Currently, I'm in the market for a new PC to edit with Premiere or Davinci Resolve. I'm looking at the i7 or i9 processors right now but am confused about which ones would be best. Any thoughts on processor capability that you can share?
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Gear Opinion Best PC. for Editing
- Thread starter LibertyLinks
- Start date
You buy as much CPU power that you can "reasonably" afford. I currently use a lesser AMD CPU but will be upgrade to an i7 CPU. However, you should have at least 16 GB RAM. And go SSD all the way. Get a good video card too. CPU is important but there are lots of performance bottlenecks in any given system.
I've seen people who buy super-duper systems and don't do jack with it. It ends up being an expensive electronic fixture if you don't actively use the system.
I've seen people who buy super-duper systems and don't do jack with it. It ends up being an expensive electronic fixture if you don't actively use the system.
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What does SSD mean? Also, what is your opinion on the best video card option? I know you don't know what I do with it so it's kind of a hard question. Just what are some of the video cards you've found sufficient for a beginning YouTuber looking for an upgrade from an antiquated system?
SSD=Solid State Drive=Replacement for slower hard drives.
I know a lot of creators are increasingly going to 4K videos. That is not me for the near future.
Because I am big on value and bang for buck and my videos are not demanding visually-speaking, I buy AMD Radeon cards. The one I am eyeing (which will impress no one) is the RX 6400 (lower power requirements) or perhaps RX 6500 XT. They are low cards on the totem pole. But I also have multiple PCs to support so no way I am going to put high-end video cards on each and every PC I have.
It all comes to what you want to spend. If I wanted to spend more, I would go up the Radeon RX totem pole.
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The work I do is mostly downloading from stock video sites, choosing Full HD. Currently, I'm working on an old Intel Core i5 Dell PC. It does fine but it really gets sluggish when I'm working in Premier. Sometimes the playback really freezes. I'm just trying to get in mind what needs to replace the system with. What you've already said is helpful. Guess I'm looking for an i7 or i9 with a better video card. I'd like to buy it all in one new unit if I can. What's the most important thing to keep in mind when looking?
You may or may not need a new PC based on your description. You need at least 16GB of RAM and an SSD. Going all SSD on every computer we have was miraculous. It extended the performance life tremendously. I am thinking about going 32 GB RAM also.
That is where a lot of the video stuttering may be coming from. Playing back video while editing is not terribly video card intensive unless you are doing very high resolution work.
Having said all that, I am going to be buying a refurbished i7 PC within the next few weeks.
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I've downloaded and tried to open the Davinci Resolve 18 a few times and every time it says Unsupported GPU. Would you say maybe my system's too out of date?
Yes, that is definitely a problem.
Similarly, if I want to use Windows 11, that is also a problem I have. I don't have a single PC that is able to accommodate Windows 11.
All systems age out one way or another. But some features in some software will simply not run if your hardware is too old.
If you got the money, I say go upgrade your computer if you must. Sometimes buying a whole new system is better than piecemealing upgrades.
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Even if I get a new one with an SSD I feel like I'd need some kind of external drive just to build my file structure on. Right now I'm using an old external hard drive. I saw an SSD with 500 TB on Best Buy's site. Guess this is kind of to be safe in case of house damage or something.
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I found an HP Envy Desktop Intel Core i5 for $800. This had a 1TB SSD. I was considering going to an i7 but was wondering if the i5 would be a good upgrade with the SSD. Would you say I need to look for the i7 or higher, or would you think the i5 would be fine?
There are different versions of Intel Core i5. However, at $800, that informs me that it is fairly recent computer that can also run Windows 11. I am going to get a refurbished Intel Core i7 desktop for $300 but it is an older i7 that will not run Windows 11. I think if the computer you are looking at has at least 16 GB RAM, I think you have a decent machine to work with.