Is there any way I can build a PC that will allow me to edit 4K video (After Effects) and do medium-high to high quality gaming for under $1k?

[Metanoia Prime]

Calling on Era to help me out. I've had a late 2014 iMac since... well... late 2014, and it's getting a little long in the tooth. It has a 4GHz i7, 24GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, and an AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB card.

I do a lot of Photoshop and Illustrator work along with After Effects work (on clips generally no longer than 5-10 minutes). I also want to be able to game on this thing at non-Minecraft-like graphics settings. I do play somewhat competitively (not officially, but I "try hard" here and there), so I want a responsive computer / monitor at that.

Am I out of luck? Or is this possible?

 

[BLEEN]

Calling on Era to help me out. I've had a late 2014 iMac since... well... late 2014, and it's getting a little long in the tooth. It has a 4GHz i7, 24GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, and an AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB card.

I do a lot of Photoshop and Illustrator work along with After Effects work (on clips generally no longer than 5-10 minutes). I also want to be able to game on this thing at non-Minecraft-like graphics settings. I do play somewhat competitively (not officially, but I "try hard" here and there), so I want a responsive computer / monitor at that.

Am I out of luck? Or is this possible?

Click to shrink...

I'm honestly surprised you can't do it already. What happens when you try currently? Can you swap the GFX card?

Edit* Oh, iMac.

 

[LQX]

I would say easily with AMD build but many of those programs actually run better on Intel so an Intel build centered around a i7-9700k might be better advised if trying to keep things under 1K. It's doable but man you just missed a ton of sales.

 

[Metanoia Prime]

I'm honestly surprised you can't do it already. What happens when you try currently? Can you swap the GFX card?

Edit* Oh, iMac.

Click to shrink...

I can do it ok, but it struggles. Photoshop is fine for the most part. Illustrator, for some odd reason, struggles when editing text (I have a lot of fonts, but not an insane amount), and After Effects generally hangs in alright. I just want snappier, quicker performance and to be able to work at a higher resolution. Plus, my iMac doesn't do too well with games, though it fares alright.

 

[BLEEN]

I can do it ok, but it struggles. Photoshop is fine for the most part. Illustrator, for some odd reason, struggles when editing text (I have a lot of fonts, but not an insane amount), and After Effects generally hangs in alright. I just want snappier, quicker performance and to be able to work at a higher resolution. Plus, my iMac doesn't do too well with games, though it fares alright.

Click to shrink...

Do you have an SSD installed? If not, that would help a ton. Also, restoring your Mac completely would also help a lot too.

 

[Metanoia Prime]

Do you have an SSD installed? If not, that would help a ton. Also, restoring your Mac completely would also help a lot too.

Click to shrink...

No, I did get the Fusion Drive when I bought it, but I know that in the end, that doesn't compare to an SSD. Do you think that throwing an SSD in would make a pretty big impact as opposed to shelling out for a new build?

 

[BLEEN]

No, I did get the Fusion Drive when I bought it, but I know that in the end, that doesn't compare to an SSD. Do you think that throwing an SSD in would make a pretty big impact as opposed to shelling out for a new build?

Click to shrink...

I honestly think it would help a lot but you should wait for others to chime in.

There are also ways to kinda compress the 4k files and edit that way then uncompress afterward. But I haven't done so in a while so I forget the details.

I'm sure people here will put you on the right track! Video editing is really not my forte.

 

[JavyOO7]

SSD would do wonders. It'll give more years of life to your iMac. Go to owc

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd...75.2038968408.1576300246-148030062.1538670234

 

[gamma]

You should ask here:

The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v2

Welcome to the PC Builders Thread, where we talk about computer hardware! Whether you're upgrading your existing computer, want to build a new one, have a question, or just like talking about computers in general - we've got you covered! Fall - Winter 2019: AMD will release their new...

www.resetera.com

 

[defaltoption]

This pc right here but if you can and are willing spend the extra $100 to get a 3700x instead of 3600 if you care more about work or spend it to get the 2070 super if you care more about games, or a bigger ssd/hdd if you need more storage. Luckily "gaming" pcs are usually pretty good at also being workstations. He also has a video about budget video editing you should watch and see how you'd feel about the performance they show in the video. It came out within the last month I believe.

 

[squeakywheel]

How you tried a thunderbolt eGPU plus an SSD upgrade? That's what I'm rocking with my 2013 MacBook Pro.

 

[Duxxy3]

Quick one thrown together. I'm sure there's more min-maxing to do.

Basic Build



I basically put together an alternative to Linus' build.

 

[TheNerdyOne]

Calling on Era to help me out. I've had a late 2014 iMac since... well... late 2014, and it's getting a little long in the tooth. It has a 4GHz i7, 24GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, and an AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB card.

I do a lot of Photoshop and Illustrator work along with After Effects work (on clips generally no longer than 5-10 minutes). I also want to be able to game on this thing at non-Minecraft-like graphics settings. I do play somewhat competitively (not officially, but I "try hard" here and there), so I want a responsive computer / monitor at that.

