HELP!! Low Budget Video Editing PC

[nstaker]

I am looking to invest in a new custom-built video editing PC. My budget is around £500-£700. Please advise the best parts I can get for this budget. Already have a 1TB HDD with OS installed, and also an external USB 3.0 backup drive, so wouldn't need the storage. Thank you in advance... If you require any further information then please just ask!

 

[Archgaull]

This build would be quite good for video editing, it's got the Xeon in there as the editing will benefit from hyperthreading, which the Xeon has but it doesn't have the cost of an i7 in there. 16GB of RAM, as well as a GPU which gives you the opportunity for some medium gaming should you ever want to play games, but it's a good budget card. You could easily fit a GTX 970 in there for under £700, but I don't know if you do any heavy gaming so I went for the most cost effective parts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£197.77 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£69.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£86.67 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£109.97 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.88 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £589.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-14 13:36 BST+0100

 

[Woody1999]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£197.77 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£67.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£82.48 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£158.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case (£28.30 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.88 @ More Computers)
Total: £571.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-14 13:34 BST+0100

Quad-core Xeon with Hyperthreading, good quality motherboard, 16GB of low latency RAM and a GTX 960. High quality power supply and nice case. If you need any more info just ask

Woody

 

[nstaker]

This build would be quite good for video editing, it's got the Xeon in there as the editing will benefit from hyperthreading, which the Xeon has but it doesn't have the cost of an i7 in there. 16GB of RAM, as well as a GPU which gives you the opportunity for some medium gaming should you ever want to play games, but it's a good budget card. You could easily fit a GTX 970 in there for under £700, but I don't know if you do any heavy gaming so I went for the most cost effective parts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£197.77 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£69.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£86.67 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£109.97 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.88 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £589.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-14 13:36 BST+0100

Thank you very much! I don't do any gaming at all, so would be only used for video editing, and normal day-to-day operations such as presentations, documents, internet etc. A couple of questions:
1) Would a computer like this be relatively straight forward to build? I have never built a computer before, but think it would be best for this type of PC, and will probably be cheaper (unless you can suggest a off-the-shelf alternative that is similar spec and similar price???)
2) Would the video card you suggested above run two or more monitors?

 

[Woody1999]

In the case that you won't be doing any gaming at all, then I recommend getting either an i7 4790 (as the Xeon has no integrated graphics) or a cheap graphics card to go with the Xeon. Both can support two monitors.

Woody

 

[nstaker]

In the case that you won't be doing any gaming at all, then I recommend getting either an i7 4790 (as the Xeon has no integrated graphics) or a cheap graphics card to go with the Xeon. Both can support two monitors.

Woody

Which would be best? i7 or Xeon with graphics card?

 

[Archgaull]

It would be similar. My build has the 750ti, which is more than capable of running two monitors while being low profile and has a relatively low power requirement.

As for building, I find assembling a computer to be quite easy, it's a rather transparent procedure.

 

[Woody1999]

In the case that you won't be doing any gaming at all, then I recommend getting either an i7 4790 (as the Xeon has no integrated graphics) or a cheap graphics card to go with the Xeon. Both can support two monitors.

Woody

Which would be best? i7 or Xeon with graphics card?

It depends. Do you do a lot of video playback as well as editing? A video card will help in playback.

Woody

 

[TofuLion]

just because it's a Xeon doesn't mean it doesn't have integrated graphics. they come in all shapes and sizes. this one does 😀

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£257.97 @ PC World Business)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£82.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£113.76 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£77.40 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.88 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£55.99 @ Novatech)
Total: £660.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-15 08:50 BST+0100

this build would do excellent at video editing, playback, and also added a blu ray burner for external storage/distribution. also, clone your drive onto the SSD for much better boot time and general system file I/O

 

[Woody1999]

just because it's a Xeon doesn't mean it doesn't have integrated graphics. they come in all shapes and sizes. this one does 😀

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£257.97 @ PC World Business)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£82.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£113.76 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£77.40 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.88 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£55.99 @ Novatech)
Total: £660.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-15 08:50 BST+0100

this build would do excellent at video editing, playback, and also added a blu ray burner for external storage/distribution. also, clone your drive onto the SSD for much better boot time and general system file I/O

Yes, but that's more expensive than an i7 and its locked.

Woody

 

[TofuLion]

the 4790K requires an aftermarket cooler just to run at stock settings, i speak from experience. you would also want a Z97 motherboard, and at the same price would end up compromising features that the H97-PLUS has. the p4600 is actually slightly better than the 4600 as well

 

[Woody1999]

the 4790K requires an aftermarket cooler just to run at stock settings, i speak from experience. you would also want a Z97 motherboard, and at the same price would end up compromising features that the H97-PLUS has. the p4600 is actually slightly better than the 4600 as well

As far as the OP has budget for it, I would get a dedicated graphics card with the Xeon E3-1231v3. The FSB overclocking headroom would be higher when you're not using the integrated graphics, as well. The 750Ti would be a good choice, as you suggested.

Woody

 

[nstaker]

In the case that you won't be doing any gaming at all, then I recommend getting either an i7 4790 (as the Xeon has no integrated graphics) or a cheap graphics card to go with the Xeon. Both can support two monitors.

Woody

Which would be best? i7 or Xeon with graphics card?

It depends. Do you do a lot of video playback as well as editing? A video card will help in playback.

Woody

I would be playing back edits definitely, and also raw footage from cameras SD cards etc.

 

[sora]

This build would be quite good for video editing, it's got the Xeon in there as the editing will benefit from hyperthreading, which the Xeon has but it doesn't have the cost of an i7 in there. 16GB of RAM, as well as a GPU which gives you the opportunity for some medium gaming should you ever want to play games, but it's a good budget card. You could easily fit a GTX 970 in there for under £700, but I don't know if you do any heavy gaming so I went for the most cost effective parts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£197.77 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£69.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£86.67 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£109.97 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.88 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £589.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-14 13:36 BST+0100

Thank you very much! I don't do any gaming at all, so would be only used for video editing, and normal day-to-day operations such as presentations, documents, internet etc. A couple of questions:
1) Would a computer like this be relatively straight forward to build? I have never built a computer before, but think it would be best for this type of PC, and will probably be cheaper (unless you can suggest a off-the-shelf alternative that is similar spec and similar price???)
2) Would the video card you suggested above run two or more monitors?

Building a computer won't be that hard. Use YouTube for videos if you need some help! Also, that video card does support two or more monitors.

 

[TofuLion]

the 4790K requires an aftermarket cooler just to run at stock settings, i speak from experience. you would also want a Z97 motherboard, and at the same price would end up compromising features that the H97-PLUS has. the p4600 is actually slightly better than the 4600 as well

As far as the OP has budget for it, I would get a dedicated graphics card with the Xeon E3-1231v3. The FSB overclocking headroom would be higher when you're not using the integrated graphics, as well. The 750Ti would be a good choice, as you suggested.

Woody

it definitely doesn't make sense to me to spend £110 on a component that really isn't need. the integrated graphics is more than enough for video playback, and even some very light gaming like minecraft. though OP won't be doing any gaming, that just serves as an example of how powerful it can be when needed. in this case, OP would definitely benefit more from including an SSD and a blu ray burner than they would from having a GPU.