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Upgrade Tips for Editing 4K Video / New build ?

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Mar 20, 2012
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Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4
CPU
i7 2600K
Graphics
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming 8GB
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
  2. Mac Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
Hey,

i am having trouble to edit my 4K Footage from my new GH4. 1080p went well with my system built 2012, but i guess i need an Upgrade now - or even a renewal ?

System at the moment:

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4
i7 2600K @ 3.49Ghz
32GB RAM (Updated from 16 yesterday, no improvement)
Gainward Geforce 680GTX 4GB

recent geekbench: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/5060902

So my quesion is:

What would be you prefer to switch / upgrade or would you even consider building a new hackintosh ?

I would greatly appreciate some suggestions of the user with experience and knowledge, since i haven't looked up new specs since i build mine in 2012..

Thank you very much!
 
What kind of drive is your OS X and main editing application installed on ?

If you're still on Mountain lion why not upgrade to at least mavericks or yosemite ?
 
Hey, currently i am running 10.8.5 on a Intel SSD 120GB. My data is on a normal Hard Drive on the 2nd 6Gb SATA Port (if i remember right, gotta check that).
Today i got a Samsung SSD 500 EVO and i am trying to install El Capitan tonight. So new OSX on a new SSD and more RAM is my first try to get more performance.

But at the moment i don't expect too much improvement. Any help with what to upgrade (CPU or graphiccard) is greatly appreciated.

Best,
Dennis
 
What NLE are you using?

Are you editing with the file straight out of the camera?



I would consider transcoding and then reconforming after the edit.

OR

Edit via proxies then reconform.

OR

Upgrade your system.
 
Hey,

yes i am using the data that came out of the camera. no transcoding or proxys yet. Thanks for hint, gonna start using this.

I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CC / After Effects CC and i want to so start using Davinci Resolve.

Do you have any hint, what to Upgrade first ? CPU or GPU ? Isn't it wiser to build a new if i have to upgrade both ?

Thanks for the help.
 
The reason I answered your question is because I have the same build and frankly, I've been on the fence about upgrading or not because of 4k editing issues.

"issues" isn't the right word. If this is your job or you feel that you may start using it as a work machine, I'd recommend upgrading. Personally while this type of work is my job, I don't do post that often, so I haven't upgraded because I don't do it every day.


CPU, GPU, and ram are all huge factors in how your system works with content in NLEs. That said, have you tried overclocking your CPU? That always gives a good punch and you don't have to upgrade(unless you add a CPU cooler). You could upgrade your GPU to something better like a 980 or a workstation card(if you have the money and don't care about gaming), and then overclocking your CPU...that would be a substantial upgrade.

The upgrade to 32GB of ram is a good choice. Did you see your 16GB being used up completely? Usually when I work in PP and replace shots with compositions in After Effects, I hit 16GB(out of 16) really easy. So that will help with various in program things and hopefully stave off freezing while the computer catches up.

I don't really know whether you should upgrade fully or not. I would if I had the money, but the 2600K is such a fantastic processor, it seems a waste to toss it aside. If you want to upgrade both, you will need a new motherboard anyway, which may require a new type of ram, so yeah, whole new system.


Having said ALL that, I would start with attempting to scale your playback resolution in PP so the processing is less intensive while cutting. Also make sure CUDA is enabled in PP so that your GPU is doing a lot of the work, leaving your CPU to do the rest.

The next option is transcoding, but it really shouldn't be that big of an issue to use the GH4 footage on the PP timelines. But if the above doesn't work, try transcoding to a Prores variant and see that helps.

The way I edit 4k and beyond on my rig is by using scaling in PP. I'm using the 4K footage but scaling it to 1080p in the timeline, so the processing is easier. Then when I export, I set it to the native resolution and the program exports at the proper resolution.

That said, Resolve lite doesn't do true 4K, but if you have ultra HD footage, you'll be fine.
 
The reason I answered your question is because I have the same build and frankly, I've been on the fence about upgrading or not because of 4k editing issues.

"issues" isn't the right word. If this is your job or you feel that you may start using it as a work machine, I'd recommend upgrading. Personally while this type of work is my job, I don't do post that often, so I haven't upgraded because I don't do it every day.


CPU, GPU, and ram are all huge factors in how your system works with content in NLEs. That said, have you tried overclocking your CPU? That always gives a good punch and you don't have to upgrade(unless you add a CPU cooler). You could upgrade your GPU to something better like a 980 or a workstation card(if you have the money and don't care about gaming), and then overclocking your CPU...that would be a substantial upgrade.

The upgrade to 32GB of ram is a good choice. Did you see your 16GB being used up completely? Usually when I work in PP and replace shots with compositions in After Effects, I hit 16GB(out of 16) really easy. So that will help with various in program things and hopefully stave off freezing while the computer catches up.

