Creator PCs for image and video editing

The best PC for image editing and video editing

How do PCs for image editing, video editing and gaming differ?

A workstation for image editing and 4K+ video editing differs from a gaming PC in only a few areas. This is because many applications also rely on the processing power of the graphics card.

Unfortunately, the word "gaming" is used very loosely these days, as it's a large and lucrative niche. You can even find gaming furniture at IKEA these days.

What all three PC types have in common is that the customer wants a current processor, sufficient RAM, a fast M.2 SSD and a fast graphics card with sufficient RAM.

But there are still some differences.

Things that are important for a video editing PC or an image editing PC:

• RAM: For 4K video editing and larger Lightroom catalogs or Photoshop projects, you should have at least 32GB of RAM. For Full HD videos and light image editing, 16GB of RAM is sufficient. Those who handle large amounts of data, such as focus stacking or other memory-intensive image and video editing applications, should go for 64GB.
• M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe): A brand-name drive with at least 1 TB of storage is recommended. A fast SSD is essential, as a mechanical hard drive becomes a bottleneck even when importing data from a fast memory card. The program, photos/videos, and cache folder should be stored on a fast SSD. 
• graphics card: For video editing with 4K video footage and gaming up to WQHD, the RTX 3060 12GB is the price/performance winner. This graphics card supports Nvidia's sophisticated and professional NVENC video encoding technology.
• Die Quadro series from Nvidia is always worth a look for professionals, as it offers a number of advantages over pure gamer cards:
  
• • Higher performance and stability compared to conventional gaming graphics cards
  • Large storage capacity and bandwidth for professional applications
  • ECC RAM with built-in error correction for accurate and reliable calculations
  • Hardware optimized for professional applications
  • Certification for professional use
  • 30-bit color depth
  • Additional features: Quadro graphics cards offer advanced features such as virtualization options, multi-GPU synchronization for large video walls, and 3D stereo support. 
• HDD: Mechanical hard drives are comparatively slow and noisy for modern image and video editing. SSDs are better suited for the large amounts of data generated when editing RAW files and videos. HDDs, on the other hand, are well-suited for archiving larger amounts of data that are not constantly accessed.
• Case: The case should be well-ventilated, i.e., have vents or mesh. This ensures high enough airflow even at low speeds to allow the fans to operate more quietly. Cases without RGB functionality are rare these days. But if you don't like RGB, you can simply turn off the lighting or adjust the colors to your personal preferences.

Future-proofing your PC

Who doesn't know him, the neighbor with the basement full of supplies, enough to survive the impending apocalypse.

This is how many people approach PCs. They hoard reserves that they won't use until newer models with the same performance are available at half the price.

It makes more sense to invest in hardware that can be fully utilized in the short to medium term. Conclusion: The term "future-proof" makes little sense when it comes to PC hardware, unless you're replacing the CPU or graphics card every year.  

The PCIe 4.0 standard is currently not even half-utilized by current graphics cards, and even with PCIe 5.0 NVMe drives, the real gain is minimal. Theoretically, access rates are twice as fast as with the very fast PCIe 4.0 version. But the difference between very fast and even faster access times is not very significant. Furthermore, newer platforms regularly struggle with teething issues.

The motherboard is also replaced with a new socket or standard. Most people buy a new PC every five to seven years. Often, this happens when the computer no longer performs as it should. Honestly, it makes little difference whether I buy an AM5 socket that will receive CPU updates for another three years or not. By the time I buy the next one, this socket will also be outdated.

Graphics card: NVIDIA, AMD or Intel?

For video editing programs, computers with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX or Quadro graphics card are recommended, as the video editing software is optimized for NVIDIA graphics cards and these usually offer more performance and features for the same price.

Very important: For pure image editing, web browsing and office applications, the graphics card is of secondary importance.

If you only want to edit images, you can switch to an AMD Radeon or Intel Arc graphics card or first try out whether the integrated graphics unit (iGPU) of the Intel processors is sufficient.

A graphics card can be added if necessary. However, some modern programs also have AI-based renderers, such as for noise reduction, that can utilize GPU acceleration. The iGPU is not suitable for AI (artificial intelligence). A dedicated graphics card is strongly recommended.

Processor: INTEL or AMD?

13th and 14th generation Intel processors are currently recommended for image and video editing, as they are slightly faster than AMD processors at the same price and offer extensive codec support in Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve.

