4K editing workstation components on a budget
Other components needed
We talked about the essential performance components above, now let’s look at some components that are recommended that aren’t specifically performance related.
- PC Tower or Case with good power supply – Ideally you will want a very efficient Power supply, one that is GOLD rated or higher so that it saves you money, lasts a long time and stays cool under pressure. Also a power supply that is at least 750 Watt Power supply is recommended. This of course is related to your PC design however. Graphics cards eat a lot of CPU power. If you purchase more than One graphics card to get more performance from SLI mode (2 cards working together) then you will need to evaluate your power requirements. A CPU that is overclocked may also draw more power on average. Once you factor in fans or other coolant system and the motherboard and drive requirements, you can generally settle near the 750 to 1000 Watt range. You never want to spec a power supply at or lower than the system requires. A loss of power can be catastrophic to your workflow. Also Power supplies work the most efficient the cooler they are, so at 50% load you are getting the best efficiency.
- A Good Color correct monitor – Having a decent monitor that is more on the high-end for media will help with Color choices while correcting and composing your videos. Color is so important to video and Photography that this is something you really need to consider. Also size and native resolution of the monitor and also how many monitors will determine your workflow.
- Backup solution for business and Video editing continuity (Proper Backups) – A huge topic but one I can’t stress enough, without a proper backup and archive strategy, it doesn’t matter how much gear you have if something happens to your data, computer etc and you don’t have a backup you will lose time, money and ultimately your future income if you are not properly protected. Essentially your data is your Business. Countless hours configuring and setting up that Editing Suite a certain way, would hate to do it all over again because of failure or worse a natural disaster such as fire, water damage or hurricane.. There has been so much in the news as of late that this topic should be at the forefront.Offsite backups on a regular schedule are not just a good idea but an insurance policy – even if this is just dropping off a portable USB drive to your friends or parents house or going to the bank and using a safe deposit box. Cloud storage is also possible but expensive but for things critical for the moment, there are some options to consider. Things to back up would be your adobe project folders, content, emails or other correspondence (if using a client like Outlook), contact lists, Photos, Artwork, project documents, shooting schedules, audio clips and music library (royalty free that is) and the list goes on. Automating the backups as much as possible is also an option.**I will be doing a complete Article on how i back up my data using various applications and tools to create a fairly seamless and easy process for most small time creators**
Purchases I’d make today…
If I was to purchase new components for a new editing Desktop today and didn’t have a lot of money to buy a high-end Workstation, I would recommend the following specific Desktop Components.
Please feel free to purchase from these links (I get a small commission from these Affiliate Links):
Motherboard
After researching the choices available (and being an ASUS user for many years) I choose ASUS’s TUF series Mark I (Mark II is cheaper but fewer features and doesn’t have the newer Audio codecs) motherboards for the latest Intel Z270 Chipset or X299 chipset due to the Longer lifespan of the components on these boards.
It’s got all the features you would expect from a modern board and then some. It gets its name because its got integrated air channeling and extra armor plating to enhance stability, passive cooling and enhanced Electro static shock protection. It also comes with dual LAN ports for those iSCSI RAID setups and upgraded Realtek audio Codec 1220 producing much better audio quality for the average YouTube’s audio needs out of the box. They also feature Dual M.2 SSD slots to add two SSD cards to your set up. It’s reasonable priced compared to the higher end ROG (Republic of Gamers) gaming model boards which have a lot more customizable overclocking, customizable LED lighting, fan options and audio options. Also, The TUF series looks good and isn’t too over hyped. This really is a decent board offering that will last you a long time, possibly until 8K editing becomes a reality. The TUF series is built to last and I for one like spending money for things that last, get the job done and isn’t too bad on the pocket-book compared to other offerings.
