Video editing HW Q's

[LoverBoyJ]

Ive been out of the loop on hardware for years now and want to upgrade my current 5yr old system (yea its a grandma in tech years).

Was wondering if I need a beefy video card or just a beefy proc & memory (ie. dual Xeon w/ quad core and 16Gb of memory) for a rig just for editing home videos.

 

[Blain]

Was wondering if I need a beefy video card or just a beefy proc & memory (ie. dual Xeon w/ quad core and 16Gb of memory) for a rig just for editing home videos.

People have edited video on dual 450MHz Celeron rigs with less than 512MB of memory.

 

[mfenn]

You definitely don't need a dual Xeon's to edit home movies. Any sort of reasonably powerful modern system will be fine for home movies.

 

[Dankk]

Get a beefy CPU. Do not get a beefy video card. Video cards are for real-time 3D graphics in games and such, which movie editing does not entail. Encoding video is 100% CPU-based, so integrated graphics will work just fine if that's all you're doing.

However, you certainly don't need a Xeon, let alone two of them. Instead get a nice quad-core Intel i5 or AMD Phenom II for under $200. They'll work fine.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Well depending on how much he wants to get into it, there are advantages to having a decent GPU. I know CUDA is supported in some editing programs such as Adobe Premiere.

But as Blain pointed out, you can edit video on just about any hardware, it all comes down to how fast you want.


I'd recommend:

1 - a reasonably fast quadcore, ~3GHz

2 - 6-8GB of RAM, but definitely no less than 4GB (obviously a 64bit OS is inferred, Win 7 x64 unless you already have access to Vista x64 which would do just fine)

3 - at least two 7200RPM or faster hard drives (avoid the "green" drives except for as permanent file storage), although three or more would be better

SSD changes the rules a little bit but if you're going with disc drives you definitely want multiple drives: one for the OS, one for your scratch/renders, and an optional 3rd for all your media file sources. You'll also want to avoid partitioning disc drives for a video editing machine.

here's a storage guide that goes a bit more into detail, but is also geared towards people intending to be relatively serious about editing

4 - a decently large monitor, 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. Multiple monitors can also help as editing programs can take up quite a bit of desktop space so you could keep a bunch of control windows open on secondary monitors to help keep you organized. Obviously if you can afford a 2560x1600 or 2560x1440 monitor that would be even better.

5 - a powerful video card is not needed, but can help if the software you are using supports it. Its not that common so make sure your software does support it before even considering it.


Another thing to think about is external connection options. It can be very convenient to have easy access to external hard drives, and thus you'd need decently fast connections if you want reliably fast direct access to such drives through your software editor. USB 2.0 is probably too slow, so you'd want at least eSATA or USB 3.0 connectivity. Firewire is going to be rare and probably too slow as well, especially relative to eSATA or USB 3.0.

 

[Davidh373]

What kind of resolution is the home video should be the first question. If it's HD then get like an Athlon II X4, if it isn't then get you an Athlon II X2 or at most a Phenom II X2. If you are getting Windows 7 (it's a new build... probably should IMHO) get 3GB-4GB RAM. Onboard video or a cheap video card (around $50) should do the trick. If you have a lot of media and home movies and stuff you should probably get a hard drive in the range of 500GB-1TB, if you only have a few and you're going to use it for editing and home office kinda stuff then get like a 320GB with an external backup of sorts for security.

I'm thinking something like this on the higher end:

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-033-_-Product

CPU/ OS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...518.19-103-882

MoBo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-180-_-Product

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-207-_-Product

HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-073-_-Product

CD/DVD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135202

Total: $532.87

External backup
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-489-_-Product

$104.98

Lower end simply swap the processor/ Operating system combo with this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...518.19-103-687

this subtracts ~ $50.

 

[heyheybooboo]

...

3 - at least two 7200RPM or faster hard drives (avoid the "green" drives except for as permanent file storage), although three or more would be better

SSD changes the rules a little bit but if you're going with disc drives you definitely want multiple drives: one for the OS, one for your scratch/renders, and an optional 3rd for all your media file sources. You'll also want to avoid partitioning disc drives for a video editing machine.

...

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB: $55 a pop

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban / MSI 890GXM-G65: $303

GSkill 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 7-7-7-18: $140


Start with the IGP and see how yah like it.




