# Minimum spec PC and graphics card for Canon R5 video



## Bundu (Jan 18, 2021)

I have a Dell XPS27 all in one pc bought 6 years ago. Or 7??
I have upgraded to ssd and more memory. The pc is great for everything I do except h265 video (Premiere pro).
Lightroom an Autocad Inventor no problem.

I am due for a new PC and want to spec it so that I can edit my R5 h265 videos easier.
Any recommendations on min spec for the processor, memory and graphics card?
Then I can work from there and buy the best possible on my budget.
Thank you in advance


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## Joules (Jan 18, 2021)

Bundu said:


> I have a Dell XPS27 all in one pc bought 6 years ago. Or 7??
> I have upgraded to ssd and more memory. The pc is great for everything I do except h265 video (Premiere pro).
> Lightroom an Autocad Inventor no problem.
> 
> ...


Which setting exactly are you referring to? Not all variations of H.265 have support for hardware decoding in current open ecosystem hardware. If that is explicitly the setting that pushes you to upgrade, you might either want to lower your expectations or wait for some more hardware to come around the corner.

To add some more general recommendations, AMD Ryzen 5000 is the way to go for CPU in this instance, or wait until March for Intel to catch up with Rocket Lake.

Graphics cards are hard to get currently, and impossible to get for a good price. But all the new options are great in absolute performance. You might want to list a few more of the applications you use and how much performance uplift you expect for them.

Also worth noting is that I assume you're talking about a desktop here, not another all in one. Is that correct?


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## sociophilo (Jan 18, 2021)

I have a DELL XPS 15, Brand New (9500 model), and it is impossible to edit H265 on it. Literally have to create proxies for any of the R5 HQ video options (4K HQ, 8K, 8K Raw) and even the 4K 120 (which is in MP4) is slow. 

These things take a lot of CPU power and memory. 

That being said the M1 Macbook Pro 13inch can edit these, as they have a specific H265 accelerator chip. I would recommend getting that.


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## privatebydesign (Jan 18, 2021)

sociophilo said:


> I have a DELL XPS 15, Brand New (9500 model), and it is impossible to edit H265 on it. Literally have to create proxies for any of the R5 HQ video options (4K HQ, 8K, 8K Raw) and even the 4K 120 (which is in MP4) is slow.
> 
> These things take a lot of CPU power and memory.
> 
> That being said the M1 Macbook Pro 13inch can edit these, as they have a specific H265 accelerator chip. I would recommend getting that.


So can the iPad Pros by all accounts.


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## Deleted member 381342 (Jan 18, 2021)

Any M1 Mac would be the cheapest option at the moment. On the PC side you just need to much hardware until we see things like Ryzen 4, Intel 12th gen, Geforce 4000 series, and Radeon 7000 series. The M1 Mini for £699.00 or £899 with 16 GB RAM is the cheapest way to edit 8k video and it'll do it silently.


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## Bdbtoys (Jan 18, 2021)

Although, there is a lot to pick from for cool & affordable PC parts, most are super hard to come by currently (if you don't want to pay more than retail). The demand for parts is unprecedented atm. My recommendation is to wait if possible.

Just a point of reference... it was way easier to get a R5 at launch (even though it was a wait to ship)... than it was to get my current CPU/GPU. I literally had to monitor websites for the moment items dropped, and even then if you took longer than 10seconds to check out... you didn't get it. From what I heard, its still like that.


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## Chris.Chapterten (Jan 19, 2021)

Codebunny said:


> Any M1 Mac would be the cheapest option at the moment. On the PC side you just need to much hardware until we see things like Ryzen 4, Intel 12th gen, Geforce 4000 series, and Radeon 7000 series. The M1 Mini for £699.00 or £899 with 16 GB RAM is the cheapest way to edit 8k video and it'll do it silently.