I don't really know whether you should upgrade fully or not. I would if I had the money, but the 2600K is such a fantastic processor, it seems a waste to toss it aside. If you want to upgrade both, you will need a new motherboard anyway, which may require a new type of ram, so yeah, whole new system.


Having said ALL that, I would start with attempting to scale your playback resolution in PP so the processing is less intensive while cutting. Also make sure CUDA is enabled in PP so that your GPU is doing a lot of the work, leaving your CPU to do the rest.

The next option is transcoding, but it really shouldn't be that big of an issue to use the GH4 footage on the PP timelines. But if the above doesn't work, try transcoding to a Prores variant and see that helps.

The way I edit 4k and beyond on my rig is by using scaling in PP. I'm using the 4K footage but scaling it to 1080p in the timeline, so the processing is easier. Then when I export, I set it to the native resolution and the program exports at the proper resolution.

That said, Resolve lite doesn't do true 4K, but if you have ultra HD footage, you'll be fine.


thank you very much for the detailed answer sasquatch00.

i am a freelance photographer and cinematographer, so yes this is actually my workstation and i am working on it at a daily basis.

I am working in a 1080p timeline with a 1/4 preview resolution. So there's no more room at this point.

Which card do you mean besides the 970 ? i wonder if the 980 is worth the price.. don't really care about gaming. i would prefer the work performance, but if there is something like a compromise it would be an option. but priority is clearly workstation.

I have a pretty good cooler so will try overclocking tomorrow, had it overclocked when i got it in 2012 (old geekbench result), but i got back to normal settings for some reason, somethings wasn't working proper.

Currently i am thinking about sending back the 32GB DDR3, since i guess i will have to get some DDR4 -IF- i am building a new system.

Just tested it again at it gets laggy as soon as it switches scenes - another thing i was thinking about: getting a second SSD for the footage / files / projects i am currently working on. After completing a project, i move them to a normal HDD. Do you think working solely from SSD would make a great difference ?

Best
 
thank you very much for the detailed answer sasquatch00.

i am a freelance photographer and cinematographer, so yes this is actually my workstation and i am working on it at a daily basis.

I am working in a 1080p timeline with a 1/4 preview resolution. So there's no more room at this point.

Which card do you mean besides the 970 ? i wonder if the 980 is worth the price.. don't really care about gaming. i would prefer the work performance, but if there is something like a compromise it would be an option. but priority is clearly workstation.

I have a pretty good cooler so will try overclocking tomorrow, had it overclocked when i got it in 2012 (old geekbench result), but i got back to normal settings for some reason, somethings wasn't working proper.

Currently i am thinking about sending back the 32GB DDR3, since i guess i will have to get some DDR4 -IF- i am building a new system.

Just tested it again at it gets laggy as soon as it switches scenes - another thing i was thinking about: getting a second SSD for the footage / files / projects i am currently working on. After completing a project, i move them to a normal HDD. Do you think working solely from SSD would make a great difference ?

Best



I'm not 100 on what would be the best card for you at this point. Like I said if you don't care about gaming, then go for the best you can afford in terms of a workstation card. You'd have to do your own research on what works with a hackintosh.

I feel like once you move past a 970, the returns are minimal in contrast to price. Quadros are going to start around $700 I think. I game sometimes, so a 980 or 980ti would be my choice, to get the best of both worlds.

Frankly, you'll always be chasing just that little bit more of performance. So if that's your goal, a new system is really in order, to be able to get maximum performance out of your CPU. You can jump up to 6 or 8 cores which will helps a ton with processing/rendering, compared to your current 4 core. Then a beefy GPU to round out scaling, lots of RAM to deal with cache, and some SSDs to float current project data.

I use an OS SSD and a separate cache SSD. Very nice. Will that by itself help you edit 4k...maybe not. I was using a 1080p timeline with RED 4K raw and once I added After Effects comps it wasn't playing back anywhere near realtime, so I'm in the same boat. I was simply done with the edit, so I knew what I was doing would be the end of the pipeline, therefor I didn't need realtime at that point.

I imagine you are wanting to finish in 4k, that's the whole rub here? You may as well try transcoding as a test. Maybe the system doesn't like the .mov files straight out of the Gh4. I don't think that's the issue, but it's worth a try before dropping for a new computer.


So I would start with overclocking your CPU and then a SSD for cache/scratch. If that doesn't work, upgrading your GPU is another step you can take without wasting money, as you could add the SSD and GPU to a new system if you go that way. That said, I think you'd have to upgrade OSX to something new for a recent GPU, which can cause more problems than it may be worth in terms of a hackintosh.

So overclock, try SSDs for handling video files/projects, and a transcoded version. Then consider a new system.
 
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