Video Editing / Gaming PC advice

[Floval Flyer]

I’m looking to buy my son a PC end of August.

Budget is around £800 and needs to be a desktop PC.

Main usage is for video editing, and some also gaming, and general usage.

Can anyone recommend a spec or most efficient option to purchase. Either as an off the shelf or build it (components) option.

Thanks

 

[southendkid]

I don't know much about video editing but if he wants to game on it I'd ask him what games he wants to play and then look up the minimum specs for them on here.

Requirements Test

Check your system requirements. Can I Run it? Test your specs and rate your gamimg PC.

www.systemrequirementslab.com

If wants to play the latest big budget games you probably won't be able to meet the recommended settings but minimum requirements are still playable, it just means some of the fancier graphics will need to be disabled (which is very easy to do). If he wants to play less graphically intensive games like Fortnite then the recommended settings should be affordable.

I've never built from scratch but I know gaming can make computers quite hot, so make sure you research how to keep a desktop sufficiently cool if you go down the build it yourself route.

 

[Supershrimper]

PC Nerd on the A13 might be able to help. You could nip in there and they could give you what your best bet is (custom build or off the shelf) You could tell them the main usage elements and they would then advise you need this and that etc.

Is the video editing to allow uploading to YouTube or Twitch. Probably also depends what type of gaming as well. The occasional foray into Solitaire or Minesweeper any PC, but if he wants to use it for high end gaming then you could look at off the shelf stuff from Alienware. Expensive, but looks the nuts

Alienware Gaming | Dell UK

Industry leading innovators, Alienware, manufactures the best gaming laptops & desktops that provide users with immersive and exhilarating gaming experience.

www.dell.com

 

[londonblue]

I’m looking to buy my son a PC end of August.

Budget is around £800 and needs to be a desktop PC.

Main usage is for video editing, and some also gaming, and general usage.

Can anyone recommend a spec or most efficient option to purchase. Either as an off the shelf or build it (components) option.

Thanks

I have a brand new gaming laptop I'm trying to get rid of. It cost me about £1400 (can't remember exactly). I've never used it and tried to return it as I can't get a dock that will also charge it unless I spend another £400. Because it has a very high spec it uses a lot of power. I had it built bespoke by Cyberpower UK. They wouldn't accept it back as it has a tiny crack in the case that a) is almost impossible to find (I know where it is and still struggle to find it sometimes), and b) wasn't there when I sent it back to them.

You can have it for £800.

 

[Floval Flyer]

PC Nerd on the A13 might be able to help. You could nip in there and they could give you what your best bet is (custom build or off the shelf) You could tell them the main usage elements and they would then advise you need this and that etc.

Is the video editing to allow uploading to YouTube or Twitch. Probably also depends what type of gaming as well. The occasional foray into Solitaire or Minesweeper any PC, but if he wants to use it for high end gaming then you could look at off the shelf stuff from Alienware. Expensive, but looks the nuts

Alienware Gaming | Dell UK

Industry leading innovators, Alienware, manufactures the best gaming laptops & desktops that provide users with immersive and exhilarating gaming experience.

www.dell.com

He uses Adobe Premiere Pro. He has uploaded his work onto various platforms, but it’s mainly working toward his degree.

Games wise he mainly plays 2D / 3D platformers. He’s anti COD and stuff like that…

Those Alienware desktops are the nuts !!

 

[Floval Flyer]

I have a brand new gaming laptop I'm trying to get rid of. It cost me about £1400 (can't remember exactly). I've never used it and tried to return it as I can't get a dock that will also charge it unless I spend another £400. Because it has a very high spec it uses a lot of power. I had it built bespoke by Cyberpower UK. They wouldn't accept it back as it has a tiny crack in the case that a) is almost impossible to find (I know where it is and still struggle to find it sometimes), and b) wasn't there when I sent it back to them.

You can have it for £800.

Thanks for the offer. I’ll speak to him about it but he has asked for a desktop device? Not sure why.

I’ll get back to you soon

 

[southendkid]

Thanks for the offer. I’ll speak to him about it but he has asked for a desktop device? Not sure why.

