@al-s

I rather suspect that the lack of direct responses to your post means that no-one who participates in this forum has any direct and valid experience of using the specific processor with MEP.

I think we all understand why you are asking the question, but, as in your series of posts from earlier in the year, which I see you have resurrected, no-one is able to give you an absolutely definitive answer! So, please do not keep asking the same question over and over. If no-one can answer it from personal experience you will not receive any further information simply by repeating posts or resurrecting old threads.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

Hi Jeff - Considering my first post was exactly 5 months ago and the 8700K is a new CPU, has had supply problems, and only now becoming available, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask if any users have one yet and how it performs with MEP before I buy one. I "do not keep asking the same question over and over" and take offense to your reply on the same day I posted assuming no one on the forum can give an answer. It is unreasonable to assume that MEP has new users and forum members in the past 5 months - or that existing users may have upgraded hardware? I am moving to 4K and evaluating NLE software and 4K timeline performance before I make a significant investment in hardware and software.

My previous thread was on the last generation 7700K and I did get one valuable user response. The 8700K has been recently recognized as a powerful editing CPU beating 8 core Ryzens. Magix claims 4K editing on these Intel CPUs using the on-board Intel Graphics iGPU and has recently added the same iGPU support to Vegas. Other NLEs need an additional expensive discrete GPU card costing an additional $500-800 which is a significant potential hardware savings. I have searched the web, found many recent benchmarks and user tests with other NLE software using the new 8700K with impressive results, but nothing on Magix. I'm about to make a 4K hardware/software decision so came back to this user forum to ask for user feedback - including any users considering upgrading to the 8700K. Any user thoughts/feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

Al

@al-s

. . . . I have searched the web, found many recent benchmarks and user tests with other NLE software using the new 8700K with impressive results . . . .

The performance when running video editing software is seldom dependant on Bench Marks which, like car fuel consumption and emissions are based on strict testing conditions which are not achievable the real world - they are guides only.

In the real world of video editing, the limiting factors of performance, are often not the physical speed limits of the hardware, it is what is on the timeline..

A simple one or two track movie with cuts or cross-fades, and no other effects, and the video and export resolutions identical will give the fastest export/render - even with an i5 4th gen processor and integrated GPU - I get up to approx 3x the frame rate of the video on the timeline, eg for 25 fps source video I get render speeds of up to 72 fps exporting to 25 fps video file at the same resolution - Full HD 1920 x 1080

Throw in a couple of collages, some colour correction, a little de-noising and other effects and the performance can drop off dramatically. With some effects you can see the render rate drop down to as low as 3 - 5 fps ie it takes approx 5 to 8 times longer than the section of the movie to which they are applied.

The biggest issue, IMHO, with building a new machine is related to the graphics card. There have been several examples in the forum where high performance dual and quad GPU graphics cards have been installed in the quest for the fastest GPU speed in rendering, only to find that the NLE is falling back to software encoding, HWA cannot be used because the graphics card drivers do not support it.

. . . . It is unreasonable to assume that MEP has new users and forum members in the past 5 months - or that existing users may have upgraded hardware . . .

I and other members like Jeff, have been members of the forum for many years and have seen the trends in PC specs used by members, the reality is that upgrades are not as frequent as one would expect, due IMO to the fact that the gains from this years processor/graphics card do not offer significant leaps in performance then last years or the years before, they tend to be smaller incremental performance enhancements. This is why I am still running an Intel i5 4th gen processor, in a PC specifically put together for video editing, the speed gain is not significant enough to justify spending £1500+ on a new PC yet.

John EB

Thanks John - appreciate the feedback. Agreed except the no support comment on the GPU card. I'm specifically looking for Intel GPU support which MEP uses and I'm curious to see how well it performs with H.264/265 4K which is a challenge for most NLEs. MAGIX has also recently added the same Intel iGPU plus Nvidia support to Vegas as well. (I'll send you a PM)

https://software.intel.com/en-us/videos/how-magix-made-4k-360-video-editing-swift-and-easy

Regarding benchmarks/performance I also agree with you - there are many variables. Here are a couple of examples of the type of performance evaluations I'm looking for for MEP before I buy it.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Premiere-Pro-CC-2017-1-2-CPU-Performance-Core-i7-8700K-i5-8600K-i3-8350K-1047/

In the second link you will see the 8700K compared to latest Intel/AMD CPUs from $168 to $1,399 using 4K, 6K, and 8K with Premiere Pro. I don't expect to find anything as comprehensive for MEP but would like to know how it performs with 4k/UHD with the 8700K before I decide on a hardware/software solution. Also note all tests were with a $950 1080TI GPU card. According to the first link above MEP can edit 4K using the "free" Intel iGPU which is a significant saving.

I'm making a significant investment on a limited budget in 4K cameras plus a 60" UHD TV for viewing results so it's important that I choose a cost effective PC hardware/software solution. I am also using an old 4th gen i5 desktop which has been OK for HD but not for 4K. Assuming MEP works with 4K using the 8700K and the Intel iGPU you can build a new 4K edit desktop for less than $1K.

Re upgrade - The 8700K overclocked is nearly double the power of my i5 so I think it's worth it.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the holidays.