Build Advice 4K Editing - Options on current build?

Feb 11, 2019
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Good Afternoon,

I have a current general purpose workstation (small business) that i occasionally use to edit and export 4K videos. Upon receiving a request to edit and export a 29 minute video in 4K, I noticed that the original render time in Adobe Media Encoder 2019 was close to 6 hours. I did a little bit of digging and bench marking to find some trouble spots in the system. All the firmware except the M.2 drive was updated. Windows was also updated. Reran the encoding/export request in Encoder 2019 and it dropped to about 4 hours or so. Decided to overclock the RAM from 2400 MHz to 2866 MHz and overclock the iGPU Vega 8 chip to "Extreme" via the Bios. This resulted in the render/encoding times dropping to approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes. A far improvement just by updating almost all firmware and software (except the m.2 drive) and a minor overclock.

My question is: If I had to spend the money on ONE component, should I:

  • Swap out the RAM to a G.Skill RipJaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR 3600?
  • Install a video card to enable GPU acceleration? - If so, when what card will allow me to export/encode 4K in under an hour, given my current setup?
  • Swap the CPU out for a 3rd Generation Ryzen? If so, what would be the best option?
Price on any ONE of these changes (or swaps) would be limited to $350.00 USD.

Here is my current computer specifications:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 2 2200G - Vega iGPU overclocked to "Extreme" via ASUS Bios
Motherboard: ASUS Prime B450-Plus
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 C16 2x8GB - Overclocked to 2866 MHz
Storage: Silicone Power M.2 1TB NVMe
Power Supply: Seasonic Focus Plus 550W 80+ Gold (or Bronze) Full Modular.
OS: Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.17763 Build 17763
Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro 2019 & Adobe Lightroom 2019 Classic & Adobe Media Encoder 2019

Here is my latest User Benchmark Results:
UserBenchmarks: Game 29%, Desk 93%, Work 54%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G - 81.3%
GPU: AMD RX Vega 8 (Ryzen iGPU) - 21.3%
SSD: Spcc M.2 PCIe SSD 1TB - 218.4%
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 C16 2x8GB - 91.2%
MBD: Asus PRIME B450-PLUS
 
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What does your task manager performance tab indicate while you are editing? I wonder if you are running out of RAM?

Only $15 over budget, this would put you in good shape:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($124.49 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 570 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $364.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-19 01:12 EDT-0400
 
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I would throw in an rtx 2060 and be done. It will significantly reduce export times more than a better cpu would.

I would have specified a Nvidia GPU if one had been available at that $120 price range with at least 6 GB of VRAM. My understanding (mainly from Puget) is that the lion's share of the work is done by the CPU in Premier Pro. I think he needs more threads and more RAM.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...-Premiere-Pro-CC-143/Hardware-Recommendations
 
It might be pushing it (actually almost definitely will be), but can you push the RAM at all any higher. If you could get it to 3000MHz then you could probably not have to buy any more RAM. As mentioned above, video editing is more CPU intensive, so a CPU upgrade would be the best choice. However, if you don't have to upgrade the RAM, then you could just get very similar to what Bearmann recommended, but just the the next step up.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $358.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-19 10:26 EDT-0400
 
Feb 11, 2019
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@Bearmann,

Interesting suggestions on the changes. Any idea if the RX 570 can hold a decent candle to the RX 5700 XT? I know I said my budget was $350.00 USD. It seems that the performance I want is in the low $400.00 range for upgrades. I reran the testing of the export/encoder to answer your question:



CPU Usage: 99% utilization
Memory: 77% utilization
Disk (C Drive): 4% utilization
Network: 0% utilization
GPU (integrated graphics): 3% utilization

The following programs were open during the second export/encoding:

Adobe Premiere Pro 2019 (with a 30 minute 4K file in the timeline)
Adobe Media Encoder 2019 (Completing the export/encoding process)
Google Chrome with 4 tabs (one tab had a paused 4k video open on YouTube)

Memory never seemed to get above 80% utilization during the export/encode.

Taking into your consideration your suggestion about more cores/threads, should I be looking at the video card & CPU upgrade or should I just focus on the CPU upgrade? I have an external graphics card (USB to dual HDMI out) so I am not worried about having a graphics card for video output to the monitors.

I tweaked the overclock settings a bit more overnight and here is what I am running now:

AMD 2200G overclocked to 4.00 GHz (stable). On OEM cooler. Cannot push it to 4.1 GHz as the PC doesn't post. i did not touch the voltage on the CPU. Voltage is set to AUTO.
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 C16 2x8GB - Overclocked to 2933 MHz @ 1.38 v. If I push it to 3000 MHz @ 1.40 v, it boots fine but Windows and Premiere Pro refuse to load. Appears that this particular set of RAM sticks only goes to 2933 MHZ @ 1.38v.
Vega 8 Graphics (iGPU) - Overclocked to 1360 "clock frequency" in the BIOS. I am guessing this means 1360 MHz.


Latest benchmark with the overclock settings (stable):
UserBenchmarks: Game 28%, Desk 99%, Work 56%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G - 86.8%
GPU: AMD RX Vega 8 (Ryzen iGPU) - 19.7%
SSD: Spcc M.2 PCIe SSD 1TB - 211.7%
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400 C16 2x8GB - 95%
MBD: Asus PRIME B450-PLUS
 
I dont think a ram upgrade would be worth it. Surely slightly more performance, but not worth the extra money.

You could do this:
PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor | $119.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Asus - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB TUF OC Video Card | $249.99 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $389.98
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00
| Total | $369.98
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-19 11:28 EDT-0400 |
 

remixislandmusic, that was quite interesting. (By the way, you can right click on those youtube videos and get the option to start it at its current time.) He does have the 2200G, however, and not the 3400G, so I went searching and found this:

youtu.be/FntY5rYR4cE?t=440

The 1600 does quite a bit better than the 2200G, so you know that the 2600 will be even better than that and his 2200G is currently at 100% CPU utilization.
I was more concerned with the amount of RAM, not the frequency as much. Testing showed that you are using 77%, but I'm not sure that would be true of all of your projects. Adobe recommends 32GB for 4K video, and Puget recommends 64GB.

I saw that Adobe recommends 4GB of VRAM for 4K, though Puget recommends 6GB. Nvidia cards are preferred for Premier Pro, so I think this would be better than the RX 570. In conclusion, I think you would still benefit from added RAM and and a better CPU.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($124.49 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $379.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-19 12:26 EDT-0400


For $30 more you could upgrade to the Ryzen 2600X if desired.

I would be cautious about overclocking your RAM unless you do extensive testing afterwards. You could really be causing some errors and instability.

 
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