New PC specs - advice needed

briano.de.rhino

Hi all,

Could you advise me as to specs of a new computer for editing video please.

Currently, I have a dual core with 2mb ram. I edit in premiere and after effects although one night it took 16 hours to render a single 12 second clip in after effects. Having said that, It could handle having premiere, after effects and photoshop open at same time as internet etc. so its done me proud but time to upgrade.

So, how much ram is possible to get?
Processors: is it the i7 that is the best?
Best graphics card?
Other things i need? like firewire ports etc?
Best place to buy?
Anything to consider?like the fact I only shoot SD not HD, have a canon XM2. Should I futureproof myself by making it hd capable?
64 bit?

Thanks,

Brian.

101001

Woah! There's an awful lot of research ahead of you yet....

Ill answer 2 parts

64 bit... YES! consider nothing else.
Id recommend some class of cuda powered Nvidia card here's some info from nvidia
http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros.html
and adobe
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance/
have a look at the cards on that page that are compatible with the mercury playback engine.

The difference 64bit makes is incredible. Im editing on a walk around laptop 2.1 ghz dual core 3gbs of RAM onboard graphics and editing full had playback no rendering.

Even getting 64bit for you old machine will help greatly

Freddie59

briano.de.rhino wrote: »

Hi all,

Could you advise me as to specs of a new computer for editing video please.

Currently, I have a dual core with 2mb ram. I edit in premiere and after effects although one night it took 16 hours to render a single 12 second clip in after effects. Having said that, It could handle having premiere, after effects and photoshop open at same time as internet etc. so its done me proud but time to upgrade.

So, how much ram is possible to get?
Processors: is it the i7 that is the best?
Best graphics card?
Other things i need? like firewire ports etc?
Best place to buy?
Anything to consider?like the fact I only shoot SD not HD, have a canon XM2. Should I futureproof myself by making it hd capable?
64 bit?

Thanks,

Brian.

Wow!:eek: 16 hours for 12 seconds?????? That's nuts. Even Pinnacle Studio, which I've used regularly, might take four hours to render and burn a two-hour wedding dvd (I've done some for family and friends, a royal PITA to do believe me).

I've had (and still have) a Dual-Core Dell with 3GB RAM, and a standalone 7200RPM HD for the video. If your camera is firewire then a firewire port is an absolute necessity. You can't transfer footage via usb.

I've done a couple of small projects on an iMac which I got, but Final Cut Express is laborious (to say the least) and doesn't have the user-friendliness and overall content of Pinnacle Studio. But it NEVER crashes.

woody_2000

I don't have any experience of video editing, but would offer the following...

A full 64-bit platform is a given for such tasks these days - i.e. 64-bit CPU and operating system. Most modern hardware is 64-bit (including the most recent netbooks) - but you need to make sure the software used is 64-bit also, including the operating system...

GPGPU capability is also becoming increasingly prominent for such tasks, so you should look out for this also. Any of the most recent nVidia or AMD/ATI graphics cards should offer this capability, with the latest drivers installed. This should effectively take some of the workload off the CPU, and maybe even reducing the need for a more powerful CPU somewhat.

The particular specification would depend on what you are willing to spend, and what you particular usage profile might be. The most basic budget set-up, with the latest hardware as outlined above, should do the same thing as a more expensive set-up - but not as fast...

A minimum spec. should probably be one of the latest dual core CPUs, an nVidia or ATI GPU, and at least 4GB RAM. Faster CPUs with more cache/cores, more powerful GPUs and faster RAM will give you higher performance, but at a price. A top of the range Intel Core i7 CPU with six cores and 15MB L2/L3 cache, for example, will set you back maybe €1,000 - and professional nVidia graphics could cost maybe the same again...etc... €500, or less, however, could also get you a fairly decent CPU/GPU combination -- it mainly depends on what you particular requirements and usage profile might be...

HD is also a given these days, and any modern system should be suitable for such - however, a more powerful system might be more suitable for HD over SD.

