EDIT: My blog about building my PC (finally!), a work in progress:
https://herefortheweather.wordpress.com ... indows-pc/
EDIT 7/23/15: If you want, you can skip ahead in this thread to read about the components I actually ended up ordering today -- months after starting this thread -- quite a different list compared to the one in this first post. See:
viewtopic.php?p=219445#p219445
[EDIT: I belatedly found an earlier thread which covers much of the same subject matter as this one. The previous thread includes a lot of very good info, especially for people who want to edit 4K or higher for a 4K finish. See: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=27748 ]
I'm considering building a Resolve 11 Window PC system for editing/grading BMPC-4K video, primarily ProRes 4K UHD & 1080p, and occasionally the cam's 4K RAW -- always for a 1080p finish.
I won't view or edit in 4K, I just need to be able to work with the files in a 1080p timeline at up to 30fps relatively smoothly. My edits & grading will be very basic -- I don't hire myself out as an editor -- I just want to be able to edit/grade some of the 4K footage I shoot. Most footage I shoot is edted by others on various systems.
I've read the Resolve 11 config guide. I'd appreciate anyone's comments/suggestions about my potential shopping list. Folks over on BMCuser have been very helpful, but additional suggestions/corrections are welcome.
Note: Items marked with a checkmark (√) are components I need to buy. Items marked “Already own” I don’t need to buy because, well, I already have them.
Based on suggestions here & BMCuser, below is the 9th revision of my shopping list:
PDF: https://herefortheweather.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/resolve-4k-win-pc-build-v9.pdf
A simpler, less-capable, less-expensive configuration is descibed in another post further down in this thread:
viewtopic.php?p=189627#p189627
Changes:
An 8GB version of the popular GeForce GTX 970 or 980 GPU card is expected “soon”, but there’s no way to know when, or how much it’ll cost compared to the current 4GB versions. Instead of waiting for what may be a relatively expensive card, my shopping list now features two Sapphire Radeon Vapor-X R9 8GB cards for use as Resolve 11 GPUs. The Vapor-X R9 is reportedly very fast with Resolve 11 (see posts below), and its 8GB memory apparently a good match for 4K in Resolve 11, too. I’ve decided to start with two Vapor-X R9 cards now rather than add the 2nd card later.
One of the Vapor-X R9 cards in this configuration would serve double-duty as both a Resolve GPU and as the GPU for the Resolve and Windows GUI using the Resolve Video I/O and GPU preference setting, "Use Display GPU For Compute". Later I plan to add a 2nd 1080p monitor, or just use 1 large higher-res monitor.
Each Vapor-X R9 card requires “2.5 slots” of space.
Originally I had a "ASRock X99 Extreme4 LGA 2011-v3" 6-slot motherboard on my list, but if two "2.5 slot" Vapor-X GPUs are installed, there'd be no room for any additional cards. So, in revision 9 of my list I replaced the ASRock MB with the slightly more expensive "GIGABYTE GA-X99-UD4 LGA 2011-v3" 7-slot MB.
Ideally I’d like to have two relatively small (approx. 21″, 1920 x 1080) monitors for the Resolve and Windows GUI to keep the text size relatively big compared to using only one GUI monitor approx. 27″ 2560 x 1440. I already own a 21″ 1080p HDTV monitor, and adding a 2nd one can be inexpensive. TBD. However, initially I’ll make do with only one 1080p monitor connected to one of the Vapor-X R9 cards.
I’ve put two “SanDisk Extreme Pro 960GB SSD SATA 6GB/s 2.5” 7mm[H] #SDSSDXPS-960G-G25″ on my shopping list because they're the least-expensive ~1TB SSD that BMD currently recommends for shooting 4K RAW in my BMPC-4K. The two SSDs would be configured as a RAID-0 array for maximum speed and a total capacity of ~2TB. Eventually these SSDs can be "repurposed" for use in my camera, after the ones in the PC are inevitably replaced by larger SSDs at some point in the future.
As with any RAID array regardless of type, it’ll be critical that I properly backup my active edit project files frequently. I’ll use bare >2TB HDDs via the external Voyager-Q USB-3 drive dock to make backups.
My list also includes a 3TB HDD for storage of misc. non-active Resolve 11 project and other data. Windows 8.1 Pro and a small number of applications (including Resolve 11) will be installed on a 240GB SSD that I already own.
This configuration includes 16GB of system RAM to start. At some point I’ll add more RAM by removing the 16GB and replacing it with 32GB or more.
To be on the safe side with two power-hungry Vapor-X R9 GPU cards plus disk drives, etc., in this revision of my shopping list includes a 1,300-watt power supply.
It’ll be interesting to see workflow/performance results using the above hardware when working with BMPC-4K RAW 4K, ProRes HQ UHD, and ProRes HQ HD at 24p & 30p.
Update 1/29/15:
Sapphire has announced a new 8GB GPU, “Tri-X R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 OC(UEFI)”, that will supposedly sell for somewhat less than their "VAPOR-X R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 PCI-E TRI-X (UEFI)". The new card has similar specs, and yet is slightly thinner (“2.2 slot” instead of “2.5 slot” width) compared to the previous card. See brief article and product info:
http://www.maximumpc.com/sapphire_adds_ ... _cost_2015
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentatio ... id=1&leg=0
I haven’t decided to pull the trigger on building this Win PC system yet. I’m still in research mode!
Additional suggestions/corrections are welcome!
