Hi thank you for this great article, i'm little confused with my option.
1. i5 12400 + rtx 4060
2. i5 13500 + rtx 3050

Mostly i work for 2d animation on After Effect.
Let me know what you think. Thank you

For Adobe software, a better CPU is still more important than a better GPU at this time---even for animation work. So, option (2) should be preferred for your situation.

Looking at the Supercomputer Video Editing Build, I have two questions:
1) In addition to video editing, I also do music production with several pieces of equipment that use a Thunderbolt connection. Does the Gigabyte X570 Aorus support the ThunderboltEX 4 Card?
2) With video editing and music production being done on the same computer, do I need to look at an entirely different build?

1) Unfortunately, no. While the ThunderboltEX4 card's PCIe x4 needs would be satisfied the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite, which has two PCIe x4 slots, it has no Thunderbolt header. You'll be looking for a board with a '14-1 pin Thunderbolt header.' They are most common on 500-series and 600-series chipset Intel motherboards (for 11th- and 12th-gen Intel CPUs). An example is the Asus Prime Z690-P, which could be paired with an i7-12700K or an i9-12900K for a high-tier workstation build (like the 'Exceptional,' 'Extremist,' and 'Enthusiast' tiers of our main build chart).

2) Not necessarily. Video editing is definitely the more demanding of those two tasks, so it should be prioritized. But if you're recording in the same room as the build, you may want to take some cues from the builds in the first section of our audio editing guide, two of which have---among other things---sound-dampening cases.

So I built the supercomputer on your list... I made a couple minor changes some on purpose some by mistake... For example I accidentally ordered a bigger more powerful version of the video card that you suggested because you were linking Amazon links while I use eBay still (I know. How retro of me) and when I went to order the case my order was refunded and they claimed that they were out of that particular case so I ended up with this gigantic case which I can only describe as a dormitory refrigerator lol.... I love the case it's all glass with white framing... Anyway the reason for my comment has nothing to do with that... I specifically bought components to the supercomputer that you suggested would be a great build for video editing and it turned out quite the contrary.... Perhaps it's my lack of knowledge in Windows 10 or something else is a mess but as an entertainer it's important that I have good video editing software along with good music editing software. My video-editing software is still the same as it once was it's just a more current version. My music-editing software is the same version I had before. It records vocals and music and all that jazz but I first had to go through my computer's interface to find out how to turn on the mic volume so that I could hear it in my headphones. It was recording before, but I couldn't hear myself, so I finally found that setting to turn it on. . Unfortunately I can hear my voice now in the headphones with my music playing but my voice has a split second delay. Do you know what it's like to try to record yourself singing only to have your headphones echo back your voice a split second later? Basically you can't carry a note or stay on beat when you're hearing yourself slap back in your headphones. This was not a problem with the exact same music software on my old computer which to be honest was an eMachine from Walmart for about 500 bucks that I bought in 2009. What I'm saying is the eMachine was better than this setup. Then we get into the video software... Once again, I was using a 2009 eMachine just a couple weeks ago and I am now using this custom built supercomputer and I noticed absolutely zero difference in speed. It takes just as long to render a video now as it did on my 2009 eMachine with, by the way, a dual core processor and hd's. I have now gotten a 16 core processor I think is what you suggested or what I accidentally bought and dds, not to mention the amount of ram that you suggested was not the full capacity and when I bought the components I made sure it would be full capacity. Not even a split second difference in render time. But that's not even my gripe... My gripe is the fact that I can bring in the video clips I record but the audio does not come in with them. I have no idea why this is. The video clips come in with sound on an older computer with an older version of the same software I'm currently using. And the video files play with audio in my media player so I know there's nothing wrong with the video clips. So I had to upload my videos to a website that converts video files into audio files and I opened back up the video-editing software and imported the original video clip and then imported the converted, now, audio clips and had to sync them up. So for some reason sound seems to be an issue on this new setup and I have absolutely no idea why. HELP ME!!!!!

If you see absolutely no rendering improvement between your old PC and this one, then there is a bottleneck somewhere in the software. We can know this is the case because of how immense the difference ought to be between your old hardware and your new hardware. Do you mind if I ask what video editing and audio editing software you're using in particular? There is definitely a chance that it's simply not playing nicely with Windows 10. If that is the case, then running it in 'compatibility mode' for an older OS version might help with the audio issues. Otherwise, in the meantime (as you figure out whether there are software options that don't suffer from these problems on the new system), might it be possible to record audio without active monitoring? I'm also curious to hear what file format your video clips are in; after all, if they're not in a common format like .mp4 (and there is some way to simply record in a more common format like that further up the pipeline), then making a change in that regard could help with the import issues.

