@discburn

Hi Seamus.

Wow, what a beast of a machine for its time! Even now it would be quite competitive in a lot of areas.

Possible snags with the system. (Maybe not please wait for a second opinion).

The Xeon X5650 has no Internal Intel GPU so a lot of rendering of effects would have to be done by the CPU in real-time.

Although the Quadro card again would be considered quite a good card for it's time and is apparently capable of handling Direct X 12 it is very short in the pixel shader count (See the spec here) which again may cause problems with any form of 3D rendering in rel time, but even on more up to date systems quite often people are using proxy files for smoother editing.

You may find export rendering a tad slower than one would expect as well but I'm not sure.

If you haven't already I would download the trial version and see what you think but as far as upgrading the system. If that doesn't go well I think it would probably be better to start with a new motherboard and CPU with an inboard GPU that has at least HD 630. The amount of ram is slight overkill so you could try selling that off with your motherboard and CPU to offset costs. You could probably get away with 16G of ram on a new system to start with.

These are just my thoughts and please await a second opinion.

Preferably from one of the mods.

[Edit] Just seen I was too late. John beat me to it. I agree, stay away from AMD CPUs for this particular need.

Ray.

@johnebaker
@CubeAce

Thanks John and Ray for your input. I've forwarded the official Magix VPX system requirements to a PC guy who puts systems together. He'll let me know in a couple of days what's possible. I'll inform him on your comments, too.

Yes, except for being an old machine and 'incompatible', the Dell T5500 is a cracker. Well, we'll see what can be done.

I'll keep you informed!

Seamus

@discburn

Hi Seamus.

On the plus side, a new system that would cope easily should be a lot cheaper than what you paid for that system.

Ray.

Hi Ray. Yes, I'm checking the price of a new PC against a trade-in/rebuild.

Seamus

@discburn

Hi Seamus.

A newer, less leading edge system compared to your old one at the time would still be more powerful at a fraction of the cost of your old one. A system comparably as powerful as your old one would possibly be overkill. You could easily get way with just 32GB of ram and a current i7 or i9 series CPU (with GPU) and 1TB NVMe C: drive and still be cheaper. Even a current 4 or 6GB nvidia card would be more than enough using the latest or last generation vram.

Nether John or I have much in the way of problems at least up to 4K editing.

Ray.

@CubeAce

I’m using another NLE that specializes in colour grading and requires a serious graphics card as well as plenty of RAM, so I’m trying to suit two video editing programs.

I’m looking forward to my PC guy’s suggestions and will share them back here.

Seamus

Just an additional question, while I'm waiting for my PC guy to get back to me...

I haven't downloaded the trial version to try it, but I've read this on the Magix VPX site:

The new INFUSION Engine 2 enables smooth playback even for complex multi-track projects in up to 8K resolution. Experience this noticeable improvement in speed right away on virtually all computers – graphics cards by leading manufacturers Intel, AMD and NVIDIA are now supported.

Does 'virtually all computers' only apply to the latest machines which specific requirements?

Seamus

@discburn

Hi Seamus.

I would say it applies if you don't mind not adding effects or transitions without the use of a per-render or using proxy files with a lower resolution. You can turn effects off during editing to help. It will make use of all those cores you have on the CPU but how well I don't know. A lot will rest on the complexity of the project I guess. Rendering may take an age though.

Ray.

@CubeAce

I suspect you're right, Ray. That was the same problem for versions following VPX6. Played fine but as soon as any effect, even slight colour correction, was added, it was struggling. We'll see what CPU my PC guy will suggest.

Seamus

@discburn

Hi Seamus

. . . . . Does 'virtually all computers' only apply to the latest machines which specific requirements? . . . .

This is where it gets a little confusing as there are many ifs, and. or buts.

As an example: -

If the source video is not HEVC (h.265) encoded and there is an Intel integrated GPU and it is a HD4000 or better and the video is Full HD maximum and the timeline is not complex etc no multicam, collages, processor heavy effects etc then Preview playback can be very smooth on older PCs which do not meet the minimum specs.

However throw in multicam, collages, processor heavy effects etc and the Preview playback smoothness can deteriorate.

Obviously a better computer eg 6 core* Intel processor with an Intel UHD630 will perform much better, adding an additional Nvidia GPU that supports NVENC will also get some assistance from that when an effect that can be accelerated on it is added eg Vegas Stabilisation, and if you use it, NeatVideo's denoiser.

* Do note as the number of cores increases the performance does not increase in direct proportion, it tails off due to other limitations, IMO 6 - 8 cores is the sweet spot.

HTH

John EB

@discburn @johnebaker

I agree with John's general observations about CPU choice although I'm still puzzled at John's reference to the Intel HD4000 GPU as a minimum requirement as I can't find that reference.

I wish it were easier to determine which nvidia card would be best suited beyond the 1060 specified for higher resolution projects. Especially taking in future possible future development requirements and how it helps in general.

I think we would both agree the Intel GPU is the more important player out of the two.

Ray.