GH5 Minimum RAM recommended for editing 10 bit files

R

rc444

Well-known member
Hi everyone,

Just wondered what's the minimum RAM recommended for editing 10 bit video with the GH5?

Is 16 GB of RAM enough?
 
rc444 said:
Hi everyone,

Just wondered what's the minimum RAM recommended for editing 10 bit video with the GH5?

Is 16 GB of RAM enough?
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on what NLE. It also depends on what 10-bit file too, as you could be talking about ProRes or internal 10-bit form the GH5.
I have 32 GB and a 16GB Pro Graphics Card, and I can edit ProRes or internal H.264 4K fine with Premiere Pro without any transcoding. I also have an 8 core, 16 thread processor.
 
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Depends if you want, or need, to transcode. I have a 2015 i7 iMac with 24GB RAM, 2GB on the graphics card, edit with FCP X, and choose to transcode. When done editing 10-bit footage is a breeze.
 
I have 16GB RAM in my computer and 4GB VRAM on my graphics card. With Premier Pro, editing 10-bit 4:2:2 4K files from the GH5 is no problem. In fact, Panasonic loaned me a CX350 camcorder to review and I tested shooting 10-bit 4:2:2 4K at 200 Mbps using H.265 encoding, and Premiere Pro handled it no problem with my computer. And my computer is nothing special -- an off-the-shelf desktop from Costco with an upgraded graphics card (GTX1050).

Bob
 
Always a desktop workstation if the choice is available, but sometimes you need to be mobile. Bus speeds, processor cores, memory bandwidth, etc. can all be better on a workstation. Also a big factor is heat dissipation which again should normally go to the desktop workstation. Price can also often be lower with a desktop when compared to the same specifications for a laptop.
 
rc444 said:
Bob would you recommend a desktop or a laptop for video editing?
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Either are fine... it's more about the computer's power than it is the form-factor. For editing even HD material, you want the most powerful computer you can afford. I'm a Windows user, and my experience is that Windows PCs need higher specs than Macs to get the same editing usability. I have a three-year-old 7th gen i7 Windows 10 PC with 16GB RAM and a 4GB GTX1050 display card. Adobe Premiere CC runs smoothly on it for both HD and 4K, but using the Warp Stabilizer effect is s-l-o-w. Rendering is also s-l-o-w when I render at the highest quality. Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve gives me fits during editing -- any video with MP3 audio tracks (or other compressed audio) has lots of breakup when I play it back on the timeline. And that is even when I generate "optimized media" to make editing smoother. If I replace the compressed audio tracks with WAV (uncompressed) audio, timeline playback is much smoother. That said, rendering on DaVinci Resolve is speedy.

I also occasionally edit with Corel VideoStudio, and that has a really simple-to-use proxy generation procedure that makes smooth editing a breeze. Unfortunately, something about the firmware in my computer, Windows 10 and Panasonics' cameras' MP4 generation, causes VideoStudio to crash when I try to edit MP4 files straight from the camera. (If I transcode them first -- even to another MP4 file -- they edit without crashing.) So I switched to Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve. Then I got a year's subscription to Adobe CC, so I've been using Premiere lately... and it has many charms if you can stomach the cost. Although Resolve (which is free) has the absolute best technique for fade-in/out and audio level control.

FWIW, I teach "Intro to..." evening classes for the local school district (Fairfax County, VA) for both DaVinci Resolve and Corel VideoStudio. I also teach a class called "How to Become a YouTube Star," which you can read about here: https://aceclasses.fcps.edu/CourseD...f75&ProgramID=364&CategoryID=10577&IsCourse=1

Bob
 
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A full resolve license is less than the cost of a year of the retail version of CC, and you can find retailers that have USB dongles in stock if you look around. I do wish you could flip a switch in Resolve to toggle between full and free, especially for people teaching the free version.

Interesting that you are teaching classes on Resolve, can barely get my people to even look at it, even though the training manuals are all free and online to download (from BMD's website).
 
Greg_E said:
Interesting that you are teaching classes on Resolve, can barely get my people to even look at it, even though the training manuals are all free and online to download (from BMD's website).
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I got Adobe CC "free" for uploading 300 accepted videos to Adobe Stock. I'm on my way to doing the same for next year. And I've sold a couple of the videos, so there is a tiny income stream from that. (I also upload to Pond5 and have sold more there, although it's still for a puny amount of money.)

I've been pleasantly surprised at the attendance for my Resolve classes. I've taught it twice now, and the first class had 6 students and the second had 8. It's three sessions of two hours per session. I give them the clips from one of my YouTube videos, and we edit it in class. Interestingly, I edited the actual video in Premiere, but we assemble the same video in Resolve during the class.

You can't beat the value for the free version of Resolve... hard to believe that Blackmagic Design gives it away.

Bob
 
It depends on the size of your project. I did a few experiments with my system. I have 256GB installed. But I also tested it with 32GB and 64GB.

I have a 1TB project worth of GH5 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p footage.

WITH 256GB INSTALLED:
- It uses up to 100GB of RAM upon initial loading of the project in Premiere CC. Then it hovers back down to 40 to 50GB.

WITH 64GB INSTALLED:
- It uses up to 54GB on load then hovers around 35GB

WITH 32GB INSTALLED:
- It uses up to 29GB on load then hovers around 25GB

Of course with 256GB installed, it loads faster and everything runs smoother.

For scrubbing the time line, RAM doesn't impact performance as much. In this case because it is H.264 footage, the CPU (core speed and core count matters the most) as well as supported acceleration like Intel's Quicksync.

For Warp Stabilizer, RAM matters a lot. The more Warp Stabilizers you have activated simultaneously the more RAM it uses. For each "average" size clip, a Warp Stabilizer instance will invoke up to 10 GB of RAM per instance. You'll notice when you are out of RAM due to Warp Stabilizer, Premiere will cancel some of your Warp Stabilizer processes and will force you to click "Analyze" again. With more RAM, you will have less interruption.

For Preview Renders and Output Renders RAM does matter, however Premiere CC is good at scaling with whatever RAM you have as it will do file swaps to keep the render going. But more will allow it to render faster.

I believe the amount of RAM also directly impacts the speed of Neat Video. I haven't paid much attention but I believe Pudget Systems has an article on this.
 
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What about if you are editing with Resolve 16, would you recommend a minimum of 32 GB RAM for Resolve editing?
 
Yes, minimum of 32gb for Resolve if you can do it. My laptop struggles a bit with only 16gb, need to do an upgrade.
 
rc444 said:
What about if you are editing with Resolve 16, would you recommend a minimum of 32 GB RAM for Resolve editing?
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Editing smoothly depends on a bunch of things, and CPU RAM is just one of them. Yes, in general, 32 GB is better than 16 GB. However, you want to have the fastest CPU you can afford (Intel i7 minimum) and you want to have the best graphics processor card you can afford. A GTX1060 will do pretty good for smooth editing on Resolve (and Premiere). If you can afford it, a GTX2060 (or GTX2080) would be better still. They are really pricey, however.

If your computer has an Intel i5 processor and motherboard graphics, no amount of RAM will make editing smooth. Especially with 4K video.

Bob
 
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