ASUS TUF Series (Mid range – Solid workstation/Desktop Board)
| Mid range performance (Lower cost)
Z270 Chipset LGA1151 (older) |
Maximum Desktop Performer (Higher Cost)Intel X299 Chipset LGA2066 (newer) Intel Performance versions of the 7th generation of CPUs – Core i7’s, Core i9’s with X lettering. |
CPU
I usually always go with Intel brand CPU’s. Call me biased but i am just used to how Intel works and have followed their technology for a very long time. I will say AMD does have some pretty interesting offerings however they require completely different chipsets and boards then the Intel ones and i am not as familiar. Perhaps one day i will go out of my comfort zone. (If AMD wants to send me some merchandise, I’d be happy to make that change!)
The latest Desktop chipset from Intel is the Z270 Chipset (socket type LGA1151) and the X299 (socket type LGA2066). What that means is that these processors fit different board sockets and can’t used interchangeably. You have to choose your processor first then choose your Board type.
Choosing the right processor is never easy and there are a ton a reviews and opinions on what to get. Price is a big consideration as well as performance.
My advice, choose the most Cores you can afford (care less about raw speed) make sure you can overclock if necessary as you might want to experiment with it later for more performance gains. The midrange to high-end desktop range is where you will be looking. There are Core i3, i5 and i7’s (High performance Core i7’s and Core i9’s – X series are reserved for the newer X299 Chipset).
Core i3’s and i5’s for video editing aren’t really that suitable. They will perform but at a much lesser degree. It’s best to look at Core i7’s or higher.
You can’t go wrong with an unlockable Core i7, with a letter K on the end of the Processor number (it means the voltage is unlocked and you can overclock if you want to) or pay the premium and go with a Core i9 X series processor. Look at reviews and get the best bang for your dollar. These CPU’s constantly come down in price as new designs and pricing models come out.
My Top three picks currently for the best Choices for CPU’s on the Desktop would be as follows:
| MID RANGE Desktop CPU – Choice #3
For Z270 Motherboards Core i7 – 7700K LGA1151 |
HIGH END Desktop CPU Choice #2
For X299 Motherboards Core i7 – 7800X LGA2066 |
HIGH END Desktop CPU – Choice #3
(if you want to spend the cash and need 4 more cores) For X299 Motherboards Core i9 – 7900X |
Video Cards (GPU)
I am a fan of NVidia cards. Mainly because i don’t know much about AMD cards and the last time i bought one was years ago and had many issues with. I generally go with what I’m comfortable with. If AMD would like to send me a card I’d be happy to get comfortable with it however at this point in time I’ll go with what I know.
There is only one card spec currently that i would recommend.
The NVidia Geforce 1080 Ti 11 GB – ASUS Variant ROG Strix Card. Reasons are that this particular card is the best I’ve seen for the price in terms of performance. The card features a triple fan cooling system that keep this hot card running and if failure, has two extra fans to keep things going. The Nvidia 1080 Ti series running the Pascal architexture boasts 4K performance and for an editing station this is what you need combined with a great CPU to handle those effects.
The newer and faster the GPU’s are the highly configured for more and more graphics work. Even my GTX 680 card from a few years back still has a performance advantage over non-GPU enabled Editing setups however its nowhere near this 1080 Ti card.
For those more techy folks,
The 1080 Ti is capable of hardware DECODING H.265 (HEVC) codec (NVidia PureVideo) which means it can decode up to 8K footage at the hardware level sparing your CPU to do it less efficiently and having more CPU time for things like adding Effects to 4K video.
Along with Decoding, The great news for Video Editing is that for encoding those large video projects…
This 1080 Ti card supports H.265 10-bit 4K encoding (However not B-Frames, Just I-frame encoding) at the twice the speed of the previous generation Maxwell Platform. It also supports encoding of HEVC 8K footage @ 4:4:4 sub sampling and lossless encoding. (Source Wikiepdia – NVidia NVENC).
If you’re using any other codec that isn’t H.265 based you will not get the advantage of the hardware acceleration and your CPU will have to handle it.
Consequently, H.265 is the next standard for video as the savings in compression and image quality retention make it a more viable codec. For HDR and 8K video it’s here to stay.
For more information take a look at NVidia’s Website – https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-video-codec-sdk
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