I have Nero software. No mention is made of it here. Does anyone have any experience with it? How does it compare to the above software options? I am just beginning to learn a little. How to slice and and pull still out of videos.

Nero Video appears to be a piece of consumer-grade video editing software (like Cyberlink PowerDirector). This would be below the level of most of the applications listed in the software section of this guide, but above the native Windows movie editor applications described at the bottom of that section. At any rate, the kinds of projects that would be suited to that software would likely be well-covered by even the lowest-tier build in the first section of the guide.

Thanks Daniel. I will do what I can to learn this and perhaps try another latter.

Sounds like a solid plan to me! I did something similar myself, actually; I completed many projects on PowerDirector before I upgraded to Premiere a few years ago.

Hey Daniel,
I'm want a system that performs following :
1: Editing 1080P, 2K, 4k |30 or 60 FPS mostly |... Some Slomo..( Mostly wedding shoots, or other events)
2: Streaming Game on youtube: 1080 @60FPS (like Pubg, COD, or AAA story titles: Assassian Creed Valhalla or upcoming game)
3: Editing video timeline up to .. 10 min to 2 hr
4:Tools used often: Adobe Premier pro, After effects & Photoshop, lightroom

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Main problem here is: If i'm going for new computer parts .. huge tax applicable on these parts:
ex: Nvidia 3070 in US --> 449$ || But in INDIA: ~596$
AMD R9 5900x in US --> 550$ || but in INDIA: ~783$

So, I'm not going for new parts.. if it available at same price as US .. i'm surely going for it.
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But ... I Choose these: Please Help

-------- CPU & GPU ----------
1: R 3900x + RTX 1660ti | or | R7 3700x + 2070 Super | or | R7 3700x + 5700xt
2: Motherboard Aorus Pro AC wifi B550M
3: 1TB SSD -- 2.5" and 2 TB WD HDD @7200RPM
4: RAM: 16GB (8*2)
5: PSU 650W

..... Waiting for your comment -----

It's a tough call, because goals (1) and (2) are slightly in conflict for priorities. A gaming and streaming build would lean heavier on the GPU, while a Premiere Pro video editing build would lean heavier on the CPU. Theoretically, any of those three sets could be sufficient for what you're describing though.

The option with the R9 3900X and the GTX 1660 Ti would be the best for editing in Premiere Pro. The option with the R7 3700X and the RTX 2070 Super would be the best for gaming and streaming. The only one that I wouldn't necessarily recommend is the R7 3700X with the RX 5700 XT, which (while a great system for sure) would be worse at both tasks than the other options. I guess you could just pick between the first two based on which task is most important to you.

Thank u for reply bro, is there any chance for 3060 or 3060 ti coming in next 2-3 months ?? may be i'm going for R 3900x + 3060..

.... According to Priority:
1: Editing --> Business
2: Streamer --> may be 2nd... but it's going to regular basis... Daily 1-2 hrs..

I'm little bit confused ...

They're probably coming, but we have no way of knowing exactly how soon they might show up.

Since editing is your top priority, I'd recommend opting for the R9 and 1660 Ti. This will still be a reasonably good streaming system anyway.

Thank you for such a good article. I am looking to get a good video editing pc and will probably go for the supercomputer option but I was wondering if the Nvidia 3070 graphics card would be a better option than the 2060 for 4K video editing. Also I was wondering if you have any suggestions for a good but not too expensive 4K monitor to go along with the pc.

Yes, the RTX 3070 would undoubtedly be a better GPU than the RTX 2060 across all applications, including video editing. As to the other question, while it's technically still 'under construction,' there are a couple of 4K options listed in our monitor guide.

Hi
I'm a video producer working with 4K [and will be editing up to 16 K in various situations],
along with 3D VR workflows soon [will be purchasing the Insta360 pro 2 3D VR camera]
and high polygon processing for photorealistic 3D Modelling

I have been planning a new editing system for some time and my old i9 / P6T system has recently collapsed [after a decades work].

I have started buying for it, recently bought the EVGA RTX 2080 graphics card [as a step through, knowing new generation Nvidia is emerging June 2020]

I was going to get the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X with it's 32 cores with ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME TRX40 motherboard and 256 [8 x 32GB] corsair DDR4 2933 Ram.

However, being in New Zealand, my supplier can't get the 3970x til end of December and the 64 core 3990X is going to be released January anyway, so have decided to wait and get the above system with the 3990X instead of the 3970X

So, needing a system immediately I have put together an order for a step-through system to tide me over til I can get the 3990X.

Looking at an immediate budget 4K solution......

