Gaming computer for editing???

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
Wasn't sure where to put this on the forum so if someone knows, please move it to the right place.

Is windows 7 still being used for editing? I was looking at a computer that had window 7 and the guy said that was a much better built than 8 or 10 for editing.

When you are planning on getting a new computer - MAC or WINDOWS what are the most important thing you need? 32g of Ram, 1TB hard drive. Video card? Core? etc...
 
My latest computer (2013) I decided to go with a gaming computer for the 1st time instead of workstations: Nvidia 3GB GTX 780 card, WIN7, 64GB RAM.
It is working quite well. My next one will likely be similar, except more powerful as I move more into 4K.
I intend to continue using WIN7 Pro 64 bit due largely to software and hardware compatibility. Once something works I try to leave it alone.
 
I use laptops, because I move around a lot, and I find gaming laptops work pretty well. Gaming (high-end gaming) basically has the same needs as editing -- I do both.

Important features:

  1. A high-end graphics card which is supported by your NLE software (you didn't say what software you use, but top-end Nvidia cards seem like a good bet, specially for Premiere). You might find that the TOP graphics card isn't worth the hige price bump that goes along with it; I often take second-top, which is almost as good and a lot less cash.
  2. Plenty of RAM. 16GB seems to be plenty; more will probably give you diminishing returns, but certainly won't hurt. I wouldn't want less than 16.
  3. SSDs -- I use them for the media cache directories, and for the projects themselves where the video footage is kept. Having Windows and your apps on an SSD will make them START faster, but not RUN faster. (PP, for example, including all the DLLs, easily fits in RAM once started, so the SSD gives you no benefit to running speed.) Of course having Windows and your apps start faster is a good thing, just don't expect them to also run faster.
  4. A nice display. 4k laptops are plentiful now, but sadly PP can't edit in 4k -- if you run it in 4k, the icons and menus are too small to see, so you have to set your display resolution to 1080p. So maybe save your money and take a 1080p display. Other NLEs may actually work in 4k. It's a shame, because it seems that PP copes with 4k brilliantly EXCEPT for not actually being able to display its menus correctly.
  5. Regarding the above, a second monitor might be good to have, to display the edited programme on. For example in PP you might find a 1080p monitor for the app and an external 4k monitor for the output might work well, though I haven't tried that. Check the output ports and modes your machine supports -- e.g. HDMI 2.0 versus 1.4.
  6. Plenty of drive space. Video chews up storage fast, though it depends heavily on what format it's in -- ProRes uses a lot more space than H.264, and RAW is terrible. So think about where your rushes are coming from.
  7. Oh, yeah, CPU. A good CPU is good. Certainly avoid anything with a low-budget CPU; however, it's less important than the above. I tend to find that for top-end CPUs, like with graphics cards, the price curve bends up much more quickly than the performance curve, so I usually end up taking the second-best CPU and pocketing a pile of cash.
  8. Windows version -- 7 should be fine, but it's starting to get to the point where MS will be downscaling the support for it. 10 -- which I've been using for a year or so now -- is perfectly fine as far as I can see, and not a lot different to 7; the start menu is a bit more fancy, that's about it. Certainly avoid 8; although I used it for a while, and with some research and some work it can be made habitable.
  9. A keyboard with full-colour backlighting that shimmers rainbow hues as you work. OK, this isn't actually essential, but it's cool.

Things not to have:
  1. A touch display. I have it, only because I didn't read the small print. Obviously I don't touch the display, because I don't want finger-oil all over it; but on the odd occasions when I brush against it, wierd unexpected things happen. It's a pain.

For the record, my storage setup is

  • 256GB SSD -- Windows, apps, and media caches
  • 1TB hard drive -- finished projects, general guff
  • 500GB SSD -- active projects and their footage
You can guess that I'm working mainly on small projects... :shocked:

Hope this helps.
 
I don't think you'll notice a big difference in usability between Windows 7 and Windows 10 devices. At this point Windows 10 is pretty solid and if you are familiar with Windows you won't have any issues with Windows 10. If you are looking at best in class machines in the world of PCs I would say it's Razer for laptops and MainGear for desktop PCs. If I was in the market for a new PC right now those are the two places I would be looking but neither are cheap. I also wouldn't recommend buying a new device and rolling in back to Windows 7, that will cause more problems than it will solve.
 
