4K RAW editing computer specs

[Struggle4Bucks]

To be able to edit RAW 4K footage in adobe premiere... would something like this work out???:

Option 1:

HP Z840 2x Xeon 10C E5-2650 V3, 2.3Ghz,
512GB SSD + 4TB,
32GB (4x8GB) DDR4,
DVDRW,
Quadro K4200 4GB,
Win10 Pro MAR Com

Option 2:

HP Z840 2x Xeon 12C E5-2680 V3, 2.5Ghz,
512GB SSD + 4TB,
64GB (4x16GB) DDR4,
DVDRW,Quadro K5200 8GB,
Win10 Pro MAR Com

Thanks!

PS.: Please don't draw Apple IMac Pro or Mac Pro into this inquiry... I was in an Apple Store today and found myself NOT COOL enough for Apple... I was feeling really uncomfortable and intimidated with the overall coolness in their store... Even the dudes in their late 50s wearing sneakers and shit and drinking Starbucks coffee looked and moved cooler then me and I really don't consider myself as an uncool guy at all. Perfectly trimmed full beards oh man... never knew one could look that cool. I never saw people with this level of coolness before...

[CurrentlySober]

PS.: Please don't draw Apple IMac Pro or Mac Pro into this inquiry... I was in an Apple Store today and found myself NOT COOL enough for Apple... I was feeling really uncomfortable and intimidated with the overall coolness in their store... Even the dudes in their late 50s wearing sneakers and shit and drinking Starbucks coffee looked and moved cooler then me and I really don't consider myself as an uncool guy at all. Perfectly trimmed full beards oh man... never knew one could look that cool. I never saw people with this level of coolness before...

Except for the fact that everyone in mainstream, ie South Park Studios etc, all use macs...

Its not about 'Being Cool' - It's about using the most reliable, efficient equipment to do the job. The best tools make the job easier. But be honest, it's NOT about being cool. It's the price that puts you off. Fair enough, but it's nothing to do with being cool...

Think I'm cool? I Doubt it... Neither do I , but I do like to use the best tool for the job I'm doing...

[Grapesoda]

Except for the fact that everyone in mainstream, ie South Park Studios etc, all use macs...

Its not about 'Being Cool' - It's about using the most reliable, efficient equipment to do the job. The best tools make the job easier. But be honest, it's NOT about being cool. It's the price that puts you off. Fair enough, but it's nothing to do with being cool...

Think I'm cool? I Doubt it... Neither do I , but I do like to use the best tool for the job I'm doing...

mac = higher price, 2 year old technology

[CurrentlySober]

mac = higher price, 2 year old technology

OK, so take price out of the equation. As long as whatever you get, does the job out of the box and works flawlessly for years to come, who cares if its 2 year old tech or not?

Do you think that Matt and Trey worry if their macs are a couple of years old? As long as they can use them to do what they want, which is animate an episode every week, usually in 3 to 4 days, then that's all that matters.

Sure, a mac is more expensive, but if it does what you want, day after day, then I don't see the hate. Like I said, it's not about 'cool factor' its about getting the job done as simply and as elegantly as possible...

I mean, if its out of your price range, then it's just a case of 'i cunt a4da mac... ' which is fair enough. I'm just picking up on the 'Don't mention macs cause I'm not cool enough' part, thats all.

[celandina]

Except for the fact that everyone in mainstream, ie South Park Studios etc, all use macs...

Its not about 'Being Cool' - It's about using the most reliable, efficient equipment to do the job. The best tools make the job easier. But be honest, it's NOT about being cool. It's the price that puts you off. Fair enough, but it's nothing to do with being cool...

Think I'm cool? I Doubt it... Neither do I , but I do like to use the best tool for the job I'm doing...

We still use the now 10 ( or more) years old Mac system Final Cut Pro and Sound Track Pro, but Apple abbandoned STP all togheter and FCP is now only suitable for children editing Youtube video...So I am pissed off at Apple, yet even Avid system runs better on Mac..

