Intel or AMD (I know it's been discussed, but)...

AVK wrote on 11/20/2018, 10:26 AM

I read recent threads about which workstation to buy or build, but my needs may not be as demanding as some, so here it goes again....

I typically have the latest versions of Vegas Pro. Editing I do can be called pro-sumer. In other words, I do simple slice and dice jobs on 1080p and 4K videos recorded with GoPro's, Sony A7III, etc. I don't do any 3D rendering, heavy filters, etc. My current computer is a cheap 3-year old HP, that takes about 2.5+ hours to render a 45-minute video using Magix AVC/AAC MP4.

Understanding the above, what would this community suggest for a computer/workstation that will cut my render time and won't kill my bank account? I would say my budget is 2K. Other uses for this computer would be typical Windows use (i.e. MS Office, Adobe Lightroom, etc.), and some gaming. And I've always leaned Intel for compatibility sake. I am okay building one, or buying one.

So what should I aim for please?

Motherboard brand/model?
Memory type and amount?
Graphics Card brand/model/memory amount?
Power supply watts?
Liquid cooled or not?
Etc.

Or can should I simply buy a gaming PC from MSI or Digitalstorm?

Thank you in advance!

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Comments

AVK wrote on 11/21/2018, 2:03 PM

What kind of multicam footage do you intend to edit? 1080 30 or 60p, 4K 30p or 60P?

As of now I'm doing 1080p 60 from GoPro's.

zdogg wrote on 11/21/2018, 11:26 PM

There is no such thing as "overkill" in video. Any machine is underpowered, AFAIAC, by the nature of the tasks and the real need to actually "SEE" in real time what you're doing, BIG PLUS and not always achievable, even on bleeding edge machines, depending on multiple variables.

For Vegas. cute trick: Use a small. even an older used monitor dedicated for your Pan/Crop/FX editor window, just keep that open all the time in this THIRD MONITOR, set a Keyboard shortcut so that you can quickly open the needed event (after selecting with Control-Mouseclik, so as not to move cursor) So, control mouseclik your event, then ALT P (for example, need to set that up, for Pan/Crop window open, which is already open, but the new information show up) and your window switches to that events editing, you can set up one shortcut for fx, but not really necessary, all its in the same window. So, you have two bigger monitors, let's say, for timeline and preview, and the smaller one for the edits.

This will speed your workflow tremendously instead of constantly floating or managing a too small pan/crop/fx window, open, shut, adjust, just too much trouble.

fifonik wrote on 11/22/2018, 3:23 PM

> There is no such thing as "overkill" in video.

True.

However, in my case video editing is a hobby. I make no money of it so I do not feel comfortable to spend +$1000 to get +20% preview speed improvements (from 40fps to 48 fps) that I would see two times a month and I do not care about render speed at all (rendering during nights is absolutely fine for me). So I believe that for home usage it is better to have balanced setup with above medium performance.

MSI is my number one manufacturer for home PCs' parts. I used to have a bit more issues with Asus/Gigabyte than with MSI. I prefer local offline shops as it is cheaper/easier for warranty claims if I need them.

astar wrote on 11/24/2018, 4:29 PM

Chief24 is pretty much on the money when it comes to building a Vegas system.

Couple things I would add/advocate is more memory channels and single rank memory. Choose boards that have 4 or more memory channels. Optimize your memory channels and do not fill them up. Instead buy higher density Dimms that are single rank and then number them based on the memory channels of the motherboard.

The increase in memory channels will cut down the CPU option list greatly.

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Someone else also said the they never see Vegas use the 32GB of RAM they have. Windows will use the additional RAM and execute actions on media directly from memory instead of going to disk. This is why you want more RAM in windows than is needed. Your system design should allow a multi-tasking of memory roles:

OS = 4GB
background IT/Apps (AV, remote controls apps, ect) = 4GB
Foreground User (Vegas, office, ect) = 8-16GB
Windows Stoage Cache = what ever is left over = 8GB

The general rule of thumb is 4-8GB per CPU core.

If you are looking at a dual Xeon with 6 memory channels per CPU, you are looking at minimums of 96-384GB of RAM. That is why you want Xeon over desktops, Xeon systems will have 80GB/s memory bandwidth out of the box.

You want to make sure the 16X PCI connector to the GPU/GPUs is the limiting factor as far as bandwidth. If your system memory is not greatly exceeding your 16xPCIe (insert version) connector, your GPUs will be gimped. This is mainly a statement for the budget system / dual memory channel users.

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Someone else said they do a lot of multi-cam work. Multi-cam is where you want all your media on NVME M.2 and plenty of RAM. The simultaneous IO is best handled by NVME. With SATA only, then have a drive for each camera. Remember SATA is a unidirectional media interface (you can either read or write at any time.)

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Editing GO Pro video in multicam might be more optimized by converting the source media to Cineform.AVI. The intraframe compression would likely edit smother.

https://wolfcrow.com/blog/intra-frame-vs-inter-frame-compression/