Do you need a GPU for video editing?

beany_bot · 10 Jun 2016 at 08:35

My friend (never has owned a PC) wants a PC so he can edit his GoPro footage.
Only thing is. He has a very very small budget. (sub £200).

I thought that second hand he could get a semi decent mobo, cpu and 16gb RAM.

Does he need a GPU? I don't think he does, pretty sure the CPU does all my processing and video rendering.

joeyjojo · 10 Jun 2016 at 08:40

These days most software will use the GPU (using OpenCL and/or CUDA) to accelerate the process, e.g. realtime rendering of filters for preview. He doesn't need one though, no.

beany_bot · 10 Jun 2016 at 08:43

He is currently trying to do it on an old laptop but it is just dying a death when he tries to do anything.

I think he could get a 2500K, mobo and 16gb of ram for about £120 secondhand. I've got a donor case and PSU he can have. That would allow him to edit 1080p videos at 60fps yeah?

stuartharrison · 10 Jun 2016 at 12:05

beany_bot said:
He is currently trying to do it on an old laptop but it is just dying a death when he tries to do anything.

I think he could get a 2500K, mobo and 16gb of ram for about £120 secondhand. I've got a donor case and PSU he can have. That would allow him to edit 1080p videos at 60fps yeah?

An alternative would be to go for an old Xeon X5650/X5670/X5690
depending on what you can pick up cheap
I've seen a new X5650 going for £64 - you might be able to find cheaper.
Those extra cores will help with video editing.
Plus, they seem to overclock very well.

There's a thread on them in the CPU forum.

stuartharrison · 10 Jun 2016 at 12:07

..also, as a lot of those mobo's were dual CPU, you'd have an upgrade path of dropping a second one in when funds permit; so you'd have 12 cores, 24 threads - perfect for video editing.

El_Watcher · 10 Jun 2016 at 12:42

You will also need to take into account HDD.

Running the storage and temp files from the same mechanical HDD will be slow. Preferably a HDD for the file storage, and an SSD for the O/S and temp files will ensure the editing software has a fast enough data stream to process.
You might be able to get a way with a good SSHD though.

Cern · 10 Jun 2016 at 13:58

If he's never owned a PC is your friend going to also need a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc? If so, it might be a tough ask to try and get a complete system for £200 second hand. But you never know, someone who recently upgraded might be looking to quickly offload an old system.

beany_bot · 10 Jun 2016 at 16:19

Cern said:
If he's never owned a PC is your friend going to also need a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc? If so, it might be a tough ask to try and get a complete system for £200 second hand. But you never know, someone who recently upgraded might be looking to quickly offload an old system.

I'm giving him a case and peripherals. He is happy using his TV. He just needs the grunt to edit videos. Laptops are too expensive and he doesn't want to game or even surf on it.

ExoMale · 10 Jun 2016 at 22:15

What about an APU system? should be able to get a decent one for the budget and do editing stuff and play 1080p movies(hell a gt 210 plays 1080p flawlessly, so any decent APU should do also) It depends how demanding of software your mate wants to use.