Video Editing Hardware Questions

[Greywolf74]

Others may be able to answer these questions as well but Im curious to hear answers from someone who has done a lot of content creation and worked with a lot of different hardware setups.

Heres the specs to my current video editing rig as they may be relevant to the questions. Im building a newer beefier machine and Im kinda wondering what way to go on some things.

AMD 8320 OC'd to 4.5Ghz

gigabyte ga-990fxa-ud3 rev 4

16GB 1866 DDR3 Corsair RAM

256GB 840 EVO SSD

GTX 660ti

Also using PowerDirector 12 Ultra if it matters

1) Would I benefit more from putting a second GTX 660ti in SLI (thereby saving me some money) or buying a single GTX 970 to run in it? Ive read online that dual 660Tis benchmark roughly the same as a single titan but thats for gaming. Im not sure that it wouldnt necessarily weigh in about the same in terms of video editing. The other reason Im thinking of dropping in a second 660Ti is because Im building my new PC in a Corsair 900D and a single card just looks so small in that giant case. If I could swing dual GTX970's or a single GTX980 would that be something I should think about doing or is that just overkill? Thoughts?

2) When Im editing video Im usually working with two different 1080p videos and a separate audio track. When working on my current rig when I make some sort of change like say I make a cut in the videos and audio track the program will freeze for a few seconds and then it will show the splits but then it takes several more additional seconds in order to free up and then allow me to continue on with editing. What do i need to do to my system to allow me to make changes with no lag and preferably like to do it without using shadow copy if possible. The only reason Im using shadow copy now is because my system chokes even more than it does now if I dont use it.

3) I know upgrading from 16GB of RAM to 32MB will speed up render times to some degree but other than that are there any other benefits I would see from running more than 16GB of RAM? I ask this because if i watch RAM usage will Im editing I dont think it hardly ever goes above 6-8GB used so it seems like maybe outside of faster rendering it wouldnt really help that much.

4) The new machine Im building will be running a 4770K, will that CPU be better than the 8320 or is it about the same?

I know thats a lot of questions but Im really curious about this stuff as I find myself getting more and more involved in it.



Thanks in advance

[newpball]

1) Would I benefit more from putting a second GTX 660ti in SLI (thereby saving me some money) or buying a single GTX 970 to run in it? Ive read online that dual 660Tis benchmark roughly the same as a single titan but thats for gaming. Im not sure that it wouldnt necessarily weigh in about the same in terms of video editing. The other reason Im thinking of dropping in a second 660Ti is because Im building my new PC in a Corsair 900D and a single card just looks so small in that giant case. If I could swing dual GTX970's or a single GTX980 would that be something I should think about doing or is that just overkill? Thoughts?

Dual GTX970 is utter overkill for your rig. Absolutely no point for video processing. GTX760 is as far as you would go on this one.

2) When Im editing video Im usually working with two different 1080p videos and a separate audio track. When working on my current rig when I make some sort of change like say I make a cut in the videos and audio track the program will freeze for a few seconds and then it will show the splits but then it takes several more additional seconds in order to free up and then allow me to continue on with editing. What do i need to do to my system to allow me to make changes with no lag and preferably like to do it without using shadow copy if possible. The only reason Im using shadow copy now is because my system chokes even more than it does now if I dont use it.

Hard to tell from here. But you want to make sure you have your system disk on a separate SSD and your scratch folder and source folder on different disks as well.

3) I know upgrading from 16GB of RAM to 32MB will speed up render times to some degree but other than that are there any other benefits I would see from running more than 16GB of RAM? I ask this because if i watch RAM usage will Im editing I dont think it hardly ever goes above 6-8GB used so it seems like maybe outside of faster rendering it wouldnt really help that much.

It won't speed up render times.

4) The new machine Im building will be running a 4770K, will that CPU be better than the 8320 or is it about the same?

For video editing I would without a question go for the Intel platform.

By the way the prior generation hexa cores are really cheap right now because of the new 8-core CPUs, the MBs on the LGA 2011 socket are a little more expensive but you might want to consider it over a 4770k.

