Advice wanted for (limited funds) system upgrade

Report · Feb 05, 2020

Hiya folks, my first post here, so hello!

I have around £300 to upgrade one aspect of my system and am really confused as to what I should upgrade.

I run Premiere Pro CC 2020, version 14.01.

I would say my priority is efficiency within the editing/effects/colouring process, and I'm not too worried about length of export time, as my system seems to deal with it ok, never really going over an hour. My main types of work are music videos, with a lot of effects and colouring, and I'm just getting into multicam, which I've found to be an absolute frezzing lagging nightmare..

I edit mostly 4K footage (using proxies) and am starting to work with 10bit, but just in the learning process with that really

I have attached full spec below, but I guess the main things to take into account are these -

I5 8600K CPU

32 GB RAM - 3200 MHZ

C drive where PP is ran from is a 250 GB SSD

Drive where I keep/edit footage is an M.2 SSD 600GB

Motherboard is MSI Z370A - Pro

Notice I don't have a dedicated GPU, so it may be that the question I'm asking is as simple as - " Do I need to add a seperate GPU to the system, or just upgrade to a better CPU with inbuilt GPU?"

I have heard that CPU is more important for PP, but also I'm aware some aspects benefit from a seperate graphics card.

As an aside, just in case it's relevant, I currently edit using a a full HD monitor, but am getting a 4k, 10 bit HDR one very soon.

Here's full spec if it helps, but hope there's enough info to go on there, thanks!!!!

Paul.

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.17763 Build 17763
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DESKTOP-I97TUT8
System Manufacturer Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
System Model MS-7B48
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU Default string
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8600K CPU @ 3.60GHz, 3600 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 2.10, 05/09/2017
SMBIOS Version 3.0
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product Z370-A PRO (MS-7B48)
BaseBoard Version 1.0
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Off
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.17763.831"
User Name DESKTOP-I97TUT8\Paul
Time Zone GMT Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 31.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 19.4 GB
Total Virtual Memory 36.6 GB
Available Virtual Memory 22.8 GB
Page File Space 4.75 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Not enabled
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not InstantGo, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

Report · Feb 05, 2020

Read this in the Hardware forum https://community.adobe.com/t5/video-hardware/computer-build-help/td-p/10892629?page=1

Report · Feb 05, 2020

Hi John, cheers for this, but I'm not sure I'm much further forward re the main question of my post after reading it?

Thanks.

Paul.

Report · Feb 05, 2020

Moved to the Video Hardware forum.

Report · Feb 05, 2020

Thankyou!

Report · Feb 05, 2020

For that system I am suggesting that you simply add a GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER. Anything higher than that will require a more powerful CPU to render it worthwhile. You see, an 8th-Generation 6-core/6-thread i5 CPU is only about as powerful overall as a previous-generation (or 7th-Generation) 4-core/8-thread i7 CPU.

And make sure you enable the integrated Intel UHD Graphics in the BIOS. This will give you the option of using hardware encoding for H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) even if you're using only the discrete GPU for display. By default, the integrated graphics is set to "AUTO," which means that it is disabled whenever nothing at all is connected to the motherboard's video-out ports.

Report · Feb 06, 2020

Thanks for this!!!!

Can I just ask what would it be about a slightly higher spec GPU that would make it struggle with my current CPU?

Good advice on BIOS.

Paul.

Report · Feb 06, 2020

Paul,

Premiere Pro relies heavily on the CPU performance to begin with - up to a certain point. Unfortunately, way too many system builders concentrate on gaming first by equipping a PC with a relatively weak CPU but an over specced GPU. However, content creation programs like Premiere Pro run best when the relative performances of the CPU and the GPU are closely matched. An overqualified GPU will sit idle most of the time even during rendering, waiting for the CPU to catch up.

Report · Feb 06, 2020

Getcha!!

Thankyou very much.

Report · Feb 08, 2020

You're very welcome.

Too bad with that low of a budget you're stuck between a rock and a hard place:

What I had suggested - simply adding a lower-midrange GPU - is the best solution for that kind of money. The other solution would have been to upgrade the CPU to an i7-9700K - but then, the performance improvement would not have been sufficient enough over your current i5-8600K to justify the 9700K's price, and you would still be hampered by the underperformance Intel UHD integrated graphics, therefore making such an upgraded system even more imbalanced than before.

Report · Feb 09, 2020

Great answer again!!

I've seen a great deal on an i9 9000k, and read great things about it.

I could possibly upgrade to that and that would be worth it you think?

Report · Feb 10, 2020

Unfortunately, although that would have been an improvement, you would still be hamstrung by the weak integrated graphics. Nevertheless, that would have been my choice if you were planning to add a higher-end discrete GeForce GPU, such as an RTX 2060 SUPER, in the next few weeks. But then, the two upgrades would have taken your total upgrade budget well beyond what you were planning to spend in the first place. Hence, the simple addition of a GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER was the best that I could do within your original budget (as the RTX 2060 SUPER that I suggested earlier in this post is only worth the price if you were also planning to upgrade the CPU to that i9-9900K that you asked about in the very near future).