Should I get a new desktop for video editing?

[GoodEnough]

I am going to be doing more video editing this year.
This involves applying contrast filters for a GoPro that is not exposing ideally.
This means reencoding entire video. ie: 15 mins to save a 5 min clip.

Got me thinking.
Might be time for a new desktop?

I can’t upgrade CPU on this Dell Inspiron 570.
AMD Athlon II X4 635 Processor 2.90 ghz
8GB. Win7. SSD.
Otherwise, it works like a champ.

Not fully sold on the need for an upgrade.
Let me know if you have any thoughts or specific tips.

 

[EliteRetard]

You could get the time down to 15 seconds, it's just a matter of how much money you got.

That said, an Athlon II is in the slowest class of CPUs today.
And this says nothing of GPU acceleration or the speed and amount of RAM.

 

[giantpandaman2]

I'd say yes. Wait a little bit for Zen to come out. That should bring prices down a bit.

 

[EliteRetard]

Indeed, if they can get within 15% performance per core of Intels CPUs then grabbing a "cheap" 6-8 core CPU will be great.
Add in 16-32GB of low latency DDR4 3000MHz or better...and a GPU or two with 8GB+ VRAM...perhaps a nice 1TB NVMe SSD.

 

[GoodEnough]

I'm not looking to get a Cray supercomputer, and do not want to time the market prices.
Any changes will be trivial at my level.
This last desktop cost me like $500, and I assume that is a basic starting point.

I don't need 15 seconds. I just need goodEnough.

Can you give me some ideas of what I could be in the market for?
I'm assuming even the worst PC at BestBuy is better than what I currently have.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm assuming even the worst PC at BestBuy is better than what I currently have.

LOLNO. Probably has a Cherry Trail Atom CPU. Would be MUCH slower than your current PC.

As for their higher-end, $1000-class PCs, yes, they are probably faster. Get something with an i7 (Skylake or Kaby Lake, i7-6700 or i7-7700), and 16GB of RAM, and a decent-sized HDD (2TB on most higher-end machines).

Edit: But seriously, don't buy a PC at BestBuy. Wait for Ryzen to release, and build your own.

 

[EliteRetard]

Ryzen announced today, R7 parts available March 2nd. R5/R3 later, perhaps April.

Example $1k build:

CPU: AMD 6 core 12 thread Ryzen R5 1600x $250
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG M9a or AM4 comparable $20
Motherboard: Midrange ATX AM4 370x $120
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 CAS 15-15-15-35 ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB OR budget 1TB SSD scratch drive $250
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 480 8GB XXX OC Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: DIYPC G580-BK ATX Mid Tower Case ($40.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1,020

Or if you don't/can't use GPU acceleration then drop the RX480 8GB and up the CPU to the 8 core 16 thread R7 1700x for a similar total.

With higher clock speeds, 50% + higher IPC, and more cores, the new Ryzen CPUs should be much faster at everything than your CPU.

 

[giantpandaman2]

Pay an extra $500 for a $1k computer, amortized over 5 years, is $100/year. Think about how many days you'll save over that time. Seems like it's worth it to get a decent computer.

 

[GoodEnough]

Yea, I agree. $1000 PC seems like a leapfrog, and one that is totally worth it.
Will handle hobbyist video editing a lot better than an "email internet AOL" desktop.
I am guessing $1000 is a good price point that I don't really need to go beyond.

I have not built a PC since the early 2000s.
Since then my needs became more average, and off the shelf was fine, and the DIY savings were no longer there.

 

[giantpandaman2]

I agree. When computing needs are really modest, the value proposition isn't as big for building it yourself. My father kept debating whether he wanted to do a lot of video editing. I told him I could easily put together a computer suitable for that, but it would cost a lot more. He ended up just getting an off the shelf Lenovo and called it a day. He enjoys more content consumption than doing a lot of editing anyhow.

These Ryzen reviews coupled with some new games coming out have me chomping at the bit for building a new computer, though. VR is going to get bigger too. I'm excited for that.

 

[GoodEnough]

It just took an HOUR to write out a 12 min video clip.
That's pretty bad. Maybe it was the new software settings.
With AVIDemux, I was averaging 5 mins for 15 mins.

If I assembled one, I wouldn't even know what to start looking at.
Can you guys post some $1k desktops that put me in the ballpark?

 

[giantpandaman2]

Ryzen comes out in in less than 2 weeks. Prices are going to change pretty dramatically right after. Getting an 8 core/16 thread for the price of a 4 core/8 thread is going to be massive.

 

[GoodEnough]

I am not buying the bleeding edge.
I will get something that was great 2-3 years ago.
I do not think that market will change much in 2 weeks, will it?
What will $1000 get me in 2 weeks? Something that costs $1500 today?
How much do prices change?

 

[giantpandaman2]

I am not buying the bleeding edge.
I will get something that was great 2-3 years ago.
I do not think that market will change much in 2 weeks, will it?
What will $1000 get me in 2 weeks? Something that costs $1500 today?
How much do prices change?

A $1000 processor will likely get equaled/beaten by a $500 processor. AMD Motherboards will likely be cheaper too. I'd say it's possible to save between $300-600. Intel may respond with a price drop, too.

Intel CPU's from 2 years ago are about as fast as Intel processors of today. Stagnation has dominated the market, that's why AMD finally coming up with some competition and price pressure is such a big deal.

 

[MongGrel]

A $1000 processor will likely get equaled/beaten by a $500 processor. AMD Motherboards will likely be cheaper too. I'd say it's possible to save between $300-600. Intel may respond with a price drop, too.

Intel CPU's from 2 years ago are about as fast as Intel processors of today. Stagnation has dominated the market, that's why AMD finally coming up with some competition and price pressure is such a big deal.

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[GoodEnough]

It just took an HOUR to write out a 12 min video clip.
That's pretty bad. Maybe it was the new software settings.

Just wrote out a 9 min clip that took 40 mins to process/render.

 

[giantpandaman2]

Well, it seems pretty clear that for your use case a Ryzen 1700 would be a good bet. I'd go there. General hardware will have builds if you want to ask there. I'm not up on the new chipset/processor yet. There's still a little bit of shakeout coming with motherboards.

 

[GoodEnough]

I typically do not buy the latest and greatest, and stay a 1-2 generations behind. Best bang for buck.
My current CPU is 2009. I am thinking a 2013 CPU will be a big step up. Ideas on a system? Can I stay on Win7?

 

[ronbo613]

I typically do not buy the latest and greatest, and stay a 1-2 generations behind. Best bang for buck.
My current CPU is 2009. I am thinking a 2013 CPU will be a big step up. Ideas on a system? Can I stay on Win7?

I use the computer in my sig for HD video production, mainly videos for use on the web. It's more than a few generations behind and it is slow to render full HD video, but it gets the job done. I've found that for video processing, Intel CPU's are better than AMD. Video rendering needs CPU, editing will use more RAM, so I wouldn't go lower than 16G. Use an SSD for a system drive, 250G should be plenty, and a large 7200RPM drive for work folders and video storage. Using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 for video editing, I see very little real world difference between Win 7 and Win 10.

 

[GoodEnough]

Yea, my current system uses 8GB RAM and an 256G SSD.
Those are perfectly adequate, I think.
When I edit my video, I store them on my 2TB HDD.
I am not sure if R/W is the bottleneck, so I will stick with that, instead of editing directly on the SSD.

I think it would be fun to do a barebones build over the summer.
Not for savings, but just as a DIY activity, and maybe learn something again.
I have not built a system since the early 2000s.