For instance a $330 (Used like new) Core i7-3930K hexacore is a steal:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00603QXPM/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

[sophisticles]

For instance a $330 (Used like new) Core i7-3930K hexacore is a steal:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00603QXPM/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Yep, Amazon is ripping you off alright:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/437203/Core_i7-5820k_33_GHz_LGA_2011_V3_Tray_Processor

You can pick up a current generation 6 core Haswell-E for $300.

OP:

A faster video card won't really help in your case due to the type of work you are doing and the software you are using. If you were using Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas, then yes a faster video card would help with some of the filters and in some cases with the rendering/encoding of the output.

The reality is that you are better off spending the money on a better cpu, since you can be assured of increased speed across workloads.

Depending on your workload and how serious you are about editing video and what your budget is you could look into a refurbished dual cpu workstation or build your own Intel based workstation.

With regards to ram, it depends on the resolution of the video you are working with, what you are doing to it and the software you are using, in a popular Adobe based benchmark, depending on the size of the video and what was being done to it, it was discovered that adding more ram resulted in a bigger performance gain than adding a faster cpu or faster ram. For instance, if you're editing a high quality 4k video and adding many effects, you can easily eat up 16gb of ram and start thrashing the hard dive.

Speaking of storage, if you can afford it spring for a SSD to use as your work/temp/input drive.

With regards to your lagging issue, my guess is that the software uses the video card ram for preview and you are using up all the VRAM during preview, so it takes a few seconds to flush the buffer and continue.

[newpball]

For instance a $330 (Used like new) Core i7-3930K hexacore is a steal:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00603QXPM/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Yep, Amazon is ripping you off alright:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/437203/Core_i7-5820k_33_GHz_LGA_2011_V3_Tray_Processor

You can pick up a current generation 6 core Haswell-E for $300.

Well if you get the chance get it!

Those Microcenter in store only "deals" on CPUs are running for years now, always priced way below any other vendor and almost always they are out of the "special", it's mainly a bait and switch operation.

Furthermore DDR4 is really pricey now because it is in an early adopters stage.

[cheyrn]

My first attempt at using pixel motion blur in after effects on my laptop took 2 hours to render 4 seconds of video.... And this was with the default settings. But, my laptop is very slow and don't haven ssd. This might mean that I have to get up from the couch and use my desktop computer. It's hard to convey just how horrifying that prospect is.

In any case, has anyone used an online render farm for personal use? Renderrocket is .5 USD per core hour?

[sophisticles]

Those Microcenter in store only "deals" on CPUs are running for years now, always priced way below any other vendor and almost always they are out of the "special", it's mainly a bait and switch operation.

This is not true, I have been shopping at Microcenter for years and they always list how many of an item they have right on their website:

10+ in stock at North Jersey / Paterson Micro Center - Located in Aisle 26

10+ in stock at Orange County/Tustin Micro Center

If they are out of an item their website will tell you so.

In fact I remember years ago when the 3930k first came out they had it for $400 for a month before Black Friday when everyone else had it at least $550 and they had tons of them.

The real issue is that the 5820k is a "tray" processor, i.e. it doesn't come with a cooler, so you have to spend dough on a good aftermarket cooler and as you pointed out DDR4 and the motherboards are expensive.

But before I buy a used 3930k from Amazon for $330 and have to buy an outdated motherboard with an outdated chipset and still have to buy an aftermarket cooler I would rather go to Microcenter.

[sophisticles]

In any case, has anyone used an online render farm for personal use? Renderrocket is .5 USD per core hour?

Right from their website:

Render Rocket offers everything 3d artists need to immediately access massive rendering power for their jobs – the latest render software, a great web-based render manager and, of course, tons of processors.

Based on this page:

http://www.renderrocket.com/features/#software

It looks like it's meant for 3d rendering, not special effects like motion blur in After Effects.

[newpball]

The real issue is that the 5820k is a "tray" processor, i.e. it doesn't come with a cooler, so you have to spend dough on a good aftermarket cooler and as you pointed out DDR4 and the motherboards are expensive.

K processors (which are unlocked processors) do not come with a cooler.

People who tend to buy these processors do not want the standard cooler they use a high end air or water cooler for overclocking.

