Skip navigation
legendofthegoose
legendofthegoose
Currently Being Moderated

High-end video editing; Mac or PC?

Dec 7, 2012 10:47 AM

Tags: #mac #export #pc #upgrade #time #ae #or #os #optimization #workstation

Hello,

 

I need help upgrading my video editing station. My budget is up to about $4k

 

Here are my current specs:

27 inch iMac

Intel Core i7 3.4Ghz Quad-Core

12 GB (2x2GB,2x4GB 1333 MHz DDR3)

AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1024MB

 

My workflow is primarily Premiere Pro, editing and exporting high quality HD video from my Canon 60D, sometimes this also includes AE comps. Most often my exports are videos of lectures which run about 20 minutes long.

 

With my current setup playback and editing is fine, not many hangups rendering or previewing video... However my problem is I'm finding as I do more graphic intensive videos my export time has really increased, and makes me wonder if I've outgrown my iMac... so considering upgrading to the next level of machine that will export video from Premiere faster.

 

My question; is there a machine that could bring a 30-50%+ increase in export time, and is that machine a Mac or PC?

 

Additionally, are there specific Adobe speed tests I could run on my machine and compare with other rigs? I use Geekbench to measure performance between other computers, but I'd like something that specifically uses the Adobe products.

 

I've also considered trying to optimize my current setup (with Thunderbolt external hard drives, Raid or SDD hard drives, more RAM, etc) but wonder if buying a new computer, while more expensive, is better in the long run?

 

Thanks for any input you can offer!

1999 Views   6 Replies   Latest reply: legendofthegoose, Dec 9, 2012 12:42 PM
 
Replies
  • Harm Millaard
    Currently Being Moderated
    1. Harm Millaard,
    Dec 7, 2012 11:51 AM   in reply to legendofthegoose
    Report

    If you contact Bill Gehrke directly at ppbm@att.net he can probably direct you to a testing file we are developing to include Mac testing in a future release of PPBM6 or PPBM7. That may give you a very limited insight into your systems performance, due to a lack of comparable data, but anything is better than nothing.

     

    There are numerous options to improve on the performance you currently have.

     

    Go for an i7-3930K CPU, increase memory to 32 GB, use a GTX 660 Ti or better video card, use a dedicated raid controller and multiple disks, but these all entail moving to a PC and I'm not sure you want that.

     

    To see what kind of PC systems work, look at Benchmark Results and to see what kind of build is possible on the PC side, see Planning & Building a NLE System

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • legendofthegoose
    Currently Being Moderated
    2. legendofthegoose,
    Dec 7, 2012 2:20 PM   in reply to Harm Millaard
    Report

    Thanks for the response, I'll definitley look into PPBM, should be helpful to have a benchmark utility designed for PP that others are using

     

    I noted your suggestions for a better processor and graphics card etc, and as you observed those all ential moving towards a PC build, which I'm not opposed to but if I'm going to switch to Windows I want the computer to be a large enough increase in speed to warrant the move.

     

    Anyone have experiance with Mac Pro's and Adobe CS? I'm wondering if those 12 core (2x6 core) systems are worth it, or if building a PC with a one, top of the line processor, is better.

     

    A big issue I see is that Mac Pro's don't come with NVIDIA graphic cards, so CUDA support seems out of the question (but I could be wrong?)

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • needles27
    Currently Being Moderated
    3. needles27,
    Dec 7, 2012 3:38 PM   in reply to legendofthegoose
    Report

    All I can speak about is the Mac side.  I have a MacPro with 8 cores, and I installed a GTX285 (Discontinued, but can be found online for a steal...more bang for the buck than the 4000's in my opinion)  So, CUDA is definitely not out of the question.  Export time is great.

     

    However, conventional wisdom is that the MacPros are going to be updated (long overdue) in the first part of next year...Apple is always tight-lipped about it, but I wouldn't sink a lot of money into a MacPro right now when updates are around the corner.

     

    So, maybe a PC is the right direction for you if you need something right away.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Alex Gerulaitis
    394 posts
    Jun 9, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    4. Alex Gerulaitis,
    Dec 7, 2012 5:20 PM   in reply to legendofthegoose
    Report

    My question; is there a machine that could bring a 30-50%+ increase in export time, and is that machine a Mac or PC?

    Either (if you mean decrease, hopefully): the current $1.5K iMac comes with GTX-650M which is supported by Adobe for GPU acceleration, and that will dramatically decrease your export times (with supported codecs - MPEG2, H.264). The $1,999 iMac comes with a better CPU, GPU and up to 32GB RAM - only nobody tested it yet for GPU hardware acceleration AFAIK.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • Jim Simon
    Currently Being Moderated
    5. Jim Simon,
    Dec 8, 2012 12:59 PM   in reply to Alex Gerulaitis
    Report

    that will dramatically decrease your export times (with supported codecs - MPEG2, H.264).

     

    Actually the codec is irrelevant.  It's the effects that are accelerated.  And if any given editor is not using accelerated effects, then CUDA acceleration isn't going to help.

     
    |
    Mark as:
  • legendofthegoose
    Currently Being Moderated
    6. legendofthegoose,
    Dec 9, 2012 12:42 PM   in reply to Alex Gerulaitis
    Report

    Haha, yes Alex I meant decrease

     

    Good call needles, I think waiting for an upgraded Mac Pro is what I need to do if I want to stay on the Mac side. The PC side does seem to offer quite a few interesting possibilites.

     

    A new question I'm having is if dual-processor machines are remarkably better than single processors using adobe products?

     

    Also, has anyone had any experiance with thunderbolt external hard drives? Just wondering if adding that to my workflow would help with my export speeds (using them for my OS, export disk, etc). Currently I'm running it all off the 1TB internal HD of my iMac. Also any good beginner (and I mean very beginner) resources on RAID setup for video editing would be awesome.

     

    Thanks again for everyone's replies!

     
    |
    Mark as:
Actions

More Like This

  • Retrieving data ...

Bookmarked By (0)

Answers + Points = Status

  • 10 points awarded for Correct Answers
  • 5 points awarded for Helpful Answers
  • 10,000+ points
  • 1,001-10,000 points
  • 501-1,000 points
  • 5-500 points