The BEAST Does Live!!!
Threadripper (ripping) 3960x, 24cores, 128GB RAM, Raided NVME, Raid SATA archives, 2080TI...all tucked into this big old box!
My last computer purchased was in 2014. The Mac Pro "trash can". 8 cores, 32GB ram, a RAID5 OWC encslosure, and single ultra-widescreen monitor with playback on a FSI, 24" Broadcast Monitor. Before that, it was the old Mac cheesegrater, which I owned for nearly 6 years and loved! Especially when I was able to upgrade my video card and get some more life out of it. I knew the "trash can" would have limited upgrade potential, probably also have a defined lifespan with me as well, but it was an upgrade none the less, and it's size and portability helped on many projects. It served me really well. With the announcement of the Mac Pro over a year ago (and now being shipped), and it's price tag, I knew it was time to re-think the beating heart of my whole operation. Plus, in a nerdy kind of way...it's fun. 100% Customization for my workflow, media storage needs, and functionality.
The late 2013 Mac Pro while innovative, and honestly a marvel of design and function, had begun to put a strain on my work as resolutions, data rates, and just turning around projects super quick was getting more and more time sensitive. I felt I was "waiting" on it more and more. Creatively, sometimes things need to move fast and provide an opportunity to quickly and easily explore to implement into an "edit". This response and "flow" can be key to know if it's going to "work" and in some cases, developing more makes sense. I wanted to get back to that space but with the new media demands in place. It was also time to sort through YEARS of project archives, consolidate (or just plain discard) and start to think about how to integrate into a new setup. With technology, specs, and benchmarks revealing a lot of interesting and value added hardware in the custom built computer space in the last year...it was time. The BEAST needed to come to life!
CHECKING OUT THE SPECS
Ryzen Threadripper 3960x
AMD has had a stellar couple years. Lots has changed and developed in the world of custom built PCs and their use in post production. Well, maybe not that much has changed, I'm just catching up a bit! It's been a long time since I've not only been inside a computer beyond some RAM or SSD installations. It's been even longer since I worked primarily on PC based systems and Windows OS. That's going back to post production houses and using Avid Systems which ultimately gave way to FCP and Mac. The bottom line is, once your in edit it really doesn't matter but what DOES matter is if the system is keeping up with you and how fast you can turn around product without compromising creativity, quality, or quantity. The "sweet spot" for me was the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960x. Great benchmarks over at PugetSystems, great reviews, and surprising advantages like incredible export speeds, real-time RAW editing and enough PCI lanes to get creative with storage and cards. Keep reading to see my experience on some real-world projects.
BeQuiet! PVM Fans
The case includes a few, great fans from BeQuiet! but the case also includes a fan controller with lots of extra slots so why not give this beast some extra cooling while allowing control of the CPU AIO. The fans are smooth and quiet and can't help but love the conhesive look between the case, fans, and AIO. With the case design, the best airflow approach was an additional fan in front and exhaust fans on the top. May only give me a few degrees but I'll take it! In the end, I'm hoping AIO developers nail an awesome, reliable and robust cooler for these new, power hungry AMD processors and I can make a change. The beauty of this build is the ability to upgrade with the same socket in place. Could be a 64core AMD Beast#2 or additional video card...but the the foundation is there to make changes over the next several years without having to go a whole new route.
OVERKILL RAID? WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE!?
4xNVME Raid at 12000 MB/sec...holy...
Ok, over the top maybe! But with an existing M.2 enclosure for optimal speeds on the old Mac Pro and 4x1TB NVMEs, I couldn't help myself. Not to mention the MOBO shipped with a 4xM.2 Interal 16x PCI card. Result? A local working media drive with 4TB of space and ridiculous speeds! Like, 12,000 MB/sec crazy. I'm sure there's a point where this kind of speed, access of media, and any bottlenecking may come into play and others may argue...why? Well, why not?. I have the NVMEs and the MOBO shipped with the card. And, If you think 4,6, or even 8K files don't benefit from a super fast access like this one...take this thing for a spin!
What it's like in the REAL World?
I recently completed 2 projects and I honestly think I slept because of this thing. Who needs sleep? Shit man, I gotta get some rest to jump back in, keep my flow going! Above, you'll see what looks like a simple timeline for the first of the 2. A 18 minute long sizzle reel for The American Chemical Society. They were producing a virtual sizzle reel with various components and needed a overview video of their Publications division and process. Working with long-time client Flying Colors and producer Lynn Knieriem. What the above timeline doesn't reveal is nearly every one of those edits is an After Effects comp. We used a lot of text in conjunction with screen grabs, recordings, and journal covers utilizing AEs camera and depth of field effects. With our schedule (6 days!) knew I needed to keep it fluid, easily revised and instantly back into the edit to dynamically linking these was the way to go. What I didn't expect, and frankly blew my mind, was the near real-time playback of these linked comps inside premiere. What's more, having to revise, adjust effects and turn around another client review with an edit this long, and with linked comps, would have taken hours on the old machine. Now, it's literally minutes and when you can pull off another review at 11pm instead of 3am...you get some sleep!
Another recent job was a 45 minute edit to use with a live auction element to produce a virtual fund raising video for the National Repertory Orchestra out of Breckenridge, Colorado. Again, the machine delivered. Not only was the timeline experience incredibly responsive, the export process once again saved us. We worked up til a few hours before the show and I knew I could pull off edits to a 20 minute segment and turn it around in less than an hour. Edit, Export, Upload, Link....Done. Simply incredible and actually changes your perception of how to work and liberates in many ways.
It's been an incredible experience building and using this PC. Not only because it's been fun, creative, and fulfilling to see it go from concept to completion (and that it actually works!) but that it has offered so much of what I was hoping and more. I'm still dialing in some aspect like my archive process and drive setup, cooling and BIOS settings, and internal configurations, but it's my new BEAST and I love it!
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