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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tomatechchap, and pretty much my entire life right now revolves around making videos.
00:06It's my hobby, it's my passion, it's my job.
00:09And so if you're looking to finally kickstart your video or filmmaking hobby,
00:13or indeed your career for that matter,
00:15then you're going to need a solid video editing PC.
00:19Like this one.
00:20So I've teamed up with the lovely people over at NVIDIA and PC Specialists for this video,
00:24because I want to figure out what components you actually need,
00:27what difference they make to video editing,
00:30and how much you actually need to spend for a good video editing PC.
00:34Particularly a pre-built one like this,
00:36which means you don't have to go through the hassle of building it yourself,
00:38and crucially means you can get access to the latest graphics cards without paying through the nose,
00:42or, you know, having to pre-order and wait for a million years.
00:45So let's talk hardware, and this rig from PC Specialists foregoes the flashy RGB
00:51and, well, frankly any kind of aesthetic really,
00:54in favour of giving us the best specs and performance for the money.
00:58This is pretty much my recommended editing PC right now,
01:01and I recreated it using their configurator,
01:04and it comes in at around £1,300,
01:07and that includes sales tax here in the UK,
01:09which if you consider the GPU, the graphics card,
01:12retails for as much as £660 on its own,
01:16makes this a pretty tempting deal.
01:18And it's also a good deal cheaper than laptops with similar performance.
01:22But you guys know this, your PC is only as fast as its slowest component.
01:26You can spend a fortune on a GPU,
01:28but if you don't match it with a good CPU and RAM that's fast enough,
01:32then you're going to have bottlenecks,
01:33and you're not going to get that editing experience that you want.
01:36So firstly, let's talk about the graphics card,
01:38and while you can edit with just the integrated graphics on the processor,
01:43it'll be painfully slow.
01:44So I would recommend an NVIDIA 30-series GPU.
01:48It'll make a massive difference to scrubbing through the timeline,
01:51any render speeds, night and day difference.
01:53So in this build, I've gone with an RTX 3060 with 12GB of VRAM,
01:58and being the latest 30-series GPUs,
02:00we get all the fancy latest tech from NVIDIA.
02:03And actually, despite being the most affordable in the 30-series desktop range,
02:07the 12GB of fast GDDR6 VRAM is ideal for 4K video editing.
02:12In short, the more VRAM you have,
02:14the smoother the experience when you're scrubbing through lots of high-res clips,
02:18but there are also other RTX benefits that I'll come back to.
02:21So we've got our graphics card, but then what about the processor?
02:24Because if you have a slow CPU,
02:26then you're still going to get stuttering and rubbish performance on your edit,
02:30and also, as I say, it is a balance about not bottlenecking one component over the other.
02:34And generally, when it comes to editing,
02:36I would say core count, the number of cores,
02:39is slightly more important than their speeds.
02:41And for 4K editing, I reckon a 6-core, 12-thread CPU should be your starting point.
02:47And apps like Premiere Pro and DaVinci can utilise the extra virtual cores as well.
02:52And so for my money, the AMD Ryzen 5600X is one of the best value chips for editing
02:58and also gaming that you can get right now.
03:00And importantly, it won't bottleneck that RTX 3060.
03:03As for cooling, given the budget, I'd go with a tower-style air cooler,
03:07which is more than capable of dealing with the 5600X.
03:10So GPU, CPU, and now let's talk about RAM,
03:13which is also very important when it comes to editing.
03:16I've gone with 16GB of DDR4 in here,
03:18which I think is probably the minimum for 4K editing.
03:21However, if you are filming at high bitrates or with long multi-layer projects,
03:25then 32GB is probably the sweet spot.
03:28I also think 3000 or 3200MHz DDR4 is fine,
03:32though Ryzen CPUs can benefit from faster RAM if you can stretch your budget for it.
03:37And then there's storage.
03:39And when you're working with large video files,
03:41this is one area where fast SSD storage really pays for itself.
03:45So in our editing rig here, I've gone with a 1TB PCIe 3 SSD.
03:50This is my main Windows boot drive,
03:52and there's plenty of space for small to medium projects,
03:55and the speed of this will keep clips loading and preview times nice and snappy.
