Need recomendations for video editing computer.

Rusty Jones · May 25, 2016

So, my Laptop is not up to snuff for 4K editing, it will do 1080 just fine, but chokes on anything higher. And my desktop, well... we wont go there.

So I need to buy/build a new computer for 4k video editing. So I am all up for suggestions, but I am leaning towards building rather than buying, so I need recommendations for minimum component specs, video card and monitor probably being the big ticket items. I figure if I follow the specs for a high end gaming computer I should be in the ball park. As far as operating system... Do I stick with Win 7 Pro, or Win 10? Sorry, no apples.

pyrate · May 25, 2016

I went with WIn 10 on my processing desktop and it works fine for Adobe Creative Suite.
No doubt build a desktop unless you just need portability. Bang for buck though you just cant beat a desktop

Win 7 pro is fine too.
Your big choke points are Processor, Memory, Graphics Card and storage devices
I built my machine about 4 years ago for under 1300.00 to give you a reference.

get an I7 but go with one that has as many cores as possible and hyper threading. Mine is a 6 core hyper threaded to 12
Maxed my Gigabyte gaming mother board out to 24gb ram, you should have at least two gb of ram to every core. Nowadays you should be able to find boards that handle more memory. You can never have too much memory

At the time the affordable video cards were nvidia 550Tis, I have two of those running SLI. each has 1gb ram, but a modern single card with 2gb of ram would most likely smoke mine. You are looking for number of cuda cores and ram on cards. again no such thing as too much

Finally on storage if you can afford it, get two SSD cards one can be smaller for current projects and the bigger one for operating system and applications
I have a 480gb for windows and apps. and a 125gb for current project files.
then I have two 1 tb mechanical drives for local storage

On my network I have two NAS devices both have two tb raid protected storage capibility
Even my wife has not been able to fill those up yet.
those are really for long term storage

franknitty69 · May 26, 2016

i recommend intel core i7 or higher (haswell or skylake), suitable motherboard (asus, gigabyte or similar), gtx 1080 video card, 32gb ram, samsung 950 pro m.2 drive for the os/apps, ssd for projects (raid if you can swing it), hdd for storage.

my latest build i went with haswell (i7-5930k) because i wanted the 6 cores and dedicated 40 pci-e lanes. asus rampage iv extreme motherboard. i have the gtx 980ti, but will upgrade to the 1080 when its available. 32gb ram, samsung 950 pro m.2, two ssd in raid 0 and four hdds for storage.

Jubalr · May 26, 2016

I agree with Frank's recommendation above on every part. In particular the Samsung 950 Pro M.2, At 4-5 times faster than traditional SSDs they can't be beat for speed.

pyrate · May 26, 2016

wow those are fast SSDs

Rusty Jones · May 26, 2016

Some nice specs there!! I guess a "mid-tower" case will probably be too small for all the drives??

Anyway, will be doing more research, but wont get to build this right now, maybe in a few months

pyrate · May 26, 2016

I dont even see a release of the 1080 and the 980s are 400+ cards
man I know mine is outdated but my two little 550Tis cut just fine through 4K video

Not that they are not nice, really nice

pyrate · May 26, 2016

Crap now you guys have me shopping video cards
Spending way to much money

I just added a 950 to my list to think about later. they are cheap enough now that I could buy two and SLI those

PdxSteve · May 26, 2016

The 1080 goes on sale tomorrow (friday). It's the best card nvidia has put out, and is fairly cheap (600 or 700 depending on version). It smokes two 980i's in SLI, and beats Titan X, and is cheaper than them!

franknitty69 · May 27, 2016

i actually think the 1070 is a better value than the 1080. the 1070 is more powerful than the titan x and only about 25% less powerful than the 1080 (estimate) and msrp is $379. oh my.

PdxSteve · May 27, 2016

That 5x ram and 25% more processing is worth it to me for $200 more compared to the 1070. I only upgrade cards about every 3 years so I like to get the best out at the time.

pyrate · May 27, 2016

I don't see much on a 1070, where do you find that one?

PdxSteve · May 27, 2016

Its all over the net lol, but the 1070 doesn't launch for a few weeks. 1080 launches today.
Nvidia’s GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 revealed: Faster than Titan X at half the price
Nvidia GTX 1080 vs GTX 1070 | TechRadar
Nvidia GTX 1070 Leaked Images and Pricing Details Surface! | MobiPicker
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 vs. GTX 1070 Specs Comparison | MobiPicker
Nvidia's GTX 1070 is slightly faster than a Titan X and GTX 980 ti, reveals 3DMark benchmark

Rusty Jones · May 27, 2016

OK

AMD or Intel CPUs??

franknitty69 · May 27, 2016

Rusty Jones said:
OK

AMD or Intel CPUs??

amd chips are cheaper than intel, but intel chips have better value. at the low-end, amd chips are better performing than intel but at the mid-range and high-end, intel chips edge out amd.

since we are talking about video editing you should be looking at mid-range or high-end chips and a dedicated video card. with those factors intel would be the best choice.

Mike Boland · May 28, 2016

2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5 times 2
64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC
AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB times 2
27-inch (2560 x 1440) times 2
1Tb SSD w/11Tb NAS, 2 x 1Tb USB 3 drives

Manages to cut through 4K video quite nicely.

Rusty Jones · May 28, 2016

Mike Boland said:
2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5 times 2
64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC
AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB times 2
27-inch (2560 x 1440) times 2
1Tb SSD w/11Tb NAS, 2 x 1Tb USB 3 drives

Manages to cut through 4K video quite nicely.

What did you use for your NAS??

Mike Boland · May 29, 2016

Rusty Jones said:
What did you use for your NAS??

4 x 4Tb WD drives in RAID 5
D-Link enclosure, twin ethernet to hub.

EyeWingsuit · May 29, 2016

franknitty69 said:
amd chips are cheaper than intel, but intel chips have better value. at the low-end, amd chips are better performing than intel but at the mid-range and high-end, intel chips edge out amd.

since we are talking about video editing you should be looking at mid-range or high-end chips and a dedicated video card. with those factors intel would be the best choice.

There is another big reason for Intel over AMD.
AMD doesn't have licenses to decode all the various formats, but Intel does. Keep in mind that the CPU still carries the decode load.

Fluxley · May 29, 2016

I'd like to offer a different perspective on the ability to edit 4K. New hardware is always fun to buy, but software is where the rubber meets the road. Adobe Premiere is making great strides in the NLE space and recently announced the ability to edit with proxy files. This allows you to edit with a low res copy of the footage (that takes much less processor power) then export the full 4K in the end.