I do not know about already built computers as I build my own.

I do know the parts it takes to build a good computer for using with Powerdirector 11.

The specs of my computer is in My Sig. My computer is starting to get a bit old, but it still does very well with Powerdirector 11 and editing HD video. My Canon camera makes 1920x1080i 17 Mbps videos, I have no problem editing them. No pauses, no jerks.

If your were to look at the specs of a fast gaming computer, you would be in the right ball park. However HD video editing takes more computer than Games.

Games do not build video files, they just display on the screen.



Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Thanks Carl, I will definitely check out your specs.

I used to think that the graphics card was the primary thing followed by memory when video editing. But I have found the following works better in my experience- as I am sure you are aware, but for others here is what I have found works:

1.) Get the fastest CPU you can. A dual core will do- but a quad core is even better. Think Intel i7 Quad or AMD equivalent.
The CPU is what does most of the work in editing and various other computational needs such as rendering.

2.) Get as much RAM as you can- a bare minimum 4 GB - 8 or more is even better. Also keep an eye on the frequencies, faster is better- so many choices out there- gets confusing to the average user. (I am using Corsair Vengeance RAM as an example.)

3.) Graphics card- it does not have to be the latest greatest, but depending on your budget, try to get a good one. Research and price match til you are satisfied. Any modern GPU is much faster than what was out 5 yrs ago and can handle almost anything thrown at them.

4.) Hard drive- an SSD is nice - but pricey right now. So a fast, large hybrid or mechanical HD to store and edit your video is a good call.
(I am using a hybrid- Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB right now- which has really fast boot times- but does not touch an SSD in terms of read / write performance. But dollar to GB capacity was my concern- so I will wait til SSD prices come down a lot more.)

5.) A good quality IPS or equivalent Monitor. Yes this somehow becomes an after thought. But seeing how the video should look is worth the extra cost for me. (my personal choice, price to specs ratio compared is the ASUS ProArt 24" model line.)

Of course- motherboard, power supply etc if you are building your own drives up the cost. I like some of the manufacturers that allow you to choose the components and they build it for you. (I have personally switched to laptops right now though, working great so far.)

Rob

PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

I agree with #1! Get the best CPU you can afford. Speed and cores is what gets the job done. However with RAM, I've never seen my memory usage go over 2GB in use with the rest flagged as standby or free. Even though I have 8GB, Windows still uses a lot of the page file.

Intel i7 4770k, 16GB, GTX1060 3GB, Two 240GB SSD, 4TB HD, Sony HDR-TD20V 3D camcorder, Sony SLT-A65VK for still images, Windows 10 Pro, 64bit
Gary Russell -- TN USA

Quote: I agree with #1! Get the best CPU you can afford. Speed and cores is what gets the job done. However with RAM, I've never seen my memory usage go over 2GB in use with the rest flagged as standby or free. Even though I have 8GB, Windows still uses a lot of the page file.

I have seem my RAM usage go up to about 6 GB of the 8 GB installed. It was a really big source file, 6.55 GB file size 2 hour Full HD. It took a lot of CPU and Ram to edit that file.

Powerdirector 9 Ultra choked on the file. Powerdirector 11 Ultimate sailed through.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

I should add:

Without anything running I am already at 1.5 - 1.8 GB usage from cold boot.

I have tweaked my pagefile usage to cut it in half (or as much as possible,) so that my RAM is actually the one being utilized as much as possible. I also have my photo editor with multiple large picture files open and editing in the background to be then inserted in Power Director.

As well, Sonic Fire PRO scoring edition is open and trimming / editing music tracks to add to the timeline. Not to mention the other normal system resources being used in the background.

Add in all the above with a long video edit and RAM usage for me is knocking over the 3+ to 4 GB mark.

Rob


PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

You can't go wrong with adding more RAM.