I see a lot of threads on forums about people having problems viewing and editing drone videos. They are asking about what computer parts to upgrade or if they should just bite the bullet and buy a new computer.
For all you that are having problems viewing and/or editing 4K videos let me tell you my story. Read all the way through, in the end it is very simple!
I am no PC genius but I did build my PC about 4 years ago before I started drone videography. I used a lot of used and leftover spare parts that were just laying around, plus a few new ones that were necessary. I used an ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard with AMD FX-4100 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti GPU, 2 sticks of 4GB RAM (8GB total), cheap, run-of-the-mill 3TB HDD. After I started editing video, I added a 2nd display, so 2-21" monitors now.
Now, with this setup, I could view and edit 1080p videos just fine. With 2.7 resolution files from my P3S it would stutter a little bit when viewing but would edit OK as long as I was downsampling the output to 1080p. When I bought a P4 and started filming in 4K, when trying to view 4K files it (the PC) would fall on its face! Not even close!
Now I didn't mind spending $300-$400 on upgrading whatever was necessary, but I didn't want to spend $200 here, $200 and $300 there and still not be able to view and edit 4K video. I researched and read everything I could find trying to figure out which direction to go with no ideas. Some people would say you need more RAM, some said more CPU, others GPU.
Finally I just closed my eyes and bought an AMD FX-8370 (Vishera) processor, the latest and fastest CPU that would fit in the motherboard, for $200 bucks.
With that one single upgrade, I can now view, full screen, 2 different 4K videos on 2 different monitors at the same time, with NO stuttering, jerking or lag! Smooth as butter!
I hope my experience helps point someone in the right direction. It is my understanding that most video editing programs use the CPU to do the bulk of the work. With the exception of DaVinci Resolve, which uses the GPU.
For all you that are having problems viewing and/or editing 4K videos let me tell you my story. Read all the way through, in the end it is very simple!
I am no PC genius but I did build my PC about 4 years ago before I started drone videography. I used a lot of used and leftover spare parts that were just laying around, plus a few new ones that were necessary. I used an ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard with AMD FX-4100 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti GPU, 2 sticks of 4GB RAM (8GB total), cheap, run-of-the-mill 3TB HDD. After I started editing video, I added a 2nd display, so 2-21" monitors now.
Now, with this setup, I could view and edit 1080p videos just fine. With 2.7 resolution files from my P3S it would stutter a little bit when viewing but would edit OK as long as I was downsampling the output to 1080p. When I bought a P4 and started filming in 4K, when trying to view 4K files it (the PC) would fall on its face! Not even close!
Now I didn't mind spending $300-$400 on upgrading whatever was necessary, but I didn't want to spend $200 here, $200 and $300 there and still not be able to view and edit 4K video. I researched and read everything I could find trying to figure out which direction to go with no ideas. Some people would say you need more RAM, some said more CPU, others GPU.
Finally I just closed my eyes and bought an AMD FX-8370 (Vishera) processor, the latest and fastest CPU that would fit in the motherboard, for $200 bucks.
With that one single upgrade, I can now view, full screen, 2 different 4K videos on 2 different monitors at the same time, with NO stuttering, jerking or lag! Smooth as butter!
I hope my experience helps point someone in the right direction. It is my understanding that most video editing programs use the CPU to do the bulk of the work. With the exception of DaVinci Resolve, which uses the GPU.