03:59More expensive drives are faster and have larger capacities,
04:03with PCIe 4 SSDs being the best for large video files,
04:07although at this price point, that's not really essential.
04:12Alternatively, a slower SATA M.2 or 2.5-inch SSD
04:16will get you more storage for a lot less money.
04:19It is slower, but you can get, say, a 4TB drive for about 300 quid,
04:23and it's a good halfway house between an expensive PCIe SSD, which is faster,
04:28and a traditional hard drive, which is by far the slowest.
04:32Although those are still worth considering if you just want tons of cheap backup storage.
04:37Now, as for the motherboard,
04:39it doesn't really make that much difference to performance,
04:41as long as it is compatible with all your other components,
04:44and a good quality, value-oriented motherboard like this ASUS Prime I've got in here
04:48should tick all the main boxes for our rig.
04:51I think realistically, you'll want at least one PCIe 3 or PCIe 4 M.2 storage slot.
04:57Also, fast USB-C and USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports are crucial
05:02for when you're plugging in fast external storage drives,
05:05which I do a ton when I'm moving between edits on different devices.
05:09Also, even basic motherboards have decent onboard sound these days,
05:13and also if you're transferring clips over a network,
05:15then make sure it does have gigabit ethernet as well.
05:18Now, as for the power supply, if you were building, well, a pre-built rig,
05:22then I would suggest a partial or fully modular PSU,
05:25but since this is a pre-built from PC Specialist,
05:28I can save some money on a non-modular, but still good quality Corsair PSU,
05:32and then PC Specialist can worry about the cable routing.
05:35650 watts is about the minimum I would go for,
05:37although I think 750 watts would give me more headroom for future upgrades.
05:41And finally, I would probably add a Wi-Fi 6 network card.
05:45I'd also go for probably a different case on this one
05:48with a mesh front for better airflow,
05:50and maybe even add a couple of extra fans as well.
05:52And also, if you are transferring a lot of video onto external drives,
05:56then it might be worth making sure your case has a front-mounted USB-C port.
06:00And that is about it.
06:02At a hair over 1,400 quid, all in with those extras,
06:05again, including RVAT here in the UK,
06:07that's a pretty good system, a good all-rounder,
06:10if you will pardon the horrible cliche,
06:12and it's not only a pretty capable gaming PC,
06:15but is absolutely perfect for 4K video editing.
06:18Of course, if you spend 5, 10 grand, you will get even better performance,
06:21get yourself an RTX 3090 or something,
06:24but realistically, there are some level of diminishing returns,
06:27and this is all about the best value all-around system.
06:31And so firing up one of my own 4K projects on here,
06:34I use Premiere Pro mainly,
06:36you can see how fast and smooth everything is.
06:39Sometimes when I have more complex sequences or some video effects,
06:43I'll drop the preview res down to half,
06:45and I do still use proxies when shooting 10-bit 422 4K footage
06:49on my Sony a7S III,
06:51but only because that's an absolute pig to work with,
06:53and it even brings my top-of-the-line 5 grand editing PC to its knees sometimes.
06:58So don't be afraid to still use proxies.
07:00They are a good option.
07:02Now, to give you an idea of what difference
07:04investing in a good graphics card makes to your edit,
07:07well, in Premiere Pro, exporting a 5-minute 4K60 video
07:11took the RTX 3060 with its NVENC encoder
07:148 minutes and 23 seconds.
07:16At the same point, in CPU-only mode,
07:19so not using the GPU,
07:21the 3060 had only managed 7% of the export,
07:24which means with the 3060,
07:26the export time was around 11 times faster.
07:29The gap is smaller for 1080p projects,
07:32but the GPU mode was still around 5 times faster to export.
07:36And it was a similar story in DaVinci Resolve.
07:38We went from around 31 minutes to just over 3 minutes,
07:42nearly 10 times faster with the GPU.
07:44Although remember, you do need the paid version of DaVinci Resolve
07:48to get that GPU acceleration.
07:50Now, of course, any graphics card would boost performance
07:52over using just the CPU,
07:54but as well as the NVENC encoder
07:56and, of course, the power of the 3060
07:58with its Ampere architecture,
08:00we do have some other benefits, including NVIDIA Studio,
08:04which is all about giving creators and professionals
08:06the best experience.
