Best Video Editing Option 2021 - Build or Buy??

hpitmobile

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Hi guys

I'd like to think I know lots about video editing and accompanying hardware... but then I come on AV Forums and bow low to the mega genius on here. That's why I'm posting a question that I suspect may be of help to other shoppers, people building their own rigs currently and, well, for the sheer fun of debate among experts

QUESTION A) What's better? To build your own rig, and get it insured, even though you will be 'out in the cold' if anything happens to it [except of course I can always come on a great forum like this]? OR buy a ready-made, tried & tested, brand-name 'no BS' - probably gaming designed - system that is used by millions and will definitely get the job done?

QUESTION B) If building myself, is this about as good as it gets:

OR if ready made, what brand+model? This one?


Thanks guys! In the past I have spent days, weeks, months researching this stuff for myself and getting mixed results. This time, after saving for 5 years (!), I decided I would just ask the experts. I do have friends who help me build computers, so that is definitely a viable option if benefits are seriously good re budget which is about 2k GBP
 
Building is so easy. It really is. Experience and practice are clearly beneficial but once you have stepped down the road you will soon grow in confidence.

Id advise taking the cost of a prebuilt, breaking down the cost versus buying and building yourself. If it’s a negligible difference then go with what you think works best for you. It’s it’s say a 25% saving that’s too good to ignore.

That said, it’s extremely difficult to source a GPU at the moment and buying prebuilt is a sensible work around for the supply shortfall.

finally, if you are video editing, a second hand rig will almost certainly handle whatever you throw at it.
 
I do a fair bit of video editing using Corel's Videostudio 2020 Ultimate. This is the spec of my machine and I get no issues and it performs well.
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.00 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB
Video Card - GeForce RTX 2060 Super.
 
This is my PC build from about 3 years ago:
Intel 8700k
Asus Prime Z370-A
16Gb Corsair Vengence LPX RAM
Samsung Evo 960 500Gb M2 SSD
Corsair H100i
Asus GTX 1060
Coolmaster 652S Case
Corsair HXi Plat 750w PSU

Total cost was around £1,500 and it has served me well for general use, Work during lockdown and video editing which was my primary requirement for upgrading the PC.
I've just upgraded the M2 SSD to 1Tb and have also installed 2Tb & 4Tb HDD's for mass storage. But other than that everything is the same.

Several years back I bought a pre-built PC for editing with a Matrox RT-2500 capture with Adobe Premiere Pro which cost me almost double the price of my current PC.

Mark.
 
Building is so easy. It really is. Experience and practice are clearly beneficial but once you have stepped down the road you will soon grow in confidence.

Id advise taking the cost of a prebuilt, breaking down the cost versus buying and building yourself. If it’s a negligible difference then go with what you think works best for you. It’s it’s say a 25% saving that’s too good to ignore.

That said, it’s extremely difficult to source a GPU at the moment and buying prebuilt is a sensible work around for the supply shortfall.

finally, if you are video editing, a second hand rig will almost certainly handle whatever you throw at it.
Thanks buddy! After reading your comment and speaking with a friend we're gonna go the 'build your own' route - soon as the price of graphics cards worldwide comes down!
 
This is my PC build from about 3 years ago:
Intel 8700k
Asus Prime Z370-A
16Gb Corsair Vengence LPX RAM
Samsung Evo 960 500Gb M2 SSD
Corsair H100i
Asus GTX 1060
Coolmaster 652S Case
Corsair HXi Plat 750w PSU

Total cost was around £1,500 and it has served me well for general use, Work during lockdown and video editing which was my primary requirement for upgrading the PC.
I've just upgraded the M2 SSD to 1Tb and have also installed 2Tb & 4Tb HDD's for mass storage. But other than that everything is the same.

Several years back I bought a pre-built PC for editing with a Matrox RT-2500 capture with Adobe Premiere Pro which cost me almost double the price of my current PC.

Mark.
This is really useful, thank you very much I have copied & pasted into a folder
What software are you planning to use?
Oh Premiere Pro all the way... that is, unless, someone finally convinces me to start using Power Director instead (I so WANT to be convinced)
 
I know Premiere Pro inside out. Built multiple businesses around it and the other suite apps. That said, even I am considering and testing Resolve Studio for a potential full switch.

Key thing with premiere & Resolve is to have the right drive setup

OS Drive - I recommend an SSD or m.2 NVME
Render/Cache Drive - Also a regular SSD
Export Drive - Mechanical old skool is fine but a reasonably sized SSD is fine now as prices are sensible.
Footage drive - This you want to be ultra fast. PCIe 4.0 m.2 NVME would be best but I also occasionally work off a unraid server connected via 10Gb/s fibre.

The idea is that you are never read/writing to the same drive. There is a logical flow of data and read times not being a bottle neck. You don't need a super high end GPU (Nvidia is my preference for CUDA acceleration) so even a 1650ti will get you up and running.

Finally, 4K should really be the defacto resolution you want to work in. Get into the habit of creating proxies for all your footage so that you are not sacrificing playback performance. Speed and responsive editing is of the utmost importance in my opinion.
 