If you were to indicate a budget, hardware format (e.g. desktop, laptop) and what a typical usage profile might be - it would make it a bit easier to offer a more specific recommendation... It's not what's best, per se - but what's best for your particular situation...

johnmcdnl

64 bit is the only option - don't even consider 32 bit..

with 64bit you can go up to 16 exabytes (16000 petabytes, 16 billion GB) of RAM theoretically but windows 7 ultimate says it can take 192GB - so basically as much RAM as you can afford...

give a budget and it'll help no end - otherwise sky's the limit and we're just guessing what would be suitable for you...

briano.de.rhino

Well, its for work, so I dont know the budget. Probably between 1000-2000.
I was hoping for duel, quad core xeon cpu or i7. Which is better?
with 24gb ram.
nvidia quadro 6000.
one 7200 rpm HD for the OS and one for the video footage/photos/music files etc.

My work is to make small SD videos etc. use photoshop, premiere, after effects for a disability service. im not outputting to commercial clients and not making 2 hour long features etc. Hope to upgrade in few years to hd.

This is what i have gleaned from friendly people like your good selves....sound like good specs?

woody_2000

I will preface this by saying that I have no experience of video editing, or Adobe Premiere or After Effects, however...

It looks like you're looking at a desktop, so... You can either build your own "box", or buy from someone like Dell (or other brand, there are too many to mention).

Assuming you're going to buy from someone like Dell (I'll use Dell for this example), and based on what you've already outlined, I would offer the following:

Firstly, there's the Studio XPS 7100, in its various configurations. These are AMD based machines, so are based on AMD processors (4 and 6 core) and ATI graphics. You may need Adobe Premiere or After Effects to be compatible with OpenCL or Microsoft DirectCompute for full compatibility with the ATI graphics, I'm not sure... This is something that should be checked out - maybe with Dell, or Adobe directly... If Premiere or After Effects needs recent versions of OpenGL or DirectX, then that's a given on any recent graphics card...

Then there's the Dell Precision workstation range - where you have a choice of ATi or nVidia professional graphics, and the Intel processors you mention (any of the quad core CPUs should be ok - however, look carefully at the specs before deciding)... There is the additional question of CUDA and Fermi compatibility when it comes to nVidia graphics... Again, this is something that should be checked out...

You could check out these machines, and configure as suits...

If HD video editing is a consideration, then one of the more powerful configurations would probably be best... RAID configured hard drives, or an SSD (solid state drive) would probably be best for HD video editing...

A mid to higher end "non-professional" graphics card would probably be ok for your requirements, unless maybe if you were using multiple monitors or required professional technical support, etc... There should be no need for something like a Quadro 6000 - which costs major bucks (approx. €4,000), and would probably be overkill...

You're probably looking at around €1,500, and maybe up to approximately €2,000, for a well specified machine... Which should be compatible with your specified budget range...

In the case of Dell, you should probably contact their business section regarding your particular requirements... You could also double check any specifications with Adobe, just to make sure...

If you have any further questions, or would like more specific feedback on a particular configuration, please post back... HTH

woody_2000

I was just briefly looking at the hardware/software aspect of Adobe Premiere and After Effects...

The Adobe Mercury Playback Engine appears to be at the center of the latest version of Adobe Premiere workflow... nVidia CUDA appears to be the most compatible with MPE at the moment as regards graphics cards - however, this may change (or have changed)... Multi-core CPUs may also support MPE (i.e. floating point performance), so it may be possible that a strong CPU could reduce the need for a fully compatible graphics card...

After Effects appears to mainly rely on graphics cards for OpenGL, so any recent card should probably do in this regard...

Photoshop should also benefit similarly from similar hardware configurations...

Links for review:

http://blogs.amd.com/work/2010/04/12/bringing-adobe-creative-suite-5-to-life-with-amd-technology/

http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros.html

http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/opengl.html

woody_2000

Just edited/updated previous posts... It's not easy editing posts with HTML links intermixed...:rolleyes:

briano.de.rhino

So the nvidia quadro costs a pretty penny !
I have nvidia quadro FX 3500 in my current machine. Would that be sufficient? I dont see it on the list in the previous link.

woody_2000

The Quadro FX 3500 may be ok for After Effects, as it supports OpenGL 2.0 - but Premiere may not be supported as this card does not support CUDA, as it is too old... Photoshop may not be fully supported either. It may be time to update your graphics card, as you need a modern graphics card for full support...

nVidia changed their GPU architure from the GeForce 8 series onwards (and corresponding Quadro) to a more open and flexible hardware/software platform which supports CUDA...

There are cheaper Quadro (and even GeForce) cards to consider. It just depends on your requirements and budget...