You never said why you want a new computer in the original post. Is it because the old computer’s performance is bad or it’s dead. Have you any plans maybe to upgrade to using 4k video or just stay with HD 1080p. The external video card is not that important unless you want to go to 4k editing.

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Quote I would look for the fastest Intel i7 CPU. the built in Graphics chip works just fine, having a extra video card would not hurt. RAM, a minimum of 8 GB and up is best, 16 GB may be about the sweet spot.

Look at GAMING computers because the same specs, would work for Video editing, Video Editing is actually higher demand than Games.

Carl, I'm still confused about the video card. I thought video editing offloads some of the processing to the GPU. If that's the case, wouldn't the graphics card have a big influence on performance?

After looking at both gaming systems and standard home PCs on a couple of big brand websites, I didn't learn much. The gaming systems come with fancier video cards. They support multiple monitors, which I don't need; but they also have faster video architectures.

I also checked out the site of a custom builder, and they actually have systems designed for video editing. They use NVidia Quadro cards. Those systems start north of $3000, and the low end is around $1500.

I know I said to assume price is no object, but that $3000 gave me whiplash.

$3,000 would give me whiplash also!

The GPU may are may not be used in video editing, it depends on too many factors. You must have some video fuction just to see the video. Powerdirector does not always use the GPU for effects, title, and rendering. It really depends on what is selected in preferences and what you chose in Produce. 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.

Quote You never said why you want a new computer in the original post. Is it because the old computer’s performance is bad or it’s dead. Have you any plans maybe to upgrade to using 4k video or just stay with HD 1080p. The external video card is not that important unless you want to go to 4k editing.

I have two reasons for shopping: my current computer has slowed down considerably; and I would like to replace it before it dies.

I could cope with the former by slashing away at the amount of garbage that's accumulated. Windows itself has actually gotten faster since Windows 7, but the applications have grown in complexity and resource consumption.

The latter, however, is not something I can control. This box is about five years old. I bought it when my previous machine went toes up, and it was the best I could find on a Saturday night at a local big box store. It was my good fortune that they had something decent on the shelf. This time I have the leisure to pick and choose the components I want. Jerry Schwartz

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That's why I asked. Pro systems can go for tens of thousands...

I looked at your configuration as described in your signature. Do you find it adequate? What would you change if you could? Jerry Schwartz

Quote $3,000 would give me whiplash also!

The GPU may are may not be used in video editing, it depends on too many factors. You must have some video fuction just to see the video. Powerdirector does not always use the GPU for effects, title, and rendering. It really depends on what is selected in preferences and what you chose in Produce.

Carl, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Tom. Is your system adequate for your needs? If you could, what would you change? Jerry Schwartz

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Quote

That's why I asked. Pro systems can go for tens of thousands...

I looked at your configuration as described in your signature. Do you find it adequate? What would you change if you could?

I'm just a hobbyist, so my system is fine (no 4k). Even though I bought it pre-configured, I've been surprised how difficult it is to find a system with a CPU that has a faster benchmark score (mine is around 10,000) for less than the $1,000 I paid in 2014. I don't always edit in full HD preview, depending on what kind of effects I'm using, but switching up and down works for my needs. I also use preview rendering occasionally, if it's a complex effect and/or not previewing smoothly on the preview window.

I guess if I were buying today, I'd try to find a system with an SSD (for OS and programs) and a more recent GPU (not that rendering has been a bottleneck, but I know that keeping up with recent speeds helps prevent early obsolescence). I don't think I'll buy another system until I can afford a significantly faster CPU (for editing). 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

Quote

Quote $3,000 would give me whiplash also!

The GPU may are may not be used in video editing, it depends on too many factors. You must have some video fuction just to see the video. Powerdirector does not always use the GPU for effects, title, and rendering. It really depends on what is selected in preferences and what you chose in Produce.

Carl, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Tom. Is your system adequate for your needs? If you could, what would you change?

My current computer (in signature ) is about 5 years old (Actually 7 years old). At the time I built, it was about the most computer that I could afford.

