Besides the relatively high price tag associated with purchasing a camera that can shoot decent 4K video, it’s important to also take into consideration whether or not your current editing computer has enough horsepower to handle such processor-intensive workflows.Odds are you may need to either upgrade your computer’s internal components or maybe even replace your workstation altogether.
Fortunately, with constant innovation coming from many computer component manufacturers such as the Ryzen line of CPUs from Team Red at AMD, it has now become more affordable than ever to integrate 4K footage into your production workflow, even if you are working on a shoestring budget.
Seasoned filmmaker and tech guru Max Yuryev shows off another budget-friendly computer build optimized for Adobe Premiere Pro and/or DaVinci Resolve for a relatively affordable price of $638, which would have been a fantasy if it weren’t for the new technologies that arose in recent times.
First off, here’s a quick rundown of the components for this fantastic build:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Processor with Wraith Spire Cooler (B&H, Amazon US)
- Motherboard: ASUS Prime B350-Plus AMD Ryzen AM4 DDR4 HDMI DVI VGA M.2 USB 3.1 ATX B350 Motherboard (B&H, Amazon US)
- Memory: Crucial 16GB Single DDR4 2400 MT/s (PC4-19200) DR x8 Unbuffered DIMM 288-Pin Memory (B&H, Amazon US)
- GPU (for DaVinci Resolve): Gigabyte GIGABYTE Radeon RX 560 Gaming OC 4GB GPU (B&H, Amazon US)
- GPU (for Adobe Premiere Pro): Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC 4GB GDDR5 GPU (B&H, Amazon US)
- SSD (Storage): SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB Solid State Drive (B&H, Amazon US)
- Case: NZXT S340 Mid Tower Computer Case, White (B&H, Amazon US)
- Power Supply: EVGA 450 B1, 80+ BRONZE 450W PSU (B&H, Amazon US)
- LED Lighting: Tingkam 5050 SMD 2 pcs. 18 LEDS 30cm Red Color LED Strip Case (Amazon US)
Now the real hero of this build is the Ryzen 5 processor from AMD as when overclocked from 3.2 GHz to 3.8 GHz, it delivers performance that matches more expensive processors at almost half the price. You can check out all of the comprehensive benchmarks conducted by Yuryev in the above video.
All in all, this workstation can process 4K footage at a fraction of the cost of editing computers of yesteryear. The benchmarks also show a significant speed increase when using DaVinci Resolve so if you’re currently in the market for a build optimized for the platform, this may be the one you’re looking for.
Ultimately, the beauty of this AMD Ryzen 5 PC is that in the future, you’ll be able to upgrade your components as your needs change. Thinking of adding some simple yet inexpensive speed increases? No problem, just upgrade the memory. Want a beefier graphics card? Sure, go right ahead and grab the latest one! At least with this build, you would have a solid foundation as your workload increases and your demand for processing power becomes more prevalent.
Again, kudos to Max for putting together this extremely efficient, budget-friendly video editing PC. If you like this build or want to find more similar custom configurations, make sure you check out and subscribe to Max Yuryev’s YouTube channel here.
[source: Max Yuryev]
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No testing?
By the way we need a 2017 real video test. So both 2K and 4K using real pro codec, simple cut and some dissolve plus graphics, then the complex multi layer (at least 4 with multiple effects) .
As is this is useless. Sorry
So which CODEC ?
A low compression CODEC like ProRes or a high compression CODEC like h.264 that the GH5 uses ? ( or even h.265 ? )
The ideal would be same time line, with available media in 4K from a Red od hi-end Canon and Sony. nothing under 300Ks
The reason I mentioned the high compression h.264 or h.265 CODECs is that they take a huge amount of processing power to decompress and play at real-time speed, where low-compression CODECs are often much less stressful on the computer when playing back at real-time speed. With lower compression files it can be more about file IO speed than CPU/GPU performance.
Also AMD has just introduced their new Thread-Ripper 1950X CPU which has 16 cores with 60 CPU bus channels, which costs less than $1,000 US, so for about $2,500 US you could build an extremely powerful editing workstation :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9voQqU73-Mg
Which is all very nice on paper. There are also Epyc chips that look interesting.
But professional code (Adobe and BlackMagic here) are optimize for Intel today. There are variation on what a chip does even if they are compatible. And I’m not an Intel fanboy, I’m too old so I remember co-processer chips… And I would say that of the 50 plus computers that I’ve bought over the years, 20 were AMD based.
But what is an extremely powerful editing workstation? Coming from where I come, (razor edit on 2″quad) your $2,500 extremely powerful is the cost of a very low end 4k broadcast pro monitor of a decent size, not even dreaming of the high end that is close to $50,000.
So real testing is needed before jumping in any bandwagon.
>>>There are also Epyc chips that look interesting.
Yes, if you want to set-up a server farm then Epyc chips might be the best buy.
>>>But professional code (Adobe and BlackMagic here) are optimize for Intel today.
Most NLEs are optimized for both Intel and AMD, the only one I know that currently has a problem with AMD CPUs is Final Cut Pro, otherwise this new AMD CPU is either the same or beating Intel’s equivalent i9 CPU at almost half the price.
>>>And I’m not an Intel fanboy, I’m too old so I remember co-processer chips…
I’ve built about 30 PCs since the early 90’s, and this included a few AMD CPUs all the way back to the AMD 386DX-40 CPU.
>>>But what is an extremely powerful editing workstation?
Everything is relative. If you’ve got $50K to invest in a workstation, a $2,500 workstation will seem vastly under-powered. I personally don’t know any independent filmmakers that are using workstations that cost more than $10K, with many of them in the $3-5K range.
But if you can get the same or better performance as a $2,000 Intel i9 CPU with a $1,000 AMD CPU, then you can build a $2,500 workstation that can compete with an Intel based workstation at $4K or higher. For many independent film-makers this would be a big step-up from what they are currently using.
>>>So real testing is needed before jumping in any bandwagon.
I completely agree, but I want to see tests that include highly compressed 4K footage to see how many layers of compressed footage can run at real-time speed at the same time. Right now this is where many editing computers fall-down big time.
If you want to see UHD 4k videos from an UHD dvd drive
you have to use an intel cpu.
For specification or test see software BD-Advisor from CyberLink (its free).
120GB HD…for 4k video. lolz
You NEVER use the system drive for storing media. 120GB is fine.
Sorry, but you need fast ssd to do real 4k editing, even on proxy mode. Unless you are unaware of 305mg/s 4K, where a 6hgig card is good for maybe 30 minutes
Lol, you still never use the system drive for video editing. You add another SSD for that. This rig is 4K capable for editing. Nobody said anything about storage. It’s just meant to have the power to edit 4K.
System ssd 250
Edit material sad 1000 at least
Scratch same
Storage skies the limit