Video edit PC with a limit of 3000 USD?

[Wieck]

Hi guys,

I've had video editing as a hobby for quite some time now and was hoping to upgrade my PC so it would be more efficient when I'm working. However, I'm not a technical person when it comes to the hardware of the PC so I'm a bit afraid that the money I spend will be in good use. I also went online to search for some builds but several seem to vary in opinions in the CPU, RAM and storage areas. Could someone give me some advice on what components are key when building a PC for editing?

Thanks so much.

 

[weberdarren97]

Well, the CPU is very important. The amount of cores/threads is just as important (if not more) than the speed of the CPU. Having 5GHz is nice, but having eight threads will go much further than four. RAM is also important. You need memory that's fast enough to keep up with the CPU. For modern machines, the point of diminishing returns seems to be 3000MHz. Any faster, and there's no noticeable performance improvement. Lastly, the GPU is also very important. Modern video editing programs use Nvidia technologies to allow the GPU(s) to work in tandem with the CPU to encode video at a much faster rate than the CPU could on its own.

In terms of the amount of RAM, there are mixed opinions. I generally say that 32GB is plenty unless you're working on actual almost Hollywood movies.

To put it simply, the CPU takes the lead with the RAM feeding it instructions and the GPU will follow the CPU's lead.

 

[Supahos]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6900K 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($1037.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($85.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI X99A GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($290.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($249.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB WINDFORCE OC 8G Video Card ($584.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2684.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 22:04 EST-0500


Toss up between this and dropping to a 6800k processor and buying a GTX titan x Pascal. (I can't currently find one for sale so I went this route)

 

[Supahos]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($408.48 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($85.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI X99A GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($290.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($249.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB WINDFORCE OC 8G Video Card ($584.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.58 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: LG 27UD58-B 27.0" 3840x2160 60Hz Monitor ($349.00 @ B&H)
Monitor: LG 27UD58-B 27.0" 3840x2160 60Hz Monitor ($349.00 @ B&H)
Total: $2859.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 22:12 EST-0500

If you need monitors and all this will give you room to pick up a nice keyboard and mouse

 

[weberdarren97]

@Supahos, Needs more power.

Parts list updated to solve memory issues. I can't believe I did that, but it's fixed now.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2660 V4 2.0GHz 14-Core Processor ($1388.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($59.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($203.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($168.01 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($565.00 @ Jet)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox 5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ B&H)
Total: $2895.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 22:26 EST-0500

 

[weberdarren97]

@Supahos, I'm kind of confused as to how you thought six cores was plenty for video editing. I mean, you're making them pay for the 2011-3 platform but seem to be preferring clock speed instead of core count. As long as you're above 3GHz, (Xeon E5-2660 V4 turbos to 3.2GHz), core count is more important. The more tasks the CPU can handle at once, the more responsive the system will be when under high load. Even if it's not actively rendering, just putting effects on screen while scrubbing through the timeline can give CPUs with less than eight core a real run for their money.

Also, you've paired the Noctua NH-D15 with tall memory. OP will either have to use the RAM slots that are not right next to the socket, or you could switch the cooler for the NH-D15S which was designed with compatibility in mind.

I also just realized I picked a motherboard with quad channel memory but only included a dual channel kit of RAM. I will update my parts list above to fix this.

 

[Aeacus]

Here's one high-end workstation build with 2x GTX 1080 in 2-way SLI.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($408.48 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($74.90 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: MSI X99A WORKSTATION ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($376.84 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($219.99 @ Corsair)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($221.65 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($598.45 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($598.45 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 760T Black V2 ATX Full Tower Case ($169.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME 850W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $3018.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 22:08 EST-0500

Few words.

For video editing, you'll do better with more cores and threads than high base clock, so went on and put in i7-6800K with it's 6 cores and 12 threads.

