Putting new components in a HP Z400 to edit 4k in Premiere Pro.

[Jworms]

Hi There

Asking a question for a friend who is trying to update/reconfigure an old editing system.  I'll be using it so he's asked for my advice - and here I am asking for the forums.

He wants to run Premiere Pro - and Creative Suite, mainly AE, Photoshop - on a PC. It needs to be able to play and edit 4K.

He's got an old HP Z400, and it looks like it's cheaper to replace the motherboard, graphics card, RAM, than to buy a whole new 4K compatible PC.

Neither of us are massively technical, but in theory this should work, right? I'm assuming we could get PCI cards for USB 3 and perhaps Thunderbolt compatibility. But would there be any potential obstacles to putting a new, powerful motherboard and graphics card in an old crate?

If you need any more detail please ask, and thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give.

Thanks

Jack

[Jim_Simon]

As long as the power supply has enough juice, you should be good.  The case you put it in likely won't matter all that much.

Having said that, most media these days is H.264-based.  I recommend using Cineform proxies for all such media, regardless of machine specs.

Work offline using proxy media |

So before money is spent, go down that path.  See if you really need new hardware.

[Jworms]

Hi Jim

Thanks for the reply.  When you say 'case' are you referring to the crate, i.e. the actual PC box as it were?

Does a more up to date PC bought now, have a higher voltage?

Thanks

jack

[Jim_Simon]

When you say 'case' are you referring to the crate, i.e. the actual PC box as it were?

Yes.

The power you need will depend on what you put put inside.  You'll need to know the specs of what you buy and do the math.

[Averdahl]

FYI, replacing the motherboard with a new non-HP motherboard is nearly impossible since the case is made for HP Z400 boards and not let´s say a brand new ASUS board. You will get issues when attaching the motherboard. The Z400 has two generations of it´s motherboard. Only the second generation can be fitted with 6-core processors. (Gen 1 has four memory slots and Gen 2 have six memory slots.)

Adding a USB 3 card can be done without issues, the same with a new graphics card. AFAIK the HP Thunderbolt card were introduced when the Z420 were released. I have not tested third party Thunderbolt cards in a Zx00 machine. But, the processor will be the real issue since it is outdated by todays standards, so you have a bottle neck there making investments in new hardware questionable since you won´t see as much improvements as may be expected. Rendering out a 4K timeline will take forever compared to a new computer. I use the Z440 today but i have my old Z800 as well and had compared the two. (Z800 is the big brother of the Z400)

Here is a great forum for your question: Business PCs, Workstations and Point of Sale Systems - HP Support Forum

[Kevin-Monahan]

Jworms,

What did you end up doing? Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Jworms]

Hi There Kevin,

It looks like we're buying a straight up new computer, a PC from Scan Computers - this

Thanks for everyone's help.

Jack