[SOLVED] PC Upgrade Suggestions for Adobe Premiere?

[Tell_Em_Slime]

Hi Everyone!

I have a pretty decent computer but when I try to run Adobe Premiere on it (with about 10 GB of allocated ram to it and the playback on 1/4 quality), I can barely watch videos back smoothly and most effects (even just masking) will really reduce the performance down to a crawl. I already invested money in--what I thought at the time was a decent graphics card--but I am unsure of what components truly will make a difference in performance for my computer.

Here are my specs:

• Asus Desktop PC M32BF (computer model) [runs on Windows 10]
• Processor - AMD A10-6700 APU with Radeon HD Graphics (3.70 GHz)
• 12 GB of installed RAM (10 GB of which is allocated to Adobe programs)
• Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti

Are there any upgrades I should consider or is it even possible to increase the performance any further with the computer I have?

I appreciate any feedback and suggestions greatly.

 

[mitch074]

Your CPU is crap now (it wasn't very good at the time either). Its APU is useless. You don't have enough RAM - 16 Gb is minimum now, 32 Gb is much better for thios kind of usage.
Change motherboard, CPU and RAM. Your graphics card can wait (it's not essential for video playback) but upgrading it would be good too later on - it's still a good one but you would get much better performance out of a more recent card with more RAM and a faster GPU in Premiere for some effects.
What about storage? Are you using a hard disk or a SSD? What speed? what size?
All in all, it's time to change your computer - 5 years ago this was a worthy system, but now it's hopelessly outdated.

 

[siaan312]

Decent is not what i would call this, sorry but that is both outdated and wasnt even amazing when it launched.

any budget pc today would be much much better.

i suggest getting a new motherboard and cpu.
(you will need to get more ram)

 

[Tell_Em_Slime]

Your CPU is crap now (it wasn't very good at the time either). Its APU is useless. You don't have enough RAM - 16 Gb is minimum now, 32 Gb is much better for thios kind of usage.
Change motherboard, CPU and RAM. Your graphics card can wait (it's not essential for video playback) but upgrading it would be good too later on - it's still a good one but you would get much better performance out of a more recent card with more RAM and a faster GPU in Premiere for some effects.
What about storage? Are you using a hard disk or a SSD? What speed? what size?
All in all, it's time to change your computer - 5 years ago this was a worthy system, but now it's hopelessly outdated.

I am using a Toshiba DT01ACA200

• 2TB Storage Capacity
• 3.5" Form Factor
• SATA III 6 Gb/s Interface
• 64MB Cache

 

[Tell_Em_Slime]

Decent is not what i would call this, sorry but that is both outdated and wasnt even amazing when it launched.

any budget pc today would be much much better.

i suggest getting a new motherboard and cpu.
(you will need to get more ram)

Any suggestions for if I were to get a new PC for editing?

 

[siaan312]

Any suggestions for if I were to get a new PC for editing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HKRUPN1Mk&t=

LTT made a recent video with a very good budget editing pc, though its for 4k pcs, other than a 3300X rather than the 3600 which even for 1080p isn't recommended, i don't see anywhere to cut corners.

if you go with the 3300X you can get a cheaper 550watt psu, and maybe a bit of cheaper case.
but thats still a 750$ pc.

 

[siaan312]

I am using a Toshiba DT01ACA200

• 2TB Storage Capacity
• 3.5" Form Factor
• SATA III 6 Gb/s Interface
• 64MB Cache

Also, this

not acceptable.
an ssd is a MUST, atleast a 120gb one for booting.

 

[Tell_Em_Slime]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HKRUPN1Mk&t=

LTT made a recent video with a very good budget editing pc, though its for 4k pcs, other than a 3300X rather than the 3600 which even for 1080p isn't recommended, i don't see anywhere to cut corners.

if you go with the 3300X you can get a cheaper 550watt psu, and maybe a bit of cheaper case.
but thats still a 750$ pc.

About the SSD, noted.

I will take a look at this video for some ideas on building a budget editing PC.

So, if I had the budget, I should go with the 3600 vs the 3300X?

 

[SamirD]

I think if you increase your ram to the max, that may fix the issue if it is swapping when running out of ram. It really depends on what resolution video you're working with, but Premiere was always a memory hog--even v1.0.

 

[mitch074]

About the SSD, noted.

I will take a look at this video for some ideas on building a budget editing PC.

So, if I had the budget, I should go with the 3600 vs the 3300X?

Yes. Even if Première has lousy thread management, its filters will make use of more cores when available.

 

[siaan312]

About the SSD, noted.

I will take a look at this video for some ideas on building a budget editing PC.

So, if I had the budget, I should go with the 3600 vs the 3300X?

The 3300X will be much worse than the 3600.

 

[dorsai]

Priority for a video/photo editing PC should be memory, fast CPU, decent GPU, and SSD storage drive.

Adobe Premiere as well as Photoshop and their other apps all thrive when running at least 32gig of memory. 32gigs of slow ddr4 will still be faster than 16gig of really fast memory so prioritize quantity.

Premiere also really likes fast CPU cores...a fast 8 core 16 thread cpu will make a solid editing rig...a faster 10 or 12 core CPU will show improvement but returns start to diminish over 8 cores 16 threads on a cost vs performance basis.

Premiere also makes use of the GPU if you enable hardware acceleration...so buy the most powerful one you can afford.

Fast storage...especially for your working drive...is critical. Most people still use very large HHD's for storage and backup because they are relatively cheap and reliable but you'll see a large reduction in editing times if you can afford SSD storage for your install drive (C drive) and as a second scratch drive for your working files.

 

[mitch074]

Priority for a video/photo editing PC should be memory, fast CPU, decent GPU, and SSD storage drive.

Adobe Premiere as well as Photoshop and their other apps all thrive when running at least 32gig of memory. 32gigs of slow ddr4 will still be faster than 16gig of really fast memory so prioritize quantity.

Premiere also really likes fast CPU cores...a fast 8 core 16 thread cpu will make a solid editing rig...a faster 10 or 12 core CPU will show improvement but returns start to diminish over 8 cores 16 threads on a cost vs performance basis.

Premiere also makes use of the GPU if you enable hardware acceleration...so buy the most powerful one you can afford.

Fast storage...especially for your working drive...is critical. Most people still use very large HHD's for storage and backup because they are relatively cheap and reliable but you'll see a large reduction in editing times if you can afford SSD storage for your install drive (C drive) and as a second scratch drive for your working files.

Hardware acceleration really depends on the filters you apply (some use it, some don't) so it really can wait until you upgraded the rest, but otherwise, yeah.

 

[dorsai]

Hardware acceleration really depends on the filters you apply (some use it, some don't) so it really can wait until you upgraded the rest, but otherwise, yeah.

Agreed...that's why I listed it 3rd after memory and CPU.