Although the new Ryzen 7000 CPUs also offer encoder/decoder support, they are not yet as widely supported by the software as Intel CPUs. Support is also not as comprehensive as with Intel, and it is unclear if and when support will be available. Note: The extended codec support for Davinci Resolve is only included in the paid Studio version, not the free version.

Explanation of Intel designations: Intel processors with the letter "F" in the CPU name, e.g., "i7-12700F," do not offer an internal graphics unit (iGPU). This means that they not only lack an internal graphics unit, but also Intel Quick Sync, which can accelerate H.265 (HEVC) codecs up to 12-bit 4:4:4 in Davinci Resolve.

Even entry-level editing programs like Magix Video use Quick Sync technology. Quick Sync technology allows even computers or laptops with less powerful hardware to process high-resolution video material. However, this only applies to the supported codec formats H.264 and H.265.

AMD doesn't (yet) offer a comparable technology that actually works or is supported to this extent by common software. The graphics card can accelerate H.264 and HEVC to some extent, but not to the same extent. Furthermore, two components that can accelerate a codec are better than just one, as the CPU and GPU can share the load, thus providing greater bandwidth, for example, for multi-camera scenarios.

Which video encoder is the best choice?

Choosing the right encoder is very important. X264, Nvidia NVENC, and Intel Quick Sync use different computer components for encoding and therefore have different impacts on system performance. 

• X264: X264 is a software encoder for H.264 video. The software is cross-platform and can therefore be used on any system. X264 uses the processor for encoding. When using X264, you should therefore ensure that sufficient CPU power is available.
• NVENC: NVENC is a hardware encoder integrated into Nvidia graphics cards since 2012. It's a dedicated environment used exclusively for video encoding. Therefore, using NVENC for recording or streaming does not impact GPU or CPU performance.
• Quick Sync: Quick Sync is a hardware encoder used as a dedicated core in Intel processors for encoding and decoding. This shifts the load to dedicated hardware, offloading the rest of the system. Quick Sync was introduced with the Sandy Bridge architecture in 2011 and has been continuously enhanced since then. Because Quick Sync is part of the integrated graphics card (iGPU), its use has no negative impact on the CPU.

What is the correct bitrate for encoding?

Due to the different processes, the image quality also varies considerably at the same bitrate. While X264 is the most efficient process and therefore delivers the best results at low bitrates, NVENC and Quick Sync are particularly impressive at high bandwidths, delivering near-lossless quality that X264 cannot achieve with current commercially available hardware. However, at bitrates of 6000 kbps, Twitch's current limit, GTX graphics cards already deliver good results, and video from RTX cards is comparable to X264 even at low bitrates.

The biggest challenge in video encoding is fast motion. First-person shooters are therefore predisposed to poorer image quality than games from less action-packed genres. At the same bitrate, X264 produces fewer artifacts than NVENC and Quick Sync. The exception is when NVENC is used with RTX graphics cards, which deliver comparable results.

Recommendation for recordings

If you don't want to accept any loss of quality during recording, we recommend using NVENC or Quick Sync. However, recording with virtually lossless quality requires a sufficiently fast and large hard drive. X264 is not suitable for this, as very high-quality recordings require a high-end setup and have too significant an impact on overall system performance.

The most important components for image editing, 4K video editing and gaming

Currently, workstations for image editing and 4K video editing differ from gaming PCs only in minor details. This is because many applications also rely on the processing power of the graphics card. A powerful graphics card is essential for all three use cases. However, the CPU is generally the most important component for image editing. Things are somewhat different for 4K video editing; here, as with gaming, the graphics card is the most important component. Specialized Nvidia Quadro cards can excel in both image editing and video editing, impressing with their advantages.