--

 

[Davidh373]

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB: $55 a pop

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban / MSI 890GXM-G65: $303

GSkill 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 7-7-7-18: $140


Start with the IGP and see how yah like it.




--

uhh... he is only editing home movies... just giving ya the heads up...

 

[heyheybooboo]

uhh... he is only editing home movies... just giving ya the heads up...

Lover Boy was wondering if he needed "...dual Xeon w/ quad core and 16Gb of memory..." so he must have a decent budget - the F3s are $55/pop.

And I wonder what kind of home movies a guy named **LoverBoyJ** wants to edit?






(It's a joke!)




--

 

[bunnyfubbles]

uhh... he is only editing home movies... just giving ya the heads up...

maybe its James Cameron posting...

as heyheybooboo pointed out, the OP did hint at paying quite a bit instead of absolute minimum.

Some things I find wrong with his recommendations:

the Phenom X6 is a bit on the steep side, but would definitely benefit video editing if the op really gets into it.

a 3 x 2GB memory kit is meant for triple channel Intel i7 rigs, and is a pretty silly recommendation for dual channel AMD rigs, stick with even numbers of memory sticks.

I'd also consider the 1TB F3 over the 500GB F3.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

$75 - $15 with EMCYWPZ27 promo code, comes to $60 free shipping, basically $5 more for double the capacity. But like I said before, I'd definitely go with at least 2 drives, but 3 would be ideal. SSD would be even better but a lot more expensive for a lot less space.

 

[Davidh373]

lol, I'm pretty sure Cameron has 16 core Xeon machines that he farms out for his rendering XD. If his stuff isn't HD there is no purpose to anything over a simple quad core build. It's already overkill IMO. If he want's to spend $1000, that's great. I'm all for it, but the question he is likely going to need the answer to is "Do I really NEED this?" The answer is likely to be no. If he has a 1080p, production quality camera, he only needs a simple build and he can use the extra $400 for something else.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

It was a joke, but even taken literally if someone like James Cameron actually wants to do his own home video editing if only as a hobby (this actually applies to anybody for any task, a professional chef might enjoy home gardening even if he has access to much better produce than he can possibly grow on his own) then argument still stands - we do not (yet at least) know who the OP is, what his budget is, what his expectations are, or how he really intends on using the system (ie is he going to be making oodles of videos or is this a once in a while thing).

Do you even do any video editing? Your original recommendation of only one SATA3 speed 7200RPM drive shows ignorance in this area.

Even messing with SD video can really push a system unless you're doing only the most basic of edits...however you can always use a faster processor, faster processor means less rendering time which means more time to do other tasks.

If he can afford a high end system he can likely afford a high end camera, or at least compromised somewhere in between for both. Assuming he doesn't already have a camera. But again, we have no idea of a budget.

If he absolutely cannot or does not want to spend more than $600 then your recommendation is actually pretty good (other than only 1 hard drive, the external USB drive is only good as a backup/archiving), but, yet again, he didn't specify a budget.

 

[Blain]

Lacking the facts has never stopped comments before.

 

[heyheybooboo]

...

a 3 x 2GB memory kit is meant for triple channel Intel i7 rigs, and is a pretty silly recommendation for dual channel AMD rigs, stick with even numbers of memory sticks.

I'd also consider the 1TB F3 over the 500GB F3.

...

But like I said before, I'd definitely go with at least 2 drives, but 3 would be ideal. SSD would be even better but a lot more expensive for a lot less space.

The deal with the F3 HD502HJs is their cost ($55) and how they would work in a really nice multiple RAID setup for capture ---> output.

As you note, an SSD for the OS/Apps would be ideal. Then your first 2x500gb RAID may be setup for capture; your second 2x500gb RAID for output.

With the RAMs, don't be mislead by single-dual-triple channel hype. The 'rule of thumb' from single-to-dual was a 5 percent boost in memory intensive applications. Dual-to-triple channel benefits are less; and in some cases negligible or worse.

The over-riding factor in this is the Phenom arch. For each 10 percent increase in the NB/IMC speed, bandwidth is increased 3-4 percent and latency is reduced 3-4 percent.

Pretty much a 'slam-dunk' raising the stock 2000MHz NB/IMC on the Phenom to 2400MHz at stock volts. Same principles apply to the IMC in the Athlon IIs, also.

