Video editing spec for a friend?

[Grimezy]

Hi guys,

One of my friends is a fan of editing using Adobe Premiere but he's currently doing it on a dual core, 4gb PC and apparently the rendering takes an age and it's stopping him from getting stuff done quickly (which is understandable).

I suggested he could do with something like an i7 with 16gb ram but it sounded a bit expensive for him. Do you reckon you could come up with a spec for around £800 and let me know what sort of differences in performance he could expect to his current PC? I'm a complete amateur when it comes to video editing specs so I'd appreciate all the help I can get!

I assume for ~£800 he'd be better off with an AMD CPU but I think he'd also like the option to game if he could. Would he be fine getting a CPU with the integrated GPU and just playing at medium settings? And should he be aiming for 16gb ram in his budget?

Thanks guys, if I could just give him an insight as to what he could afford he might look into a bit more!

 

[Boozad]

Premiere Pro CS6 recommends 8GB RAM so that should be good enough. Something like this should make a huge difference to what he has at the moment.

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6350 Six Core CPU (4.2/3.9GHZ - 8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7950 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Free Item
FREE CRYSIS 3 & FAR CRY 3: BLOOD DRAGON with AMD HD 7900 Series GPUs!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
650W FSP RAIDER SERIES RA-650 80 PLUS® BRONZE (£59)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £823.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/mGamuHJObk/

 

[nathanjrb]

Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-6350 Six Core CPU (4.2/3.9GHZ - 8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A78L-M/USB3 (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 3Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 - DVI, mHDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£79)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £825.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/NCJUCrBH5H/

 

[nathanjrb]

With the spec I posted, if they could stretch their budget a little more they could go for the CPU Boozad posted.

 

[Music Guy123]

Just a thought chaps:

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-K: ATX, USB2.0, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650Ti BOOST- 2 x DVI, HDMI, - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
650W FSP RAIDER SERIES RA-650 80 PLUS® BRONZE (£59)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £862.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/qp_8JvQBaA/

Just thought that would be some food for thought

 

[nathanjrb]

Just a thought chaps:

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4670 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-K: ATX, USB2.0, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650Ti BOOST- 2 x DVI, HDMI, - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
650W FSP RAIDER SERIES RA-650 80 PLUS® BRONZE (£59)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £862.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/qp_8JvQBaA/

Just thought that would be some food for thought

Personally I would go for an i5 over AMD as well. But depends on budget.
Also no SSD in this spec.

 

[Grimezy]

I was under the impression the i5 would outperform the AMD equivalent at gaming but the AMD would excel at productivity tasks? Or has that changed with haswell?

So basically the way I'm looking at it we've got:

Booz's build: Potentially looks like it has very good productivity performance as well as top end gaming. Only downsides is 8gb ram may not be enough for his tasks and there's a lack of an ssd (which personally I don't think is practical within the budget anyway).

Nath's build: Again, good processor, 16gb ram which is a plus and the fact you've crammed an ssd and a caviar black in which isn't a bad thing! Only downside is the poor GPU which would pretty much make it a productivity-only build (might not be a big issue).

Music guys: Good processor (although I'm still not certain it's better than the AMD for editing? I haven't really read up on the new chips though), good ram, mid range graphics card, good harddrive)

So basically I'm no wiser Out of interest, I know it's going to be one hell of a lot quicker than his laptop but is it generally just the rendering times and transfer times that are reduced with the better cpu and harddrive? Or is there more to it than that?

I really do appreciate the advice guys

 

[nathanjrb]

You could sacrifice the SSD for a slightly better GPU I suppose. I went for AMD because they offer better value (apparently) but I was under the impression Intel were more reputable? Personally I use an i7 for editing and it's a breeze! The PCs at Uni have an i5 too and they manage alright. Surely a 650 would suffice for basic gaming? :/

 

[Yamikotai]

I was under the impression the i5 would outperform the AMD equivalent at gaming but the AMD would excel at productivity tasks? Or has that changed with haswell?

As has been the case since Core 2 Duo, Intel is king of single-threaded performance, and AMD of multi-threaded. The vast majority of productivity tasks - rendering especially - are the latter, so AMD is the better choice. Though, if applicable, then GPUs are the real king of multi-threaded performance by an order of magnitude at least.
Interestingly, as a result of the new consoles, which are identical 8-cores on the CPU side, new games might start slanting toward AMD as the performance king instead of the current Intel slant.

(although I'm still not certain it's better than the AMD for editing?

There's less of a difference here since audio stuff isn't quite the CPU killer it used to be, relatively (much like how network transfers in the late 80s could crush your CPU, but nowadays it's barely a whisper).
Edit: Oops, when you said 'music guys' I figured the context was music editing. Assuming you meant video editing, then yeah AMD probably has a slight advantage.

Surely a 650 would suffice for basic gaming? :/

I think it's equivalent to my 560 Ti which still handles basically everything on high <-> very high, or medium <-> high for real killers like Metro: Last Light. With the right settings I can get just over 700fps in Minecraft

 

[nathanjrb]

Well there you have it, Yamikotai has spoken

So what's the crack with the Xeon processors?

 

[Yamikotai]

Well there you have it, Yamikotai has spoken

Haha, sorry if I'm coming off as arrogant. I know things; it's my thing.

So what's the crack with the Xeon processors?

They're just beefy. The best one is ten cores (twenty threads), with 30MB cache, reasonable clockspeed. An absolute beast (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processor-comparison/compare-intel-processors.html?select=server)
The main reason they're not used in desktops for things like gaming is that they're not as straighforward performance-wise. You really need to code something for a server-level CPU for it to run properly.

 

[Grimezy]

Not arrogant at all, very helpful infact! I think for his needs I'll recommend the AMD spec, and as for the GPU I think I was mistaking the 650 with the 630 so that will probably do for his needs.

Thanks for the help guys, I should probably give this whole video editing malarky a go one day and then I might know what I'm talking about!

 

[nathanjrb]

Not at all Yam you're an interesting chap who seems to know his stuff