Help! Build for professional video editing as alternative to a MacBook Pro

[JoshNZ]

My First post. Been stalking these forums for awhile planning a gaming build (post to come), but for now I am looking into a build for my brother who is a professional videographer making commercial films/advertisements.

Recently my brother told me he was planning on buying a MacBook Pro with retina display and a 6tb apple thunderbolt storage. (The fact that its a laptop seems to be a bonus rather than a necessity.

E.g. http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/ with 16gb memory upgrade and a 6tb storage device http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thunderb...&sr=1-11&keywords=Western+Digital+My+Book+6tb



I figured he must be able to build something with way more power for that price if he builds a desktop instead (or something much cheaper).

So... I would like help coming up with a build to try and convince him to ditch the Mac.

What I know is he will be filming on one of these: http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/
which shoots "2.5k 12-bit RAW files recorded at 2432 x 1366"

He uses some Apple editing software but maybe I can convince him to change (I don't know much about editing software, maybe Adobe premiere?)

Parts I have in mind so far are:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X

Is an aftermarket CPU needed? Maybe a Corsair H100?

GPU: GeForce 580 3gb
Is this suitable? Its my understanding that NVidia is the way to go to to having CUDA cores. From reading some forums it seems that gaming gpus such as this outperform Quadro GPUs in video editing.

SSD: Samsung 830 series 512gb
Boot drive and to run editing software

HDD: He needs 6TB of backed-up storage. Maybe a RAID10 setup with 6x 2TB hardrives? (e.g. western digital black 2TB?) I admit I dont really understand how raid works but he would want a system that can compete with the 6TB Thunderbold storage

MOBO: Not sure, need a LGA 2011 socket with RAID10 support for at least 8 HDDs. Any ideas?

Monitor: Needs to compete with the 2880x1800 IPS retina display. Maybe a Dell 30" Ultra sharp like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260028

Memory: Any 1600 16GB kit I guess

Case: Something big enough to hold everything. Also needs to look professional (i.e. not a gaming case with flashing lights etc). Any ideas?

PSU. Maybe a Corsair HX850? is this overkill?

MISC: Keyboard, Mouse, Wireless card, Card reader, Webcam, Windows 7, DVD-RW.


Just getting ideas on a build so don't know where parts will be brought.

He probably wont be overclocking it unless its feasible but it needs to be reliable.

I'm guessing he wont want something overly massive or loud.

Being able to upgrade in the future would be an advantage (over a Mac)

I cant imagine he would ever utilize SLI or Crossfire as I believe most editing software does not support multiple GPUs.


Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Knufire]

Need a budget and what software he's going to use to accurately recommend a build. But considering he was about to drop $3500 on the Apple system and storage, probably go with this.

3 x 3TB HDDs in RAID 5 gives you 6TB of space and one drive failure tolerance.

Typically what I've seen is a SSD boot drive, a 2nd SSD as a "scratch drive" (holds current projects), and the RAID array for more long term storage.

 

[ebug122]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if he does professional editing and is used to software for the Mac (Finalcut?) why force him to switch and learn a new program. Sure it may be cheaper to build a Windows machine, but the hours/days spent on learning a new piece of software would be unnecessary if he stuck with the program he is fluent with.

 

[JoshNZ]

Thanks for the advice Knufire. Yes that makes sense with the SSD set-up. I was having some much trouble choosing a case and MOBO that would work so thank you for doing that.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if he does professional editing and is used to software for the Mac (Finalcut?) why force him to switch and learn a new program. Sure it may be cheaper to build a Windows machine, but the hours/days spent on learning a new piece of software would be unnecessary if he stuck with the program he is fluent with.

Yes I think you are right. He expressed that he would like to be able to build a PC rather than use a Mac but I seems that he is too attached to Finalcut to change. At least with this information he can choose what he wants to do.