From the tests I’ve seen the M1 macs still struggle with 8k... but very good for 4K h.265


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## Bundu (Jan 19, 2021)

Joules said:


> Which setting exactly are you referring to? Not all variations of H.265 have support for hardware decoding in current open ecosystem hardware. If that is explicitly the setting that pushes you to upgrade, you might either want to lower your expectations or wait for some more hardware to come around the corner.
> 
> To add some more general recommendations, AMD Ryzen 5000 is the way to go for CPU in this instance, or wait until March for Intel to catch up with Rocket Lake.
> 
> ...


I only use Autocad Inventor, Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Just Premiere Pro a problem, and specifically h265 4k25p and 4k100p files. And yes, I am talking about a desktop.


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## Bundu (Jan 19, 2021)

sociophilo said:


> I have a DELL XPS 15, Brand New (9500 model), and it is impossible to edit H265 on it. Literally have to create proxies for any of the R5 HQ video options (4K HQ, 8K, 8K Raw) and even the 4K 120 (which is in MP4) is slow.
> 
> These things take a lot of CPU power and memory.
> 
> That being said the M1 Macbook Pro 13inch can edit these, as they have a specific H265 accelerator chip. I would recommend getting that.


Yes, I am also sick and tired of creating proxies. and the rendering with a few effects added takes forever.
I am not familiar with the Apple environment, would prefer to stay with a PC.


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## Deleted member 381342 (Jan 19, 2021)

Bundu said:


> Yes, I am also sick and tired of creating proxies. and the rendering with a few effects added takes forever.
> I am not familiar with the Apple environment, would prefer to stay with a PC.



If you want to stick with PC I advise holding off a year or two. Unless you want to go something daft like a 32/64 core Threadripper and a Quadro GPU. In PC land this is still workstation territory.


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## Joules (Jan 19, 2021)

Bundu said:


> Yes, I am also sick and tired of creating proxies. and the rendering with a few effects added takes forever.
> I am not familiar with the Apple environment, would prefer to stay with a PC.


You didn't make it clear, but I guess the settings you want to use are 10-bit 4:2:2, which is what causes issues for the majority of hardware. Apples latest chips are currently the only ones with hardware decoding for that. With open ecosystem hardware, I am not aware of anything on the horizon that is certain to have it - though you never know. Maybe 5000 series Threadripper or Epyc are more workstation tuned in that regard. So there is no way to get around proxies other than waiting or going Apple.

In case you are talking about anything other than 10 bit 4:2:2 anyway, there is no issue at all and you can expect a major boost in performance. 6 years is a long time and especially this last update has pushed performance by a lot.

As I said, if you are looking for Adobe and general purpose compute power, Ryzen 5000 series is the way to go currently. Although availability is horrible and the prices reflect that, which makes the value proposition much worse.

I updated my own rig to run an AMD 5900X (12 core, up to 4.8 GHz), an RTX 3070, 64 GB DDR4 3600, 1 TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe software drive and 3 TB worth of Sata SSD for data.

You haven't named a budget yet either, this above configuration is more on the expensive side considering that you are already satisfied with your PC for all but one task.


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## Joules (Jan 19, 2021)

Codebunny said:


> If you want to stick with PC I advise holding off a year or two. Unless you want to go something daft like a 32/64 core Threadripper and a Quadro GPU. In PC land this is still workstation territory.


Do Quadro cards support H.265 10-bit 4:2:2 in hardware? I couldn't find anything suggesting that's the case, but I've not dug deep. I would find it interesting.

If they do, what's the point of going ham on the CPU core count?


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## Deleted member 381342 (Jan 19, 2021)

Joules said:


> Do Quadro cards support H.265 10-bit 4:2:2 in hardware? I couldn't find anything suggesting that's the case, but I've not dug deep. I would find it interesting.
> 
> If they do, what's the point of going ham on the CPU core count?



The point of this stuff is since they don't support it in hardware, you just have to brute force it. The Quadro for its high RAM count and the CPU's for rendering. Our rendering stations are 32/64 core CPU's with 256 GB RAM and Quadro RTX 8000. This allows them to do 8k without too much stuttering on the timeline and still be able to colour grade and the like non top of that. The M1 machines give you a smooth(ish) 8k timeline and let you colour grade with relative ease comparably. 

