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Recommended hardware

Kdenlive is reported to work on recent computers, with at least:

  • 32bits or 64bits computers with a modern Processor (AMD64 or Intel mono/dual core systems).
  • A fast hard disc with more that 20Gb of free disc space.
  • A firewire interface for camcorder capture.
  • At least 1Gb of RAM.
  • Screen size : 1024x768 or more.

Any computer produced after 2005 should meet these requirements. You may only need a firewire interface.

For advanced use and semi-professional work, we recommend investing in a recent computer with:

  • AMD Phenom Quad-core processor.
  • 4 Gb of RAM.
  • Three SATA disc for RAID-5 usage (Any Linux distribution offers RAID-5 witout additional controller).
  • A recent video card with dual display.

In december 2008, some European retailers offered this kind of hardware for 500€, with one large screen. This is at least 4 times less than the equivalent under other operating systems. Don't spend your money in software licences for closed environment: buy camcorders and make films.

Re: Recommended hardware

Submitted by IngeSv on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:51.

Can't find any of these for 500€ now :-(

Re: Recommended hardware

Submitted by IngeSv on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 13:36.

Bought one for a bit more - it renders more than 26 times faster then my former single core computer with an IDE disk.

Re: Recommended hardware

Submitted by ksatta on Sat, 02/13/2010 - 20:44.

Any updates on the system requirements?

I'm planning to edit 1920x1080 full HD clips shot with a Sony HD camcorder. There seems to be many quad-core processors available, but the price range is quite large. For example you can get a Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz for ~134€ (in Finland), or Intel Core i7 920 2,66GHz ~270€. And then there's also the AMD processors. Both of the ones I mentioned above are quad core. Is there a particular reason that an AMD Phenom is recommended or was that just the case back in 2008?

I know that the Core i7 have the following features, which the core 2 quad doesn't (?):
- hyperthreading, which enables them to run 8 different threads on 4 cores simultaneously or something.
- The Core i7 processors also use Quickpath Interconnect instead of FSB.
- They have an integrated memory controller

The motherboards for i7s also cost quite a lot more.

Obviously the i7 system would have much faster memory performance, but how much would this affect HD editing? Would the editing be fluent on a core 2 quad system with 4GB ddr2?

At first my hard-drive setup would probably be two raided(raid-0, I use a different drive for backups) sata drives, will this be the bottleneck for editing?
If it is, then it's probably best to get the cheapest core 2 quad setup and buy more sata hard-drives :)

Re: Recommended hardware

Submitted by mrcrowley on Wed, 12/01/2010 - 14:49.

I see in the recommended hardware for professional video AMD Phenomenon X4 cpu.

Does Kdenlive takes advantages with 6 core cpu, like Phenomenon X6 1090T ??

Does kdenlive prefer AMD cpu because of a test comparative vs Intel cpu ?? Or is it only a political choice ???

Bye