PC setup advice needed

[midloch]

Hi guys,

I consider to edit 4K AVCHD from GH4 and also RED Epic footage in Sony Vegas 13 Pro and I made some upgrades. The most important is that I put system on one separate SSD and videos for the project are on second separate SSD. But still I am lost and not sure what to do better to edit the footage smoothly if I should to change my graphic card or even CPU or both or somethiong more that I do not know? Current setup is:

RAM: 32GB (DDR3) DRAM frequency 666,5Mhz

CPU: Intel Core i5 3350P

Graphics: GeForce GTX 650Ti

Mainboard: MSI Z77A-G43 Gaming

 

Thank you a lot!

 

 

[Don Kotlos]

You haven't described what the problem is. Do you think that your computer is not enough or have you tested it and it is not performing well? If the latter what is exactly the problem? 

I haven't used  Sony Vegas, but with premiere I found the codec to play a major role for good performance, and for realtime playback of the effects a strong GPU is also very important. Of course using fast drives and having plenty of RAM helps too but I think you have that covered. 

You can see some tests that I have done with 4K here:

If you haven't used your setup yet, I would first try it and then if there is a bottleneck improve that. Modern CPUs and GPUs can help too but that really depends on the codec and the program that is used. 

[midloch]

The problem is that even fullHD footage with a loads of grading makes the preview on my timelines not going smooth and it is very hard to edit. Lately I have increased RAM from 8GB to 32GB and add another SSD for system only but it seems not to be sufficient.

I have read a lot of advice but some many of them say that for 4K editing I must have powerfull graphics card and i5 CPU is ok some say that i5 is not ok so I do not know if to buy a new CPU or if a new graphics car for example GeForce GTX970 will be enough.

[Don Kotlos]

8 minutes ago, midloch said:

The problem is that even fullHD footage with a loads of grading makes the preview on my timelines not going smooth and it is very hard to edit. Lately I have increased RAM from 8GB to 32GB and add another SSD for system only but it seems not to be sufficient.

I have read a lot of advice but some many of them say that for 4K editing I must have powerfull graphics card and i5 CPU is ok some say that i5 is not ok so I do not know if to buy a new CPU or if a new graphics car for example GeForce GTX970 will be enough.

As you can see in my tests, a strong GPU is very important for realtime preview of the effects. That was with Premiere, but I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens across most editors. 

You can find out what is the bottleneck by monitoring your GPU & CPU. Keep an eye for single threaded limits (CPU utilization far bellow 100% but max for one thread). 

[midloch]

I have read all your story about 4K :-) So I think that I need much more powerfull GPU (also GPU can be used for rendering in Sony Vegas) so what do you think is GTX 970 ok or maybe is better to buy something like GTX 980 GAMING 4G?

[Geoff CB]

Buy as powerful a GPU as you can afford. Huge performance increase. If it doesn't give you one just return it. Also open system moniter and see how all your stuff is performing, perhaps your bottleneck is elsewhere. 

[Don Kotlos]

13 minutes ago, midloch said:

I have read all your story about 4K :-) So I think that I need much more powerfull GPU (also GPU can be used for rendering in Sony Vegas) so what do you think is GTX 970 ok or maybe is better to buy something like GTX 980 GAMING 4G?

I don't think you will need something faster than a GTX 970 since in my test at normal playback the titan was sitting ~40%. 

But I would first try to find out the bottleneck before buying anything . 

[midloch]

Yes you are right but what should I do as the first steps to find out the bottleneck? I am not much skilled pc man and even my pc is made by my friend who works as a "java programator".

[tupp]

I am not an editor nor a post person, but one thing that I always hear from pro editors is that they never edit with a compressed, capture format.  By transcoding all of one's footage to an uncompressed edit-friendly format, computer resources are saved for effects, filters and rendering, etc., instead of continually decompressing a resource-hungry camera format on the timeline.

[Don Kotlos]

2 hours ago, midloch said:

Yes you are right but what should I do as the first steps to find out the bottleneck? I am not much skilled pc man and even my pc is made by my friend who works as a "java programator".

1) Open your task manager (in W10 at performance tab, right click on the graph and change graph to logical processors).

2) Download a GPU monitoring program such as GPU-Z, install it and have it running. 

3) Do your normal editing with the effects that you usually use and observe what happens to the CPU and GPU when you think performance is bad. 

What you might see and what you should do:

a) If GPU is close to 100% (>80%) --> you need a better GPU

b) if CPU is at 100% (unlikely) there are few things that might happen. First is that some effects in Sony vegas are CPU dependent --> need a better CPU or another editing program (  ). Second is that the codec is hammering your CPU --> transcode to an editing friendly format.

c) if CPU is not at 100% but a single core is maxing out --> 2 cases from b) (more likely the second, transcode and test again) 

d) If none of the above, transcode to a better format and test again. If the same thing happens, your are probably limited by your GPU memory speed and it does not appear in the GPU monitor --> you need a better GPU.