Main PC components for Video Editing at DVinfo.net

Matt Thomas · January 21st, 2015, 01:14 PM

Hi guys,

Looking to build a new PC shortly and was wondering what the main components I need to the powerful the better.

I thought I need a fast CPU and good graphics card, and perhaps a SSD hard drive for the OS drive, but wasn't sure about ram is anything over 12gb overkill or does having 32GB of ram (how much I have in the Mac at work) actually have a huge effect on Editing, Rendering and Exporting?

Thanks guys,

Battle Vaughan · January 21st, 2015, 03:35 PM

You will get more detailed answers, but two things you bring up: more memory is a great bonus if you use After Effects, because the previews are rendered to RAM and the more you have, the more you can see. The graphics card best supported by Adobe products is the NVidia line, the more memory and CUDA cores the better. Rendering in the Mercury engine in Premiere is specific to NVidia technology. RAID drives are often suggested to speed up read/writes, particularly if you do long sequences.

Joshua Reafsnyder · January 25th, 2015, 07:34 PM

I cannot find the site I used for building my PC, but here is a good one that explains the different components.

Building a Photo and Video Editing PC on a Budget 2014

Two things to note. I got a top of line I5 processor because that is what I could afford. I would recommend getting a fast I7 processor if you can afford it. Premiere is CPU hog when it renders. I looked at my resource monitor and my CPU is running 90-100% the entire time when it renders, but it only uses about 8gb of RAM. But again as the previous person mentioned it depends on the program. Some programs are RAM hogs. Also look at adobe and see what video cards they have listed on their compatible list. I believe they are Nvida. Get the best video card (fastest gpu) with the most amount of dedicated memory on board. Unless I am wrong, I believe premiere relies on the video card to do most of the on the fly rendering/playback when you are working in it. And I believe Davinci Resolve wont even run if you dont have a compatible Nvida card. Davinci relies solely on the video card for all its rendering.

So for me the two things that seem to make the most difference is the video card and the CPU.

I would say look at the recommendations from the manufactures of the software you want to use. As mentioned different programs are coded to use more of certain resources than others. Like Davinci relies heavily on the video card.

Harm Millaard · January 26th, 2015, 04:32 AM

Take a look at the articles here: Tweakers Page

January 21st, 2015, 01:14 PM	#1
Matt Thomas Major Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: UK Posts: 232	Main PC components for Video Editing Hi guys, Looking to build a new PC shortly and was wondering what the main components I need to the powerful the better. I thought I need a fast CPU and good graphics card, and perhaps a SSD hard drive for the OS drive, but wasn't sure about ram is anything over 12gb overkill or does having 32GB of ram (how much I have in the Mac at work) actually have a huge effect on Editing, Rendering and Exporting? Thanks guys,

January 21st, 2015, 03:35 PM	#2
Battle Vaughan Trustee Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami, FL USA Posts: 1,505	Re: Main PC components for Video Editing You will get more detailed answers, but two things you bring up: more memory is a great bonus if you use After Effects, because the previews are rendered to RAM and the more you have, the more you can see. The graphics card best supported by Adobe products is the NVidia line, the more memory and CUDA cores the better. Rendering in the Mercury engine in Premiere is specific to NVidia technology. RAID drives are often suggested to speed up read/writes, particularly if you do long sequences.

January 25th, 2015, 07:34 PM	#3
Joshua Reafsnyder Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Northern California Posts: 49	Re: Main PC components for Video Editing I cannot find the site I used for building my PC, but here is a good one that explains the different components. Building a Photo and Video Editing PC on a Budget 2014 Two things to note. I got a top of line I5 processor because that is what I could afford. I would recommend getting a fast I7 processor if you can afford it. Premiere is CPU hog when it renders. I looked at my resource monitor and my CPU is running 90-100% the entire time when it renders, but it only uses about 8gb of RAM. But again as the previous person mentioned it depends on the program. Some programs are RAM hogs. Also look at adobe and see what video cards they have listed on their compatible list. I believe they are Nvida. Get the best video card (fastest gpu) with the most amount of dedicated memory on board. Unless I am wrong, I believe premiere relies on the video card to do most of the on the fly rendering/playback when you are working in it. And I believe Davinci Resolve wont even run if you dont have a compatible Nvida card. Davinci relies solely on the video card for all its rendering. So for me the two things that seem to make the most difference is the video card and the CPU. I would say look at the recommendations from the manufactures of the software you want to use. As mentioned different programs are coded to use more of certain resources than others. Like Davinci relies heavily on the video card.

January 26th, 2015, 04:32 AM	#4
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Re: Main PC components for Video Editing Take a look at the articles here: Tweakers Page