Video Editing Workstation Motherboard options

I'm in the works of possibly investing in a new system with the intention of officially starting a local video production business. I'm currently working with 8 gigs of Ram and that runs out fast with just standard DV video, so ideally I'll need as much memory as I can get my hands on and that brings me to the MB form factor question. I was only able to find a single EVGA Motherboard on Newegg that supported 48 GB of ram (others likely exist, but I've only checked newegg so far) but the form factor is listed as HPTX. I checked newegg for an HPTX computer case but they don't even have a category for it.

So what's the deal with this form factor? I've never really heard of such a MB form factor before, although I don't really keep up with much anymore. Does anyone maybe know of a good workstation board that supports 48 GB of ram that fits the ATX or E-ATX form factor?

I'd really also like all 6 Gbps SATA connectors, but it looks like I may only be able to get a couple per board. I've heard that even though HDDs don't get close to to 3 Gbps read speeds, the faster interface still yields increased performance.

I'm not sure what else to ask to be honest, I've only somewhat followed the i7 series consumer CPU's and this breaks into Xeon territory of which I'm not familiar with at all. So really any bit of information will be helpful.

Thanks

Without even looking at the link I know you're talking about the SR-2. While good in theory for all the available RAM, no way would you utilize the CPU potential. A typical 1366 board with 24GB won't suit you? plus save you a couple grand in CPU's.

Just incase you were wondering... eVGA lists all the available cases that fit that board, through their forums. here

nzaneb said:

Without even looking at the link I know you're talking about the SR-2. While good in theory for all the available RAM, no way would you utilize the CPU potential. A typical 1366 board with 24GB won't suit you? plus save you a couple grand in CPU's.

Just incase you were wondering... eVGA lists all the available cases that fit that board, through their forums. here

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ah! That list will be most helpful ^_^ ty much, but as for as not utilizing the CPU potential; based on everything I've read/watched about adobe's CS5 premiere and after effects, I most certainly would be utilizing all 12 cores to their full potential.

I did look into a typical 1366 board with 24 GB of ram at first, and in all honesty, I'll likely end up with a 6 core Extreme (quick side question why in the hell do the xeon 6 cores cost SO much more money?) and 24 GB of ram. It's just that I know I'll be working with HD video and the more CPU power and memory I can get my hands on, the better.

It sucks though because I already have a great full size tower case, but it only supports E-ATX -_- and it's just infuriating to me that a freaking case, a simple mechanical item, cost 400 dollars...granted it is 40 pounds, but even so, 400 dollars just isn't justifiable relative to how much those cases actually cost to make. And on top of that, the xeons; which are maybe a LITTLE bit faster than the Gulftown's; cost twice as much. It's all a bunch of crap, the performance increase to price increase ratio is just retarded...errr, but it's not like any of these prices are a surprise to me, I just get upset every time I think about how limited my options are. For example; if I want 2 physical 6 core CPU's, I can't get two i7 extremes and put them in that board, I HAVE to get the xeons which cost twice as much (almost) but are only a tiny bit faster, if that. It's all an investment though, so it's not like I'd be dropping ridiculous amounts of money for nothing

I'd still prefer two physical CPUs with 12 cores combined, and the 48 GB of ram, but this may not be feasible for my situation. Just in case it is though, I don't want to rule it out just yet

Have you looked into getting a pre-built? We have a Dell Precision T7500 which has two quad core i7 Xeons and 24 GB of RAM, with capacity for up to 192 GB. It might be worth investing in an enterprise level machine if it's going to get used only for work. Ours runs 24/7 under full load (modelling ruthenium carbene complexes) and is currently sitting at 118 days of uptime with no problems. It's pretty quiet as well.

Edit: we got some ridiculous discount on it as well, although we are a University. It might be worthwhile spec'ing a rig and the phoning to haggle?

Wow... it seems a lot more expensive over there. I get to $7600 for a dual six-core Xeon machine with 24 GB RAM and 2x 1 TB HDDs with dual 22in Monitors. Ouch ...

David said:

Wow... it seems a lot more expensive over there. I get to $7600 for a dual six-core Xeon machine with 24 GB RAM and 2x 1 TB HDDs with dual 22in Monitors. Ouch ...

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haha, ouch is quite appropriate, I know I'm gonna have to drop some serious cash, but I don't want to just thrown money away at the same time

I haven't actually thought about a pre-built but it really can't hurt to check it out. If I were to end up just going a single 6 core i7 though, I'd only have to get a MB, CPU and the 24 GB of ram since the rest of my current hardware is more than adequate for the upgrade.

But since I'd have to get a new case if I go the route of two six-core xeons, it may actually be worth trying to configure a pre-built. I know that dells' website is really tricky when it comes to configuring what you want (side note; I miss the old configuration websites back in the late 90's when you just choose EVERYTHING you wanted instead of having to look around and see what has what) but I've traversed the trickiness before and configured an XPS for $1,500 that had virtually the same specs as one of dells' $2,300 alien ware -_-

The nice thing about the preconfigured machines David already mentioned....but he didn't emphasize the downsides enough IMHO....that being the value.

The SR-2 with a couple nice Xeons should get to 4.2GHz easy, and 4.5GHz+ isn't out of the question with good cooling. That would end up being significantly higher performance than the pre-built machines for less cash

MIAHALLEN said:

The nice thing about the preconfigured machines David already mentioned....but he didn't emphasize the downsides enough IMHO....that being the value.

The SR-2 with a couple nice Xeons should get to 4.2GHz easy, and 4.5GHz+ isn't out of the question with good cooling. That would end up being significantly higher performance than the pre-built machines for less cash

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/sigh new case, twice the cost for each cpu :\ but I know how quickly I run out of ram with 8 gigs and that's just with standard DV. When I start working on HD footage It'll go even quicker. Looks like I'm left with no choice. I shall invest in the SR-2 when the time comes. I thank you all for the assistance, I've got a good idea what I need to do now