… I am going for the Ryzen 2700X as it has 8 cores 16 threads
… ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX for a motherboard [its at least got 2 pCIE 4 x 16's and 8 USB3 ports.
… and a single 32 GB ram stick for now.

This paired up with the RTX 2080 should get me at least basic 4K editing while I wait for the 64 core beast, should it not?

Yes, we would expect a system with an R7 2700X and an RTX 2080 to be able to handle most 4K video editing projects.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/li...

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.07 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($70.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($0.00)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2 GB Video Card ($136.47 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P350X ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($0.00)
Total: $487.49
The ones that are free are the ones I already have and just gonna reuse.

Is this a good PC build for editing videos. I am going to do videos ranging in length from 30 minutes to maybe 1 hour or 2 with a resolution of 720 p or 1080 p

Possibly, yes. That list of parts would constitute a PC that is substantially similar to the 'budget video editing' example build in the first section of the article above. As such, it should be capable of light 720p or 1080p editing (lacking significant post-processing and effects) in most of the prominent video editing software options.

Hi,
Currently using an android tablet and no matter whether I use Chrome or Firefox to view your guides, viewed as desktop or not, the right hand side of the article is hidden.
I cannot drag it sideways and it makes no difference wether viewed in landscape or portrait. Yet there's no problem with the parts guide page. I only ask as I find it handy to follow guides etc. on the tablet while the PC is "out of commission" while tinkering ;-)

That's correct. Unfortunately, it is a known issue that our site has had very poor mobile device compatibility for several years now.

But there is some very good news on that front! We have been quietly working on a redesign of the site for the past year which will bring (among other improvements) full mobile compatibility to every page of Logical Increments. And that redesign is so close to being ready for its full release that you can actually start using the new version of the site right this very minute if you so choose.

Thank you Daniel, just tried it, brilliant! No more guessing the end of the line ;-)
Now, if you could just give me the map reference of the skip you use for redundant parts........ 🤣

Wow what a great article, haven't read such perfect summary in a while. It is quite fresh now but when we come back to it after some time it might be worth to include dates in some sections (like: _as of 2019_ the best/recommended cpus are bla bla bla). Great work though!

You can always find the month of the most recent update at the top of each of our big guides, just below the feature image. This video editing guide, for instance, was most recently updated in August 2019.

In the budget editing build you write a motherboard name but actually link to another motherboard.

Are you perhaps in a region besides the US? That particular link uses a URL that tries to direct to a relevant page in each region if the item is not available there. But in the US, it correctly points to the MSI B450M PRO-VDH Plus, just as intended.

It links to Newegg to a "GIGABYTE B450M DS3H", It is same chipset so I suppose it will work. I just find it weird. I am from Denmark. Newegg ask if I want to redirect to the danish site but if I order from them I think it will be pretty expensive with shipment and import taxes.

You know what? You're right and I'm wrong. I was looking at the Power User build when making my last comment. The budget build mobo is indeed incorrectly linked (or at least incorrectly labeled). But yes, that linked motherboard is still compatible with the rest of the parts in the build. Anyway, I'll try to get that fixed soon.

Wow! An amazing article here. I was hoping you could assist with a question. In addition to my editing, I'm looking at a bit of gaming to blow off steam. Would the Video Editing Supercomputer ($2,900) with the GeForce RTX TI fit that bill? If so, would I need to make any other alterations, in your opinion?

A PC with an R9 3900X and an RTX 2080 Ti would act as a terrific gaming PC, with performance on-par with the 'Enthusiast' tier of our general build recommendation chart (which is more gaming-focused).

Thanks Daniel.

Really good article. Would a Ryzen 5 2600 for $170CDN be good enough for daily photo editing and maybe 2-3 4k videos per week? My father is using a low end laptop from years ago and it takes ages for him to render 4k videos.

If my budget were to stretch would it be worth paying $220CDN for a Ryzen 7 2700 or $250CDN for a Ryzen 5 3600?

Thanks

At those prices, you best option would be the R7 2700. It has the highest core/thread count, the highest base and boost clock (just barely beating the R5 3600), the best included stock CPU Cooler, and it is compatible out-of-the-box with cheaper B450 and X470 motherboards.

As for barring consideration to just the R5 2600, though, that should still be a reasonably solid choice for video and photo editing (and it is also immediately compatible with the motherboards listed above). In particular, a build balanced around an R5 2600 would fall in between the 'budget' and 'power user' example builds in the first section of the article above. It should be able to handle 4K (depending on the software and amount of post-processing), and it should offer a noticeable improvement over working on an older laptop.

Theb statement below is in error. The AMD Ryzen 5 2700 mentiomed should have said AMD Ryzen 7 2700.