I'm editing on Vegas Pro 14 and shooting 4k

This is what one person had for sale as a brand new desktop machine;

Window 7
16g Ram
1TB HD
Video Card R7360
Core - 835 8 Core 4.0

What do you think?
 
atticuslake said:
i use laptops, because i move around a lot, and i find gaming laptops work pretty well. Gaming (high-end gaming) basically has the same needs as editing -- i do both.

Important features:

  1. a high-end graphics card which is supported by your nle software (you didn't say what software you use, but top-end nvidia cards seem like a good bet, specially for premiere). You might find that the top graphics card isn't worth the hige price bump that goes along with it; i often take second-top, which is almost as good and a lot less cash.
  2. plenty of ram. 16gb seems to be plenty; more will probably give you diminishing returns, but certainly won't hurt. I wouldn't want less than 16.
  3. ssds -- i use them for the media cache directories, and for the projects themselves where the video footage is kept. Having windows and your apps on an ssd will make them start faster, but not run faster. (pp, for example, including all the dlls, easily fits in ram once started, so the ssd gives you no benefit to running speed.) of course having windows and your apps start faster is a good thing, just don't expect them to also run faster.
  4. a nice display. 4k laptops are plentiful now, but sadly pp can't edit in 4k -- if you run it in 4k, the icons and menus are too small to see, so you have to set your display resolution to 1080p. So maybe save your money and take a 1080p display. Other nles may actually work in 4k. It's a shame, because it seems that pp copes with 4k brilliantly except for not actually being able to display its menus correctly.
  5. regarding the above, a second monitor might be good to have, to display the edited programme on. For example in pp you might find a 1080p monitor for the app and an external 4k monitor for the output might work well, though i haven't tried that. Check the output ports and modes your machine supports -- e.g. Hdmi 2.0 versus 1.4.
  6. plenty of drive space. Video chews up storage fast, though it depends heavily on what format it's in -- prores uses a lot more space than h.264, and raw is terrible. So think about where your rushes are coming from.
  7. oh, yeah, cpu. A good cpu is good. Certainly avoid anything with a low-budget cpu; however, it's less important than the above. I tend to find that for top-end cpus, like with graphics cards, the price curve bends up much more quickly than the performance curve, so i usually end up taking the second-best cpu and pocketing a pile of cash.
  8. windows version -- 7 should be fine, but it's starting to get to the point where ms will be downscaling the support for it. 10 -- which i've been using for a year or so now -- is perfectly fine as far as i can see, and not a lot different to 7; the start menu is a bit more fancy, that's about it. Certainly avoid 8; although i used it for a while, and with some research and some work it can be made habitable.
  9. a keyboard with full-colour backlighting that shimmers rainbow hues as you work. Ok, this isn't actually essential, but it's cool.

things not to have:
  1. a touch display. I have it, only because i didn't read the small print. Obviously i don't touch the display, because i don't want finger-oil all over it; but on the odd occasions when i brush against it, wierd unexpected things happen. It's a pain.

for the record, my storage setup is

  • 256gb ssd -- windows, apps, and media caches
  • 1tb hard drive -- finished projects, general guff
  • 500gb ssd -- active projects and their footage
you can guess that i'm working mainly on small projects... :shocked:

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

thanks :-)
 
New_Zealand said:
I'm editing on Vegas Pro 14 and shooting 4k

This is what one person had for sale as a brand new desktop machine;

Window 7
16g Ram
1TB HD
Video Card R7360
Core - 835 8 Core 4.0

What do you think?
Click to expand...

Hummm... I don't really know, and I can't find anything about an "835" processor. It looks generally OK apart from that, though I'd question whether it's really "brand new" given that it has Win 7. Also the R7 360 is well over a year old.

Bear in mind that "Core" is just a brand that Intel put on desktop processors. Celeron (do they stil make those?) and Atom are low-powered CPUs for things like tablets. Core i3, i5, and i7 are like the low, medium and high-powered desktop chips. Probably a core i7 is what you want. But each of those has been issued in several generations, each generation's i3, i5 and i7 being better (in some way) than the previous gen's. Wikipedia has a decent list of CPUs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core#Core_i7_5

Also bear in mind that overall system performance matters. A decently designed motherboard will let the system go faster than a cheesy one (faster memory access etc).
 
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