'Enthusiasts' are now zooming past 3000MHz with their NB/IMC clocks but I imagine the increases in memory bandwidth and reductions of latency are starting to reach a point of diminishing returns at super high speeds.




--

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The deal with the F3 HD502HJs is their cost ($55) and how they would work in a really nice multiple RAID setup for capture ---> output.

As you note, an SSD for the OS/Apps would be ideal. Then your first 2x500gb RAID may be setup for capture; your second 2x500gb RAID for output.

With the RAMs, don't be mislead by single-dual-triple channel hype. The 'rule of thumb' from single-to-dual was a 5 percent boost in memory intensive applications. Dual-to-triple channel benefits are less; and in some cases negligible or worse.

The over-riding factor in this is the Phenom arch. For each 10 percent increase in the NB/IMC speed, bandwidth is increased 3-4 percent and latency is reduced 3-4 percent.

Pretty much a 'slam-dunk' raising the stock 2000MHz NB/IMC on the Phenom to 2400MHz at stock volts. Same principles apply to the IMC in the Athlon IIs, also.

'Enthusiasts' are now zooming past 3000MHz with their NB/IMC clocks but I imagine the increases in memory bandwidth and reductions of latency are starting to reach a point of diminishing returns at super high speeds.
--

Right but again, its $55 vs. $60. Unless you're going to be buy a dozen drives the cost is pretty negligible to ignore twice the capacity. 500GB vs. 1TB... I would have recommended the 500GB F3s if I didn't know about the 1TB F3 deal. Maybe you'd turn down the extra capacity to save $5 ($10 if 2 drives, $15 for 3, $20 for 4...still negligible) but I know I sure as hell wouldn't

And while you might be right about memory performance, I still wouldn't shoe-horn myself with 3 sticks of ram in a 4 slot system. Sure he could add in a single 2GB stick on down the road and hope it works but I'd rather get 8GBs (whether 4 or 2 sticks) or go 2 x 2GB and see if 4GB is enough and still have an option to add in another set later. This set for instance offers 2 x 4GB, 8GB total (2GB extra) for just $30 more than the 3 x 2GB kit you recommend, only $20 more with the EMCYXYN44 promo code.

but alas it really does all come down to personal preferences

 

[Davidh373]

It was a joke, but even taken literally if someone like James Cameron actually wants to do his own home video editing if only as a hobby (this actually applies to anybody for any task, a professional chef might enjoy home gardening even if he has access to much better produce than he can possibly grow on his own) then argument still stands - we do not (yet at least) know who the OP is, what his budget is, what his expectations are, or how he really intends on using the system (ie is he going to be making oodles of videos or is this a once in a while thing).

Then we need to know these things before we recommend a prosumer or even professional grade build to a guy who wants to edit videos of his babies first steps... If this is the case the 5 or 6 people recommending $1000-$2000 builds will likely make him think he needs said expensive hardware.

Do you even do any video editing? Your original recommendation of only one SATA3 speed 7200RPM drive shows ignorance in this area.

LOL! Insulting a professional video editor... nice... I have a build listed below I use for 3D and Video and Photo Editing. He didn't say "I need to edit a motion picture with a 50 million dollar budget" he said

(he needs) a rig just for editing home videos.

The most we can assume from this is he has a video camera he shoots his family events with. He won't be working with an epic number of layers or effects. If he is going to be he should say so and I will change my recommendations. Your talking about my recommendation on the SATA II kinda makes me laugh... tell me... what did you do last year when SATA III wasn't available... edit video with your imagination...?

Even messing with SD video can really push a system unless you're doing only the most basic of edits...however you can always use a faster processor, faster processor means less rendering time which means more time to do other tasks.

Yeah... it really pushes my old HP with a Core2 Duo and two GB ram lol... which is not near as good as my recommendation...

If he can afford a high end system he can likely afford a high end camera, or at least compromised somewhere in between for both. Assuming he doesn't already have a camera. But again, we have no idea of a budget.

He hasn't said anything about his budget or camera yet... you can't make those assumptions. If you notice I had a lot of "ifs" in my suggestions. You just make assumptions...

Please OP, tell us the budget, and info about the camera. Without it arguments like this sprout up constantly. It doesn't do any of us any good.