[MaDalton]

first question would be what RAW means - makes a huge difference whether you edit ProRes (which is uncompressed) or mp4 compressed material which needs to be decoded on the fly

and the times where every editor worked on Macs are long over due to the neglicence of Apple towards their professional users

[MaDalton]

PS: I edit 4K compressed material on one i7 8700 CPU and a GTX 1060 GPU without issues, never tried several video tracks simultaneously though - which would be the next question

[Struggle4Bucks]

first question would be what RAW means - makes a huge difference whether you edit ProRes (which is uncompressed) or mp4 compressed material which needs to be decoded on the fly

BlackMagic DNG files or ProRes

[Tubevideditor]

I wanted a new system and looked at Apple but they were so overpriced/limited for the power you got and as StefanG says, they've kind of abandoned pro users.
Sure there 'all in one' new imacs are good but if something goes wrong (like a monitor) then you're pretty fucked and can't just go out and replace the monitor. If you want to add a better graphics card later, then you can't either.

They are damn expensive too for what they offer but its the limitations that was the deal killer for me.

When i was in printing years ago, it was all Mac but then more PC's took over as i got out of that biz. The same seems to happening with editing now too.

The current Mac Pros are so old now they are complete waste of money and Appple don't have a release date for the new ones.

So I went for another PC - an i9-7900k overclocked to 4.5GHz with 1080Ti card/SSD etc and for rendering, it absolutely flies. It wasn't cheap (3k just for the tower alone) but it has serious horsepower for my needs and saves tons of times not having to wait as long for renders to finish.

I also moved from Premier to Davinci Resolve and that is way better.

Having said all this, if your a casual editor then a Mac will serve you well.

[Struggle4Bucks]

Except for the fact that everyone in mainstream, ie South Park Studios etc, all use macs...

Its not about 'Being Cool' - It's about using the most reliable, efficient equipment to do the job. The best tools make the job easier. But be honest, it's NOT about being cool. It's the price that puts you off. Fair enough, but it's nothing to do with being cool...

Think I'm cool? I Doubt it... Neither do I , but I do like to use the best tool for the job I'm doing...

Im not a computer expert... So when I step into a store I want to be informed by someone who knows what he is talking about.

This Apple dude acted very cool but when I asked some questions he was more like a stuttering prick. If you claim to be the standard of the profesional industry... you should hire profesionals sales persons that know what specs are needed for any certain job...
If you want to sell me a 5K+ computer you better fucking know what you are talking about...

No... the price is not putting me off... I am going to spend the same amount of money... BUT... for that amount of money I can buy an entry level MAC or one hell of a beast of a windows machine...

No really im serious.... The atmosphere they are trying to create in these Apple stores is actually very childish and laughable...

[Struggle4Bucks]

I mean, if its out of your price range, then it's just a case of 'i cunt a4da mac... ' which is fair enough. I'm just picking up on the 'Don't mention macs cause I'm not cool enough' part, thats all.

Please stick to the poo subject because it really shows your apple feelings are hurt... it shows...

[CurrentlySober]

No really im serious.... The atmosphere they are trying to create in these Apple stores is actually very childish and laughable...

Ah, OK. I get you. Fair enough. I have not been in an apple store since early 2009 when I bought the iMac Im still using atm...

[MaDalton]

BlackMagic DNG files or ProRes

in that case Xeon CPUs are an overkill, especially when you don't work with multiple parallel tracks and effects


edit: I now see those are older CPUs, no idea how good they work for that

I'd stick to something new, also on the GPU, Premiere actually makes use of that and a new GPU for half the price is potentially 10 times better than a 3 year old high end card

[candyflip]

I have an i9 with a Titan X and 64gb or RAM and rip through 4.6k Cinema DNG RAW in Resolve in real time. It’s 18 months old and isn’t close to slowing down.

Are you delivering 4K content or just working with it?

