Xeon Workstation specs-can I do better?

[dmeyer]

For compositing at 2K you'll want at least 1 more hard drive for the best results.

Also, the release of Nehalam Xeons is imminent. If you can wait a few months you'll see much faster Xeon's and/or lower prices on the Harpertowns.

[aglick]

or if you can find a nice price on components for an i7 965 single socket system - it will be slightly faster than the dual 5420s for 3D rendering and much faster than dual 5420s for compositing.

Right now, the i7 940 (slightly slower than the 965) gives the all-around best price-performance, followed by the 965 for a slightly higher price.

[Timmay]

Does that make a difference that it is only 4 cores instead of 8, especially for using multi cores in After Effects?

[imashination]

For a video editing machine, it seems a bit skimpy on the harddrives. Personally I'd throw a couple of TB drives in there and either plan ahead with reading from one drive and writing to the other, or be lazy and just Raid 0 them.

[aglick]

Does that make a difference that it is only 4 cores instead of 8, especially for using multi cores in After Effects?

No. i7 is faster.

[Timmay]

what's faster then the i7?

[dmeyer]

what's faster then the i7?

i7 Xeon...

[aglick]

what's faster then the i7?



today?



Dual Xeon 5440 and above.




Once the Dual Nehalem 55xx series Xeons are released, this will change.

I wouldn't expect that to happen until late Q1. Maybe April?

[Timmay]

Any guess as to how much those new ones would cost?


Does AMD have anything comparable?

Thanks for answering all of my questions.

[rocknroller]

look here (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-product-roadmap-2009,6384.html)


or here (http://www.tomshardware.com/de/Xeon-W5580-E5540-W3570,news-241941.html)

[Timmay]

Interesting.......


Best bet seems to wait.......

But if I can't is it best to go with a single i7 or dual socket xeons that are better then i7, but I will pay for the roof for?

Basically is a single i7 powerful enough to do comping at 2k?

[aglick]

Interesting.......


Best bet seems to wait.......

But if I can't is it best to go with a single i7 or dual socket xeons that are better then i7, but I will pay for the roof for?

Basically is a single i7 powerful enough to do comping at 2k?

I have been doing alot of testing with the i7 in AE, combustion and Fusion. Let me tell you - the i7 is even faster in these apps than it is with raytrace rendering -AND THAT"S SAYING SOMETHING! I'm not 100% sure why, but the only thing I can chalk this up to is the much improved memory bandwidth performance for i7.

An overclocked i7 for compositing will keep up with (and in some cases beat) the fastest current dual Xeons.


There's a freebie for ya. Merry Christmas.

;)

[Timmay]

Sweet!

Sold!

I will go and come up with a new comp and post my specs for review.

[dmeyer]

I have been doing alot of testing with the i7 in AE, combustion and Fusion. Let me tell you - the i7 is even faster in these apps than it is with raytrace rendering -AND THAT"S SAYING SOMETHING! I'm not 100% sure why, but the only thing I can chalk this up to is the much improved memory bandwidth performance for i7.

An overclocked i7 for compositing will keep up with (and in some cases beat) the fastest current dual Xeons.


There's a freebie for ya. Merry Christmas.

;)


Can't wait for dual i7's then. What's the ETA from BOXX?

[Timmay]

What about the new Phenoms?

i7 still win, even against dual Phenoms?

[aglick]

Honestly, I haven't spent any time benchmarking the new Phenoms.

Here's why - http://techreport.com/articles.x/16147/7

I like AMD - they make a good product. But today, for your applications, with the decision making criteria being "best performance" or even "best price-performance", the intel i7 wins in both cases.

[aglick]

Can't wait for dual i7's then. What's the ETA from BOXX?


-can't talk about unreleased products or roadmaps, sorry.

I can tell you that BOXX will make a MAJOR new product announcement next week.

;)

[Timmay]

Can anyone help me out with the best HDD and or RAID configuration for After Effects?


I'm hearing different things, but none specific for AE with regards to composting.

[dmeyer]

Can anyone help me out with the best HDD and or RAID configuration for After Effects?


I'm hearing different things, but none specific for AE with regards to composting.

Drive 1: System Drive
Drive 2 & 3: Raid 0 for Projects. All footage goes here
Drive 4: Output drive.

Drive 4 is a bit optional depending on how many bays your system has. You could also do 3 drives in RAID 0 or 5. Just make sure you have it all backed up and that your System drive is separate from where you keep your footage.

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