1-budget?
2-you building your own?
3-where can you buy from?

If building, this is a great resource:

https://pcpartpicker.com/

To answer, the best desktop will be the most expensive

To give you an idea what you could experience in a gaming 4K video of 8:08min processed by PD14 in 7:20mins. Real-time encoding without much effort.

From my experience, these 3 things are important: CPU/GPU/16GB RAM.

•Is 16 Go RAM (or more) much better than 8 Go RAM? Minimum 16GB's. So cheap now days both DDR3 and DDR4. RAM is now $55 for 16GB's.

•Is the DDR4 clock speed (and consequently the motherboard) important? No, don't get hung up on the clock speed. Stick to brand names and you will be fine.

•Is the CPU clock speed very important (here more extra costs)? Your selected i7 6700 will work great. If you want to overclock the CPU, get the "K"...6700K. Without the "K" you can not overclock. (You can but changes to BIOS for serious overclockers)

•Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 or 970? (Many PC offers with such alternatives). Watch pricing on the 970. I am seeing pricing at $279 for 970's. The new Nvidia 1080/1070 come out in 2 weeks. You might be able to get a 970 for $200 in the next month or 2. Of the 2, go with 970 and the price will go down. I am seeing 980 for $399 today and expect that price to go down in month or 2. I bought my 4GB 980 in Nov 14 at $579





testing back in Feb/March

Thanks for the reply especially for the Nvidia Geforce GTX 960, 970 and 10xx prices and the idea to be patient (a few month only!).

What is probably definitively correct: the 16 Go RAM together with an i7 6700 will bring the best improvement for the video generation (it's now the time for me to stop upgrading my old 5 years PC!).
I could not find actually any tests on the generation of a video file with PowerDirector using 8 Go RAM and then with 16 Go!

I would say the minimum budget is 1200$. Here in Switzerland the prices are often better than in any other countries in Europe.
I stopped now to build myself my own PCs since the desktop PC we can find are often (or even always) less expensive.

Sometimes we are really astonished like yesterday a PC for 999$ ( i7-6700, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, 1 To Harddisk, SSD 256 Go, 8 Go DDR4)!?!? No mention for instance of the motherboard and the type of DDR4! http://aldi.medion.com/md8862/ch_fr/?refPage=medion: sorry in french! 100$ more expensive in Germany. What is really inside for that price!?!?

Now back to the GPU! Why is it important for the video generation in PowerDirector since we can build it withour preview!
Probably only the CPU is concerned! Isn't it.

Back to the i7 and DDR4 clock speeds and even an high quality motherboard: will affect the budget without great improvement. Right? I believe!

I have no experience with gaming, but kmjk333's comments above seem to be directed toward those who use their pc for gaming. Whether or not they are equally valid if someone does only video editing, I don't know. Nor do I know if Jean-Bernard does gaming as well as video editing.

Perhaps someone who does only video editing will comment (I'd be interested in that perspective). Regards,
Dan
Power Director 21-Ultimate
v 21.0.3111.0
XPS-8940, Win-10 64-bit,
Intel Core i9-10900 processor
(10 core, 20M Cache),
32GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD,
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6

No ... not for gaming at all!
Mainly for video editing and programming (as well as Blender for instance, but not the priority at all).

https://pcpartpicker.com/ is very interesting, but, at the end, about 20% more expensive in Europe.

Actually the question remains: is an i7 6700 3.5 Ghz and 16 Go DDR4 RAM sufficient for PowerDirector 4K editing (tracks sometimes relatively complicated (PIP and others)).

By having a better DDR4 RAM (probably requiring a better motherboard), is the "result" far better for a price about 60% higher (in Europe). Experience from users could help me.

"16 Go DDR4 RAM sufficient for PowerDirector 4K editing"

Again, this is 4K gaming video's. 8GB is just not enough. With improper settings (test) my RAM usage shot up to 10.5GB. Most of the time, the RAM usage is 7-8GB in the "produce" stage.

Just the PD14.exe I have seen this file in task manager bounce over 5GB.

IF you stay at 8GB's, your system may become sluggish and PD run sluggish. Today saw 16GB DDR4 RAM for $49



edit: if you are going to get a i7 6700, are you not getting a new motherboard?

The GTX960 has a newer and better NVENC ASIC hardware on the chip, therefore better encoding capabilities. But is not for "4K gaming". For captures from static pictures and 4K videos (2D apps) it is the best choice.

