Video Editing Lag with new Premiere Version - Should I upgrade my PC?

I built the workstation I am using about 4 years ago, or so. I use it for fairly standard office stuff, along with photo and video editing. No games at all.

I use Adobe software -- Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere, the tiniest bit of After Effects. All of my video editing is lightweight. I do nothing more intense than transitions. For video capture, I'm using my Sony a9 with the 4k/30 fps codec.

The problem is that with the newer versions of Premiere, the computer can't really live preview anymore. I need to fix this problem ASAP. I'm doing quite a bit of video creation these days and I need the computer to work! Do I have to do some big rebuild or can I just upgrade a single piece of hardware (I know this is probably a fantasy)?

If I have to replace the motherboard, GPU, CPU, then my budget would be about $2,000, give or take.

Here's the relevant equipment in the box right now:

Intel i7-4770K @ 3.5 Ghz 4 cores
32 GB ram
MSI Z87 MPower (MS-7818)
NVidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB
Antec 750 watt power source

What's the least I can change out and have a machine that works seamlessly in Premiere Pro and renders out in a reasonable amount of time? What should I install, given my use and budget?

Most of my videos are quite short -- 2 - 5 minutes. However, occasionally, I'll create a 30 minute long video.

Thank you so very, very much for your help!

Frank

Hey Frank,
What kind of storage do you have? If it's just an HDD, you might gain a good bit by getting an SSD. That said, you'll most likely benefit from a cpu upgrade, but will need a new Motherboard and RAM for that too.

Also, if you then have a really strong cpu, but the other components such as the storage or gpu can then become the bottleneck. So if a fast SSD does not help I'd say a complete pc upgrade might be necessary..

Hi Alex,

Thanks for responding.

I have separate SSDs for software and data. While they're not the fastest, I can't imagine that they're the problem.

The computer worked fantastically until Adobe changed the way it does GPU acceleration -- or something like that. That's why I think that the bottleneck is the graphics card. Since then, the computer has lagged more and more until now the video plays a bit and then freezes while audio continues to play. For everything other than Premiere, the computer works great.

Rather than spending a couple of thousand dollars, maybe there's different/better video editing software I should consider?

Assuming that I upgrade, what parts should I get for my use case? Should I just follow the recommendations in your Best Computer for Video Editing guide or the PC Builder tool?

Thanks, again.

2GB on a Graphics Card is quite small. If you've seen these slowdowns because of a gpu change Adobe made, you might very well try a new a gpu first and if that does not change anything, go get the rest of the components for an entirely new build. (or return the gpu).

I'd say look for a GPU with at least 6 GB of VRAM such as the RTX 2060 or 2060 Super. With that kind of a GPU you should experience no bottlenecks from the gpu whatsoever.

If you'd like to go with a completely new PC, then yes feel free to generate a build in the PC Builder tool "Video Editing" Category and read through the Video Editing PC Article.