Ideas for editing PC upgrade

[David Pakman]

I hope this is the right place for this post!

I am planning to upgrade my editing computer in my studio. I currently produce a multicamera show using a tricaster and recording MP4 video. I record edit process and export about 75 minutes of video per day.

The video is exported after editing mostly in MP4 formats of varying quality, plus one long MXF file.

My current hardware setup, about 5 years old, is:

--Intel Core i7 4790 (3.60 GHz)
--16 GB DDR3
--1 TB HDD
--Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
--NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB

My primary goal with the upgrade is to reduce export time on a day to day basis. I am not looking to build a PC, for time efficiency I want to buy a prebuilt system. I am open to all brands and configurations but am primarily looking for advice on:

--What will reduce export time and what won't, ie SSD, processor, video card, RAM, etc.
--Opinions about whether to make the jump to Windows 10 or not
--Ideas for specific systems that will be "good enough" to give me a performance increase without spending more than I need to. I do not need the TOP system but am willing to spend what makes sense to get good performance for several years to come.

Am I missing anything here? Would love suggestions...

[Andrew Smith]

The VideoGuys DIY series has been a industry legend and mandatory reading of great value.

See https://www.videoguys.com/blog/categ...s/diy-systems/

You can either get someone at your local computer shop to construct a system to their specs or purchase a turnkey system that also arrives ready to go.

Andrew

[David Barnett]

I'm in a similar position as you, or approaching it. I can get thru the year (wedding season) with my current setup, but my export times are annoyingly long anymore. Plus with 4K coming, I'll need to step it up at some point. My PC is 7 years old, and I upgraded from 8GB RAM to 16 a couple years ago, then to Windows 10 when they had the free upgrade 2 summers ago.

I can tell you, that I love Win10. Personally I liked XP the best. Win7 was ok, but too 'floaty' and 'Apple-y" for me, just some things bothered me about it. With 10 I find it a great mix, a bit more back to business. Rarely have issues or crashes, not sure I've had a blue screen of death. Personally I love it & highly recommend it to everyone.

I believe SSD is the way to go, but I'll have to check into how they are with video & rendering. I know alot of out of the box PCs now are build for gaming moreso than video, such as HP.com, so it may be worth basing your purchase on them & modifying it up. In the past I ordered thru there & was able to select features such as card, memory, HD space etc, each increasing cost accordingly.

Andrew thanks for the link, I'll definitely check it out.

[Mark Williams]

Get the fastest M.2 drive you can afford for programs and SSDs for storage. I know you don't want to build it yourself. Consider avadirect.com to build one for you with top notch components that you select. They have built 2 editing computers for me at good prices. Although a bit dated, here is my 4k editing computer specs . I paid $1500.

NLE Edius 8 WG, i7 6700K, Asus 170-A mobo, 16 GB Ram, System 960 Evo M.2, Video (2) 850 Evo SSD, Shadow Rock Slim cpu cooler, Corsair 400C case, on board graphics, Windows 10, Panasonic GH5 camera.

[Ricky Sharp]

Originally Posted by Mark Williams

Get the fastest M.2 drive you can afford for programs and SSDs for storage. I know you don't want to build it yourself. Consider avadirect.com to build one for you with top notch components that you select. They have built 2 editing computers for me at good prices. Although a bit dated, here is my 4k editing computer specs . I paid $1500.

NLE Edius 8 WG, i7 6700K, Asus 170-A mobo, 16 GB Ram, System 960 Evo M.2, Video (2) 850 Evo SSD, Shadow Rock Slim cpu cooler, Corsair 400C case, on board graphics, Windows 10, Panasonic GH5 camera.

Agree to the SSD for internal (main/boot) drive, but SSDs for storage will command a very high price. It is still cheaper to purchase RAID units with HDs. While not as fast as an SSD, they are still fast and have a very good price for performance ratio. I personally use three external RAIDs. 6-bay 12 TB RAID 10 (600 MB/s reads/writes). 2-bay 8 TB RAID 0 for a scratch disk (400 MB/s) and 2-bay 4 TB RAID-1 for backups (220 MB/s). Internal/boot drive is an SSD with 3,000 MB/s I/O.

Note: all speeds are MegaBytes and not Megabits.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by David Pakman

I hope this is the right place for this post!

I am planning to upgrade my editing computer in my studio. I currently produce a multicamera show using a tricaster and recording MP4 video. I record edit process and export about 75 minutes of video per day.

My primary goal with the upgrade is to reduce export time on a day to day basis. I am not looking to build a PC, for time efficiency I want to buy a prebuilt system. I am open to all brands and configurations but am primarily looking for advice on:

--What will reduce export time and what won't, ie SSD, processor, video card, RAM, etc.
--Opinions about whether to make the jump to Windows 10 or not
--Ideas for specific systems that will be "good enough" to give me a performance increase without spending more than I need to. I do not need the TOP system but am willing to spend what makes sense to get good performance for several years to come.

Am I missing anything here? Would love suggestions...

Two things that effect encode time are cpu and video card. The cpu is easy get an i7 8th gen.

The video card on the other hand is more tricky. Make sure you get the right card that your editing software can utilize. Be aware high end video card draw a lot of power, generate a lot of heat, need a lot of space and mobo to support them.

As a result you often can’t drop them into a pre built system and normal prebuilds don’t offer them. Online builders that cater to gamers will offer the video cards you want with the systems that can support them. At the top of the hill you have cards for over $1,000 like the Titan (over kill), some where in the $500 neighborhood will be the sweet spot.

[Steven Digges]

HP has a professional line of workstations and laptops called the "Z" series. These are not gaming computers and come in many configurations from reasonable prices to major investments. All are well built professional grade products. No resemblance to the consumer line in build quality at all. B&H sells them.

About four or five years ago I spent $2,700.00 (B&H price, $3,400.00 list) for a very well equipped 17" Z Book laptop for on set editing. Yes that is a ton of money for a laptop but has been a great investment. I not only use it on set I have a good docking station in my edit suite and it gets used everyday. I set it on the dock and it is instantly connected to secondary monitor, external HDs, near field monitors etc. It is a big heavy brick to travel with but it does everything I need it to do. Clients love the 17" screen for reviewing takes on site. Hooking up a secondary monitor does not even phase it. It blazes thru 1080P. It can handle 4K but not all that well, its about 5 years old. Tons of connectivity for peripheral components: TB2, USB 3 etc. External drives run great. OS drive is 500 gig SSD, storage drive is 1T, 7200RPM. Intel I7 4810MQ, 16 gigs ram, Dedicated NVIDiA card with 2gigs ram on it. And this is just a laptop. Worth every penny and will see much more use.

The work stations come with a price too, but worth checking out. I would buy this laptop again in a heartbeat. When I buy any new editing rig I pay the premium for the latest and greatest I can afford at the time. I believe the ROI comes with more longevity.

Kind Regards,

Steve