Editing video on a PC requires a capable GPU, at least a mid-tier processor, and enough RAM to avoid sluggish performance. Depending on your available budget, it's possible to spend around $800 on a setup that will handle video processing, but at a slower rate, while a more expensive configuration will make light work of intense workloads.
We work with video here at Windows Central often, whether it's for the latest game about to be released or for the next Ask Dan episode. We know what you need to get the job done and which components are required to avoid wasting hours of valuable computing time.
An issue at the moment for all builds is the price of the GPU, which has risen considerably over recent months due to demand inflation from cryptocurrency miners. This means that when said pricing returns to normal, the configurations included in this guide should become more affordable.
Tortoise (slow) build
The price and availability of the GPU we included may fluctuate. If the GPU listed isn't available, try the same model but from a different vendor. This system is fairly capable of 1080p video editing, thanks to 8GB of RAM, a GTX 1060 with 6GB of GDDR5, and a Ryzen 3 1200 processor.
| Component | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Phanteks Eclipse Series P400 | $69.99 |
| CPU | Ryzen 3 1200 | $117.99 |
| GPU | ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | $475 |
| PSU | EVGA 500W B1 | $49.99 |
| Motherboard | ASUS Prime B350M-A/CSM | $88.99 |
| RAM | Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 (2400 MHz) | $92.99 |
| SSD | Corsair Force Series MP500 120GB M.2 | $79.99 |
| HDD | Seagate 1TB BarraCuda | $44.99 |
| Total: | $1,019.93 |
The best part about this build is the upgradability. The single stick of 8GB RAM can be matched with a second module to double the available system memory. The Ryzen 3 can be swapped out for a Ryzen 5 or 7, and the GTX 1060 can be replaced by a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080. It all depends on your requirements and how quickly you need rendering to complete.
Overkill (fast and expensive) build
Like the above build, you'll need to pay close attention to GPU stock levels and pricing. This machine will be excellent for editing and processing videos (up to 4K) but will probably be out of reach for those just starting out in the business. We've upped the game to the Ryzen 7, an excellent CPU, a GTX 1080 Ti (you can always add another one), and 32GB of RAM at 3200 MHz.
| Component | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Phanteks Eclipse Series P400 | $69.99 |
| CPU | Ryzen 7 1700 | $293.83 |
| GPU | PNY GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB | $999.99 |
| PSU | EVGA 600W B1 | $52.27 |
| Motherboard | ASUS Prime X370-A | $128.43 |
| RAM | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 (3200 MHz) | $476.99 |
| SSD | Corsair Force Series MP500 120GB M.2 | $79.99 |
| HDD | Seagate 1TB BarraCuda | $44.99 |
| Total: | $2,146.48 |
Neither of our builds includes a copy of Windows 10, which you'll need to factor in, as well as the cost of Adobe Premiere Pro or other commercially available video editing software.
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