Picked one of the best CPU air coolers that also has good looks.
Further reading: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-coolers,4181.html

For i7-6800K, put in matching MoBo in form of X99 chipset EATX MoBo that among other things, supports 4-way SLI and it has 8 RAM slots.
specs: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X99A-WORKSTATION.html#hero-overview

Put in 4x 8GB (total of 32GB) DDR4 quad channel RAM, that you can run at speeds up to 3000 Mhz. RAM is normal profile and won't give you any RAM clearance issues when using Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU cooler. With this set, you're left with 4 free RAM slots for another 4x 8GB RAM set when you need to double your RAM amount.

For OS drive, put in ultra fast M.2 NVMe SSD.
Further reading: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-ssds,3891.html

And for data storage, very reliable HGST (Hitachi) 4TB HDD.
Further reading: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-stats-q1-2016/

Now, about the main power of your PC. Put in 2x GTX 1080 GPUs that you can run in a 2-way SLI to give your PC the power it needs in video rendering.
Further reading: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html

Picked one of the best full-tower ATX cases for your PC.
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en/graphite-series-760t-full-tower-windowed-case
video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLOt8h8-kNY
(Same case is also used in my Skylake build, full specs in my sig.)

And lastly, your system's power plant comes directly from the best PSU OEM, Seasonic. 80+ Titanium, fully modular, 10 years of warranty are just the few things you get with Seasonic PRIME 850 (SSR-850TD). Picked PSU is also the best 850W PSU money can buy at current date.
specs: https://seasonic.com/product/prime-850-w-titanium/
Further reading: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html
(I also have Seasonic PRIME in my Skylake build but my PSU is 650W.)

 

[Gam3r01]

Im just going to throw in my two cents, OP correct me if you feel otherwise.

I personally feel a 1500-2000 dollar build would still be more than enough for somebody who only considers video editing to be a "hobby".

 

[weberdarren97]

@Aeacus What's the point of SLI when you only have six cores?

 

[jwcrellin]

Yeah for primary video editing you want 8cores+ and hyperthreading. Xeon clocks are too low for my liking, so go for the 6900k. Get a couple(4-5) 4/6TB drives; if you edit 4k, those files are humongous.

 

[Aeacus]

@Aeacus What's the point of SLI when you only have six cores?

Depending on the video rendering method used, you can either go for high priced Xeon CPUs (e.g 10 cores, 20 threads) and let the CPU do all the work or you can use a method that uses mostly GPU power, hence the 2-way SLI on GTX 1080 that is backed up with 6 cores and 12 threads in i7-6800K.

 

[weberdarren97]

Yeah for primary video editing you want 8cores+ and hyperthreading. Xeon clocks are too low for my liking, so go for the 6900k. Get a couple(4-5) 4/6TB drives; if you edit 4k, those files are humongous.

Assuming the program they're using to edit videos isn't garbage, it's got the whole core allocation thing figured out. This means that 14 cores at 3.2GHz is roughly equivalent to 7 cores at 6.4GHz except nobody makes 7 core CPUs so let's give some leeway and say 8 cores at 6GHz. Yes, I kept the extra 400MHz just 'cause I can. I'm aware that actually doing the math ends you up at 5.6GHz. #dealwithit

@Aeacus What's the point of SLI when you only have six cores?

Depending on the video rendering method used, you can either go for high priced Xeon CPUs (e.g 10 cores, 20 threads) and let the CPU do all the work or you can use a method that uses mostly GPU power, hence the 2-way SLI on GTX 1080.

True, but you need a CPU that can keep up with both 1080s and feed them instructions. I'm not sure 6 cores would do that very well when it's also working on whatever software is organizing data to then be fed to the GPUs once they complete their current piece of the task.

 

[Supahos]

My only 6 core build was the one where I dropped 2 4k monitors into the budget. If you need a full build not a shell like your "super xeon" build that's fine but if he needs a while rig there's not room for a processor that out there.

 

[Supahos]

If Adobe SLI means zero. Many others have same result. SLI is only usable if you can confirm the program takes advantage