Need new Video Editing computer.

[TheForce]

No, I wasn't. Item #5 shows as a M.2 wireless card slot.

NVME 5600 on both. Maximum memory is 64GB.
That's right but it is not meant for a storage device. The socket is different so none of my NVME M.2 sticks would even fit. There is a 22x30mm size M.2 NVME drive I could insert in that socket that would fit but not sure if it is meant for a 3rd storage drive. Don't really need that. I'd prefer to keep it for wifi / BT radio anyway.
I was just thinking that maybe I could send BT audio in 7.1 digital to my AVR as it has a BT receiver in it. Need to experiment with that.

The manual was for the basic Dell system form factor and assembly and you configure with plug-in options as needed. The choices are limited but I didn't choose the 64GB option because the price was too high vs the 32GB and buying the DRAM separate. There was also the option of GEFORCE RTX 4090 but I decided I didn't need the added feature for game play, besides, it was not in stock.

 

[TheForce]

I just did a quickie edit in Adobe Premiere Pro and I am blown away by the speed. Imported a couple spatial video clips from my iphone and did a test render of a 90 second segment and it completed the render in 4 seconds! A similar on my old computer would have taken about a minute.

I also got my subwoofer working. It was a setting in the AVR again. Apparently in the speaker settings the subwoofer is automatically off when the primary speakers are set to "Large or medium" There was another setting in the AVR I found called "Plus" that allows the sub to remain on.

 

[arlo]

Well. When I got in the graphics department for an electric sign company in the mid nineties. My workstation was a 386. Rendering something to send to plotters, vinyl cutters and out to the shop to the CNC router. Hitting render would be a lunch break thing. I got pretty good fast. One day a Gerber rep. came in and had a whole pile of boxes.
An entire new workstation with new driver cards. Yeeee Hawwww. It was a four-eight-six with sixteen gigs of ram and a.....250 megabyte hard drive.....SCSi even! I felt like King...(what you step on in the grass if you have a pooch). Lol!!
Smash the render icon and it took less that 30 seconds. I was able to slam out so much work. Background stuff could run. The plotter could plot. The cutter could cut. And the guys in the shop hustled slapping new sign board and Lexan sheet in the router.
So. Don't be blinded by the light. I'm rather surprised that 'ole Harshy was as tame as he has been.
Dunno' what your budget was for your new PC. And very glad you so far like it. To be honest. I know. You didn't ask.
It's a typical stripped down Dell we've all seen before. Pretty sure that when the power supply borks. And it will. It's a Dell. You might not be looking for one from the likes of Newegg.
It's not too late you know.Dell does have boanfide real workstation class PC's in their refurb line. Never used, corporate cancellation units. But hey. Edit and render on, dude!

 

[TheForce]

Pretty excited. I got something working today that didn't work on my old system.

I was able to link my Meta Quest 3 to the computer via USB cable or BT for a virtual screen in mixed reality. The image quality is really good and the display is in 3D. I was hoping to be able to get Apple Spatial video to display this way but it seems the only app to send those files to the Quest is through the iphone Meta Quest app. Maybe old Zuckerberg will get the PC version upgraded one day. For now this is more of a party trick than a useful too. Kind of neat to set up 3 virtual monitors with a panorama monitor in the center.

To clarify I did have the Oculus Rift working on the old computer but that worked more like an extra 3D monitor. The Meta Quest 3 is Mixed Reality and creates a high resolution workstation with being able to use the real keyboard and mouse but see the screens in VR.

 

[TheForce]

For those who think DELL computers are junk:
Just saw that Michael Dell was bragging that Dell will be supplying the platform for the NVIDIA H100 AI chips to power Tesla's new facility for 50,000 AI computers and the systems for xAI and GROK AGI. Elon Musk has stated that Super Micro will also be a supplier.

The above has nothing to do with my decision to narrow my search for replacements for my older computers that the bare bones system was built by Super Micro with ASUS boards. Both were great, the new Dell systems I am using are just better even with those traditional features that are no longer available. I am discovering not as important or even necessary for my needs today. A few rare tasks will require some work arounds however.

Tesla is building what appears to be the world's largest most powerful computer for AL.


View: https://x.com/tim_zaman/status/1803970765861347549



View: https://x.com/SmokeAwayyy/status/1803645142987055342

 

[harshness]

For those who think DELL computers are junk:

This doesn't change my position. I still think most Dell computers are junk.