 

[Davidh373]

Maybe this will make everyone happy. OP, if you have $2000 you want to spend because you are going to be editing your home movies into a 4K resolution, $50 million 3D masterpiece get this

Corsair Obsidian
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-002-_-Product

Antec 850W PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-009-_-Product

Xeon 6 Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-231-_-Product

Xeon X58 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-165-_-Product

12GB DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-356-_-Product

80GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233131

then 8 of these all in pairs of RAID
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-533-_-Product

not to mention all the sata cables you'd have to buy extra!

Hell, While you're at it why don't you buy a Rack Server to back everything up to!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-533-_-Product

Then however many SAS drives you need (around 12 to back up that RAID)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-078-_-Product

Total: $2879.08 (This is what you "NEED" OP lol)

This is all silly

 

[LoverBoyJ]

thanks for the advice.

The hardware is actually some excess inventory from my cousins company that they are trying to get rid during their recent hardware refresh cycle. Might as well use it.

Mobo -> S5000PSLSATAR
CPU --> 2 x Intel Xeon Quad-Core Processor E5440
Memory -> 8 x 2GB PC2-5300F ECC

Will have to get a couple of 1Gb drives from any sale.

We accumulated quite some family video that needs editing so i could use the extra speed.

 

[LoverBoyJ]

People have edited video on dual 450MHz Celeron rigs with less than 512MB of memory.

BTW, I used to edit some videos on an overclocked P4-1.3Ghz w/ 2Gb of memoryand it takes forever to render an hour of vacation videos (w/c includes transitions and effects).

And I wonder what kind of home movies a guy named **LoverBoyJ** wants to edit? .

hahaha... thats my stupid nic when I was a single guy, i should change it to OldFatherJ

 

[Davidh373]

Alright, Since you seem to have some parts already (the dual XEONS!!!) you may as well get the case I recommended and a 750W PSU and those (what I assume you meant to say) 1TB Hard drives and be all set. I would also advise an SSD. You've already got the (very) expensive parts purchased and or gifted, so the rest will add up close to $600. I'm VERY Jealous by the way! 8-Cores for home movies is extreme overkill, but since you've got it you might as well put it to use. Have a good one!

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I have to say I'm jealous of that hardware, granted the video card question seems moot. That motherboard doesn't have any PCI-e x16 slots, so you'll have to rely on its integrated video anyways, unless you're comfortable modding a ~$450+ motherboard to try and jury rig it to get a x16 card into one of the x8 slots. With the right software its possible to get GPU acceleration to help, but certainly not necessary.

That being said I'd probably try and sell those parts, if possible, and use the money to purchase a complete system more appropriate for personal/casual use.

LOL! Insulting a professional video editor... nice...

Your talking about my recommendation on the SATA II kinda makes me laugh... tell me... what did you do last year when SATA III wasn't available... edit video with your imagination...?

The first thing I was taught about hardware in my first video class in college was to have at least two separate hard drives as fast as I could afford, and to avoid external drives except for purely backup unless they had firewire or eSATA connections, as USB2.0 is just too slow. You recommended one hard drive, I didn't care that it was "only" SATA II or III, what I cared about was that you only recommended one drive, with an optional USB 2.0 backup drive. I'd have respected your opinion more if you would have encouraged the backup drive with eSATA or USB3.0 instead of making it optional and USB 2.0.

If you are a professional you must be extremely efficient with your time and/or have the patience of a saint. Or maybe you just never learned proper hardware configuration for video editing.

 

[Davidh373]

If you are a professional you must be extremely efficient with your time and/or have the patience of a saint. Or maybe you just never learned proper hardware configuration for video editing.

Nah, my machine works dandy. Notice how I have the boot drive and two separate drives. I know it isn't "Perfect" for editing but I haven't noticed any chug with my Velociraptor running the software, one drive handling assets and the other used for the captured video/ export. After each project I back up to a 1TB USB 2.0 drive, delete captures off, and save the tape.

Again though, I am a professional, (as are you I'm assuming?) dealing with full HD video. When I just had to do some simple home movie and youtube type editing a few years back My Core2 Duo with 2GB RAM served me fine. It didn't chug one bit on SD video and worked OK with 720p. Sure it may have taken a little longer to render (about 2 hours for every hour of footage) but back then it didn't matter much because I wasn't getting paid.