Former FCPX user needs advice

[philipp89796144]

Hi,

I'm making the switch soon from a Mac/FCPX to PC/Premier Pro/After Effects.

My Mac was basic, crappy video card, I upgraded the only thing I could - RAM, to 16Gb. It did me fine. I switched to 4k during and used proxies and everything was okay. Not brilliant, but okay.

Now I'm planning on buying a PC and making the switch to Premiere and really want to delve into After Effects. I primarily make story based short films using a GH4 4k. But I'm struggling with what I'm going to need in terms of system spec.

The 'specialists' at the online and local stores I've asked, when saying I want something that will run Premiere/AE and maybe Resolve without issue have always pointed me towards i7 (7700), 16Gb RAM and a GTX 1080, so for desktop alone I'm looking around £1500-£2000, which is fine if it will suit my needs. But the more I'm looking online the more I'm seeing issues with the GTX 1080/1070 cards that don't fair too well with AE.

My needs are the programs I listed above and I'd like them to run without issue. Could one of you experienced guys offer me a good spec that will do that? Apologies if this type of question has been raised before (noob to Adobe/PC) I just can't seem to find a solid solution from anyone.

.... and though I'm not experienced with Premiere or AE I've singled these as something I aim to dedicate my time learning.

Thanks in advance!

[Peru Bob]

You will want at least 32 GB RAM. Even more would be better.  AE is RAM intensive.

[philipp89796144]

Thanks, since then I'm hoping to ensure 64gb.

But what about graphics card? Is the 1080 compatible now? No issues?

[RoninEdits]

i would recommend a 6-8 core cpu. intel has just released a new lineup, the x299 platform which offers those higher core count cpu's. amd also offers ryzen 6-8 core cpu's, they are slightly slower but are also cheaper. you may also want a couple of ssd's, one for os/apps and one or two more for cache and media.

i'm not aware of any current issues with the gtx 1070/1080 with adobe software. there have been some issues in the past that were driver related. you might have seen some ray-tracing issues with AE, which is something the AE team does on purpose as they are planning on removing that feature. i don't use AE so i'm not sure about ray-tracings current state in AE.

[Bill_Gehrke]

What is your budget? 

If you want to see what hardware testing results you get with my Premiere Pro BenchMark (PPBM) produce see my Video Hardware Blog

There are three main considerations CPU, GPU and Storage.  All are tested and ranked when and if I can either test it myself or have reasonable assurance that results submitted are legitimate.

This day and age you should consider at least one SSD for your OS and Applications and at least one more for your current projects.  Use hard disk drives only for backup and archiving.  My suggestion is use a small SATA III SSD for the OS/Applications and try to use one of newer super speed M.2 SSD.s for Project files and Media.

[philipp89796144]

Thanks Bill,

I'll be honest, I checked out your site and a lot of it could have been in Greek! Though I can understand the basics I'm just not that savvy or technical at that level.

I make short narrative films, I want to be able to edit and colour without issue. After Effects is something I'd love to learn. Time isn't against me as I don't really work to a deadline so for the sake of a few seconds rendering or processing isn't a deal breaker.

I have a budget (which I imagine is pennies compared to what some of you guys spend) of around the £2000 mark.

From my basic knowledge I'm hoping the following will suffice -

i7 Processor

2-3 SSD Drives

64Gb RAM

GeForce 1070 or 1080 card

From what I get regarding processor I'm assuming 8+ cores would do me well?

Apologies if I sound like a noob... but I am

Would there be an issue for me with that set-up or should I be looking at something else?

Thanks in advance.

[Bill_Gehrke · Accepted solution]

£2000 should get you a respectable computer.  You might even consider a GTX 1060 like my favorite EVGA 06G-P4-6163 KR which comes super clocked and I found it is very simple and safe to increase the Memory Clock to get even better performance out of a $270 USD card.

Yes 8-cores should be fine and maybe you could consider the AMD Ryzen as they seem to be doing OK with Premiere Pro.

[philipp89796144]

Thanks Bill,

A big help. I will definitely consider that

[RjL190365]

The only problem with that GTX 1060 recommendation is that it is significantly more expensive than that right now due to the crypto-mining craze. It now costs $330, not $270. The price increase is especially astronomical on the GTX 1070, where the prices of some of those cards equal or exceed those of some GTX 1080s. But once the GTX 1070 has gotten too expensive, the crypto-miners chose the 6GB GTX 1060s. The only GPUs that aren't affected as much are the already-expensive GTX 1080/Ti, the even more expensive Titan Xp and the el-cheapo GTX 1050/Ti and the GT 1030.

[Bill_Gehrke]

Right now is not really a good time to buy a graphics card.  I can just picture GPU vendors are gearing up tremendously because of this shortage.  Actually AMD was the first to run out of stock across the dealers.  When the glut of cards 30-90 days from now hits the market placewe may see some reasonable pricing again.   I paid $260 for my first card and I liked it so much that I bought a second one and it was only $250. 

Beside nVidia will soon be releasing the GTX 1100 series.

[RoninEdits]

you say nvidia will be releasing 1100 series, but you only linked to a random forum post that could just as easily be false. do you have any other links to back this up?  also is your gtx 1060 a recommendation for 4k resolve too or just premiere?

[Bill_Gehrke]

Ronin

NVIDIA Announces the GeForce GTX 1100 Series: GTX 1120 and GTX 1150 Arrive In May & June

This at Tom's caught my attention but it is dated Nov 2016 and apparently nVidia's priorities have changed, the Tesla version comes first.  You are correct I got wound up over something that will happen but after more research it really looks like GTX 1100's might happen in 2018

As far as I can test different medias I believe my GTX 1060 6GB units easily handle anything I throw at it.  I cannot find any reason why it should not be perfectly satisfactorily.  I do not do complex editing but I have sample media that I use that goes all the way up to 6K RED, GH5 4K 10-bit, GoPro and DJI 4K drone medias plus several others.  They all seem comfortable is 6GB

Sorry I do not play with Resolve

[RoninEdits]

thanks for answering. i would suggest that when someone asks for build/part advice and specifically mentions other apps besides premiere, that you clarify your recommendations are only for premiere and may not be appropriate for their other software.