Building PC/Laptop

Which specs shall I buy for renderring large videos/gifs files in the background without lag?

Right now i'm running a Macbook.

8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
750MB Harddrive
Intel Core i7
2.9 GHz

When I render a large gif/video, I can't do things without lag while it's renderring.

 

What kind of budget do you have?

Also is this purely a workstation? Rendering video, images, etc..or are you also planning to be doing any gaming on this?

 

About £1000.
Maybe gaming in future, atm only got runescape to take payment.

 

See what resources are being used up. Are you using 7GB of ram? Is your CPU at 100%? Is it using graphics acceleration that your mac just can't deal with?

 

PM'd you a build, enjoy

 

Why don't you post it?

 

People are incredibly picky when it comes to builds, someone will inevitably say that its overkill or try and debate the h100i etc.

Anyway, here is what I came up with:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($325.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($104.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z87 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($232.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($123.24 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($148.98 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($114.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ Outlet PC)
SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ($215.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1435.11
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

I left a bit of headroom on the psu in case he ever decides that he wants to add a high end graphics card into the equation. I tried to be cost effective on the case so he could always go for something more if he wanted (its a really nice case for the price). I also just threw in a cheap optical drive just for the operating system install/couple other things that he might find it useful for. If he wants something more that's easy enough to upgrade later.

 

Rendering most likely does make use of the graphics card.

 

Some programs make slight use of the gpu but its not used to the extent that the cpu or ram are. If you don't think it'll be enough he could always downgrade that ssd to the smaller version and throw in a radeon hd 7770 gpu. Its cheap and has great performance/comes with a free game. Tbh though any older gpu (and probably even the on-board graphics) will probably be enough.

 

Yea I did some quick research and most programs don't make use of the GPU for some reason. It would be a lot faster if they did.

 

Yeah, I've been looking it up also and it seems like most programs only use it for previews etc. Even applications like sony vegas don't use it at all.

It sounds like its being talked about for use in the "future" but I'm seeing blog posts back to 2007 where people have been claiming that, so who knows.

 

you posted a good build

 

Yea. I would get a cheaper mobo and I don't think he'll need that CPU cooler unless he overclocks.

 

Yeah, normally I'd agree but mobos are a bitch to replace and its on the new socket so that motherboard should last him quite a while. Also my rationale for the cpu cooler is that he could use it if he decides to overclock and rendering and stuff is very very cpu heavy working the processor for as long as 10 hours straight, I'd definitely want to make sure it stays cool. It'd be a shame not to oc that unlocked processor though.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1GKtc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1GKtc/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1GKtc/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£255.11 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£90.98 @ Dabs)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£113.84 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£78.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£73.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£46.68 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£307.00 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Arctic White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£74.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£57.56 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£11.10 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £1109.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-23 15:25 BST+0100)
I've seen the build up in the posts, the GPU REALLY helps in video rendering, and CUDA even helps more, you can get a GTX 760 to keep it at 1000 pounds, also prices are ones that you can use, not from American stores.

 

Here is my activity monitor;

CPU TAB :



System Memory tab :

 

Yea. So it looks like you need a lot more memory. Once it starts using the paging file it slows down a whole shit ton.