I know Premiere Pro inside out. Built multiple businesses around it and the other suite apps. That said, even I am considering and testing Resolve Studio for a potential full switch.

Key thing with premiere & Resolve is to have the right drive setup

OS Drive - I recommend an SSD or m.2 NVME
Render/Cache Drive - Also a regular SSD
Export Drive - Mechanical old skool is fine but a reasonably sized SSD is fine now as prices are sensible.
Footage drive - This you want to be ultra fast. PCIe 4.0 m.2 NVME would be best but I also occasionally work off a unraid server connected via 10Gb/s fibre.

The idea is that you are never read/writing to the same drive. There is a logical flow of data and read times not being a bottle neck. You don't need a super high end GPU (Nvidia is my preference for CUDA acceleration) so even a 1650ti will get you up and running.

Finally, 4K should really be the defacto resolution you want to work in. Get into the habit of creating proxies for all your footage so that you are not sacrificing playback performance. Speed and responsive editing is of the utmost importance in my opinion.
GOLD. Thank you, have added all these notes to file for project :)
 
I run Resolve on a Ryzen 5 3600, 16Gb Ram and an old GTX970 (which is the bottleneck here). I only work in 1080p as its mostly for Youtube etc. I render / Cache to an SSD and have 4 mechanical drives for various stages of flow. In all honesty, if I was starting again I think that I'd just buy a Mac Mini M1 as nothing comes close, budget wise until you need to edit 6k and beyond. Resolve runs very nicely on an M1.
 
I run Resolve on a Ryzen 5 3600, 16Gb Ram and an old GTX970 (which is the bottleneck here). I only work in 1080p as its mostly for Youtube etc. I render / Cache to an SSD and have 4 mechanical drives for various stages of flow. In all honesty, if I was starting again I think that I'd just buy a Mac Mini M1 as nothing comes close, budget wise until you need to edit 6k and beyond. Resolve runs very nicely on an M1.
Thanks for recommendation of specific model. Only problem is I hate Mac as it moves too slow through system and no back end. Any Windows-friendly recommendations? Is running Windows on M1 a good idea??
 
There is nothing in the WinTel sphere that even comes close. You would need to spend at least 3 - 4 times the amount to get similar performance.
 
This is really useful, thank you very much I have copied & pasted into a folder

Oh Premiere Pro all the way... that is, unless, someone finally convinces me to start using Power Director instead (I so WANT to be convinced)
The problem with premier pro is that you are always paying for it and it works out pretty expensive. If you are making a load of money then yes it may be worth it, but have a look at some free or cheaper options.
Premier elements is a cut down version of the pro version and is a one of cost.
Davinci resolve is free and offers some good features and you can always update to the full version if you like it.
I use Hitfilm express myself, I find it works well, again you can update to the full version or buy add ons.

For a machine that is lower on resources, Vegas is great, again there is a cheaper version called movie studio, Vegas don't have all the bells and whistles of other software, but the UI looks a bit dated these days, but a mate of mine used to us it on 10 years old quad core AMD machine,

Then you have lightworks which is free
If you want to go open source than there is Kden live.
Hardware wise, I have always built my own, i know what is in it and I can update bit when i need to, at the moment I am using a machine with a AMD Ryzen R7 1700, 48GB of ram and a Radion Rx5700 video card. Not the most powerful machine, it is over 4 years old, but it does me.
I just need to get back into video stuff. more.
 
We use an iMac Pro and m1 Mac Mini running Resolve, editing 6K Red Raw footage. The Mini cuts like a knife through butter, whereas the iMac Pro needs proxies. truly amazed by this little box and will definitely get an M1 iMac or Mac Pro when available. We moved from Prem Pro to Resolve with few regrets.
 
I saw Vegas mentioned earlier, well it runs 4K/25p video just fine on playback on my new home build setup (specs below), without using proxies and after adding a few effects too. It also runs OFX pro addons, there are many to choose from these days even stuff like Mocha Pro and other Boris FX tools. Its interface takes some getting used to unless you've used Movie Studio - which is a decent trial/starting point if considering Vegas Pro because you can get upgrade price reductions from it to Vegas Pro and it's much the same interface.

Corsair 200R mid tower
Be Quiet Sys Power 9/600W PSU
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AC mobo
Ryzen 7 5800X
Dark Rock Slim Cooler
32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4/3600 memory
WD_black SN750 500GB NVME SSD
Samsung and Corsair SSDs for more data/video storage
Win 10 Pro
BD/DVD recorder

Cost about £900, but I kept my GTX 1070Ti from my old setup so a few hundred for graphics needs adding on. Easy to build but you have to do it slowly and very carefully, using internet resources to help if necessary. I always do my new builds spread over two evenings to be on the safe side.

Video editing performance? One example is 4K/25 to 1080p/25 conversion in h.264, which on default Handbrake settings runs at 48fps CPU only, and in Vegas Pro 16 (haven't yet installed my VP 18 upgrade) it's about 45 fps on CPU or 90+ fps using the GTX. CPU conversions for video run 2.6 to 3 times faster than my old i7 4770K if that helps - less than online benchmarking results but that's real world in my own system and much as I planned and expected.
 
