I'm in the process of building a new PC that I
don't intend to use for gaming, and have been advised
in this thread I'd made in OT to knock at this door anyway.
Before I describe what I expect from this new system, I think I should start by saying that my main "rig" is a neolithic (late 2007) Apple Mac Mini (Core2 T7200 @ 2.00GHz), that I've along the past years upgraded with a SSD and 4/3 GB RAM, and which has been running Linux for most of its life.
It's become a bit sluggish when browsing certain websites lately, generally drops a bunch of frames when playing 1080p HTML5 videos, but other than that still matches my very basic needs (also, I'm patient).
That being said, I think the time has definitely come to retire the old chap, and replace it with a beefier system that would allow me to finally edit the nice 1080p@50fps videos I take when I go paragliding from the comfort of my couch (I have to use my Asus notebook for the moment, which also lacks the processing power to do so quickly and efficiently).
So, I'm not really looking for the higher-performance-for-my-money machine here, but rather for a system that will suit these specifications (in order of preference):
1. Be energy efficient, because it'll most certainly be powered on at least 8 hours a day and drawing 50W when idling is just not an option,
2. Fit in a very compact tower case, because I want to hide it and my only option is to place it behind my A/V furniture which is only 44 cm / 17 in. high, and around 20 cm / 8 in. from the wall,
3. Have enough processing power to easily fulfil my video editing needs from today, and not feeling totally ridiculous in 5 years from now (my systems last me a while!),
4. Support for some standards I don't use today but may need in a year or two, like USB 3.1 or HDMI 2.0, would be a appreciated
Having discussed with good people from GAF on OT, done some investigations on hardware, features supported by the software I use, and balanced all that with the opinion of a friend who's regularly editing videos, here's the tentative build I've come to:
- Case: Cooler Master Silencio 352 - Because it's the only one I've found that's compact enough. The fact it's cheap and appreciated from the people who picked is also nice.
- CPU: Intel Core i7 6700 - Because 4 cores / 8 threads seems like a good balance, the fact it's last gen means it's more power efficient than its predecessor, and restricting to the 65W TDP version means it won't be too hard to cool down.
- Radiator: BeQuiet! PureRock - Because it's the only one I've found with a 12 cm fan that could fit in the Silencio case (limited to 155 mm height.)
- Motherboard: ASUS Z170M-Plus - Because it's cheap but features anything I'd like.
- Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury 32 GB (2x 16GB) DDR4 2400 MHz CL14 - Because I'm not sure I need it, but fuck it, I can.
- GPU: (Gigabyte) GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2 GB - Because kdenlive (the video editing software I use) supports libMovit for hardware assisted rendering, whose author seems to think a GTX650 has enough power to render most combinations in 4K, and also relies on ffmpeg for video encoding/decoding tasks, which itself supports hardware acceleration.
- Storage: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB - Because 250 GB would probably be enough space to hold the system and working files, my NAS being in charge of long term storage of clips and videos.
This configuration would cost me 1175€, just for information.
But let's forget about the price for a moment and simply focus on my specifications and the ways to achieve them: I'd appreciate your feedback regarding possible flaws in my logic, weaknesses in my component choice, or better available options (but please justify them!) ...