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Choosing The Right Components For PC Editing And Video Rendering

Staff Writer


Have you just spent hours editing a short video on your old PC? Was it painful? Trying to edit videos on an older PC with limited memory, a slow processor and an inadequate video card can be horrible. Every step of editing is slow. Then, you hit the button to start the rendering, and what you hoped would take a few minutes turns into an hour or more. If you are serious about editing videos, it is time for a better PC.

Choosing The Right Parts PC Editing And Video Rendering


Your needs are going to vary depending on the types of videos you plan to edit. Are you happy sticking to 1080p, or are you ready to enter the world of 4K video? Are you working on short videos or are you working with long video clips? Are you planning to use transitions and special effects? Each step up requires more power. Here is an idea of what type of specs you should consider for doing 4K video.

Specs – A Video Editing PC With Power:


Memory: 16GB or more – The specifications on many video editing programs make the bold claim that you can run their software on 4GB of memory, with 8GB recommended. Don’t believe them. Your PC will choke when you start to load multiple clips, add new soundtracks, and add in any special effects. If you are building a new PC for video editing, go with a minimum of 16GB.



Processor: Intel i7 7th Generation or better – Once again, software labeling is misleading. You can work with a lower grade processor, but it will be painful. If you want your PC editing and video rendering to be fast, then stick to a current i7 processor. You want your PC to run as quickly, instead of constantly disrupting your creative flow.



Hard Drive: 500GB SSD Drive Minimum – You will need lots of storage for your videos, especially when you start working with 4K, but more importantly, you need speed. Stick to SSD drives on your video editing station. You do not want the small cost difference of SSD drives to be the factor which chokes the speed of your video editing. NOTE: Consider buying a high-capacity external drive to store your finished projects. You do not want your drive getting full.



Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M or Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M – Most high-end video editing programs move the rendering process off your CPU and onto the GPU. The GPU (graphics processing unit) is designed to work with graphics more efficiently. You can increase the performance of your video editing PC quickly by upgrading your graphics card.



As you may have noticed, all of the specs for a great video editing PC are very similar to those used for a good gaming computer. They both need extreme CPU power, graphics speed, and memory to perform quickly.



Using these specifications as a guideline will allow you to build a PC which makes video editing fast and easy. If you are planning to buy a pre-built PC, consider a high-end gaming PC for your video editing needs.