-
https://herefortheweather.wordpress.com ... indows-pc/
EDIT 7/23/15: If you want, you can skip ahead in this thread to read about the components I actually ended up ordering today -- months after starting this thread -- quite a different list compared to the one in this first post. See:
viewtopic.php?p=219445#p219445
[EDIT: I belatedly found an earlier thread which covers much of the same subject matter as this one. The previous thread includes a lot of very good info, especially for people who want to edit 4K or higher for a 4K finish. See: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=27748 ]
I'm considering building a Resolve 11 Window PC system for editing/grading BMPC-4K video, primarily ProRes 4K UHD & 1080p, and occasionally the cam's 4K RAW -- always for a 1080p finish.
I won't view or edit in 4K, I just need to be able to work with the files in a 1080p timeline at up to 30fps relatively smoothly. My edits & grading will be very basic -- I don't hire myself out as an editor -- I just want to be able to edit/grade some of the 4K footage I shoot. Most footage I shoot is edted by others on various systems.
I've read the Resolve 11 config guide. I'd appreciate anyone's comments/suggestions about my potential shopping list. Folks over on BMCuser have been very helpful, but additional suggestions/corrections are welcome.
Note: Items marked with a checkmark (√) are components I need to buy. Items marked “Already own” I don’t need to buy because, well, I already have them.
Based on suggestions here & BMCuser, below is the 9th revision of my shopping list:
PDF: https://herefortheweather.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/resolve-4k-win-pc-build-v9.pdf
A simpler, less-capable, less-expensive configuration is descibed in another post further down in this thread:
viewtopic.php?p=189627#p189627
Changes:
An 8GB version of the popular GeForce GTX 970 or 980 GPU card is expected “soon”, but there’s no way to know when, or how much it’ll cost compared to the current 4GB versions. Instead of waiting for what may be a relatively expensive card, my shopping list now features two Sapphire Radeon Vapor-X R9 8GB cards for use as Resolve 11 GPUs. The Vapor-X R9 is reportedly very fast with Resolve 11 (see posts below), and its 8GB memory apparently a good match for 4K in Resolve 11, too. I’ve decided to start with two Vapor-X R9 cards now rather than add the 2nd card later.
One of the Vapor-X R9 cards in this configuration would serve double-duty as both a Resolve GPU and as the GPU for the Resolve and Windows GUI using the Resolve Video I/O and GPU preference setting, "Use Display GPU For Compute". Later I plan to add a 2nd 1080p monitor, or just use 1 large higher-res monitor.
Each Vapor-X R9 card requires “2.5 slots” of space.
Originally I had a "ASRock X99 Extreme4 LGA 2011-v3" 6-slot motherboard on my list, but if two "2.5 slot" Vapor-X GPUs are installed, there'd be no room for any additional cards. So, in revision 9 of my list I replaced the ASRock MB with the slightly more expensive "GIGABYTE GA-X99-UD4 LGA 2011-v3" 7-slot MB.
Ideally I’d like to have two relatively small (approx. 21″, 1920 x 1080) monitors for the Resolve and Windows GUI to keep the text size relatively big compared to using only one GUI monitor approx. 27″ 2560 x 1440. I already own a 21″ 1080p HDTV monitor, and adding a 2nd one can be inexpensive. TBD. However, initially I’ll make do with only one 1080p monitor connected to one of the Vapor-X R9 cards.
I’ve put two “SanDisk Extreme Pro 960GB SSD SATA 6GB/s 2.5” 7mm[H] #SDSSDXPS-960G-G25″ on my shopping list because they're the least-expensive ~1TB SSD that BMD currently recommends for shooting 4K RAW in my BMPC-4K. The two SSDs would be configured as a RAID-0 array for maximum speed and a total capacity of ~2TB. Eventually these SSDs can be "repurposed" for use in my camera, after the ones in the PC are inevitably replaced by larger SSDs at some point in the future.
As with any RAID array regardless of type, it’ll be critical that I properly backup my active edit project files frequently. I’ll use bare >2TB HDDs via the external Voyager-Q USB-3 drive dock to make backups.
My list also includes a 3TB HDD for storage of misc. non-active Resolve 11 project and other data. Windows 8.1 Pro and a small number of applications (including Resolve 11) will be installed on a 240GB SSD that I already own.
This configuration includes 16GB of system RAM to start. At some point I’ll add more RAM by removing the 16GB and replacing it with 32GB or more.
To be on the safe side with two power-hungry Vapor-X R9 GPU cards plus disk drives, etc., in this revision of my shopping list includes a 1,300-watt power supply.
It’ll be interesting to see workflow/performance results using the above hardware when working with BMPC-4K RAW 4K, ProRes HQ UHD, and ProRes HQ HD at 24p & 30p.
Update 1/29/15:
Sapphire has announced a new 8GB GPU, “Tri-X R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 OC(UEFI)”, that will supposedly sell for somewhat less than their "VAPOR-X R9 290X 8GB GDDR5 PCI-E TRI-X (UEFI)". The new card has similar specs, and yet is slightly thinner (“2.2 slot” instead of “2.5 slot” width) compared to the previous card. See brief article and product info:
http://www.maximumpc.com/sapphire_adds_ ... _cost_2015
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentatio ... id=1&leg=0
I haven’t decided to pull the trigger on building this Win PC system yet. I’m still in research mode!
Additional suggestions/corrections are welcome!
-
Last edited by Peter J. DeCrescenzo on Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:21 pm, edited 34 times in total.