Am I out of luck? Or is this possible?

Click to shrink...

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($119.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.88 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1010.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-14 00:46 EST-0500


there ya go, just about the best you're gonna do at the pricepoint. Spending an extra $110 - 130 to get a 2070 super to gain ~6 - 8% more performance makes little sense here, if you want to spend the extra, get a 3700X to help your editing and content creation and such. Add another 2x8gb ram in a year or two or as needed ( would add an extra $60 to the build to go 2x16 at the moment, you make the judgement call on that one. Other than that, you're all set!

 

[FreezePeach]

RAM and an SSD will be the key factors in doing After Effects work. 32gb of RAM and an SSD along with a decent CPU will do a lot for you there. Gaming is all GPU 1st then CPU

 

[Metanoia Prime]

How you tried a thunderbolt eGPU plus an SSD upgrade? That's what I'm rocking with my 2013 MacBook Pro.

Click to shrink...

Have you noticed it to be a worthwhile investment? I'm all for just extending the life and improving the efficiency of the iMac if possible, I just thought it wouldn't be worth it. Roughly how much did you spend, and what kind of work flow efficiency can you note?

 

[squeakywheel]

Have you noticed it to be a worthwhile investment? I'm all for just extending the life and improving the efficiency of the iMac if possible, I just thought it wouldn't be worth it. Roughly how much did you spend, and what kind of work flow efficiency can you note?

Click to shrink...

Sorry, I just it to game and just regular no-power needed Office work/light programmig :). I definitely found it worth it as it gave my macbook new life even without the eGPU thanks to the SSD upgrade. which are much cheaper to do now I spent about $60 for a 500GB SATA SSD. I got the Akitio node used for $130 on eBay and spent another $25 on a usb-c to TB1 official Apple adapter and another $15 for the TB-TB cable. I got a used RX580 for $150 since TB1/2 AMD eGPU's work natively pre-Mojave from what I read. On Windows it doesn't matter what GPU you use. So all told it cost about $380 to game on my old macbook pro. To me that's worth it. I'm saving up to get a better macbook pro in 2 years or so.

Another option (if you have a bit of time/patience) is to build a hackintosh PC. That way you don't lose your Mac programs/workflow but still be able to dualboot. There are hackintosh forums (or Reddit) that help you build a compatible gaming PC and have a near-painless Catalina install.

 

[Deleted member 2625]

OP do you actually get requests for 4K content or are you just future-proofing?

My bread and butter is pretty much what you described most of the time (PS/AI/AE/Pr) but .. my clients have yet to actually ask me for 4K renders. It's all still 1080p ProRes.

 

[Addi]

I'm no expert in pc building, but you say you also need a monitor? (I assume so since you are coming from an iMac)
That will quickly cost 1k if you want a good one for both video editing and gaming (4k 10bit, 100% sRGB, 100% DCI-3, 100% AdobeRGB and a refresh rate higher than 60).

Quick one thrown together. I'm sure there's more min-maxing to do.

Basic Build



I basically put together an alternative to Linus' build.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, with that screen it's a 2k setup

 

[exodus]

As a ball park estimate, you're probably looking at a 3700x and 1660 Ti build.

 

[MrKlaw]

If you're looking at a gaming pc could you ditch your iMac completely? If your 1k budget is separate to that, you could boost it to maybe $1500 by selling the iMac?

 

[Deleted member 25702]

I edit 4K footage and almost never directly interact with raw 4K video. Spot-check your files before you edit for issues and then proxy your footage down to an easier resolution. Your computer is probably fine and an upgrade just to do 4K is probably not worth it yet if it was higher-end when you bought it.
As for a build at that budget, I'm not sure. New cards and chips just came out, so you could stand to wait more for price drops, I bet.

 

[Metanoia Prime]

If you're looking at a gaming pc could you ditch your iMac completely? If your 1k budget is separate to that, you could boost it to maybe $1500 by selling the iMac?

Click to shrink...

I would not be averse to selling the iMac. Matter of fact, that's what I had in mind.

 

[DrEvil]

You can edit 4K video on a number of low-spec machines as long as your footage is in a proper editing codec.

Something like Pro Res 422 Proxy, DNxHD, or GoPro Cineform all perform exceptionally well in Adobe suites, but come with the cost of higher file sizes.

Codecs like H264 or any MPEG4 based encoding can be edited in premiere, but require stronger CPUs because of how the compression handles B-Frames and seeking within a file.

Also, you shouldn't be EDITING in After Effects, thats' what Premiere Pro is for.

 

[davepoobond]

I edit 4K footage and almost never directly interact with raw 4K video. Spot-check your files before you edit for issues and then proxy your footage down to an easier resolution. Your computer is probably fine and an upgrade just to do 4K is probably not worth it yet if it was higher-end when you bought it.
As for a build at that budget, I'm not sure. New cards and chips just came out, so you could stand to wait more for price drops, I bet.

Click to shrink...

yeah this is basically the solution. I don't think anyone really bothers with editing in native 4K. They just export.