For gaming though (3D) the GTX 970 is not that capable either, don't know what "gaming videos" you will be able to record.
In that case (3D gaming), I would wait for the GTX1070 launch.

Also, the RAM chip have to be in pairs for that CPU, it has two channels.

Hi Jean-Bernard B.
I Love the answer from kmjk333...but keep your mind on the Nvidia 1070 and go to YouTube.27 May in the Shops Pauls PC
X399 AORUS Extreme/AMD Ryzen2970WX/1xQuatro 4000 Driver:Geforce 419.67Skill V DDR4 64GB/3200MHz/Win10 prox64
Intel SSD 750/400 / Intel SSD 750/1.2Tb 1x4TB SSHD /1xSeagate 10TB pro
1xSamsung UA28D590 4k LUMIX GH5 1xLG HDR

Hi all, ... the total confusion!

Before writing this message, on the 15th of May, my only input was this: http://www.cyberlink.com/support/product-faq-content.do?id=16444

Myself, as Software architect, I tried to fix my requirements for a new PC based on, basically, only one priority: speed up the process of 4K video generation with PowerDirector 14 which could take easily, on my old 5 years PC (i7-2600K 3.4 Ghz, 8 Go RAM, 256 Gb SSD, 2To SSHD, 1 To HD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560, Windows7-64bits), between 20 and 30 minutes for 4-5 minutes of 4K videos.

For the budget, this is simple: an i7-6700 PC at 500$ is impossible and one at 2000$ is not reasonable. The price is probably between 1200 and 1500$.

The i7-6700 is not a requirement, but seems to be the right way!

Since I do not know how the software of PowerDirector is built to generate the videos (without preview) and which software and hardware components are used ... I just try to figure out what is more or less important, or really not important.

Again, it's not for gaming, or worst, for instance, for 3D gaming with capture in Powerdirector!

What I try to do: a list of components with alternatives. Then it will be easy for me to take the right decision at the right time (in the next weeks/months). Add more RAM is not a problem, replacing a video card, I would regret that.

A typical example is the video card (GTX 960, 970 or 1070): why spending so much money if this is not really relevant for my requirements!
With the price of a 1070 I could probably replace my current 1kg 300$ laptop I use today when travelling (for checking and editing my pictures and videos with Photodirector and Powerdirector).

It's absolutely possible to find out a good PC (like laptops) without graphical card (only on the motherboard): I could imagine such a users of Powerdirector exist?!?

About "the RAM chip have to be in pairs for that CPU, it has two channels" (SoNic67): I do not really understand. What is important for me: have a good impression when buying a desktop PC and have an idea if the different components are correctly selected (price and technology) and expendable. Then other aspects may often push me in a direction, when a decision is required between 2-3 alternatives (example: USB 3.1 for SSD external backup of videos).

Thanks to all.

Buy the best Graphics card u can afford
and the same goes for the processor.

as far as ram goes 32gb is better than 16gb

64gb is better than 32gb

the more ram the better I just got a 17.3" laptop
with the intel 6820hk processor 980mm graphics card
64gb ram

500gb ssd and 1000gb ssd and room for two M.2 ssd chips

and it is a great machine custom built from a well knowing
laptop builder they also do desktop custom builds

I don't think I'm allowed to post there name here
it would be classed as advertising
but send me an email if you want

Tom G Thomas G
I'm a 33yr old trapped in a 69yr old body

I still need more advices and confirmation?! Sorry !!!

I still believe that rendering is first CPU ... not GPU! A fast CPU will help more than an expensive graphics card.
If GPU is concerned, it would be nice to know how much % and if there are PowerDirector or PC configurations to show and prove it.

In case nothing can be proved I would not take any risk and will take something between like the GTX 970.

It's not too recent but excellent: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/26167.page

Go to https://pcpartpicker.com/forums/forum/27-create-a-part-list-for-me/

Create a free account. Go to "create a parts list" and mention what you stated above:
"Mainly for video editing and programming (as well as Blender for instance, but not the priority at all). " and your budget. I bet you will get at least 6 completed parts lists for a new system within your price range and needs. The more information your provide, the better the results.

This forum works well with $400 - $8000 and higher new systems. By creating a parts list for your specific needs, you can see the options you have for each hardware part.



"Before writing this message, on the 15th of May, my only input was this: http://www.cyberlink.com/support/product-faq-content.do?id=16444" This information is so old and outdated Cyberlink should be embarrassed. Seriously if it was updated, many wont buy PD14 thinking they dont have the proper specs. 2GB RAM is minimunm? Please ignore that informaion as it has never been updated.