Build Your Own Editing PC: Introduction

I’ve talked a lot about how to shoot video with your smartphone. But then you need to edit your footage somehow. Well, there are a number of options available:

  1. edit on your smartphone
  2. edit on a tablet
  3. edit on a laptop, PC or Apple
  4. edit on a desktop computer, PC or Apple

The screens on a smartphone are very small, so editing anything other than short clips for online distribution is going to be a major challenge.

Tablets have bigger screens, but still it will be a struggle to edit anything which requires high processing power, effects, animations and color work. And their screens are still very small for editing.

Laptops should be good enough. I edit on a MacBook Pro using Adobe Premiere. The big advantage with an Apple laptop their user-friendliness and portability.

Another advantage Apple has over PC is the software which comes included with macOS. There’s a range of programs which can get you started editing, writing music and Microsoft Office style products (amongst other things) which would be an extra cost on your PC.

Mac vs PC

Having said that, I’m limited in terms of processing power and screen size still. I often find myself struggling to see what’s going on, when it comes to dealing with lots of tracks of video and audio. And when trying to add VFX or grading 2k and above footage, everything slows to a point where I can’t view it in realtime.

Another thing about Macs is they are more expensive for what you get. Some say the cost component for component is about double what you would pay for a PC. On the plus side, I have owned a number of Apple computers (laptops and desktop) over the last 20 years and none of them have broken down.

I even have an ancient Apple laptop a friend gave me around about 1995 which I used to write screenplays on. I recently tried to use it having left it in the attic for 20 years. The thing pinged on and booted up as if it was still 1995.

Although many PC fans would disagree with me, I do find Apple computers to be more reliable. But you have to pay for that reliability.

So, if you are looking to purchase the fastest editing computer you can afford, the PC is the undisputed champion.

Buy one or build one?

The simplest way to get a fast editing PC is to buy one with everything you need pre-built. For example, the Microsoft Surface Studio 2 is a great editing computer – all set up and ready to play. But as you can see this is not the cheapest way to buy a PC.

The absolute cheapest way to get the fastest editing computer you can afford is to build one yourself. Does this sound ridiculously complicated? Well, it’s actually not that hard.

The thing about PCs is that basically anyone can make components. I’m no computer nerd, but I am a child of the Great War of Microsoft vs Apple: 1980s-present day. Perhaps in the not-to-distant-future, they’ll teach this instead of World War Two, as it’s probably has more impact on our lives these days.

My dumbed-down, unresearched history is: Microsoft went for an open system where anyone could get involved, while Apple went for a closed system where only Apple stuff would work with Apple stuff. For years, this paid of for Microsoft big time. But gradually the Cult of the Mac grew, with the invention of the iPhone giving Apple a huge lead.

Famously, Microsoft founder Bill Gates believed no one would want to tap a screen with their fingers, because they’d leave sticky prints…

More complicated than assembling a difficult level Lego model?

Anyway, the result of that is PCs can be built by the general public by purchasing the components separately. Fixing them together requires some skill, but it’s mostly making sure you have the right components and they’re are connected correctly. No soldering or coding is involved.

Building your own PC will save you money and allow you to custom build to your needs. Not only that, but if you want to replace a component – to upgrade it for example – you don’t need to buy a whole new computer. And hey – there’s a certain sense of pride and achievement when you slot it all together and it actually works.

And imagine how much more you will know about computers by the end of the process.

So how much $ do I save?

Really, it depends on what you want and the components you choose. How much time are you will to spend hunting around the web for the best deals? How much time researching what you need?

As I said before, the experience of editing video will be made more pleasant the faster your PC can process video. So what are the key components you need to look at?

The Basics of PC Parts

  • The CPU (Central Processing Unit)
  • CPU Cooler
  • GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
  • RAM (Random Access Memory)
  • Storage Options (drives)
  • Motherboard
  • Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Bear in mind, the building of a PC does not include a monitor. So that’s an extra cost to be figured in.

Budget PC

This list of components currently comes in at about $700.

Monitors

So that’s a pretty low cost PC. This is by no means a definitive list of components. But it’s a good example of what can be achieved on a tight budget.

16GB RAM is really the minimum you will need. If you intend editing at 4k resolution, you will probably need at least 32GB. Simply put, when building a PC for editing video get as much RAM as you can afford.

There’s a good article here by Shutterstock which goes into more detail with each component and a couple more build lists.

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