Video Editing upgrade

McSpin

Member
My 2.5 year old computer is now being used for video editing and appears quite bogged down from this and/or the many other programs being open at the same time. I want to upgrade it to work better and faster if it can be done for a reasonable cost. Anything over $400 and I'll probably spring for a new one.

The basics of what I have:
8 gb ddr3 1600 (just bought another 8 gb, but haven't put it in yet)
Gigabyte 870A-UD3 motherboard
Saphire HD5670 1 gb graphics
AMD 1090T cpu


Any recommendations on where to put my upgrade money and what would help the most?
 
Have you overclock your CPU?

I would first get a higher end video card. May be GTX 760?
If the video card upgrade not satisfy, then next step is CPU and motherboard.

Edit: forgot to ask, what PSU have you got?
 
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The power supply is an OCZ 600W ModXStream. The system also has all programs loaded on an SSD.

I tried overclocking at the beginning, but I had problems with stability. I could not figure out what the problem was. I am not experienced with overclocking, so I may have done something wrong. The memory is GSkill and I wondered if that might have been the problem.

If I have to upgrade the MB, cpu and video card, I might just as well start at the beginning. If this is going to be a "try and decide" project, I won't want to put anything too expensive into it, since computers are practically disposable items as they get over 2 years old - no significant value for resale. Unless someone can confidently tell me that a high-end video card will help significantly, then I wouldn't want to put more than $100 into a card - maybe a used one. Any value video cards that would be relatively inexpensive to experiment with? Any issues with a modern card working in this motherboard?

Thanks,
 
Getting better video card should enhance performance on video editing.
You won't wasted it as you can use that on new config anyway.

I am not sure if you want to upgrade CPU & mobo as well, coz that would be another $350 - 450 spend.

Do you have retail version of Windows? If you only got OEM, you need to purchase new OS if you changing Mobo.

If you don't want to spend $250 on GPU, go for GTX 650 Ti boost. I suggest you use Nvidia card as some video editing program use CUDA.
 
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You make a good point on a good GPU. I would rather get one I can use on a new build. How important is the amount of RAM on the GPU?

My windows copy is OEM, so I'd have to spring for another of those if I do the new build. I'd also have to upgrade the case, since I want USB 3.0 on the front panel and a couple other features I currently don't have. Outside of the power supply and the RAM, there isn't much on the old system I can re-use.
 
I wouldn't upgrade motherboard, RAM or CPU unless you have some money lying around that you don't need. You already have a six core processor and 16GB potential RAM.
Get a new GPU (the GTX 760 is great price/performance in gaming and has CUDA cores, which might help reduce the time it takes to edit stuff)
The GA-870A-UD3 doesn't support USB3 natively, so you'd had to run it through the PCI lanes, just FYI.
And this last thing is a hit and miss. I've often been able to transfer OEM licenses from laptops to a reinstalled one. I just enter the serial number and I end up writing down numbers a lady reads up through Skype (can be done by phone too, but Skype is usually easier and free)
 
I added the 8 gb of ram for a total of 16 and things are much better, but when I work on videos, things are still not what they should be. I think the new GPU will help on that.

I was reading a bit on computers designed for video rendering and it seems they recommend as much ram as possible and good Quadro GPUs running CUDA cores. Is it really important to go with a quadro card or is that just for professional video editing?
 
With a similarly priced GTX and Quadro under $300 or more sometimes, the GTX will always win in video editing and gaming. What's your budget on the GPU?
 
Okay. A GTX 760 is $250, but usually you can find it on sale or sometimes they have a MIR, so Iv would try for a 760 if possible.

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A $700 Quadro looses against even a $150 650 Ti (not shown, but being a 650 Ti is better then a 650...) in pro work like Premier.
 
It's a chipset for CPU's, you don't need to worry about it unless you are prepared to spend a minimum of $550 to upgrade your CPU and motherboard.
 
For now, I'll just update the GPU. I'll be picking up a GTX model, depending on what I find at a decent price. Thanks for everyone's help.
 
A GTX 660 Ti and GTX 760 are good choices, and you pick up a 660 Ti quite cheap. If you ever found a GTX 670 or 580 on sale, they would be great too.
 
Thanks for the chart. What is the x79 chipset?

When you want to buy a CPU, there are two main things you need to make sure of.
There's the 'socket'. Will the CPU physically fit in there?
Then there's the 'chipset'. Which features are available for the CPU to use?

With Intel there are typically four different consumer chipsets for each socket-generation. With Intels newest socket, we have: H81, B85, H87 and Z87 (There are enterprise sockets that you don't need to know anything about 99.9% of the time, Q87 for example)
Let's start with Z87. It has all the bells and whistles that the socket can deliver. H87 is the same, but you can't overclock your CPU (put more volts in, increase speed) B85 won't allow you to overclock either, and may have less ports for your storage devices and such. H81 is the bare minumum, often used for PCs with only 1-2 RAM blocks, a low-end CPU and perhaps a graphics card.

Now, to clarify what I mean with 'socket-generation':
Socket 1155 (the previous one)
We had H61, H67, P67 and Z68 for the first generation, and then B75, H77, Z75 and Z77 for the second generation.
You can buy any socket 1155 CPU (excluding business CPUs) and put it in any of these chipsets, if the motherboard manufacturer allows it/has updated the BIOS

TL;DR the chipset is the set of features that are available.

Now, socket 2011 (which is the socket X79 belongs to) is not a consumer socket. It's an enthusiast socket. We don't have any other chipsets that X79 for that socket.
 
Jiniix, thanks for the education. This will help me a lot the next time I build a computer. I knew there were different chip sets, I just didn't know the reason for them. I thought they tweaked speed, memory and such.
 
With regards to video cards, the GTX 650 Ti is 'enough' and as you can see you don't gain a whole lot of performance by going up the GTX line.

The higher-end Quadros are always faster than the GTXes when it comes to video editing - that is what they are designed for. You have to pay a lot of money though.

Obviously though a high end GTX is better for gaming than a lower-end GTX and usually better than a Quadro. So if you do gaming, I'd recommend something higher-end than a 650 Ti and not a Quadro.
 
Okay. A GTX 760 is $250, but usually you can find it on sale or sometimes they have a MIR, so Iv would try for a 760 if possible.

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A $700 Quadro looses against even a $150 650 Ti (not shown, but being a 650 Ti is better then a 650...) in pro work like Premier.

Nope, Jason, even the lower end GeForces beat high end Quadros. A 650 Ti is plenty if you are only video editing though, OP.
 
Nope, Jason, even the lower end GeForces beat high end Quadros. A 650 Ti is plenty if you are only video editing though, OP.

Hmmm... since the Quadros are designed for that kind of stuff that is weird.

Your chart only shows the Quadro 2000 and the 4000 which are lower-end Quadros. I'd be interested to see how a Quadro 6000 or something like that which costs about £1500 compares to the GTX 650 Ti which costs about 15 times less in terms of video editing performance. Even if it doesn't make a big difference in Premiere Pro CS6, it probably does in other software such as AutoCAD or maybe Media Creator or whatever it's called from Avid.
 
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Maybe, but being this machine is for video editing it doesnt really matter how it performs for AutoCAD in this build. And I also dont think the 4000 is considered a lower end quadro, probably more like the 660 of Quadros. May be wrong there though.


Nope, even in work like AutoCAD, a 650 (not even a Ti) beats a 4000.
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I do wonder how something like the K6000 which is $5000 GPU performs to a 780 or Titan.
 
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