These exercises in "cost is no object" builds doesn't apply to anyone I know.

 

[TheForce]

This doesn't change my position. I still think most Dell computers are junk.

These exercises in "cost is no object" builds doesn't apply to anyone I know.

While we may disagree based on personal experiences, I always welcome your suggestions because I find them good and make me do more research into stuff I hadn't considered.

 

[TheForce]

Got the 64GB RAM installed today and now only one thing left to test, That Firewire issue. Low priority but I got the adapter cable in to try. Don't have my hops up for this one.

Far more important test I did this morning was to complete a work flow for shooting 3D Spatial Video clips in my iPhone 15 ProMax, and then edit in adobe Premiere Pro then export that to the MetaQuest 3 for viewing.

Developed a procedure that works::
1. Access the clips in Spatialify app and convert to Full SBS format. 1920x180 > 3840x1080 SBS
2. Export clips to my video work drive through Dropbox.
3. Import into Adobe Premiere Pro and match frame size to originals.
4. Edit clips with 3D effects and titles. Use second 3D monitor to correct Z axis depth on titles.
5. Export render timeline to H264 3840x1080.
6. Upload to Dropbox.
7. Download to iphone photos library.
8. Open Oculus app Gallery for MetaQuest 3 and send to Meta Quest 3 Headset. Meta Quest 3 must be connected to wifi, same network as iphone.
9. Access the edited video in Files/Spatial folder and select the video.

Maybe one day Adobe PP will be compatible with Apple's Spatial Video format and I can go directly from iphone to Adobe PP and then export directly to the Meta Quest 3.

It is also possible to use icloud backup rather than Dropbox but I have Dropbox and it worked. May need a MAC platform for editing. I have found transferring stuff from the iphone to and from a PC is quick with Dropbox so I will just stick with it.

 

[navychop]

You lost me at 1.

 

[Jim S.]

I also got my subwoofer working. It was a setting in the AVR again. Apparently in the speaker settings the subwoofer is automatically off when the primary speakers are set to "Large or medium" There was another setting in the AVR I found called "Plus" that allows the sub to remain on.

Out of curiosity, what AVR is that? The ones I've used (all Onkyo so far), if you set the front speakers to "large" it lets them carry some of the low bass in addition to the subwoofer, not instead of it.

 

[TheForce]

Out of curiosity, what AVR is that? The ones I've used (all Onkyo so far), if you set the front speakers to "large" it lets them carry some of the low bass in addition to the subwoofer, not instead of it.

It's a Pioneer 531. I discovered there were two settings. Large has no bass sent to the sub. in the subwoofer if you select "Plus" then bass will be output on both large front and the subwoofer. The default is no bass in the subwoofer when speakers are set to large. There is no front panel selections for this. I had to connect a monitor to HDMI output to see the hidden menu to change from default. While this AVR worked fine for 7.1 on my old computer that had a digital audio output, This Dell MB only has analog audio output for 7.1 and the Pioneer only has left and right audio in for analog. I only ever did a couple projects years ago in 7.1 Dolby Digital and don't plan on anything like that anymore so this will do fine.

 

[harshness]

While this AVR worked fine for 7.1 on my old computer that had a digital audio output, This Dell MB only has analog audio output for 7.1 and the Pioneer only has left and right audio in for analog.

The digital output for higher-order multi-channel audio must come through an HDMI port. Most of the cool modern stuff is carefully hidden behind HDCP these days.

If you look at the Windows audio output settings, you'll likely see the display adapter as one of the audio outputs.

It is folly to assume that because you haven't discovered something that it doesn't exist. As a seven year old design, the VSX-531 may not have all the latest and greatest bells and whistles but it isn't brain damaged either.

 

[TheForce]

The digital output for higher-order multi-channel audio must come through an HDMI port. Most of the cool modern stuff is carefully hidden behind HDCP these days.

If you look at the Windows audio output settings, you'll likely see the display adapter as one of the audio outputs.

It is folly to assume that because you haven't discovered something that it doesn't exist. As a seven year old design, the VSX-531 may not have all the latest and greatest bells and whistles but it isn't brain damaged either.

Thanks. You are confirming some research I did and want to test this later. I'll connect an HDMI cable from the NVIDIA board to the AVR and select one of the HDMI inputs. I saw a clue to this in the Computer management Device listings for an audio NVIDIA driver.