08:08So you can download the specific NVIDIA Studio drivers,
08:11which still incorporate the Game Ready drivers,
08:13but they're more widely tested
08:15with creative and professional apps,
08:17whether it's the Adobe Suite, DaVinci, Blender,
08:19Cinema 4D, Maya, the list goes on.
08:22Some PCs and laptops also come
08:24with an NVIDIA Studio certification,
08:26which means that particular set of hardware
08:28has been tested and optimized
08:30to meet NVIDIA's standards.
08:32And, of course, as well as the raw horsepower
08:34of the graphics card and these specific drivers,
08:37another aspect is we also get specific GPU-accelerated features
08:41that in many cases use AI to boost performance.
08:44Whether it's Auto Reframe in Premiere Pro,
08:47which makes it incredibly easy to track a subject,
08:49and also very handy when switching aspect ratios,
08:52particularly going from, say, a 16x9 to a 916 social aspect,
08:56and it keeps the subject in the middle.
08:58You've also got Scene Detection
09:00for when you bring a regular video file into the timeline,
09:02this analyzes it and then automatically cuts and tags
09:05each new scene into clips
09:07to make it easier and faster to extract the footage
09:09that you actually want.
09:11It even puts each new clip into a new folder in your project.
09:14And, again, the whole process is faster
09:16if you use an NVIDIA GPU.
09:18And that's just a couple of examples in Premiere.
09:21In DaVinci Resolve, the RTX and AI acceleration
09:24makes using Speed Warp a whole lot faster.
09:27You've got a very cool AI masking feature
09:29in Photoshop and Lightroom,
09:31where there's also a super resolution feature
09:33that actually upscales photos.
09:35And all these kinds of features are faster
09:37when using the latest NVIDIA GPUs.
09:40And, lastly, don't forget that while we've been talking
09:42about video editing and creative apps,
09:45we've also got a pretty capable gaming PC here.
09:47With the RTX 3060 and the Ryzen 5600X,
09:50in Halo Infinite on high settings,
09:53I'm getting 107 FPS at 1440p
09:56and 135 FPS at 1080p.
09:59And in Forza Horizon 5 on ultra,
10:02I get an impressive 73 FPS at 1440p
10:05and 92 at 1080p.
10:07And, also, in games that support it,
10:09make sure you use DLSS.
10:11It is simply magic.
10:13I say that every time, but this is where the game
10:15renders at a lower resolution,
10:17but then using NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling,
10:19it upscales it back up
10:21to give us a big boost in frame rate
10:23with minimal, if any, visual impact.
10:25It's basically free performance.
10:28But I guess the last thing to think about is
10:30should you build your PC yourself
10:32or go for a pre-built like this?
10:34Well, there are pros and cons to both.
10:36Building yourself is, well, for some people, fun.
10:39For others, an absolute nightmare.
10:41But it does mean that you can be more selective
10:43with the components and the brand of components
10:45that you use.
10:46And, in theory, it should be cheaper
10:48building it yourself, but, as you guys know,
10:50that's not particularly realistic at the moment
10:52with chip shortages and the prices of components,
10:54particularly graphics cards.
10:56So there is a strong argument to make for going with
10:58a pre-built like this.
10:59Not only are components in stock,
11:01but you're not paying over the odds for them.
11:03You actually take out that hassle of building it.
11:05You also get technical assistance
11:07and a warranty on the whole system,
11:09unlike the individual components,
11:11if you build it yourself.
11:12And then, of course, you could, you know,
11:14destroy it as you build it, which I have done
11:16previously.
11:17I think I've wrecked two or three motherboards
11:19and a couple of CPUs in my time.
11:20And particularly on PC specialists,
11:22you can use their configurator to build
11:24your perfect PC.
11:25Or there's configurable pre-built systems
11:27for creators with NVIDIA Studio certification.
11:31So hopefully that was useful.
11:32And if you do have any questions at all
11:34about video editing or building these kind of PCs,
11:36let me know in the comments below.
11:38I'll do my best to answer.
11:39And I'll also leave links in the description
11:41to PC Specialist and also NVIDIA Studio website.
11:44Thank you so much for watching, guys.
11:45And I'll see you next time right here
11:47on The Tech Chat.