[Struggle4Bucks]

in that case Xeon CPUs are an overkill, especially when you don't work with multiple parallel tracks and effects


edit: I now see those are older CPUs, no idea how good they work for that

I'd stick to something new, also on the GPU, Premiere actually makes use of that and a new GPU for half the price is potentially 10 times better than a 3 year old high end card

Soooo many different opinions everywhere...

yes I went through adobe forums and indeed came across some opinions that single cpu (intel x series) would work better than 2 Xeons...
Indeed in regards to gpu... the newer ones are considered to be working better with adobe...

You also edit VR on that specs?

[MaDalton]

Soooo many different opinions everywhere...

yes I went through adobe forums and indeed came across some opinions that single cpu (intel x series) would work better than 2 Xeons...
Indeed in regards to gpu... the newer ones are considered to be working better with adobe...

You also edit VR on that specs?

VR has no special requirements, the stitching you don't do in real time and after that you edit it like any other MP4 video.

[bronco67]

To be able to edit RAW 4K footage in adobe premiere... would something like this work out???:

Option 1:

HP Z840 2x Xeon 10C E5-2650 V3, 2.3Ghz,
512GB SSD + 4TB,
32GB (4x8GB) DDR4,
DVDRW,
Quadro K4200 4GB,
Win10 Pro MAR Com

Option 2:

HP Z840 2x Xeon 12C E5-2680 V3, 2.5Ghz,
512GB SSD + 4TB,
64GB (4x16GB) DDR4,
DVDRW,Quadro K5200 8GB,
Win10 Pro MAR Com

Thanks!

PS.: Please don't draw Apple IMac Pro or Mac Pro into this inquiry... I was in an Apple Store today and found myself NOT COOL enough for Apple... I was feeling really uncomfortable and intimidated with the overall coolness in their store... Even the dudes in their late 50s wearing sneakers and shit and drinking Starbucks coffee looked and moved cooler then me and I really don't consider myself as an uncool guy at all. Perfectly trimmed full beards oh man... never knew one could look that cool. I never saw people with this level of coolness before...

Don't bother with dual cpu systems. Everything is more expensive and it's more problems to deal with. Also, those xeons are $2k each...why would you buy a less powerful, expensive CPU when you can get a single i9 9900k for $500 and will be much better suited for editing because of the high 5ghz clock speeds which can be reached. The 9900k is a beast.

I've built many systems for 3d animation, rendering and editing through the years and one thing I will never do again is get a dual CPU system. It was good back in the day before Intel started stacking cores, but now it's not necessary unless you like the idea of spending more money. Also, a new Nvidia gtx 1080 gaming card will work just as well as a Quadro ( which costs way more). Quadros are for suckers.

You can take my advice, or waste your money. If you struggle for those bucks, don't throw them down the toilet.

[TFCash]

Here is a good read with numbers if your using PP to edit in.

Hardware Recommendations for Premiere Pro CC

[Marshal]

Don't bother with dual cpu systems. Everything is more expensive and it's more problems to deal with. Also, those xeons are $2k each...why would you buy a less powerful, expensive CPU when you can get a single i9 9900k for $500 and will be much better suited for editing because of the high 5ghz clock speeds which can be reached. The 9900k is a beast.

I've built many systems for 3d animation, rendering and editing through the years and one thing I will never do again is get a dual CPU system. It was good back in the day before Intel started stacking cores, but now it's not necessary unless you like the idea of spending more money. Also, a new Nvidia gtx 1080 gaming card will work just as well as a Quadro ( which costs way more). Quadros are for suckers.

You can take my advice, or waste your money. If you struggle for those bucks, don't throw them down the toilet.

I couldn't agree more with the statement above.

Avoid dual systems. All you need is a high frequency single CPU, like the above mentioned i9. Even i7-9700k will be good.

Quadro is not needed for video editing, since you will not see any real benefit. A simple GTX like 1060/1070 will be more than enough.

[NoWhErE]

Here is another solution if you don't want to buy a high-end system: Use proxies to edit your videos.

With premiere you can create low-resolution versions of your 4k videos to be used in your edits. You'll be able to edit in real-time with no lag.