For 1080p video editing, we recommend a AMD Ryzen 5 2700. 8 cores for a low price offers big value. Similarly priced Intel CPUs such as the i5-9600K are also a good option, although have fewer cores so are slower for most video editing tasks.

Thank you for pointing that out! That typo should now be fixed. (You may need to refresh the page to clear your browser cache before the change shows up.)

Hey, I'm planning to make my first pc build for 4k video editing in resolve. Here are the components list :
1. Cpu - Ryzen 3700x
2. Asus x570 tuf motherboard
3. Gpu - amd 5700xt ? (Or 2060super)
4. Gskill 3200mhz 16gb×2
5. Crucial 1tb M.2 storage
6. Corsair 750W powersupply
7. Corsair h60 cooler
8. Thermaltake level 20mt/coolermaster h500p ?
9. WD 2TB harddisk

Also, how does 3700x stack up with i7 9700k when it comes to video editing in resolve.
Looking forward to hear from you.
Thank you

The i7-9700K might be slightly better than the R7 3700X for Resolve editing, but we would not expect it to be a noticeable difference in moment-to-moment work.

As to the question-marked line-items: we would recommend the RX 5700 XT (same performance, better price) and the Thermaltake Level 20 MT (similar aesthetics and features, far superior price).

Thanks a lot Daniel. Also how about 3900x ? Is 3700x sufficient ? How much improvement in performance would I see in 3900x compared to 3700x. And I've heard that 3900x is better than i9 9900k. Is that true?

The R9 3900X is undoubtedly better than the R7 3700X and the i7-9700K, but it's not straightforwardly superior to the i9-9900K. Instead, the two are very competitive with each other: the R9 3900X has substantially better multi-core performance, while the i9-9900K has slightly better single-core performance. Both types of performance are important for video editing, so it would be wise to check if the manufacturers of your most important software options have made any recommendation in this regard.

As for the bigger question, of whether it is worth upgrading from the R7 3700X to the R9 3900X . . . that's a difficult thing to advise about. The R9 is a bit better by every metric, but it also costs a heck of a lot more. If you're not very sensitive to price differences, it could make sense to switch. But if your budget is relatively strict, then you should probably stick with the R7 as the difference isn't going to be huge and you'll still get great performance out of that chip.

Hi,
In the 'Professional Editing Build ($1,450)', why do you use the Evo for 'Storage 1' rather than the Evo Plus? You use the Evo Plus for 'Storage 2' for the 'Supercomputer'. Is it a mistake, or was the Evo Plus not available for 500 GB when the article was last updated, or was it cheaper?

It's just because the EVO is cheaper than the EVO Plus; you'll find parts increase in quality, power, and price as you move up from each example build to the next. So if the performance increase of having the EVO Plus is worth the price difference to add it to the 'Professional' build for you (would be about 30 USD for 500GB), then you can certainly choose to do that.

Ah, because the price of the EVO Plus is actually cheaper now, at least for me (might be a regional thing, I'm from Europe; or else it happens to be on offer atm). ~120 euro for the Evo VS ~105 for the Plus from the German amazon: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0... VS https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0...
Thanks for clarifying.

Yes, regional pricing can change things considerably. In the situation you describe, we would definitely recommend going with the Plus.

Hi again,

There appears to be the same situation with the Power Supply for the Professional Build, i.e. the EVGA G+ 650W appears to be more expensive than the G3. https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0... VS https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0... . So is the G3 the newer, preferable, version, and is it compatible with the rest of the components of the Professional Editing Build?

The answer is yes to that one as well---you can (and should) use the cheaper PSU you've linked.

Thanks.
And another one! Are there important reasons not to get the more compact Fractal Design Meshify C case instead of the Define S2 for the Professional Build?

That depends if you mean the standard Meshify C or the Meshify C Mini (which would obviously be the most compact option). The standard Meshify C should be a fine choice, which can accommodate the 'Professional' build parts without any issues; but the Meshify C Mini would require different a different motherboard choice. At any rate, in general, the tradeoffs of building a smaller case are usually lower part compatibility and a more difficult build (due to tighter spaces and fewer cable management options).

Have you considered phasing out the 1050/1050 TI/1060 in the lower end builds?

If I try to look them up at local shops where I live they are pretty expensive compared to current GPUs.

It's unlikely they'll stay in those example builds forever, but your experience may be a regional or online-vs-physical-retailer phenomenon, as those cards are quite inexpensive in the US---especially when compared to the cards that have released in the past year (RX 5700 cards, RTX Super cards, GTX 1660 cards, etc). The only discrete GPU I would recommend investigating as a better alternative to the GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti is the RX 570, which is also last-gen.