New workstation

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Jrijken

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New workstation

PostWed Jan 06, 2021 10:29 am

Hi,

I'm putting together a new workstation for our post producion facility wich only purpose will be color correction + rendering. (Mostly HD with occasional 4K)

I was wondering if the specs below will get the job done.

Thx

specs:
HP Z8 G4 Workstation
Dual 16 cores, 2.1 GHz
base frequency | Intel
Xeon Silver 4216
256GB (8x 32GB) of
2933MHz DDR4 ECC
Registered Memory
1TB NVMe M.2 Solid-
State Drive
4TB NVMe M.2 Solid-
State Drive
NVIDIA GeForce RTX
2080Ti 11GB
NVIDIA GeForce RTX
2080Ti 11GB
HP Base Front IO | 4x
USB 3.0 Type-A
Intel X550-T2 | Dual-
Port | RJ45 | PCIe 3.0 |
10GbE Network
Adapter
Windows 10
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MishaEngel

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Re: New workstation

PostWed Jan 06, 2021 3:51 pm

I think yes(it's kind of overkill), what do you expect from the system?
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BensTechLab

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Re: New workstation

PostWed Jan 06, 2021 10:21 pm

Jrijken wrote:Hi,
I was wondering if the specs below will get the job done.


Ha, ha, that list looks like its just about fully maxed out specs on every option! It better "get the job done"!!
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Jrijken

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Re: New workstation

PostThu Jan 07, 2021 7:59 am

BensTechLab wrote:
Jrijken wrote:Hi,
I was wondering if the specs below will get the job done.


Ha, ha, that list looks like its just about fully maxed out specs on every option! It better "get the job done"!!


Not really, but i'll admit i might have gone a little over the budget :D
I guess what I was really asking is if there are better options then the ones i've chosen. This machine will have to be "future proof" and last a good while...
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Uli Plank

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Re: New workstation

PostThu Jan 07, 2021 12:43 pm

Future proof? A computer? I don't think so. Let's see how Intel or AMD respond to the Apple challenge…
No, an iGPU is not enough, and you can't use HEVC 10 bit 4:2:2 in the free version.

Studio 18.6.5, MacOS 13.6.5
MacBook M1 Pro, 16 GPU cores, 32 GB RAM and iPhone 15 Pro
Speed Editor, UltraStudio Monitor 3G, iMac 2017, eGPU
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MishaEngel

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Re: New workstation

PostThu Jan 07, 2021 6:00 pm

Jrijken wrote:
BensTechLab wrote:
Jrijken wrote:Hi,
I was wondering if the specs below will get the job done.


Ha, ha, that list looks like its just about fully maxed out specs on every option! It better "get the job done"!!


Not really, but i'll admit i might have gone a little over the budget :D
I guess what I was really asking is if there are better options then the ones i've chosen. This machine will have to be "future proof" and last a good while...


Depending on where you live I might be able to help you find a system that is cheaper, faster and fulfills you needs for now and some years to come.

pcpartpicker is often a good starting point.
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tristansummers

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Re: New workstation

PostFri Jan 08, 2021 11:46 am

I would be concerned about the low processor spec actually.
Remember boost speeds are usually quoted for single core only.
Have you confirmed that processor can supply everything properly, otherwise the GPUs wont really be optimised and kind of wasted money.
I would also look at 4 drive nvme card for scratch and media, ideally vraid on chip but if the mobo support bifurcation you might not need it. Corsair 510p good bang for buck if you don't use PCIe4 yet.
I would wait for the 3080Ti/Ultra and just get one and upgrade the processor.
I would get a box from a video supplier wioth support, as though the HPO are industry standard, they don't have the best cooling/airflow and for the money you mught get higher spec and better support from Boxx, mediaworkstations etc.
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Steve Fishwick

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Re: New workstation

PostFri Jan 08, 2021 2:23 pm

tristansummers wrote:I would be concerned about the low processor spec actually.
Remember boost speeds are usually quoted for single core only.


Low processor spec, upgrade the processor? That's dual core Xeon, 64 logical cores, speed without turboboost speed figures! A standard quality config with high end facilities. HP workstations too. Their cooling, tooless design and enterprise bios configs are far more than adequate. I agree though I would be looking at a single larger Vram RTX Quadro (or Geforce) instead of the 2 Geforces personally and adding a TB3 card too.
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Andrew Kolakowski

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Re: New workstation

PostFri Jan 08, 2021 7:32 pm

Base CPU clock is low. I would 10x prefer eg. 12 cores at 3GHz.
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John Griffin

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Re: New workstation

PostSun Jan 10, 2021 10:38 am

That spec will get the job done - at a price. You could get a better performing workstation for less money if you went the DIY build route based on the latest AMD CPUs and 3xxx series nvidia GPU
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BensTechLab

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Re: New workstation

PostTue Jan 12, 2021 9:11 pm

I think one of the points people are trying to say here is that "future proof" isn't really a thing in workstation tech anymore. There was a day when you bought a computer for 10 years+, then 5 years+, then 3 years was a good target, then 2. At least here in Canada the CRA now allows you to write off a "workstation" in 1 tax year (not true for "servers" or "infrastructure" which get amortized over multiple years).

If this is a business for you, I'd ask, will you break even or profit with this purchase in 1 year's earnings? If a high spec machine allows you to save hours of a precious editors time (saving "salary" costs), release quicker (be first on YouTube or social), or other competitive advantages, then you may justify this as a worthy investment. But if not, you can probably get away with 1/2 the budget and still tackle the same projects. You'll need to crunch your own business numbers to decide. But I wouldn't aim for "future proof". I'd aim for the budget that makes sense in the next 12 months to maybe 24 months. Assume you will replace this machine or upgrade or complement it with new IT purchases in 12-30 months after purchase. I'm not even 12 months later, and the 2060 has gone from "quite good" to "getting old". :lol: Everyone around me buying 30-series cards...

A "consumer desktop" cpu instead of the Xeon will get you higher single core clockspeeds, but will in some/most cases lose the ECC RAM support. I'm not sure how much ECC RAM benefits Davinci Resolve...

But personally for hobby YouTube use I DIY'd my own video editing workstation with:
  • Core i9-10900k (10+ months ago, technology moves fast) which will idle around 4.2 Ghz and turbo to 5 Ghz plus, 10 cores total, 20 threads.
  • Paired that with an RTX2060 (mid level card, "high end" for most "home users", but maybe minimal for "pro users").
  • 64Gb 3200Mhz ram
  • 2x m.2 nvme drives
and the machine runs quite well with Davinci Resolve!

This machine renders my 1080p videos in 1/3 of actual video length (so 21 minute video would render in 7 minutes in resolve). And was well under $2000 CAD (<$1500 USD). You can go higher, and may want to for 4k (you said "occasional 4k", mostly HD), but just to illustrate the point that a consumer desktop can do that job if that's the appropriate budget for your operations.

Only you can crunch the ROI numbers by knowing what your income potential is vs costs.

P.S. In the last month or so I've already seen announcements for 30-series cards with 20GB VRAM! Insane.

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