I'm replacing my ageing audio PC on which I also make/edit videos. I was using Serif Movieplus but am about to buy Movie Edit Pro. I just want to check that the graphics card I've chosen will be good enough to work with Movie Edit Pro. It's one of these:
Many thanks!
Hi Skyline,
If you are buying a new PC, you will find that video editing will be more processor and ram memory demanding than audio editing, so I would aim to get something that can handle both. Magix video editing software is best suited to using a recent Intel processor with integrated graphics for best results. For my own system on which I edit up to 4 tracks of 4k video plus audio, I don't have a separate graphics card at all. In fact I removed my fairly high spec nvidea card to get a better performance.
You will also need 16+gig or ram memory and plenty of HD space as video eats memory quickly. It would probably help to give us some idea of the sort of spec you were envisaging.
Roger
Can you tell us your current system spec? Operating system, build as in CPU, GPU, ram, hard drives etc? As Roger suggests a new graphics card my not be the best solution to upgrading your system.
Also your editing requirements. 4K, HD, or lower?
The graphics card you are suggesting is Radeon, not NVIDIA based. Not sure if that will make a difference in MEP. Maybe others can help with that point.
Thanks.
CubeAce, the specs of the PC I'm considering buying will be a minimum of:
I won't be going to 4K, just HD from the Panasonic camera I've had for a while.
BTW, I had no trouble at all running MoviePlus, and getting great results, using an eight year-old PC and graphics card. But I assume over the ensuing years movie editing software like Magix have advanced in system requirements though.
Hi
As @RogerGunkel has said there is no real need for an additional graphics card.
The i9-9900 has the UHD 630 integrated GPU and it is more than satisfactory for working with 4K video, I am currently working on my laptop which has an older 4th generation Intel CPU with the HD4600 iGPU and this is very capable for Full HD video.
I am assuming you mean FullHD ie 1920 x 1080 and not HD which is 1280 x 720.
The RX560 is, IMHO, overkill and you will not gain any significant benefit from it - though you will have a large hole in your wallet. 😕.
HTH
John EB
Just out of interest, do you have a current graphics card on you system? While you probably don't need one as John suggests, and it may not do any harm to leave it in as long as you set MEP to use the Intel graphics of your i9900K processor. I'm using an old NVIDIA G Force GT 1030 which seems to be doing something within MEP to help out but it's the Intel graphics processor that will make the difference. Your system seems more than adequate as is.
My present PC is about eight years old and the graphics card is an ATI Radeon 4800 series. I've been able to make 1080 videos for YouTube with it for years using Serif's (now discontinued) MoviePlus.
I don't mind paying for a decent graphics card in my new PC but I don't want to go needlessly over the top. A configuration I went through with company name removed by moderator (who my present PC was from) includes their recommended "Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8GB WINDFORCE OC Turing Graphics Card" which is £500 or so. I'm not an expert and rely on suppliers for advice, but I think they either severely misunderstood my stated needs or are stiffing me. I can't believe I need a £500 graphics card to run just my DAW (Cakewalk) and Magix ME Pro!! Or do I??
No you don't.
As others have said, for what you are doing the Intel i9900k Coffee Lake processor should be adequate to the task on it's own for use in MEP. Members here have been looking to find out what the developers were using when updating the program and it would seem MEP was tested on various specified machines using different processors and graphics cards. The ones we found out about seemed to be using mid range graphics cards where any were used at all. Something like a much cheaper NVIDIA 1060 6GB but even that is not a must have. There may be some small performance gains to be had in playback or rendering times by having a more powerful machine but the i9 or even i7 processors seem to be coping with the new Infusion engine quite well on their own.
If you look at my thread of my recent experience of having to do a new build you will see the main improvement came from using a better processor than my old i5.
I'm still fine tuning it because I have nothing better to do 😁 but really I think the groundwork was done getting an i9.
