Hi all.

I've now managed to pull enough money together to buy a decent desktop to edit videos and just wondered what is the minimal specifications required to run Lightworks (and other editing softwares) smoothly?

All I will be doing is editing videos no longer than 30-40 minutes for youtube at 1080p, I'm on a bit of a budget so don't want to overspend on a computer.

Thanks

The recommended specification is:


However, today 16 GB RAM would make sense. You only need one monitor.

A gaming computer will usually do the job. Buying a computer refurbished by the manufacturer is good method of betting best bang for buck.

Thank you for getting back to me I've gone onto PC specialist and put in some info and was quoted £950 for this brand new, does this meet the requirements?

Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700F (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache

Motherboard

ASUS® PRIME Z390-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!

Memory (RAM)

8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card

4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI

1st Storage Drive

256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)

2nd Storage Drive

1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE

Power Supply

CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY

Power Cable

1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition

Thermal Paste

STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Card

10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)

Wireless Network Card

WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

USB/Thunderbolt Options

MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT 

GPax wrote:

This depends on the media you use, your workflow (e.g. if you want to do performance optimizations with proxies etc.), which and how many effects you use, the complexity of your timeline, if you use third party plug ins, etc.

I see you asked a question a month ago that had to do with the performance of your current laptop.
User "hugly" asked you a question in his answer with a request for more information about your media. He also hinted at the possible performance optimizations, but probably wanted to wait for your answer first to give you tips tailored to your case.

If you are concerned about the cost, I would recommend to use all performance optimizations on your current laptop first. During this optimization process you can also gain insight into which system components in your project are under what kind of load, and thus better estimate which properties your new computer should have in your case.

By the way: The monitor is often also a significant cost factor of desktop computer systems. An alternative monitor can be an existing HDMI TV (provided that it is not needed elsewhere at the same time).


GPax wrote:

Some other software requires significantly more system performance than Lightworks.

GPax wrote:

Note that 1080p export requires a Pro license.

Thanks for your response again its really appreciated, I don't really use any third party programs at all and predominantly lighrworks alone, the videos are quite simple and effects wise I would mainly just import MP3 and Image files to drop into the timeline of the video at certain points, they are quite simple videos.

Just to clarify how do I check the optimisation of my current laptop and set up? Sorry I'm not the most knowledgeable computer wise.

Thanks again

GPax wrote:

For a new computer, I would recommend more. My 6 year old PC only has 8 GB, but has to use the swap file for some media and timelines.

GPax wrote:

Fast, but not much memory for video editing. I have less (shared RAM), but high-resolution images and some effects exceed my limits, which can make the system extremely slow and instability (in my case, Lightorks then hangs).
If you want to save costs, you could consider an Intel processor with the best integrated GPU. The integrated GPU uses the normal main RAM like the CPU. If I'm properly informed, good current Intel GPUs can use up to 50% of the main RAM. So if you had 16 GB of main RAM then the GPU could use 8 GB. When the GPU uses less, the CPU can use more.
Then you don't need a graphics card, but a different processor, maybe a different mainboard.

Note that even the fastest Intel GPUs are much slower than the graphics card. This is currently mainly relevant for effects in Lightworks. If you use few and simple effects, this might not be a problem. For more complex effects there is optimization options to reduce the GPU load during the preview.
Of course we don't know what future Lightworks versions will require.
At least it would be good if your desktop had the possibility to upgrade to a powerful graphics card later.

In the diagram view of the Win10-Tastmanager I can easily monitor my GPU load.

GPax wrote:

I think that should be discussed in your other thread.
If you did not understand user "hugly" in the other thread, then please ask there for further explanations.

Hi! Right I see, I've amended the specs a bit and still in budget for the below, would this be sufficient do you think?

Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700F (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache

Motherboard

ASUS® PRIME Z390-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!

Memory (RAM)

16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 16GB)

Graphics Card

6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

1st Storage Drive

256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)

2nd Storage Drive

1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE

Power Supply

CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY

Power Cable

1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition

Thermal Paste

STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Card

10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)

As cheap as SSD’s are these days I would recommend bumping that up to 512GB or if your budget can stand it 1TB. Lightworks uses a fair amount of temp space on your system drive when exporting longer videos.

You can compare video editing with tractor pulling. Your computer is the tractor and the media and complexity of effects are the load.

The question "has this tractor enough power "cannot be answered without knowing the load.

I've ran the last video through Mediainfo and below is the info provided.

General
Complete name : C:\Users\rache\Documents\Sequence #1.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size : 578 MiB
Duration : 15 min 0 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 383 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2020-11-22 13:47:43
Tagged date : UTC 2020-11-22 13:47:43

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=11
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 15 min 0 s
Source duration : 15 min 0 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 4 999 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 6 000 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.226
Stream size : 537 MiB (93%)
Source stream size : 537 MiB (93%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2020-11-22 13:47:43
Tagged date : UTC 2020-11-22 13:47:43
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 15 min 0 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 411 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 40.9 MiB (7%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2020-11-22 13:47:43
Tagged date : UTC 2020-11-22 13:47:43

Hm, that looks to me like a video exported with Lightworks. I can edit this material flawlesslyon my MacBook Air from 20212 with an Intel dual core i5.

Is that what you intend, edting 720p material created with Lightworks and if so, what is your reason for not using original recordings?

Hi.

Originally it was shot in a higher FR and definition however I used i believe its called Handbrake to convert the files down to 720p st 23.5 FPS, this is due to the laptop I'm using being able to handle anything higher and my own worry that the audio and video will not sync, this becomes apparent in longer videos that are 20+ minutes long. Ideally I just want to film and keep the file in 1080p at probably 25 FPS, I just want to make sure the spec I put for the quoted computer earlier in the thread would be able to cope easily with this.

I'm pretty sure that the file you show above hasn't been created with Handbrake.

If you intend using Handbrake to convert media for editing, have a look at the settings I usually recommend for that purpose:

www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=23&id=166802&Itemid=81#209009

There, you'll also find a link to a description of the internal proxy workflow, which I'd suggest trying on your current laptop, if performance problems arise. However, the file shown above shouldn't create trouble when editing on your current machine.

Hi.

Sorry I should have explained a bit more, I import all the clips I use into Handbrake to convert first before importing them into lightworks to use.

Ideally I would like to avoid using Handbrake entirely and film at 1080p at 25-30 FPS, and just wanted to check if the spec I have would do the job. Granted this can change depending on the work being done, but wanted to check if the specification I have would be able to cope with the work I'm doing.