So my advise is to wait a few years, buy a workstation, or buy a M1 Mac. It depends if you need to do this today.


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## Joules (Jan 19, 2021)

Codebunny said:


> The point of this stuff is since they don't support it in hardware, you just have to brute force it. The Quadro for its high RAM count and the CPU's for rendering. Our rendering stations are 32/64 core CPU's with 256 GB RAM and Quadro RTX 8000. This allows them to do 8k without too much stuttering on the timeline and still be able to colour grade and the like non top of that. The M1 machines give you a smooth(ish) 8k timeline and let you colour grade with relative ease comparably.
> 
> So my advise is to wait a few years, buy a workstation, or buy a M1 Mac. It depends if you need to do this today.


Okay, got it. Was just curious because you didn't specify which quadro you were talking about. RTX 3090 or Radeon 6900XT are up there with the power compared to the entry level quadro, so I thought maybe you knew something about hardware acceleration I don't.

I'd say buying a workstation should also be accompanied by waiting though. 5000 series EPYC has already been teased and Threadripper is bound to get refreshed sooner rather than later. Availability is a different story of course.

Same for more Ampere Quadro cards. Spending that kind of money on last Gen hardware so close to the refreshes is certainly an option, but unless time is of the essence, it seems not worth it in my eyes.


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## Bdbtoys (Jan 20, 2021)

I live and breathe computer hardware... w/o knowing your budget, go with an AMD Ryzen 5900x (if you can afford it bump up to a 5950x, or down to a 5800x if it's tight). An x570 motherboard. 32gb of 3600 CAS 15/16 memory. A nice PCIE Gen4 M2 Drive for OS things you really need speed for. Large drive for data (unless you're rich then go all out with SSD's for the extra speed). For video go nVidia RTX 3000 series or AMD 6000 series according to your budget... on the nVidia side there is a 3060ti, 3070, 3080, 3090 (preferably a reference card). There is also news of a 3060 (this is going to be a heck of a bang for the buck) and 3080ti (this one got cancelled). Just to note... the 3090 is way overkill (5-10% performance increase for almost twice as much cash)... if you can afford it, go for it. But if you like to hold on to some cash... go for anything under it. Otherwise there is the AMD Radeon side which is a good bang for your buck... the 6800, 6800xt, 6900xt. The 6900 (like the 3090 is a lot more cash for little gains). For brute force I would go nVidia, for memory size AMD.

All of the parts I mentioned are in high demand... don't buy from scalpers (wait to buy from retail).


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## Bundu (Jan 20, 2021)

Thanks for all the input. Seems like I will have to wait a while........


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## Joules (Jan 20, 2021)

Bdbtoys said:


> I live and breathe computer hardware... w/o knowing your budget, go with an AMD Ryzen 5900x (if you can afford it bump up to a 5950x, or down to a 5800x if it's tight). An x570 motherboard. 32gb of 3600 CAS 15/16 memory. A nice PCIE Gen4 M2 Drive for OS things you really need speed for. Large drive for data (unless you're rich then go all out with SSD's for the extra speed). For video go nVidia RTX 3000 series or AMD 6000 series according to your budget... on the nVidia side there is a 3060ti, 3070, 3080, 3090 (preferably a reference card). There is also news of a 3060 (this is going to be a heck of a bang for the buck) and 3080ti (this one got cancelled). Just to note... the 3090 is way overkill (5-10% performance increase for almost twice as much cash)... if you can afford it, go for it. But if you like to hold on to some cash... go for anything under it. Otherwise there is the AMD Radeon side which is a good bang for your buck... the 6800, 6800xt, 6900xt. The 6900 (like the 3090 is a lot more cash for little gains). For brute force I would go nVidia, for memory size AMD.
> 
> All of the parts I mentioned are in high demand... don't buy from scalpers (wait to buy from retail).


Keep in mind that it is specifically and apparently only the performance when editing H 265 10-bit 4:2:2 that's bothering the OP and that none of this hardware has built in support for it. Compared to hardware that has, that's a big disadvantage as demonstrated by the iPad being able to edit these files and proper desktops not.


