Premiere and Photoshop users, Motherboard and processor recomendations please!?!?

Question

Been a while since my last computer and I am a little overwhelmed by the choices available now. I am thinking a WTX or at least extended ATX form factor but am open to suggestion. I am thinking a single quad core processor, but am open to dual processors or 6-core. at a minimum, the mobo needs to be RAID 0 capable (1 and 5 preferred)

I do (real) video editing of DV from MiniDv tape with Premiere and edit full frame digital photography with photoshop CS5. On board firewire is a must for the DV.

Bottom line, I'd like to keep the processor, mobo, and power supply close to $1000 (less is best!)

Guitar Guy · Accepted Answer

A multimedia machine will need as many cores and/or thread as possible, and as much RAM as possible. Photoshop, Premiere, vegas, etc... eat up RAM.

A core i7-950 is excellent at multimedia editing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

You will need to pair it with as much DDR3 RAM (6GB - 12GB) as you can afford.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145235

Motherboard will have to be an X58. 1394a and RAID 0/1/5/10 on the MB below. Highest rated motherboard in it's price range.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157163

PSU does not have to be too beefy. 600W or so should be enough.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

MB RAID 5 tends to suck compared to controller card hardware RAID 5. I would not rely too much on the MB's RAID 5, or any MB's RAID 5. MB RAID 0 and RAID 1 are good though.

Fast I/O speeds will be very important for editing and for opening applications. I'd recommend a SSD combined with one HDD or two HDDs in RAID 0 or RAID 1.

The Kingston SSDNow V Series 64GB Desktop bundle is currently on sale. Excellent for OS installation and application installations.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139133

A pair of Western Digital Caviar Blue drives in RAID 1 should provide both capacity and redundancy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136534

Everything else (case, ODD, cables, fans, etc...) is up to you. 

Total cost for the build should be roughly $1200.

The CPU, MB, and 650W PSU come in at $545, well below your $1000 mark.

George H · Answer

Since your video editing stick with the Intel and its multithreading capabilities. I would go with an i7 LGA 1366 CPU. you don't have to go with 6 core nor the 980X even the 950 will do. most mobo's today do RAID 1 & 5 even this inexpensive model...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665. it takes just about any DDR3 from 1066 to 1866...triple channel up to 24GB which is way more than you could use even for the most demanding work. It has one rear panel 1394a and one internal. 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots that will do SLI OR Crossfire. I doubt if you would use all the power of 2 Hi end graphics cards. And all the bells & whistles & "tweaks" ASUS is noted for. USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s I would say that board, an i7 950, at lease 6GB of 1600 DDR3 ram (triple channel) at least 1T SATA 6 hard drive, at least one GTX 470 and a Corsair 750W PSU in a nice full tower case would be great. Check out newegg.com for the stuff you may be able to keep it down NEAR $1000..I know less is better but your talking Pro work...don't scrimp...it will cost you in the end!

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Premiere and Photoshop users, Motherboard and processor recomendations please!?!?

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