Once you're done and ready to export, Premiere will automatically export to a final format using your 4k files.

Its by far the easiest solution if you don't have a beast of a machine to edit raw 4k files. Using proxies, you could edit 4k video on almost any generic computer and its a technique used by most professional editors.

Here's how to enable proxies: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro...oxy-media.html

[Eddie Monster]

I have two Mac to edit our videos on Herhd.com. I5 processors on both You really only need one computer. Processors are very important when it come to rendering out the video. Don't be cheap when it comes to this because losing hours of your life with slow processors or bad computer is not worth it trust me.

[celandina]

" Ram Schram". it is NOT only about editing the picture, how about sound ?? Or is it " who cares" ??

[Struggle4Bucks]

Thanks to all who gave advice so far I really appreciate it!!! This helped me further on my search; canceling some options, etc...

It seems it's not all just about stacking cores and adding GBs... It's about the right configuration...

This is where my thoughts are now:

Intel Core i9 9900K, 16MB Cache, 3,6GHz (5,0 GHz Turbo Boost) , 8 Cores.
DDR4 64GB
Nvidia RTX 2070 Dual 8 GB
SSD 500GB system harddisk
2 TB harddisk
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX audio

I also looked at i9 9700X 3.3 ghz 10 cores 20 threads but some tests show the 9900K with better performance although it's cheaper then the 9700X.
I also looked at RTX 2080 but its performance is only slightly better? but is much more expensive so the performance/price ratio is somehow out of balance...

So... anyone... any thoughts? This will let me edit RAW 4K without too much trouble?

Speak now or forever hold your peace

[bronco67]

Thanks to all who gave advice so far I really appreciate it!!! This helped me further on my search; canceling some options, etc...

It seems it's not all just about stacking cores and adding GBs... It's about the right configuration...

This is where my thoughts are now:

Intel Core i9 9900K, 16MB Cache, 3,6GHz (5,0 GHz Turbo Boost) , 8 Cores.
DDR4 64GB
Nvidia RTX 2070 Dual 8 GB
SSD 500GB system harddisk
2 TB harddisk
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX audio

I also looked at i9 9700X 3.3 ghz 10 cores 20 threads but some tests show the 9900K with better performance although it's cheaper then the 9700X.
I also looked at RTX 2080 but its performance is only slightly better? but is much more expensive so the performance/price ratio is somehow out of balance...

So... anyone... any thoughts? This will let me edit RAW 4K without too much trouble?

Speak now or forever hold your peace

I would say the gtx2070 looks skippable. I own sixteen gtx1070s for my GPU render farm and based on the specs and price I've seen of the new 2070 it looks to be a giant waste of money. Looks to be a marginal increase in performance at best.

Rest of that looks good though. I can almost guarantee you'll have the fastest computer on your block and will be more than enough for cutting vids.

[Struggle4Bucks]

I would say the gtx2070 looks skippable. I own sixteen gtx1070s for my GPU render farm and based on the specs and price I've seen of the new 2070 it looks to be a giant waste of money. Looks to be a marginal increase in performance at best.

Rest of that looks good though. I can almost guarantee you'll have the fastest computer on your block and will be more than enough for cutting vids.

Thanks for your time!

So you work with gtx1070? You think this is the best option for gpu?

[TFCash]

gtx1070 looks to be about 1/2 the price and within 12% of the performance, so yeah if your looking for ways to save money, or be able to boost other areas, that would be a good place to start

[bronco67]

Thanks for your time!

So you work with gtx1070? You think this is the best option for gpu?

It's not the best now that the 2070 is out...I'm just saying that the performance increase over the last gen isn't that impressive. There will be some areas where the RTX will shine, but theose are ray tracing dependent processes. A 1070 is a great GPU whether you're gaming or working.

There is NO need to spend way more money on computer parts out of ignorance (no offense).

[Grapesoda]

OK, so take price out of the equation. As long as whatever you get, does the job out of the box and works flawlessly for years to come, who cares if its 2 year old tech or not?