It is not as fast now as I would like, but it does still do the job. As is true in video editing the more functions you want the computer to perform, the slower it gets.

I am able to edit two hour plus movies fairly well.

Would I like a faster computer? Of course I would. I do not need to spend that kind of money right now. 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.

Quote My current computer (in signature ) is about 5 years old. At the time I built, it was about the most computer that I could afford.

It is not as fast now as I would like, but it does still do the job. As is true in video editing the more functions you want the computer to perform, the slower it gets.

I am able to edit two hour plus movies fairly well.

Would I like a faster computer? Of course I would. I do not need to spend that kind of money right now.

Mine is significantly slower than yours. CPU is only 2.4GHz. Jerry Schwartz

Quote

I'm just a hobbyist, so my system is fine (no 4k).

...


I guess if I were buying today, I'd try to find a system with an SSD (for OS and programs) and a more recent GPU (not that rendering has been a bottleneck, but I know that keeping up with recent speeds helps prevent early obsolescence). I don't think I'll buy another system until I can afford a significantly faster CPU (for editing).

I'm also just a hobbyist. It looks like your system should be about half again as fast as mine.

I'm of two minds about an SSD. It would certainly make some things faster, but not actual editing. I don't think either still or video editing come close to making my HD sweat. Managing two volumes can be a pain—the space you need is always in the wrong place.

Having a boot drive too small to hold my existing system would make migration a lot more difficult, too. If the new boot drive has room for my all of my old stuff, I can do a bare metal recovery from a backup. If I have to split the existing system up, things get more complicated.

From what I can tell, most cases only have two drive bays; so with an SSD and an HD, I wouldn't have room for an additional HD. I also wouldn't have any way to set up a RAID.

I have some thinking to do. Jerry Schwartz

Quote

Quote

I'm just a hobbyist, so my system is fine (no 4k).

...


I guess if I were buying today, I'd try to find a system with an SSD (for OS and programs) and a more recent GPU (not that rendering has been a bottleneck, but I know that keeping up with recent speeds helps prevent early obsolescence). I don't think I'll buy another system until I can afford a significantly faster CPU (for editing).

I'm also just a hobbyist. It looks like your system should be about half again as fast as mine.

I'm of two minds about an SSD. It would certainly make some things faster, but not actual editing. I don't think either still or video editing come close to making my HD sweat. Managing two volumes can be a pain—the space you need is always in the wrong place.

Having a boot drive too small to hold my existing system would make migration a lot more difficult, too. If the new boot drive has room for my all of my old stuff, I can do a bare metal recovery from a backup. If I have to split the existing system up, things get more complicated.

From what I can tell, most cases only have two drive bays; so with an SSD and an HD, I wouldn't have room for an additional HD. I also wouldn't have any way to set up a RAID.

I have some thinking to do.

This is what SoNic67 recommended for $999 (used) on previous page. It has lots of room for HDDs, etc. (Sorry, I can't figure out how to attach a link to a website...check out his last post on previous page). 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

Quote
This is what SoNic67 recommended for $999 (used) on previous page. It has lots of room for HDDs, etc. (Sorry, I can't figure out how to attach a link to a website...check out his last post on previous page).

You click on the top-left folder-like symbol fo rthat specific thread that you want to quote. Then, in the browser address bar, you select everything and hit Ctrl-C (or right-click and select Copy). In teh thread that you are posting, just Ctrl-V (or right-click and select Paste). Like this: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/50134.page#post_box_263702

Thanks! 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

to jerrys



"It looks like your system should be about half again as fast as mine."



Are you suggesting that mine (at 3.6 Ghz) is about 50% faster than yours (at 2.4 Ghz)? If so, I think you're using an irrelevant statistic. You need to compare the PassMark scores of the two CPUs, on this website: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php.

I can't see what processor chip you're using or I'd check it for you... 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

Quote
From what I can tell, most cases only have two drive bays; so with an SSD and an HD, I wouldn't have room for an additional HD. I also wouldn't have any way to set up a RAID.

