Is 8GB Ram Enough For Video Editing? (Easy Explanation)

Written by Al Shariar Apon in Video Editing

Beginners video editors always have a low budget when buying a pc and laptop for video editing. People think the average video editing software has a minimum 8Gb ram requirement, which is true. But after buying a laptop or pc for video editing they always need heavy graphic intensive and core hungry software. Right!

Basic video editing software needs a minimum 8Gb ram to edit video seamlessly. Technically, 8GB 3200 Mhz ddr4 ram works great for 1080p video editing, But 4k and 8k video editing need more than 16GB ram with a minimum 3600 Mhz clock speed to edit videos without crashing your software.

Video editing is not just ram intensive. There’re many things required after building your own video editing pc or laptop. Today in this article, I will cover all those hardware and software requirements.

So stay with me and learn before making any mistakes. Sounds good, Let get started

Table of Contents

Why Is Ram Important In Video Editing?

Video editing not only required software power but also needed hardware power as well. Building a video editing pc can cost you more than $1000 dollar. But if you don’t know which hardware is required then your money will not talk to you.

Obviously, RAM is an important part of your computer because it enables a wide variety of other processing activities to take place and there would be no video editing without it.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is the most used form of computer memory, which is where the software will load when you open an application to use it.

That’s why, for example, opening Microsoft Word will take you from one piece of content on your screen to another piece that’s probably faster to find than trying to scroll down through icons or folders at the bottom of your desktop window.

Both Macs and PCs require a minimum amount of RAM in order for these actions to happen properly; without enough RAM you might get an error message that says “Out Of Memory” or “System Crash Error”

How Much Gb For Faster Video Editing Workflow?

That does depend on the specific application and your needs. For me, 16GB of RAM is my ideal “sweet spot” for a standard editing workflow. But also consider external card storage, like an SD or CF card for video projects that continue to ingest data over time (a while after you’ve finished recording) because this will provide redundancy in the event of a hardware failure.

Is 8gb Of Ram To 16gb Would Change Your Video Editing Workflow And Experience?

It really depends on what type of editing software you use and how it’s configured. The producer can work with 8GB RAM as long as the following conditions are met:

1) Optimized video footage in 16-bit RAW format or Highest Quality MP4 format.
2) Video editing time is less than 6 hours.
3) Software is not hungry for memory resources (video editing suites like Final Cut Pro should be fine, but programs that max out your system quickly like Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects or others will require significant upgrades).

Pro Tip: figure out if it’s worth while to upgrade when considering the total cost of ownership. The difference between the two cannot be made up by using computer equipment with a longer lifespan – no matter how efficient it might seem.

What Size Of Ram Do I Need?

That depends on what kind of software you’re running, how much memory it wants, and how many applications are going to be open concurrently–just as important as capacity is whether or not your computer can handle it without crashing due to insufficient system resources. 4 GB should suffice for basic photo editing.

Does Ram Speed For Video Editing?

Popular video editing software requires very high amounts of RAM in order to process large files. It’s why you’ll find people upgrading their video editing workstations from 16GB to 24GB or even 32GB of RAM. But there are a few things to worry about when deciding which type of ram and speed will be best for your needs.

Most desktop computers these days use standard DDR3 ram (1333mhz), but it’s important to notice the difference between frequency, latency, and compatibility as three factors that can affect how well your computer and system performs when handling large files from complicated video projects. Let’s break it down:

Frequency

RAM stands for Random Access Memory and it’s a type of chip that is composed of semiconductor circuits. It provides temporary storage to the processor/CPU when working on an application or loading up programs.

The frequency typically measured indicates how fast data can be written/read from and into memory, so higher frequencies are generally better because it speeds up data transfer.

This need not always hold true; for example, DDR5-4000 has its higher frequency compensating through slower timings which equates to exactly 120Hz throughput in both directions, for peak performance and maximum bandwidth with oop access patterns where the memory doesn’t reside near any processor cores – video processing workloads or post-processing graphical workflows being perfect examples as they spend most power to the software.

Latency

CAS Latency is a measure of the speed with which data needed by the processor can be accessed, expressed in the number of clocks that elapse between a read/write request and its completion.

Trying to organize software’s interactions with hardware purely by timing will be frustrated by reliance on “dumb” devices (like disks) well-designed for the physical organization but hard to pin down in timings.

For this reason, CPUs keep maps inside them assigning “latencies”, typically given as clock ticks, numbered arbitrarily such that all commands can take no more than N specific ticks if they are buffered before being executed and that different buffering speeds can then translate these into bus timeouts, etc.

If you wanna know more about what is the difference between ram speed and latency check out this related official crucial article.

What Are Some Ways To Alleviate A Limited Ram Situation?