• Mass storage: A fast SSD is essential, as a mechanical hard drive becomes a bottleneck even when importing from a fast memory card. The program itself, the photos, and the cache folder should be stored on a fast SSD. This speeds up the process considerably.
• Adobe Lightroom Classic / Photoshop require graphics acceleration to work quickly. This has recently been further implemented and improved via updates, and it is foreseeable that other areas will benefit from GPU acceleration. With graphics acceleration enabled, the graphics card helps with zooming, scrolling, repairing areas, masking, and using the brush. The GPU can also accelerate image export. Images also load faster in the development module when hardware acceleration is enabled. An entry-level graphics card is sufficient for this feature, but the requirements increase with higher monitor resolutions. Since the trend is moving towards 4K and/or dual-monitor setups, graphics cards with less than 8GB of VRAM are unsuitable. From a price/performance perspective, a GeForce RTX 3060 with 12GB of VRAM is currently recommended. The more applications access VRAM simultaneously, the more important VRAM capacity becomes. As soon as programs offer graphics acceleration, they access the graphics card's VRAM. If there is not enough VRAM available, an error will occur or one of the applications will stop responding.
• Graphics cards with hardware acceleration: PC load during 4K video editing with Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve: Video editing in Premiere Pro primarily benefits from the CPU. However, hardware acceleration can be enabled with common AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. With hardware acceleration enabled by the graphics card, the export time for a simple project is reduced from 13 minutes to just 5 minutes, which is especially beneficial for longer and more complex videos.
• RAM for image editing: The role of RAM in image editing: In Lightroom, the processor is primarily used. However, RAM and the drive on which the data is stored are also important. When editing images, the size and amount of simultaneously used image data play a major role. When creating a panorama or focus stack, these images are buffered in RAM by programs such as Helicon Focus or Photoshop. If there isn't enough RAM, this data is swapped to the SSD or hard drive, which also feels much longer. For focus stacking with 70x 45MP RAW images, 32GB of RAM is completely full, but it still works, albeit with a slightly longer wait time, as the data is swapped to the SSD. This takes longer than writing it to RAM. If you want to avoid this wait time, you should use a 64GB RAM kit. For 150x 45 megapixel raw data, for example, Lightroom + Helicon Focus uses approximately 50-55 GB.
• RAM for video editing: Required RAM for video editing: 4K video editing requires more than 16GB of RAM, so we recommend 32GB of RAM for video editing. If you only edit 1080p footage, 16GB of RAM is sufficient. If you're running other applications like Photoshop or Lightroom in addition to video editing, you can also benefit from 64GB of RAM.
• Hard drives: Mechanical hard drives are no longer suitable for video editing. They are not up to the demands of 4K video material. Hard drives frequently experience loading times, not only during import, but also during processing. Hard drives are well-suited for data storage and backup, but definitely not as a working drive. It's of little use if an otherwise fast computer has to wait for the mechanical hard drive.
• SSD / M.2: Many complete PCs are equipped with only a relatively small SSD. Advanced users will need another SSD sooner or later. These days, no motherboard comes without an M.2 PCIe slot(s) or multiple SATA ports. Therefore, upgrading is no problem if necessary. However, choosing a high-capacity drive from the start will also benefit you in the long run, as the M.2 slots on the motherboard are limited, and even small drives can occupy an M.2 slot. Today, with ever-increasing resolutions and the associated high storage requirements, I wouldn't recommend any drive under 1 TB.
• Graphics card: If the graphics card is enabled as an accelerator in Premiere Pro, video editing can be done much more smoothly when filters, animations, transitions, or color adjustments are applied during editing. This applies to Premiere Pro, but even more so to DaVinci Resolve. However, those working with hobbyist software like Premiere Rush or Magix Movie Maker will benefit less from a powerful graphics card.

Recommended CPUs

• Intel i7-13700K (For enthusiasts and professionals) - 8 performance and 8 efficiency cores (24 threads). The i9-12900K has been overtaken by its seventh-generation successor, the i7-13700K, and offers more performance across the board for less money.
• Intel i9-13900K (High-End) - 8 performance and 16 efficiency cores (32 threads). The 13900K is particularly strong in multi-core scenarios, such as rendering image previews or converting/exporting raw data to JPEG. Even when adding a new file to the timeline in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, you briefly benefit from the increased multi-core CPU performance. This is the performance boost until the timeline preview is rendered. If you're looking for the fastest and most efficient Intel processor, you'll find it here. 

Summary

PCs for image editing, video editing, and gaming don't differ significantly from one another, but there are some key differences. Depending on what you want to do with the computer, these features are more or less important and can significantly impact editing time or quality. The professional graphics cards in the Nvidia QUADRO series offer several important advantages for professional use that are useful for image editing and video editing.

Important for image editing

• Large RAM
• Fast SSD
• Powerful graphics card with sufficient VRAM
• High-quality monitor with true-to-original color display

Important for video editing

• Large RAM, more than for image editing
• Fast SSD
• Powerful graphics card with sufficient VRAM, Nvidia RTX or Nvidia Quadro
• Intel CPU with QuickSync for high-quality and fast encoding in H.264
• Case with good ventilation, rendering is quite computationally intensive and generates a lot of waste heat