Two drive bays, what type of case are you looking at? That's pretty uncommon and surely not the norm. Most common in mid tower cases is to have 3, 4, or 6, 3.5 internal HD drive bays per the 357 cases sold at newegg. A mere 15% only have 2 internal 3.5" drive bays. Many of the cases also have a 2.5" bays and some have a special SSD mount so you don't use a bay.

Jeff

Quote to jerrys



"It looks like your system should be about half again as fast as mine."



Are you suggesting that mine (at 3.6 Ghz) is about 50% faster than yours (at 2.4 Ghz)? If so, I think you're using an irrelevant statistic. You need to compare the PassMark scores of the two CPUs, on this website: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php.

I can't see what processor chip you're using or I'd check it for you...

Yours rates at 3280, mine at 2829, so by that measure yours is only about 15% faster than mine. My complete specs are

• AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-Core processor 2.40 GHz


• RAM: 8GB


• Windows 10 Pro 64-bit


• NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS

This system was quite adequate when I first got started, but I was working with a much older (smaller) version of PD and with standard resolution videos. As PD (and every other program under the sun) has gotten more complex, I've found it harder and harder to preview clips.

If my system were dedicated to video editing, I could scrape off all the barnacles and have a better time of it; but this is my only computer, and I need things like MS Office. Everything under the sun now comes with its own cloud, so I don't doubt that some CPU cycles are going down that rat hole. That, plus the fact that my system was released in 2008, is driving me to an upgrade. Jerry Schwartz

Quote

Quote
From what I can tell, most cases only have two drive bays; so with an SSD and an HD, I wouldn't have room for an additional HD. I also wouldn't have any way to set up a RAID.

Two drive bays, what type of case are you looking at? That's pretty uncommon and surely not the norm. Most common in mid tower cases is to have 3, 4, or 6, 3.5 internal HD drive bays per the 357 cases sold at newegg. A mere 15% only have 2 internal 3.5" drive bays. Many of the cases also have a 2.5" bays and some have a special SSD mount so you don't use a bay.

Jeff

I wasn't looking at cases, I was looking at retail systems. Although I used to build systems from scratch, I'm no longer familiar enough with the technology to trust myself. Jerry Schwartz

"Yours rates at 3280, mine at 2829, so by that measure yours is only about 15% faster than mine."



Looking at the PassMark CPU benchmarks, the AMD Phenom 9650 shows 2649; my i7-4790 3.6Ghz shows 9999. Not sure where you saw 3280 and 2829. In any case, they are what they are... 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

Here's a build to order setup I'm looking at:

• 750W power supply


• Asus X99-E Desktop Motherboard - Intel X99 Chipset


• Intel Core i7 6850K Processor Socket 15M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz 6 Core LGA 2011-v3 (PassMark14410)


• Onboard sound and LAN


• 16GB RAM DDR4 2666


• 1TB HD


• Gigabyte or MSI GeForce GTX 1060 3GB graphics card (not a "real" NVIDIA card)


• Internal Blu-ray burner

That's about my limit, as far as money goes.

I could scavenge some parts from my existing system (the optical drives, for example), but those aren't big ticket items. I could also cut back a little on the performance of the memory and HD.

The single biggest savings would come from dropping down to the 6800K (PassMark 13634). Either one would be an enormous step up from where I am.

Or I could sell one of the children and go for the 6900K and a 1TB SSD. I think the girl would fetch a better price, but she's a screamer—so buyer beware.

Seriously, does this sound like overkill? Jerry Schwartz

Quote "Yours rates at 3280, mine at 2829, so by that measure yours is only about 15% faster than mine."



Looking at the PassMark CPU benchmarks, the AMD Phenom 9650 shows 2649; my i7-4790 3.6Ghz shows 9999. Not sure where you saw 3280 and 2829. In any case, they are what they are...

The 2829 comes from fat-fingering the keyboard. The 3280 comes from mixing you up with another poster on this thread.

Obviously, your system far surpasses mine. Jerry Schwartz