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## Bdbtoys (Jan 20, 2021)

Joules said:


> Keep in mind that it is specifically and apparently only the performance when editing H 265 10-bit 4:2:2 that's bothering the OP and that none of this hardware has built in support for it. Compared to hardware that has, that's a big disadvantage as demonstrated by the iPad being able to edit these files and proper desktops not.



Missed that tidbit... I don't have personal experience in editing that specific codec in Premiere, but from what I'm seeing its a pain on most systems. I would have to look into that specific situation. So OP, please take my hardware recommendation w/ a grain of salt. However for other workflows it's hard to beat it.


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## TravelerNick (Feb 28, 2021)

Black Magic latest Resolve beta now supports 4.2.2 HEVC on Intel. They don't make it clear but I'm assuming the latest Quick Sync. Tigerlake or maybe Icelake laptops or wait a few weeks for Rocketlake. They mention both decode and encode. Encode is almost certainly only a Studio (paid version) feature but who knows if the free version will support decode.






Blackmagic Forum • View topic - Release of DaVinci Resolve Studio 17.1 Public Beta 10







forum.blackmagicdesign.com






"
What’s New in DaVinci Resolve 17.1 Beta 10
Support for hardware accelerated encoding and decoding of H.265 10-bit 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 formats on supported Intel platforms."

Adobe last month put out an announcement about supporting Tigerlake but I didn't see exactly what they included.


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## Joules (Feb 28, 2021)

TravelerNick said:


> Black Magic latest Resolve beta now supports 4.2.2 HEVC on Intel. They don't make it clear but I'm assuming the latest Quick Sync. Tigerlake or maybe Icelake laptops or wait a few weeks for Rocketlake. They mention both decode and encode.


Without the hardware offering decode/encode support, it doesn't matter if the software could have taken advantage of it. Does Tiger lake have 10 bit H.265 4:2:2 support? I don't think so.

So unless Rocket Lake shakes things up, nothing has changed as far as I'm aware.


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## TravelerNick (Feb 28, 2021)

Tigerlake does. Problem is only the low powered laptops have been released so far. They haven't gotten around to releasing the higher powered laptop chips yet.

"The Tiger Lake (microprocessor) & Rocket Lake adds VP9 12-bit & 12-bit 4:4:4 hardware decoding and HEVC 12-bit 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 hardware decoding.[18] Gen12 Xe will also support native AV1 decode, which includes 10-bit 4:2:0 16K stills and 10-bit 4:2:0 8K, 4K and 2K video.[19] Hardware encoding for VP8 was dropped and hardware decoding is only available on Tiger Lake.[20]"

From the wiki





Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org


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## Joules (Feb 28, 2021)

TravelerNick said:


> Tigerlake does. Problem is only the low powered laptops have been released so far. They haven't gotten around to releasing the higher powered laptop chips yet.
> 
> "The Tiger Lake (microprocessor) & Rocket Lake adds VP9 12-bit & 12-bit 4:4:4 hardware decoding and HEVC 12-bit 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 hardware decoding.[18] Gen12 Xe will also support native AV1 decode, which includes 10-bit 4:2:0 16K stills and 10-bit 4:2:0 8K, 4K and 2K video.[19] Hardware encoding for VP8 was dropped and hardware decoding is only available on Tiger Lake.[20]"
> 
> ...


Yep, was pointed out to me in another thread. I don't really follow mobile CPUs, especially since Intel made such a mess out of the naming. So I totally missed that. Thanks!


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## Bert63 (Mar 6, 2021)

privatebydesign said:


> So can the iPad Pros by all accounts.




Can confirm.


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## Stu_bert (Mar 29, 2021)

Joules said:


> Yep, was pointed out to me in another thread. I don't really follow mobile CPUs, especially since Intel made such a mess out of the naming. So I totally missed that. Thanks!


But does 12 bit support infer 10bit?