Do you think that Matt and Trey worry if their macs are a couple of years old? As long as they can use them to do what they want, which is animate an episode every week, usually in 3 to 4 days, then that's all that matters.

Sure, a mac is more expensive, but if it does what you want, day after day, then I don't see the hate. Like I said, it's not about 'cool factor' its about getting the job done as simply and as elegantly as possible...

I mean, if its out of your price range, then it's just a case of 'i cunt a4da mac... ' which is fair enough. I'm just picking up on the 'Don't mention macs cause I'm not cool enough' part, thats all.

yup what ever does the job... both platforms are the same to me... when I was choosing which way to go pentium 75hrz or mac 75hrz, the guy teaching me html was using a mac, it crashed, I went with the pentium,

wasn't it shakespeare that said 'The lady doth protest too much, methinks' talk all you want, we both know that mac sells low tech at a premium price...great bizs plan for sure, as long as you guys keep drinking the kool aid

I ran three clocked systems with 2 monitors each, I'm pretty sure I could afford a mac... but why would I want one? so you and me and mark prince could macblow each other online? right? lol!!

[Grapesoda]

first question would be what RAW means - makes a huge difference whether you edit ProRes (which is uncompressed) or mp4 compressed material which needs to be decoded on the fly

and the times where every editor worked on Macs are long over due to the neglicence of Apple towards their professional users

camera manufacturers are doing the same thing, dumping pros for the average joe going to disneyland with the kids...

[Grapesoda]

I would say the gtx2070 looks skippable. I own sixteen gtx1070s for my GPU render farm and based on the specs and price I've seen of the new 2070 it looks to be a giant waste of money. Looks to be a marginal increase in performance at best.

Rest of that looks good though. I can almost guarantee you'll have the fastest computer on your block and will be more than enough for cutting vids.

is the farm for your use or clients?

[bronco67]

is the farm for your use or clients?

For me... so that means it's also for my clients.

[NoWhErE]

For me... so that means it's also for my clients.

What are you rendering to require such a big farm? Is it mostly 3D?

[NoWhErE]

Thanks to all who gave advice so far I really appreciate it!!! This helped me further on my search; canceling some options, etc...

It seems it's not all just about stacking cores and adding GBs... It's about the right configuration...

This is where my thoughts are now:

Intel Core i9 9900K, 16MB Cache, 3,6GHz (5,0 GHz Turbo Boost) , 8 Cores.
DDR4 64GB
Nvidia RTX 2070 Dual 8 GB
SSD 500GB system harddisk
2 TB harddisk
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX audio

I also looked at i9 9700X 3.3 ghz 10 cores 20 threads but some tests show the 9900K with better performance although it's cheaper then the 9700X.
I also looked at RTX 2080 but its performance is only slightly better? but is much more expensive so the performance/price ratio is somehow out of balance...

So... anyone... any thoughts? This will let me edit RAW 4K without too much trouble?

Speak now or forever hold your peace

Look at my answer earlier in this thread. You may not even need to upgrade your computer after all.

[Struggle4Bucks]

but why would I want one? so you and me and mark prince could macblow each other online?

[bronco67]

What are you rendering to require such a big farm? Is it mostly 3D?

Medical animation...and porn animation when I can.

[Kevsh]

Here is another solution if you don't want to buy a high-end system: Use proxies to edit your videos.

With premiere you can create low-resolution versions of your 4k videos to be used in your edits. You'll be able to edit in real-time with no lag.

Once you're done and ready to export, Premiere will automatically export to a final format using your 4k files.

Its by far the easiest solution if you don't have a beast of a machine to edit raw 4k files. Using proxies, you could edit 4k video on almost any generic computer and its a technique used by most professional editors.

Here's how to enable proxies: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro...oxy-media.html

This is the correct answer.

I've used proxies for 4k clips on a Mac laptop - yes laptop - and it worked fine. Incredibly easy to set up in PP too.

Absolutely no need to go all out for a kickass system unless you just really want a kickass system.