Let's play "Help the Newb"!! Trying to upgrade to edit 4K...

[paulconradx]

Hey folks, hoping you might be able to offer a little guidance. I bought a machine a couple of years ago, and it's been adequate for editing 1080p, but I'm making a move to 4K (looking at the Lumix G85). So I need to beef up my system a bit, but I'm not totally sure where to aim. I'm not worried about the display so much (I have two 1080p displays), as I plan to shoot and edit 4K, then render at 1080p.

The guy at Fry's said my processor should be good, and if I upgrade my GPU to something in the neighborhood of an Nvidia GTX 1070 or 1080 and double my RAM to 32gb he thinks I should be good to go. I know I need to stay on the budget end of things, so I'm wondering what I can get away with. If I'd be good keeping the AMD motherboard and CPU (FX-8320, 3.5GHz eight-core) and could fly with a new GPU and some RAM, I'd appreciate a concurrence. However, if you have another recommendation, let me know. Also, is there an AMD GPU that might work?

I'm currently using Cyberlink Powerdirector (13) for editing...I know, I know, it's all about the budget. Wouldn't mind being able to slide into Premiere someday, so if you have any thoughts about that...

Below is my rundown, any guidance you're willing to offer is appreciated!

Thanks,

Paul

CD: LG 14X Internal Blu-ray Burner, BD-RE, DVD+RW Combo Drive (Black Color)
COOLANT: Standard Coolant
CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.50 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 6MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core Technology
FA_HDD: None
FAN: Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler - Extreme Cooling Performance (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer [+10] (BLACK COLOR)
HDD: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
HDD2: None
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory [+100] (ADATA XPG V3)
MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE 970A-DS3P AMD 970 ATX w/ Ultra Durable 4 Classic, On/Off Charge, GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 2 PCI
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows 8.1 (upgraded to 10.1)
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
RAMDISK: None
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card [-32] (Single Card)

 

[indietalk]

 

[Sweetie]

using Cyberlink Powerdirector (13) for editing

They still make that? I don't know that software, so it'll be up to you to do your research on it.

How does this program support multiple cores? Efficiently? If not, your CPU may not cut it.

As for your video card, does the software and codec make full use of GPU acceleration. Most don't. If this is the case, then your upgraded video card will sit there, mostly idle. At a guess, you'll probably find a 1050 4g is a fraction of the price and more than enough.

As for Ram, will the software utilize the extra ram. Some does, some doesn't. As for ram, test it with the current 16gig. If it doesn't hack it, then upgrade to 32. You may find you need 64 or more depending on how your software behaves.

For editing, the first thing I look at upgrading is always the CPU. You'd squeeze an extra 50% out of the new i7. Editing performance is usually determined by the performance of the CPU and the software. Since you want to edit in 4k (a lot of professionals don't do that) you may find you need a beefier machine.

 

[Sweetie]

As for Premiere, depending on your codec, chuck in a 1050 4g and you'd be good to go to edit in 4k. You may need to use their inbuilt proxy system (or use your old video card and proxies), but for the most part, you'd be able to use your current machine.