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Hi guys

I'd like to think I know lots about video editing and accompanying hardware... but then I come on AV Forums and bow low to the mega genius on here. That's why I'm posting a question that I suspect may be of help to other shoppers, people building their own rigs currently and, well, for the sheer fun of debate among experts

QUESTION A) What's better? To build your own rig, and get it insured, even though you will be 'out in the cold' if anything happens to it [except of course I can always come on a great forum like this]? OR buy a ready-made, tried & tested, brand-name 'no BS' - probably gaming designed - system that is used by millions and will definitely get the job done?

QUESTION B) If building myself, is this about as good as it gets:

OR if ready made, what brand+model? This one?


Thanks guys! In the past I have spent days, weeks, months researching this stuff for myself and getting mixed results. This time, after saving for 5 years (!), I decided I would just ask the experts. I do have friends who help me build computers, so that is definitely a viable option if benefits are seriously good re budget which is about 2k GBP

If you call Scan they can build you a prebuilt using custom parts including GPU for very close to RRP. You should be able to get a machine with a higher end CPU and an RTX 3080 for < £2k. Just go in flexible on which higher end CPU and GPU for very quick build and delivery otherwise they should have it to you in a few weeks. Do not buy using website. Phone.
 
Just to chip in about how straightforward building a PC is, I built one last year; my first attempt. I'd never done anything like it before, but I watched plenty of YouTube videos, visited various PC part sites and eventually pulled a list of components together that I'd confirmed would work together. I was very happy when I switched it on and it worked first time and still does. It's a modest PC (I just needed an all rounder, but not interested in gaming). I use it for simple video editing (Corel video studio 2020 ultimate) and it performs just fine.

So if you've never built one before, it's really not as difficult as you might think. There is plenty of content out there to guide you. Total cost was just under £400 and I have a PC that's better than anything you could buy for the same money (I checked!) and has no pre-installed crapware!
 
I decided to completely update my desktop PC with a complete new build last month. The old one was getting on a bit at 11 years old. This is now the 3rd PC I've built myself. It's frighteningly fast and runs like a dream.

Although I've now built 3 self-build PC's, I've still kept the first desktop PC I bought in 2001, a Compaq with an Intel Pentium 4, which is now 20 years old, still runs with its original parts and has Windows XP installed. For some reason I can't throw it out. However, the new build PC is definitely just that wee tad faster.

Specs:
Case: Fractal Meshify 2 Compact
Welcome to the Fractal Design Website
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H v1.0
B550M DS3H (rev. 1.x) Kenmerken | Moederbord - GIGABYTE Netherlands
OS: Windows 10 Pro (activated for free using old Windows 8 Pro key during install)
PSU: Professional Series™ Gold AX750 — 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Fully-Modular Power Supply (from previous build)
Professional Series™ Gold AX750 — 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Fully-Modular Power Supply
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7Ghz
https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-5-5600x
RAM: 32Gb PNY XLR8 DDR4 3200Mhz CL16
XLR8 DDR4 3200MHz Desktop Memory
Storage:
1 x M.2 500Gb Gen 4 WD_BLACK™ SN850 NVMe™ SSD (for operating system)
Hard Drives, USB Drives, and Memory Cards | Western Digital Store...
1 x M.2 1Tb Gen 3 WD_ BLUE™ SN550 NVMe™ SSD Hard Drives, USB Drives, and Memory Cards | Western Digital Store...
1 x 128Gb OCZ Vertex SSD (from previous build)
https://tweakers.net/.../ocz-vertex-4-128gb/specificaties/
Graphics: MSI GTX 1050 Ti Aero ITX 4G OC
Audio: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX 5.1
https://uk.creative.com/.../sound.../sound-blaster-audigy-fx
CPU Fan Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock Slim
https://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/2248
Monitor: Asus Tuf Gaming 4K UHD VG289Q
 
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Hi guys

I'd like to think I know lots about video editing and accompanying hardware... but then I come on AV Forums and bow low to the mega genius on here. That's why I'm posting a question that I suspect may be of help to other shoppers, people building their own rigs currently and, well, for the sheer fun of debate among experts

QUESTION A) What's better? To build your own rig, and get it insured, even though you will be 'out in the cold' if anything happens to it [except of course I can always come on a great forum like this]? OR buy a ready-made, tried & tested, brand-name 'no BS' - probably gaming designed - system that is used by millions and will definitely get the job done?

QUESTION B) If building myself, is this about as good as it gets:

OR if ready made, what brand+model? This one?


Thanks guys! In the past I have spent days, weeks, months researching this stuff for myself and getting mixed results. This time, after saving for 5 years (!), I decided I would just ask the experts. I do have friends who help me build computers, so that is definitely a viable option if benefits are seriously good re budget which is about 2k GBP

There's no sense getting non-branded motherboard (e.g. from a big reseller) as they are more likely to have bugs that will never get fixed. The best option at the moment however -due to GPU shortage- is to buy from a company that will allow you to pick your components. I recently advised the same to some friends who bought a system from Scan that was near identical to what I would have built them. I recommend overspeccing mobo and PSU to be more in line with what you might build yourself, and then you may have some upgrade potential in future.
 

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