[Greywolf74]

Wow, so many replies and so much info to take in...

ok, So the vram issue of the video card is probably a good bet on why Im getting the stuttering etc. IDK why I didnt think about that before.

as for the CPU Ive already started my new PC build and Ive already bought an Asus Maximus VI mobo and a 4770k for it. Its gonna be watercooled so Im gonna overclock the crap out of it Since Ive spent 5K on this rig so far, Im going to put at least a 970 in it, maybe a 980. Sounds like i big single GPU is better than dual GPUs for rendering unless im using Sony Vegas or Premiere.

Speaking of Sony Vegas, is that program so complex you need a degree in it to use it like premiere or is it easy enough for a noob with a little prior experience with PowerDirector and AVS to figure out? I may switch if I feel like I can understand how to use it...at least in a basic fashion.

I currently have an SSD for my source files and once I egt the new rig together I'll have an 3 SSDs. One for the OS, one for source, and one for output. Ive already bought the SSDs too but theres no reason to put them in this system. Just waiting.

[newpball]

WSince Ive spent 5K on this rig so far, Im going to put at least a 970 in it, maybe a 980.

Total overkill for video editing, but it is your money.

All that is going to happen is you getting upset in a view weeks why the GPU usage % is so low.

Speaking of Sony Vegas, is that program so complex you need a degree in it to use it like premiere or is it easy enough for a noob with a little prior experience with PowerDirector and AVS to figure out? I may switch if I feel like I can understand how to use it...at least in a basic fashion.

Oh boy, learn first, then use it and then after that throw money at it if you need it, not the other way around!

[Markfx]

Isn't it true that an SSD drive performs best when used as the boot drive and to use SATA drives for scratch discs when editing?
Isn't overclocking more of a gamer pursuit?
I know when I build an editing machine, I focus on CPU and RAM, keeping the software to a minimum.
I value stability over blazing speeds...

[newpball]

Isn't it true that an SSD drive performs best when used as the boot drive and to use SATA drives for scratch discs when editing?

No, of course not the faster the disk the better the performance. SSD drives are a lot faster than mechanical drives even if they are in RAID mode.

Isn't overclocking more of a gamer pursuit?

No.

If you are getting a high end k-type Intel CPU and you do not overclock you are wasting valuable resources.

[budwzr]

Speaking of Sony Vegas, is that program so complex you need a degree in it to use it

Start with Sony Movie Studio. It takes about a year to outgrow it.

[Greywolf74]

Thanks for all teh replies. Im also a gamer and an IT geek so the overclocking and high end video card(s) isnt solely for video editing purposes. plus the rig Im building is also meant to be a show piece as well.

I think I can borrow a copy of Sony Vegas from a guy a know who used to use it and now uses premiere. Im betting I could get him to let me use his copy to check it out. Sounds like I should just bite the bullet, get out of my comfort zone with powerdirector and move on to a good editing program. If i cant check this one out for free then I'll look at Sony movie maker. Does SMM utilize large amount of RAm and dual GPU if you have them like Vegas does?

[budwzr]

Sony Movie Studio and Sony Vegas Pro are the same program except advanced features are stripped in Studio. The memory and GPU usage is probably the same. Download the free trial and check it out in the "Options/Preferences" dropdown.

All NLE's utilize the same concepts. Vegas has the most intuitive layout of the bunch. Tools are located right on the media itself, and everything is organized hierarchically and logically.

Some other NLE's are full of nested dialog boxes and organized helter skelter. Those ones were built 20 years ago when that was the norm, and they can't modernize the GUI because the users would revolt.

Some pilots like a bunch of switches, gauges, and dials because it looks technical and others like a joystick with everything on the one stick and it's simplified and clean. Vegas is like using a HUD, some of the others are like you have to ask the navigator in the back seat where you are.

[Greywolf74]

thanks for the heads up on the software but what does NLE stand for?

[budwzr]

Non Linear Editor.

That means you can edit from any direction or point, not straight line. There's no rewinding the reel to make cuts and splices.

[Greywolf74]

ahhh gotchya! thanks!

i found this very interesting video and thought Id share it with you guys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajyzZ-zaq0o&list=UUXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw