First PC built for 4k editing. Please help!

[SantiCasas]

Hey guys, i want to build my first PC for photo and video editing, i have been doing some research, my budget is arround U$S 1500. I made this list but i am not sure if this parts will work well together. Please give me a hand, i will be very thankful.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XHygf8

PS: I will be mostly using Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects for now (no Final Cut Pro)

Thanks in advance!

[smrpix]

You'll never be using Final Cut Pro on ANY non-mac, so that obviously off the list.

I find the videoguys recommended dyi systems a great place to start. They test them and know what parts will work together. They recommend components at a number of price points.

They're also very transparent. Although they would be delighted to sell you any or all of the pieces, they tell you exactly what they are using if you want to source it elsewhere.

videoguys.com/blog/category/guides/diy-systems/

[redwudz]

Looks OK. You would likely need to use Windows 10 with the Ryzen. I also noticed you didn't list any storage/edit/data hard drives.
But I assume you would add a few. You could also make your SSD boot drive smaller as it should only have programs,not files or video on it, IMO.
But that's your choice. SSDs are easy to overload. I only use mine for boot. I use 3 or 4 mechanical HDDs for data storage and edits,
usually 1TB or larger.

But other may have more comments. And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: I would also make sure that the Corsair H100i cooler will properly fit your case.

[SantiCasas]

Thanks for the feedback. Do you think the 250GB ssd will do the work? Also, what storage do you recommend.

PS: I will be using Windows 10.

[usually_quiet]

The Thermaltake Core P3 looks great, but if you read reviews, it is not the easiest case to work with even for those with previous experience. Riser cables are needed for all cards installed in the expansion slots, and there are reports indicating the included riser cable did not perform well. The plastic panel is easily scratched. My advice: find a more traditional case offering good cable management.

You also need a better monitor. If you are somewhat serious about photo and video editing, you need a larger monitor that can be properly calibrated.

[redwudz]

If you don't mind the extra cost, go for the 500GB SSD. I have a M2 SSD in my laptop and it's very fast. I have been using a 250GB SSD for several years in the PC in my Computer Details, and it's still at about 60% free space. Unfortunately, that PC doesn't have a M2 slot, but I am upgrading with a SATA EVO SSD.

I do move the paging file and any backup files off the SSD to one of the HDDs. And I don't let the OS dump any files to the boot drive.

My favorites for mechanical drives is still the Western Digital line. I prefer the black drives for most operations. For just storage, the greens or blues seem OK. I have four 1.5TB WD black drives in my main PC as they were at the right 'price point' when I bought them. Now the larger drives, 2 - 3 TB seem to be a goodvalue for price VS capacity. No matter what size, I run out of space regularly and need to dump files to my server or delete unneeded older files.

[SantiCasas]

True that, although the monitors are quite expensive, i think i will have to get a better one. On the other hand, which case do you recommend?

[usually_quiet]

True that, although the monitors are quite expensive, i think i will have to get a better one. On the other hand, which case do you recommend?

What do you think of these? :
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811854046
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352031
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811854004
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133335

You may like windowed cases but they can add to the expense and work put into to the build. ... and they show off every speck of dust as well as the eye candy inside the case.

Note that the last case listed has glass panels on both sides. The the right side is normally used for routing cables. It is often difficult to make that side look pretty without a putting a lot of thought, effort, and money into that part of the build. For example, I have seen pictures of builds where PSU cables were fitted with color-coordinated sleeves and the cables were shortened to remove excess length.

[SantiCasas]

Thanks man! This cases look awesome. As i said before, i am a newbie so i didnt even know you can have trouble with different cases, i just picked the first one that looked cool but showing off is not my priority.

Thanks again!

[SameSelf]

4K video editing is so much more than just the PC. You need a decent monitor (preferably calibrated, dual, 10-bit with color management). Plus a decent pro-level camera that shoots in an edit ready format. IOW, if all you are doing is editing 4K h.264 content, I wouldn't spend that much on the PC. Use the money for a better camera/monitor setup.

[SantiCasas]

Of course, i know. I am planning to get the Panasonic GH5. But appart from that, what do you think about the setup?

[usually_quiet]

I am planning to get the Panasonic GH5.

I don't do much photography anymore, but still read what people here have to say regarding cameras.

One thing I have read here a few times from members here who have used a DSLR for video is that they overheat relatively quickly, so they are only useful for short sessions.

[SameSelf]

I took a quick look at your PC parts list. Here is what is really lacking in mind:

- You need ample storage to edit 4K content. I am not talking about the OS drive. I would budget a minimum of 4 TB, more if you can swing it. Spinning rust can suffice, just recognize that they fail, so don't think of them as permanent storage devices.
- You need a decent 4K monitor.

So where would I pinch to afford all this?

- The system drive can be a small SATA3 ssd. No point in wasting money on a 500 GB M.2 ssd. I have a HUUGGEE build for my PC, and it only takes up 60 GB of space. When you are editing video, the constraining factor will be the seek times of the drive the video sits on. You can overcome the limitations of spinning rust by striping them which I highly recommend. Otherwise go with ssd's, but 4 TB+ of solid state is $$$. "But I plan on using my 500 GB M.2 to edit the video," you say. Well, that is a very bad idea. You should never mix your assets with your system drive. I am in the middle of a project currently that is only about 20 minutes of video, and it is over 700 GB on my system.
- 16 GB of RAM should be fine, upgrade later if really need it.
- You are already pinching on the gpu with the gtx 1060 vs 1070/80. However, you have not said what kind of stuff you plan to do in After Effects. So maybe a 1070/80 would be better.

That is about it.

[SantiCasas]

WOW. This is extremely useful, thanks man. I will take that into account!!

[KarMa]

@OP
It's not a great time to be buying lots of RAM due to high demand and not enough supply. 16GB should be more than enough for the time being, could probably get away with 8GB but I would not recommend it. A thing to remember with Ryzen CPUs is that the Infinity Fabric, which is interconnection outside the cores, runs at memory (RAM) frequency. This was a big talking point with the Ryzen benchmarks that came out right after release, with the discrepancies between benchmarks. Seems like 3200Mhz and higher being recommended.

http://www.legitreviews.com/ddr4-memory-scaling-amd-am4-platform-best-memory-kit-amd-r...en-cpus_192259

As far as you data storage goes, I'd probably slim down to a 150GB - 250GB SSD for booting and program storage, and use the savings on HDDs, and then also think about buying more after that. I know of a gentleman who released a documentary back in 2005 by himself, and the final cut was 5hrs. He recorded all his footage in DV, and used in total something like 3TBs worth of small drives to store it all, so he could edit it in the timeline. This was back in 2005! So your 500GB SDD drive is really not going to cut it. It's really quite crazy how fast a 4TB drive fills these days.

Spinning rust can suffice, just recognize that they fail, so don't think of them as permanent storage devices.

Implying that they are the only data storage medium that fails.

[sophisticles]

To add to what's already been said, if you plan on doing 4k editing using uncompressed sources, such as yuv or y4m, then your bottleneck will be disk I/O, I can edit yuv/y4m 4k just fine with a quad core Xeon (4790 equivalent), if you're going to be using sources in intermediate formats, like ProRes, JPEG2000, Avid's Codecs, AVC-Intra, HEVC-Intra, or lossless OR you plan on editing 4k60, then a quad core is not fast enough but I don't know if AMD's 6 core's would be fast enough either (maybe barely fast enough).

If you can afford it, your best best is to core 8C/16T with AMD's 1700, and a video card, like the 1060 would be great as well.

Of course, all the hardware in the world doesn't mean much if you aren't going to use a 4k monitor, so...

Just my opinion.

[SantiCasas]

Hey guys, first of all, thank you all for taking the time to help me. You are a life saver.

I made some modifications with the feedback you all gave me. Here is the new link : https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TT2LNN

One important thing i didn't mention is that i live in Argentina and there are some parts i can't get (or they are to expensive or its difficult). That is why i try to pick things i know i can get from here.

Thanks again!

[usually_quiet]

The color accuracy for the Samsung U28D590D isn't great for photography or serious video editing, and it isn't calibrated at the factory. There is a good technical review here: https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/samsung-u28d590d/

4K monitors better suited to your use will cost more. Dell Ultrasharp monitors are probably too expensive. If the Dell P2715Q is available, it might be worth a look, but you will need to purchase a DisplayPort cable.

[KarMa]

I would argue against the external 4TB drive and recommend an internal 4TB. As the internal HDD tend to be more reliable and cheaper on average, unless data portability is really something you are looking for.

[SantiCasas]

Dell Ultrasharp monitors are probably too expensive. If the Dell P2715Q is available, it might be worth a look, but you will need to purchase a DisplayPort cable.

Surely there will be better monitors, but this is my first build and i dont have a video and photograph business yet, so i dont want to invest that much right now. The monitor you suggested is about U$S 1500 here in Argentina, so its impossible.

[usually_quiet]

Dell Ultrasharp monitors are probably too expensive. If the Dell P2715Q is available, it might be worth a look, but you will need to purchase a DisplayPort cable.

Surely there will be better monitors, but this is my first build and i dont have a video and photograph business yet, so i dont want to invest that much right now. The monitor you suggested is about U$S 1500 here in Argentina, so its impossible.

Sorry for that. There is no easy way for me to find out the availability or cost of a particular monitor in Argentina. ...but I didn't suggest a professional monitor. The P2715Q is considered to be an office/business model here, costing around $500. The Dell UP2718Q, which is one of Dell's UHD resolution professional monitors for artists and photographers, costs $1500 in the US at a discount. (Dell's price is $2000.) You don't want to know what a true pro studio-quality UHD video monitor would cost.

[SameSelf]

Spinning rust can suffice, just recognize that they fail, so don't think of them as permanent storage devices.

Implying that they are the only data storage medium that fails.

Think of them as working drives (aka hitting the DEL alot). FIFY.