Videoguys Tech Update: DIY 11 & System Recommendations for Video Editing

[Gary Bettan]

We’ve published two new articles on our website that video editors and digital content creators will want to read and bookmark. Our latest DIY build is DIY 11 and it is a creaming fast machine capable of 4K work. Our recommended systems page has been updated to include all the latest guidance for buying and configuring a workstation or computer for video editing. Each of the guides now includes a video you can watch for even more information. Videoguys Tech Update: DIY 11 & System Recommendations for Video Editing « Videoguys Blog

Videoguys’ DIY 11: How to Build an Affordable Editing & Streaming Workstation with Balanced Components for the Best Performance
For more than 10 years Videoguys.com, one of the world’s leading resellers of video editing and production equipment, has been publishing DIY articles as a service to customers. These guides will help you choose the best system components for your non-linear editing workstation.

Our new tech guy, Scott Smith, has completed our much anticipated new DIY11 build. It’s a screamer! The goal was to put together a top notch NLE & Streaming machine for around $1,500. Scott did the research and the build is complete and tested. Holy smokes! This machine runs lightning fast, the case is whisper quiet and the NLE performance is superb. Great job Scott! Videoguys’ DIY 11: How to Build an Affordable Editing & Streaming Workstation with Balanced Components for the Best Performance « Videoguys Blog


Videoguys’ System Recommendations for Video Editing
For almost 20 years we’ve been posting and updating our recommended computer specs for Video editing. Combined with our DIY articles, Videoguys has become the go to resource on the web for this vital information. Of course we also have live people here who are available to answer all your video editing questions and recommend the right gear and software for your needs and budget.

We get asked all the time, “What computer system should I use for Video Editing?”

So, we created this page to give you some basic guidelines. Every month computers get more powerful and less expensive, so the recommendations on this page could become outdated very quickly. We will try our best to keep it up to date but if you see something that doesn’t look right or if you’re configuring a system that may be somewhat different please e-mail (techguy@videoguys.com) or call the Videoguys at 800-323-2325 and we’d be happy to review your plans. We want to help you make sure you have everything you need to edit and produce great videos.Videoguys’ April 2015 update: System Recommendations for Video Editing « Videoguys Blog

Videoguys Tech Select HPz Workstations for Professionals
Videoguys’ Tech Select HP Workstations are custom-configured by our technicians to hit some great price points and still provide you with a machine that we strongly recommend. HP uses only the best components, and these workstations come optimized for digital content creation. They are easily expandable and upgradable which means you’ll get a longer useful life out of them.

The new HP z840 is the power users choice, and the best dual Xeon solution on the market. We like the z440 single Xeon machines for professionals who don’t require as much horsepower, but demand the same level of reliability and stability. If you are a power user on a budget, the z640 can be upgraded to a second Xeon processor down the road. Videoguys Tech Select HPz Workstations for Professionals « Videoguys Blog

I hope you find these articles useful.

Gary

[Larry Secrest]

I've built two systems according to your recommendations and I must say I was never disappointed. Both are actually still running today and have been highly up gradable.
But, it's a mystery to me why you recommend Crucial Solid State. What about Samsung or Intel?

[Gary Bettan]

We found that the Crucial SSDs were better priced. That said, both Intel & Samsung SSDs are top notch. I'm going to have Scott look into this.

Gary

[Noa Put]

Excellent articles, when building or buying a ediitng pc though I think you should start with your NLE requirements and choose components base don that, it's not as simple to just say, "get a workstation" and you will be fine. Just an example, while most NLE's benefit greatly from very fast dedicated videocards other NLE"s don't. I have been running Edius on a system without a separate videocard because Edius uses the integrated GPU in the processor to accelerate mp4 exports and from what I understood you also needed specific motherboards to benefit from that acceleration, if the workstation doesn't support that it's going to be slower on those kind of exports because it needs to use the CPU instead, something to keep in mind when you select a machine for your NLE.

[Denis Danatzko]

For Gary or Scott:
I realize I may be reaching here, and/or asking neophyte questions, but feedback (and either encouragement or discouragement) would be greatly appreciated.

I've never built my own machine, but I did watch the video and it was extremely helpful, and the price seems phenomenal. I'm considering the DIY 11 build, but before I do, some questions:

- I have an old machine (circa 2005) in an Antec ATX case that right now has a Tyan mobo with dual AMD Opteron CPUs, an internal RAID, and an nVidia 1500 GPU that is near its' end of life, i.e. dead pixels, slow response, etc, and it's still running XP 32 bit. (When brand new, that machine was purchased with Adobe CS2, with dual monitors, internal RAID, and other software, and while old and unused for about a year, that machine was pretty expensive in its' day). I know of no one to turn to and unfortunately, or not, the vendor is no longer in business, so I'm pretty much on my own here.

I'm wondering if the DIY 11 build would work with the Antec Case. (My current understanding is that an ATX case should take any ATX mobo. Am I mistaken)? Before I did anything, I'd need to copy over the footage from the RAID, (and I'm not sure the best way to do that), but once that's done, I believe I could remove the innards and proceed with DIY 11.

Lastly, the Antec case in question has front-facing USB2 ports "built-in" to the case, Is there any way to remove/change/replace those to USB 3 to take advantage of what the new mobo would offer? Once the machine is up and working, I'd expect to add a Thunderbolt 2 external RAID, and buy Edius. (I used Edius Neo 2.5 on/off for a while on a different machine, but like so many others, I own CS 6 and am growing tired of the CC rental charges).

Any thoughts, warnings, or advice, cautionary or otherwise?

[Kris Zimbelman]

Here's a suggestion:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1084698-REG/asus_m32ad_us032s_i7_4790_16gb_2tb.html
It's only $919, but you would have to upgrade the video card and operating system.

[Noa Put]

Here's a suggestion:
ASUS M32AD-US032S Desktop Computer M32AD-US032S B&H Photo Video
It's only $919, but you would have to upgrade the video card and operating system.

Denis wants to get a pc for Edius so I would recommend him to go over to the edius uforum and ask for specific hardware requests there, if you would get that asus pc it could be that h264 acceleration from the onboard gpu is not supported and you really need that with edius, especially with version edius 8 this is going to improve 4K playback as well. The dedicated card is not "that" important for edius so that doesn't need to be upgraded.

Just another example how important hardware choice can be, from what I have read on the edius forum if you have a workstation with Dual Xeon processors, then a hdspark card will not work, and eventhough videoguys recommend a workstation is another example that these "general" recommendations are not always the way to get a pc that will work best with your nle.

[Denis Danatzko]

Thanks guys.
Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. But I do want to make one more plug for the DIY 11 video; having watched it, I'm much less afraid of building a machine on/of my own.

[Mark Watson]

Be sure to wear an anti-static wrist strap, and keep it clipped to the case chassis when installing boards and chips. DAMHIKT.

Mark

[Gary Bettan]

excellent points Noa.

Our guidelines are just that, a guide. Our customers can call us up and talk to one of our techs to drill into specific requirements. When you do call it is important that you include all of the software and hardware in your workflow.

Gary
800-323-2325