Hardware recommendation for audio & video editing

thomasross20

My PC's lagging somewhat when I edit audio and definitely when I edit video. 

Need more RAM and dedicated sound & video cards.

I'm going to do some digging but wondered what you guys use/recommend? 

Apple vs Windows? 

digitalscream

I think you really need to start from the other direction - which software do you want to use, and how much money do you have to spend?

If you can, go with Windows; you'll be able to tune your hardware better (particularly with regard to the graphics card).

That'll tell you exactly what you need, particularly with the video card and memory requirements. If the video editor supports CUDA, then you'll definitely want to go with an Nvidia graphics card; CUDA is just so much more efficient than the AMD equivalent. You'll also want the fastest RAM you can afford (16GB of it, minimum).

For both audio and video editing, you'll be better off getting a solid state drive as a scratch/work-in-progress disk for storing clips and projects while you're working on them. 512GB SSDs are relatively cheap these days, so you shouldn't have much trouble there.

Finally...Intel CPUs are the way forward right now. The Core i7 is so far ahead of anything that AMD has to offer that it's not even worth questioning it.

thomasross20

Thanks - will get back to this later on, at work just now..

Danny1969

It depends on how much money you want to spend, new Mac Pro is very powerful but a bit pricey at £2.5K upwards. Maybe get yourself one of the last silver boxed MacPro's, some of those are insanely powerful and affordable now. 

It's a personal preference I spose but in the last five years of working professionally in the music making business I haven't really come across many people using Windows machines for video or audio, it's all Apple based generally. 

thomasross20

I keep hearing contrasting views on the whole Windows vs Apple thing

digitalscream

It's OK, I don't think @Danny1969 has ever come across somebody who doesn't use a Mac

Seriously, though, pick your software first. You'll find some software only runs on Windows, some only runs on OS X. That may make your decision for you.

If the video software you pick runs on both, you're better off choosing Windows - they can all use the graphics card for rendering, but drivers for Windows are vastly better and result in faster processing than on OS X. When you're rendering big projects (an hour or more), it can be the difference between a 50 minute render time and a two hour render time.

thomasross20

I'm using traktion for audio.
Free version of light works for video.

TTony

thomasross20 said:

I keep hearing contrasting views on the whole Windows vs Apple thing

Hmmmm.

I use both. 

The Mac kit (iPad, MBA, MBP) is beautifully designed, works, and does what it's supposed to.  I use that when I'm happy doing what Apple allow me to do, in the way that they have determined is best for me.  And when the beauty of the design has a "wow" factor that is of some value to me.

The PC kit (I've just ordered a couple of new PCs) are far more flexible, allow me to mix & match the components, and are better VFM if "value" is defined purely by function rather than considering design.  I've always found PC kit easier to mod, upgrade and fix, and you can integrate stuff from a massively wide range of manufacturers.

Pick the tool you need for the job you're doing,

camf

^^^ This.

Danny1969

digitalscream said:

It's OK, I don't think @Danny1969 has ever come across somebody who doesn't use a Mac

Lol, I started Clonesuk.com in the nineties and we were called "Clones" because that's what the copies of the IBM PC were called back then .... I loved the open architecture of the clone PC design and how easy it was to build and repair. I had no time at all for Apple machines over the nest 15 years,  they were a pain on the arse to repair and the old G3 and G4 laptops were a nightmare to work on. 

But then I got my first Protools TDM system which back then only installed and ran on a Mac and I came to like it. Truthfully I can remember one producer using Ableton to make midi backings on an Acer laptop but every producer I have worked with other than that have been using Macbooks running either Protools or Logic. 

It's like that in college and uni where I am too .... my sons college is all Logic for audio work and our Uni video suites are all Final cut pro. So my advice is go Apple and go with the flow if your doing it seriously but in your case Thomas as it's just you it won't make any differece

thomasross20

Just for disclosure, I wont be buying anything too soon. I can get by with what I've got for now. But at some point I'm going to get a music room and will need my own set-up (dedicated workstation for this sort of thing).