 200 for  a better cpu, $100 for ssd. a total of $500 will put you in business. lga2011-based workstation should start at around $500 used. newer ones will generally start at $1500plus.

There are lots of very cheap OEM E5 processors leaked through illegal channels from China and Japan, mostly from system integrators leaking chips unauthorized by Intel.

I doubt it. most of the E5 processors on the used market come from retired servers. I would pick x5650 if money is tight or E5-2670 as a starting point, as they offer really good value for your money.

I wouldn't get engineering samples as you may not be able to run them on your motherboard.

workstation configuration should be considered and don't waste your money on graphics -> unless you want to play games routinely on that computer as well.

[zapta]

Thanks everybody for the information. Much appreciated, really.

I will pass it to my friend.