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A few years ago, building a video-editing system on a budget would have been quite the feat. However, these days you can get a fairly decent CPU for quite cheap. Moreover SSD prices are also falling. This makes it a great time to build a PC. This is a more budget-oriented build for those who are just starting out. As always, we will mainly focus on the CPU and the storage. While a GPU can help improve performance, it’s not essential. Moreover, extra cores will always boost performance more than higher clock speeds. Here are a few key points:
- First and most importantly, CPU is the foundation of your build. The core count and multithreaded performance will be the key to completing editing tasks. Adobe Premiere Pro, FinalCut Pro, and Sony Vegas Pro take the primary advantage of your CPU.
- Unlike a gaming-focused build where GPU is the key factor, for editing, a GPU isn’t essential. You can even go without a GPU entirely and still get pretty much the same performance out of your build. That said, editing software often uses a GPU for hardware acceleration for encoding and rendering. Adobe’s Premiere Pro is optimized for NVIDIA cards.
- The second most important thing in such a build is storage. An SSD provides much better performance for editing projects with multiple clips. Moreover, using a hard-drive for editing 4K footage can be excruciatingly painful and result in dropped frames. While you would survive without an SSD, it is highly recommended that you invest in one.
Best Budget CPU For Video Editing: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Price: Rs. 17,069 (Link)
- Cores: 6
- Threads: 12
- Base Clock: 3.6 GHz
- Boost Cock: 4.2 GHz
- TDP: 65W
- Socket: AM4
The Ryzen 5 3600 is a great CPU for multi-threaded workloads. For video-editing tasks, a higher core count improves performance by a huge margin. With a boost clock of 4.2 GHz, it can handle single-threaded workloads without a hitch as well. Combined with only a 65W TDP, it makes for a great pick for a budget video-editing PC. Moreover, it comes with a Wraith Stealth Cooler included in-the-box which is more than sufficient. Combine that with an excellent price tag, and you have a great deal
Recommended Motherboard: MSI B450M Gaming Plus
- Price: Rs. 6,985 (Link)
- B450 Chipset
- Memory: 4x DDR4 Slots for up to 64GB
- I/O: 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI 1.4, 2x USB 3.1 Gen2, 2x USB 3.1 Gen1, 6x USB 2.0
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MSI’s B450M Gaming Plus is an ITX board that offers essential specs without breaking the bank. It offers 4 DDR4 slots that can hold up to 64GB of dual-channel RAM at speeds of up to 3466 MHz when overclocked with A-XMP OC Mode. It lacks VRM cooling but makes up for that deficit with a substantial I/O.
Recommended Graphics Card: NVIDIA GT 1030
- Price: Rs. 5,849 (Link)
- Cores: 384
- Base Clock: 1227 MHz
- Boost Clock: 1468 MHz
- Memory Clock: 6000 MHz
- Memory: 2GB GDDR5
The NVIDIA GT 1030 is an entry-level 10-Series card based on NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture. Would I recommend it for gaming? Absolutely not. For video-editing, however, it is a great option. Unless you’re using DaVinci Resolve (which is GPU intensive), there won’t be much difference between the 1030 and a more gaming-focused GeForce GTX 1650. Spending more on a GPU for video-editing will lead to diminishing returns. That said, if you will be playing some games occasionally, you can opt for the GTX 16 Series of graphics cards.
Recommended Memory: HyperX Fury 8GB
The HyperX Fury is an 8GB RAM stick rated at a speed of 2400MHz. You can overclock this to around 3000MHz as we have paired it with a Ryzen 3000 CPU. Moreover, it also comes with HyperX’s 5-year warranty. If you will be working with 4K footage, I’d recommend upgrading to a 16GB kit. However, it’s not essential.
Recommended Power Supply: Corsair CX450
- Price: Rs. 3,475 (Link)
- Fan Size: 120mm
- Output Capacity: 450W
- Dimensions: 152 x 87 x 143mm
- Cable Type: Sleeved
- MTBF Rating: >100,000 hours
Since you don’t need to overclock your GPU for editing, you can opt for the Corsair CX450. It will be more than sufficient for your build and also comes included with a 5-year manufacturer warranty. It does well enough while keeping the fan noise on the quieter side.
Recommended Storage: Intel 2TB 660p
- Price: Rs. 16,699 (Link)
- Form Factor: M.2 2280
- Interface: PCI Express 3.0
- Seq. Read: 1800 MB/s
- Seq. Write: 1800 MB/s
For Video Editing, you need to store your project files, software, source footage as well as the cache. While ideally, you should be storing everything onto an SSD, 4K footage can take up space really fast on your PC. Personally, I would recommend using an SSD for your OS and the Software while a fast HDD for storing your footage.
As this is a budget build and we haven’t used an X570 board, we have opted for the next best thing. The Intel 660p 2TB is a M.2 2280 NVMe SSD. 2TB NVMe SSDs still cost north of 20K. However, you can the 660p at a great price as of now. It offers blistering fast write speeds and is extremely durable. Moreover, you also won’t need to get a slow HDD as a secondary storage option.
Recommended Case: Corsair Carbide SPEC-05
- Price: Rs. 2,900 (Link)
- Form Factor: Mid Tower
- Motherboard Support: ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX
- Dimensions: 199mm x 433mm x 483mm
- Weight: 4 Kg
- Radiator Support: 120mm, 140mm
- I/O Ports: 1 x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 1x Headphone/Mic
- Drive Bays: 3 x 3.5-inch HDD, 2 x 2.5-inch SSD
The SPEC-05 is one of the most spacious mid-tower cases on the market and offers great thermal performance with reduced noise levels. While there’s a slight compromise on the acrylic panels instead of tempered glass, space for up to 5 fans and support for multiple options certainly makes up for it. The SPEC-05 is a simple, easy-to-build-in PC case and offers a great value for the price.
| Component | Name | Price | Links |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | Rs. 17,069 | Link |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GT 1030 | Rs 5,849 | Link |
| Motherboard | MSI B450 Gaming Plus | Rs. 6,985 | Link |
| Memory | HyperX Fury 8GB | Rs. 2,650 | Link |
| Storage | Intel 2TB 660p | Rs. 16,699 | Link |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX450 | Rs. 3,475 | Link |
| Case | Corsair Carbide SPEC-05 | Rs. 2,900 | Link |
| Total | Rs. 55,627 |
Summing up all the components, the total comes up to Rs, 55,627. If this is slightly out of your budget, you can always opt for a cheaper case or go for a smaller SSD coupled with a hard drive. That said, this build can easily breeze through 4K projects without a hitch. Check out more PC builds here.
Further Reading:
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