Computer power to edit 4k video

[D Greg]

I currently have an old updated; now outdated, AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 2.6 Ghz, 4 GB Ram, Win 10 home 64 bit with newer GeForce GTX 750 1 gig w/ HDMI out to my monitor.
My problem is probably obvious..not enough power to edit or run HD video. It plays "okay" in 720p, but when I go to 1080p, it likes to skip, and if I go higher, it just grinds away. Editing takes forever! I mostly video in 1080p, but want some 4k video for that day I buy a 4k TV.
I looked at a Dell XPS8920-75, i7 Quad core, 16GB 2400 mhz DDR4, 1 TB 7200, Win Home 64 bit, AMD Radeon Rx 460 2 GB video card. Will be using Windows movie maker. Do you think this will run 4k smoothly?
Oh, and I have a Vizio 24" smart TV I use as a monitor via HDMI. It cant show 4k, but that's okay. Mainly want to edit since I will take my Part 107 and have a couple of Realtors lined up with some other "jobs".
Appreciate any input.

 

[PaulSouthport]

I can't comment on the machines you're looking at, but simply give a reference point.
My PC is also quite old, (not as old as a Athlon though) a AMD FX-6300 CPU, 16GB RAM, 2 HDD plus 1 SSD, GT320 card.
It handles 4k 30FPS 3840x2160 reasonably well - editing in Premiere Pro, and rendering in Media Encoder.
Pushing that up up just a little bit to 4096x2160 really adds a lot of extra rendering time and makes editing a bit more laborious.

 

[Fruxen]

I have a fast computer that can edit 4k pretty well. But it's even smoother to work with using proxies. Proxies also makes "4k editing" on pretty much any computer that can handle 720p. While editing you can work and edit with recoded 720p files, and when you're done you only do the final render in full quality 4k.

A good guide is here:

 

[excalibur1814]

It also depends on what software you use. I use Videostudio x10 ultimate, with the following spec, which just about allows me to edit without getting annoyed. (I also have Resolve but haven't dived in yet)

i7-6800K (6 core 12 threads)
32Gb DDR4 ram
nVidia 980
C: m.2 sata
D: Dedicated raid card with 4x Samsung SSds in raid 0 (Main Editing drive)
E: Samsung SSD for random stuff


Also a dedicated storage server to hold the original and edited media. This ensures that I always have the media in two places in case of an error. I also have an external backup drive. (3 locations!)

Basically any reasonable machine can handle 1080p but 4k does require a bit of power.Corel Videostudio doesn't really know what to do with that many resources, seems to be limited to 4Gb despite being 64bit, plus ono occasions it can still stutter if the 4k is a long video despite using a proxy. Annoying. I did change the raid 0 array to use a Samsung 960 pro M.2. but that, for some reason, was slower!! (HDTach ran and results seemingly mean everything is performing as it should.

To answer the question: The machine you listed with be fine for 1080p but please consider the editing drive to be an SSD. When you do decide to edit 4k you should really have 1 screen to view and check your media. Good luck.

 

[D Greg]

Excalibur...thanks for the reply. I guess my machine is not reasonable since it can't handle 1080p. I have tried several programs. I also have a GoPro Hero 4 Black and when using their program, still won't play 1080p even after rendering. VLC wont play it either. Windows Movie Maker is the same. Picasa is old, but no difference there either.
I had to upgrade my video card to have an HDMI for my TV monitor. Went to a 1 gig, but I did not see that it helped at all. I think the 4 gig Ram is what is holding me back. My motherboard will not handle more than 4. Your 32 gig Ram has to help a lot! I read 12 gig is minimum for video. I priced upgrading again, but the parts were more than a tower unit.
Would love to have an SSD for Windows operating system, and HD for the rest. I have a 1 TB backup HD.
This seems like a good deal:

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-XPS8920...06XVDYHQX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Thanks again...

 

[excalibur1814]

That's actually a really nice machine with quite a good spec. As things move forward you could grab some second hand cheap ram ffrom eBay. Also maybe have a look out for the older Samsung 840 drives, again from ebay, as you can grab a 120Gb drive for a small ish amount. Storage and C: on the 7200 drive and then edit on the SSD. There's always a way

 

[D Greg]

If I get my commercial cert, then I will definitely have to go with a faster machine...probably that Dell...unless a better deal comes up!

 

[lmmavrick]

If I get my commercial cert, then I will definitely have to go with a faster machine...probably that Dell...unless a better deal comes up!

I just went through the same thing . ended up with a lenovo y700 seems to do the trick very fast . nvidia geforce gtx 4 gb intel i7 4 16gb with a 128gb ssd and 1t hard . seems to have had better reviews then the dell or hp . it's basically a gaming lap top .I've had it a few weeks and am very happy so far with the performance

 

[D Greg]

Good specs on the Lenovo y700, but I have a nice laptop that I use when traveling. I dont do editing on it. Just watch the YouTube after I edit. I use a tower for all my editing. I bought it with Vista on it; so that tells how old it is. I replaced the motherboard, chip, ram, and pwr, five or six years ago. I replaced the video card two yrs ago. Now it's time to replace the whole thing,

 

[lmmavrick]

Good specs on the Lenovo y700, but I have a nice laptop that I use when traveling. I dont do editing on it. Just watch the YouTube after I edit. I use a tower for all my editing. I bought it with Vista on it; so that tells how old it is. I replaced the motherboard, chip, ram, and pwr, five or six years ago. I replaced the video card two yrs ago. Now it's time to replace the whole thing,

The lenovo is a replacement for a regular tower . this is way better then my home pc . 17.5" screen place i can take it with since I'm on the road 10 months a yr . if i was stationary then i may also go to a standard tower pc. it does handle the video editing very well

 

[Geoff G]

The codec is the problem - h264. It's very good at delivering small high quality files because it records keyframes and then notes changes to the data over a series of frames, then another keyframe, and so on. Even modern processors have problems decoding all that at 4k in real time! Editing it is hopeless.

Fruxen is right - Transcode to an edit friendly codec, reduce the resolution and edit offline with proxies. Keep your originals and conform your edits back to 4k or whatever you want later, when you can play them back. Da Vinci can do that, and it's FREE, you need a good system to use it though, especially the graphics card (you do have a good card).

Do you have a raid 0 drive set up for your video data?

VLC is a really good free player to try out.

Good luck.