I have older XPS 8100 and am starting to do some video editing - simple talking heads HD videos captured with Canon DSLR and processed for web, YouTube. I may experiment a bit with After Effect too and maybe by the end of the year, if all good, I may get a new computer with more power
For now I am looking to breathe some new pep in existing Studio XPS 8100 (http://www.dell.com/support/Manuals/us/en/19/product/studio-xps-8100), which is as follows:
- i5 processor (I think first generation)
- PCIe v2
- SATA II motherboard (no SATA III support)
- 1 drive (7200 1.75TB Seagate)
- 350 W power supply
- Nvidia GTS 240 http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gts-240-oem-product/specifications
General System Upgrades
So here is what I am thinking:
- Keep processor, motherboard, power supply, to simplify upgrade and keep cost down
- Possibly(!) replace video card with GT 630-SL-26D3-L (Kepler version) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D6KOU66/r (has more CUDA cores and 2 GB of memory BUT only 64-bit rather than 128-bit)
- Get SATA/eSATA III controller board to use for secondary drives, upgrading from internal SATA II limit http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00952N2DQ/ (note this board allows flexibility of SATA connection for internal drives and/or external drives)
- Get USB 3 controller board that I can use as needed for external HD docks, as an alternative to eSATA (eSATA III or USB 3 better?) and since these are cheap, why not get both) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SJGGAE/
- Get USB 3 front panel ports to ease access http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006TAEH7W/
- Get Samsung 830 Pro SSDhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NB8WRU/ and use it for primary drive (even though this means it will work as only SATA II)
Makes sense so far?
Hard Drives
For additional drives I am planning to use what I already have, based on your feedback and maybe benchmarks once connected up...(installed either internal or eSATA/USB external)
- Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 7200 RPM SATA III - 64 MB cache http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GRN2/ (I have a bunch of these drives since it is what I've been using in my MediaSmart Home Server and Synology NAS)
- WD Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA III - 64 MB cache http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WD1002FAEX-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
- WD Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA II - 32 MB cache http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Black-WD1001FALS/dp/B001C271MA/
- Western Digital Raptor 74GB (small!) 10000 RPM SATA (v1 I think) WD740GD-75FLA1 http://www.impactcomputers.com/wd740gd-75fla1.html that I have laying around (unused but from a 2005 RAID server) so will see how it performs once I put it in and run some benchmarks
- WD Caviar Green 1TB (currently in a NAS but I can shuffle things around if need be though I think I am better served to just use my fastest drives for my video editing PC)
I am most fuzzy about how to best use these hard drives...
Primary System Drive (OS + Programs)
Note that my motherboard only supports SATA II and since the primary drive I think needs to be connected to the motherboard (rather than being able to plug into the new SATA II controller card) I think I am stuck with SATA II for the primary drive. Note also my motherboard does not support AHCI (whatever that is, but I understand that it is important to get the most out of SSD). Or just use a SATA II Caviar Black as the system drive and let it be until I et a new computer that I can then make sure has a SSD primary drive configured to take most advantage of it? So is the cost of SSD justified if only SATA II and no AHCI?
Also, can I just clone my current OS/data drive to the new SSD or will I need to re-install OS, programs, etc.?
Secondary Video/Data Drive
XPS 8100 has two drive bays, 1 flex (2.5"?) bay and 2 x 5.25" optical bays (one has CD drive, the other I will use for USB 3 front ports). So if I should have all drives internal, I can stick the SSD system drive in the flex bay and the two secondary drives in the two regular drive bays.
I believe my motherboard supports RAID but I don't know if it is worth to invest two drives in a RAID 0 configuration when it is using SATA II only. So I am thinking I will be better off to use as a video/data drive the Black Caviar 7200 RPM 64MB (or the old 10,000 RPM Raptor) patched through the new SATA III controller.
So... I have a bunch of HDD, including SATA III 7200 and SATA I(?) 10000, and I can connect to motherboard as SATA II, RAID as supported by motherboard or through controller card as SATA III (internally -or- externally - any difference?)
So if I am to reduce it all to one question :-) which drives to connect in which way?
Would that be enough? Would it be a "balanced" configuration for how I plan to use this PC or do you see bottlenecks? Or RAID is the way to go for the main video drive?
Third Drive Maybe?
If you think a third drive will help (I see that advice given in Adobe Premiere Pro forums), I could incorporate another HDD but maybe for flexibility connect it externally via eSATA or USB 3 dock (though if there is really no practical reason for that flexibility, I can just keep that drive internal too).
What do you think?
I appreciate your feedback!!