Currently, I'm testing DVCAM to USB input through an analog top USB adapter. That works using a free software OBS Video Capture using the analog to USB device. It was cheap. Now doing a long 2 hour video I did back in the 80's on VHS to MP4 file. The OBS Studio software is pretty nice but getting it set up properly was not simple plug n play. It has S- video input so quality is not as good as DVCAM Firewire but better than nothing.


Here's a picture of what my build now looks like. 3 4TB Hard drives. 2 M.2 NVMS 1 TB drives. NVIDIA RTX 4070. 1000w power supply. 64GB 5600 RAM. This build came with Dell's latest Tower cooler that is massive. Supposed to be much quieter than the liquid cooled unit. I mounted the 3rd hard drive on the bottom floor of the case so it would not block anything near the top.

 

[John2021]

i don't know why he don't build his own pc you'll come out much better off. you know what's in there and what it can do with better warranties. the only thing is if your not tech savy the idea of calling multible companies

 

[harshness]

i don't know why he don't build his own pc you'll come out much better off. you know what's in there and what it can do with better warranties. the only thing is if your not tech savy the idea of calling multible companies

The cost of components is getting nasty, so the pre-fab pricing is awfully attractive. Power supplies, cases and display adapters cost waaaay too much (thanks to nVidia's concentration on AI hardware?).

That said, you can still get what you pay for but compatibility and interoperability are no longer assured (especially problematic with Adobe products).

 

[navychop]

I think I’ll name my current PC (which I built) “Last One.”

 

[arlo]

Like 'ole Harshy said. You'll have to dig deep within Dell to find a business class prebuilt pc that allows for adequate expansion.
And pay for it you will.
Nvidia EVERYTHING is having a very difficult time with the newer graphics cards. And warranty denials are rampant. For each and every vendor using Nvidia gpu's. Period. And now (Northwestrepair on YouTube). Counterfeit cards are slipping out into the market to the unsuspecting.
From computer to cloud. And then cloud to whatever device for local file transfer is just plain "klunky".
Get and learn how to use an FTP client. And server. Routers even have that functionality. And VPN server/client provisions.
Or just good old cable cable transfer. Sheesh!

OBS is just okay. But highly twekable. Heck. With the capabilities of new computer hardware. Of course the functionality is vastly expanded.
Dang right Mr. Dell is bragging. He needs to sell things. Just like Jobs did. Promises that either deliver.....or don't. Did anyone say Lisa?
Elon doesn't do much bragging. Did you ever watch Once Upon a Time in Mexico? The scene where Depp is telling Trejo to do a task?
And Trejo comes back at him griping?
Depp says. "Are you a Mexi-can or a Mexi-can't ?"
Trejo pops back. "I'm a Mexi-CAN!!"
Elon, well there you have it.
The masses prove it. Employment ads prove it. All of the pc hardware vendors prove it. It's a Windows world.
(And hereeeeee comes basement dwelling Harshy !!!) Lol.

You have the GPU. You have a good processor. You have the RAM. Go Virtual Machine (anything) and load Hackintosh.
And you'll have a pretty good, modern OsX machine to doodle on. Or slap in another drive and load it on that and boot into it.
Oops.....you have a Dell. Slotless wonders, they are. I guess an external drive caddy with USB interface would work.
Hope that PSU doesn't fry on a Friday night. BestBuy won't have one. A consumer grade Dell for Facebook, Twitter. Fine.

Vendor software and drivers 'usually' are more feature robust than the auto-installed MS stuff. "Hints' of Nvidia this and that in devmgr. with listings of Microsoft as the vendor work. But if you want to really make that GPU cook. Nvidia drivers will let you do just that.
Have you ran Furmark or Cinebench yet?

Case in point. Realtek audio drivers get installed and updated with Windows update. Massaged MS versions.
Head over to Realtek's site and grab the real-Realtek driver package. Night and day.

What's that they say about those guys? "No highs. no lows, must be Bose". Typical for Dell to have just enough. 2 RAM slots. A couple of peripheral slots. Not your typical day at the beach.
But. I'm glad you like it so far. Those in the know won't exactly say it's a Cadillac.
Heck. I've grabbed the soldering iron and heat shrink and outboarded a mans power supply for the mission critical Dell pc's at my previous industry in the past just to survive.