Find and install a lighter weight video editing software that doesn’t require more than 8GB RAM. Alternatively, you could settle with camera apps like Facebook or Instagram for your social networking needs.

Monitor what the software is using by going into account settings at the top left > select My Account > Manage Apps from the menu on the left side of the window > Select Memory Used by Apps to the link under the “Additional Settings” section.

Also, monitor how much space your browser uses – if it’s above 25% at any time while using Chrome, use Firefox instead so Chrome can do its job better. Add a tool to your toolbar (right next to Google search) that monitors how free space you have on the computer. Save pictures to the external hard drive.

Is 4gb Ram Enough For Video Editing?

It can be difficult to predict how much RAM you need because it depends on the applications you’re running.

As a general rule of thumb, 4GB of RAM or more is currently the minimum requirement for basic video editing software; one could certainly make do with less, but that may mean fewer concurrent apps will be possible.

The best way to find out what your system needs is to ask those who have your computerized system configuration (CPU) already installed and running.

Do You Prefer Universal Or Specific Ram?

Specific ram is better because it sends data in smaller segments, which helps avoid a lot of issues that come with having a universal type. Also, the connector header versus DRAM banks helps ensure that your data has room to enter.

On a technical level, the more memory we have available for video editing or games, the faster our editing and gaming will be. RAM is, in simple terms, a place to store data that can be retrieved quickly as it needs to be used again.

That being said – at this point in time, you’ll typically spend more on system memory than you will on video performance cards or high-end CPUs when choosing your budget computer components.

So if your budget is tight (think below $1000) then it’s worth thinking about how much of that system memory will go unused most of the time and what type of performance bottleneck might happen with those unused resources until they’re needed. To add some perspective: 8GB of system ram.

Is M1 MacBook Pro 8GB Ram Enough For Video Editing?

The best way to answer this question is to ask two questions. What software are you using? And how do you intend on using your laptop?

Apple’s Final Cut Pro can work nicely with 8GB of RAM, especially if you’re just going to be doing some editing and not any high-powered tasks like rendering or exporting video. But it should also say what kind of computer you have whether it’s a mac pro, for example.

And the older models might need more RAM than that for all their power punches to work effectively – sometimes they come with even 16GB of RAM included already. Core 2 duo processors are also specifically designed for low power consumption so they may need less memory than a Macbook Pro with others.

Ram Compatibility Checker

To find out your ram’s compatibility, you can check the list of ram “brand names”. But if you didn’t buy any ram before, you can check out Crucial Ram or Corsair Ram. That is my recommended ram for every budget user. (Check Out Amazon).

Crucial have a dedicated program to check ram compatibility. You can visit their website or click the below link to check your ram. If you’re using any Lenovo Memory modules, such as a Lenovo company Memory Modules or a Transcend-brand Memory Module, please refer to this article for suggestions about compatible ram.

Here are some websites for every brand ram compatibility checker.

Which Company Ram Should You Buy?

There are many Ram manufacturers that produce high quality and compatible products. But when choosing a ram, it’s important to consider compatibility with the motherboard and computer. The type of Ram module (DDR2, DDR3, etc) is also extremely important for both performances as well as longevity.

Intel recommends DDR4 memory because it has enough bandwidth but not too much frequency to be power-hungry.

The second consideration is the capacity of the memory module in terms of Gb or MBs; if you need 10 Gb, then you’ll need either 4 gigabytes or 8 gigabytes. The third consideration is how much speed do you want? To me, this isn’t a huge point because the price jumps dramatically once you.

How Much Memory For Adobe Premiere Pro?

Adobe premiere pro minimum ram requirement is 8GB. But do buy any laptop or pc depending on these requirements. Because there are some serious software crashes that happen because of low memory capacity.

Adobe premiere pro is a graphic and CPU intensive video editing software. But to run this software without crashes, you need to have at least 16GB of ram.

Here is a report of adobe premiere pro crashes. If you are already used this software and faces this kind of problem, you can fix it from it.

Conclusion

So, if you’re in the market for a new computer to edit videos and want something that won’t let you down, it might be time to consider an upgrade. If your current machine is not up to the job of editing 4k or 8k video without crashing, then it may be worth looking into upgrading RAM so as not to ruin all your hard work with a hardware error.

It doesn’t matter how high-quality your camera footage is; when there are glitches in post-production because of insufficient RAM on your system, what you end up with will look like garbage. In my opinion, buying a little more ram with your motherboard will not be bad at all, it will make your system run better.

Al Shariar Apon

I am a tech enthusiast and love gadgets like Elon musk. When I was very young, I used to love to read books that were about building robots and crazy inventions. My WireTechy Blog helps you to identify problems and give you better solutions.

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