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adamissosmrt
adamissosmrt
Participating Frequently
September 16, 2014
Question

Building a Photo and Video Editing PC. Hardware questions...

  • September 16, 2014
  • 2 replies
  • 14029 views

Hi all,

I'm finally ditching the 3-year old laptop and building myself an editing rig (or mini-rig, since it's a pastime) and I need your help. I'm going to be using Lightroom and Photoshop a lot for workflow and editing, respectively, and Premiere for video editing and creating slideshows/films using both photo and video.

What I'd like to know if whether I'm better off investing in more CPU power or GPU power? If one or the other, what should I be looking for? I'm on a budget (under $2k, ideally under $1500) so please keep the suggestions reasonable. I won't be working with 4K video or 50MP images, mostly just 1080p60 and 24MP images for at least a couple of years.

Thanks for your help!

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    2 replies

    serrini
    serrini
    Known Participant
    September 22, 2020

    It's really a combo of both ... and it's not an easy thing to figure out. For the most part the CPU will give you the most return, until you render, then a good GPU will help you there. The key is finding the right combo and not breaking the bank ... and I just went through this nightmare and figured it out. https://cineclast.com/2020/09/15/the-best-pc-for-editing-video-on-premiere-pro-period-and-under-2000/

     

    John T Smith
    Community Expert
    John T SmithCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 16, 2014

    Here Build a Desktop Video Editing PC

    -http://ppbm7.com/index.php/tweakers-page

    -3 price level ideas in http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith/ADOBE.HTM

    -what PC to build http://forums.adobe.com/thread/947698

    -2 how to build videos http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1104182

    -another video http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1145366

    -another video http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1132363

    -planning & Building http://ppbm7.com/index.php/intro-part-1

    adamissosmrt
    adamissosmrtAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    September 16, 2014

    Thank you John. I have looked at may resources like that, I don't need help building a PC or choosing the hardware. What I want to know is what I'm going to get more out of Adobe's software with: CPU or a GPU power. I'll take a look at those resources to see if there's anything of value in there, appreciate your post.

    Edit: I see that first resource goes into a ton of depth. I'm going to have a lot of reading to do, but as an amateur I would still love some general commentary on where I can get the most bang for my buck for now. I'm 2 months out from building my machine so this is the preliminary phase.

    ECBowen
    ECBowen
    Inspiring
    September 16, 2014

    GPU acceleration requires both. The CPU has to process the data ie decode it and manage ram buffers for the GPU acceleration to work. This means the CPU  starts the process pipeline. Right now the GPU's are not the bottleneck.  The CPU's are so you need atleast a Quad Core CPU with Hyperthreading and a 750GTX card together for most standard base workflows. GPU acceleration uses allot of ram so 16GB is really minimum with most HD workflows otherwise performance may start to decline.

    Eric

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