You mention you use your PC as a DAW. I use Cubase and have two screens because of the amount of plugins showing, mixer, timeline etc. I assume you may do the same? Scrolling of the timeline is much smoother in playback on Cubase compared to MEP. I assume because it's not dealing with video at the same time. I like the way the cursor can be made to stay in the center of the screen and watch the waveform travel at whatever resolution you feel like. It makes audio editing so much easier when scrolling. It's one thing I wish MEP could do as well as my DAW.
If you need a graphics card for Cakewalk then I wouldn't think it would even need a 1060 card or equivalent.
Many thanks. I hadn't realised that the processor was a bigger factor than the graphics card. Tomorrow I'm going to see a local PC company that builds various types of PC and I will say I only need a mid-range (or slightly above for safety's sake) graphics card. I'd rather use a local business than add further to the funds of the larger so-called 'Audio PC Specialists' who in this instance just didn't grasp my requirements despite explaining them clearly in discussing a possible configuration over the phone.
My old ATI Radeon 4800 has been 100% fine for Cakewalk, Studio One and (long in the tooth and obsolete) Serif MoviePlus, so common sense was telling me I don't need a gigantic leap in power and cost for a graphics card in my new more powerful PC, but I just wanted to check here in case MEP was a lot more demanding for some reason.
As you are in the UK have a look at this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NYZKKPQ/?coliid=I39LIYZTCPTON&colid=1RSWC2NTKDHOU&th=1
As I had a case and other bits I found that pre-built setup good. I had no hassle with the supplier and was well packaged. The heat sink is phenomenally good. If you don't have a large tower case you will need a huge one due to the heat-sink's size. The setup should also have at least an 850w power supply of higher. I've had mine around a month now and I'm very pleased with it. The Asus STRIX motherboard supplied has a very good audio output and the ram is well priced.
In truth I don't know whether MEP will be able to utilise your graphics card or not as I'm using NVIDIA but I think at least one other person on the forum is using a Radeon card. I don't think it will do any harm to try using the old card as long as it fits the motherboard. You can only try and see.
In truth I don't know whether MEP will be able to utilise your graphics card or not as I'm using NVIDIA but I think at least one other person on the forum is using a Radeon card.
Yes, @emmrecs has a Radeon and I have not heard too many complaints from him, but bear in mind that Magix have expressed that their programs have some optimisations based around Nvidia GPUs and processing of video effects during playback. If you wished to upgrade to Video Pro X in future an Nvidia card would give even more benefit during playback and export of HEVC material, with considerably faster processing of multiple tracks during preview on the Cuda cores and fast rendering via the NVENC encoder during export.
Members here have been looking to find out what the developers were using when updating the program and it would seem MEP was tested on various specified machines using different processors and graphics cards. The ones we found out about seemed to be using mid range graphics cards where any were used at all.
I just read a footnote in VPX sales material which stated the "8.6x" acceleration of video effects was measured on a system with a i7 6950 processor and a GTX960 nvidia card. 6950 is a 10 core extreme processor (costs about $1700) which should be pretty swift but to be fair the material was 6K and the card is only mid range as Ray has mentioned.
My opinion is that there are benefits in having a second GPU for modest gains in MEP and I would make it an Nvidia and not an expensive one.
Peter
Hi Peter
. . . . 5960 is a 10 core extreme processor . . . .
According to Intel - the i7 5960 is a discontinued old processor with 8 cores and no integrated GPU.
Benchmarks show it has a similar performance to the i7-8700K and slightly lower performance than the i9-9900K if you ignore the absence of the iGPU.
It is good to know that Magix are testing on older hardware.
John EB
Wasn't it the last of the i7's to use hyperthreading?
Sorry guys, my dyslexia - I meant 6950.
Hi Ray
. . . . Wasn't it the last of the i7's to use hyperthreading? . . .
No Hyperthreading is still used in many Intel processors eg 19-9900 has 8 cores and can process 16 threads. Hyper threading allows for a core to process a second thread when the first stalls or is waiting.
Hi Peter
Thanks for the correction.
John EB
I know about the i9 John. I was under the impression it wasn't available on the new i7 processors or below. That and the i9 has gone back to the earlier way of dissipating heat away from the cores using solder as well.