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## Stu_bert (Mar 29, 2021)

Just to add. Blackmagic states support in 17.1 for intel cpu for hevc - essentially those which have the new xe or dg1 graphics. At the moment, Intel is making the chip available to oems as a discrete gpu and therefore not required to have an Intel cpu. Alas these are not available to purchase direct, hence why I suspect BM has no need to try and test whether they work or not.

Back to the OP, I think your choices are

Wait for desktop class Intel CPUs as AMD APU is typically aimed at laptops
Buy a Mac mini solely for this purpose - keep your PC for everything else
Buy a new PC now and plan to add discrete gpu when available
See if the new Canon firmware introduces any differences
My personal options are all but 1 as I purchased a couple of AMD systems last year pre 5xxx series, so I would prefer a new gpu unless it is a silly price and in which case a m1 Mac looks more attractive


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## TravelerNick (Mar 29, 2021)

Stu_bert said:


> But does 12 bit support infer 10bit?



If you're asking about Intel. The Icelake laptop chips supported 10 bit. The change with the latter two families of chips is the addition of 12 bit decoding but no encoding at 12 bit. 

You also need software support. Resolve for example only supports 10 bit.


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## TravelerNick (Mar 29, 2021)

Stu_bert said:


> Just to add. Blackmagic states support in 17.1 for intel cpu for hevc - essentially those which have the new xe or dg1 graphics.



Really it's the Quick Sync feature inside of those CPU families.


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## Stu_bert (Mar 29, 2021)

TravelerNick said:


> Really it's the Quick Sync feature inside of those CPU families.


Oh ok, stand corrected. But the XE gpu also has that feature, so if it is sold discreet then it will also provide a possible option for AMD cpu owners


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## Stu_bert (Mar 29, 2021)

TravelerNick said:


> If you're asking about Intel. The Icelake laptop chips supported 10 bit. The change with the latter two families of chips is the addition of 12 bit decoding but no encoding at 12 bit.
> 
> You also need software support. Resolve for example only supports 10 bit.



well I was more interested in the XE gpu as that’s more flexible option for those who don’t want an Intel cpu 

agreed you need the software support


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## RayValdez360 (Aug 14, 2021)

TravelerNick said:


> Tigerlake does. Problem is only the low powered laptops have been released so far. They haven't gotten around to releasing the higher powered laptop chips yet.
> 
> "The Tiger Lake (microprocessor) & Rocket Lake adds VP9 12-bit & 12-bit 4:4:4 hardware decoding and HEVC 12-bit 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 hardware decoding.[18] Gen12 Xe will also support native AV1 decode, which includes 10-bit 4:2:0 16K stills and 10-bit 4:2:0 8K, 4K and 2K video.[19] Hardware encoding for VP8 was dropped and hardware decoding is only available on Tiger Lake.[20]"
> 
> ...


whats the update on this the new Tiger lakes are out and I cant find any info on how they perform with h265 4.2.2. I have the old tigerlake and 4.2.2. is still troublesome.


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## TravelerNick (Aug 14, 2021)

RayValdez360 said:


> whats the update on this the new Tiger lakes are out and I cant find any info on how they perform with h265 4.2.2. I have the old tigerlake and 4.2.2. is still troublesome.



What software are you using? Resolve version 17.1 Studio and later should be fine. You'll also need to make sure your IGPU is turned on but in a laptop that's rarely an issue.

You need both software that supports the chip and the chip.


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## RayValdez360 (Aug 14, 2021)

TravelerNick said:


> What software are you using? Resolve version 17.1 Studio and later should be fine. You'll also need to make sure your IGPU is turned on but in a laptop that's rarely an issue.
> 
> You need both software that supports the chip and the chip.


i have premiere and i am using the open cl option. i have the 4 core tigerlake but with a rtx3070 but that gpu does jack shit for editing.


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## TravelerNick (Aug 15, 2021)

That's on Premiere. Maybe there is a setting or maybe they haven't gotten around to supporting it yet but I thought they had.

With Resolve you tell the program to use the IGPU to decode the files and the GPU for everything else. I can play files with 5% CPU use inside Resolve. Turn off the IGPU and I'm looking at 80%


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