I’ll get back to you soon

A few years ago laptops were pretty bad for gaming so that might be why, they're much better these days (although you do need to have them plugged in for them to work, occasionally I forget to do it and the game refuses to run). I've got a gaming laptop (although probably not as good as Londonblue's) and it works well when hooked up to a TV. The only thing to keep in mind is that you'll need a stand for the laptop so that the fans on the bottom can do their job.

 

[hlane17]

I’m looking to buy my son a PC end of August.

Budget is around £800 and needs to be a desktop PC.

Main usage is for video editing, and some also gaming, and general usage.

Can anyone recommend a spec or most efficient option to purchase. Either as an off the shelf or build it (components) option.

Thanks

I can draw you up a £800 DIY PC, as powerful as you could get it for the price.

You could also take all the components to a computer shop to be built, rather than go through the stress of putting it together yourself.

If you give me until later today I'll have a look for you.

 

[Floval Flyer]

I can draw you up a £800 DIY PC, as powerful as you could get it for the price.

You could also take all the components to a computer shop to be built, rather than go through the stress of putting it together yourself.

If you give me until later today I'll have a look for you.

That’d be really appreciated. Thank you

The primary use is for his video editing, he makes films and music videos as part of his film and TV production course. Gaming is kind of secondary. Most PCs I’ve looked at seem to be similar spec as gaming devices in terms of graphics card, processing speed and storage (SSD/HD)

Any advice on a spec would be helpful no end. Thanks

 

[Floval Flyer]

I have a brand new gaming laptop I'm trying to get rid of. It cost me about £1400 (can't remember exactly). I've never used it and tried to return it as I can't get a dock that will also charge it unless I spend another £400. Because it has a very high spec it uses a lot of power. I had it built bespoke by Cyberpower UK. They wouldn't accept it back as it has a tiny crack in the case that a) is almost impossible to find (I know where it is and still struggle to find it sometimes), and b) wasn't there when I sent it back to them.

You can have it for £800.

Had a chat with him and he’s insisting he want a desktop. All his friends have desktops so he wants to follow the pack

Thanks anyway

 

[hlane17]

That’d be really appreciated. Thank you

The primary use is for his video editing, he makes films and music videos as part of his film and TV production course. Gaming is kind of secondary. Most PCs I’ve looked at seem to be similar spec as gaming devices in terms of graphics card, processing speed and storage (SSD/HD)

Any advice on a spec would be helpful no end. Thanks

Marginally over £800 and this comes with the OS.

This is a very solid PC. As long as your son is not doing any major 3D rendering it will be able to handle the demands of a video processing application rather well.

Only snag that I could think of is the HDD slowing down his exports of his final videos/products due to the write speeds (how quickly the hard drive stores data). In that case you'll need another SSD but I will warn they are very expensive. Mine cost me over £200 for the same 2TB of room you get on a £50 HDD.

Please note that the 250GB SSD (M.2 NVME) would be for the operating system, with the 2TB hard drive providing storage for video projects/games/anything else.

If you have no previous experience then it's best to pass this onto a local computer shop for construction. Let them know that the motherboard does support the CPU but might require a BIOS update for compatibility purposes. They should know what you mean and if they don't, find another computer shop!

 

[Floval Flyer]

View attachment 21623
Marginally over £800 and this comes with the OS.

This is a very solid PC. As long as your son is not doing any major 3D rendering it will be able to handle the demands of a video processing application rather well.

Only snag that I could think of is the HDD slowing down his exports of his final videos/products due to the write speeds (how quickly the hard drive stores data). In that case you'll need another SSD but I will warn they are very expensive. Mine cost me over £200 for the same 2TB of room you get on a £50 HDD.

Please note that the 250GB SSD (M.2 NVME) would be for the operating system, with the 2TB hard drive providing storage for video projects/games/anything else.

If you have no previous experience then it's best to pass this onto a local computer shop for construction. Let them know that the motherboard does support the CPU but might require a BIOS update for compatibility purposes. They should know what you mean and if they don't, find another computer shop!

Cheers matey. Big help. I’ll take a look into this over the weekend.

I was quite surprised at the cost of some built PCs, costing several grand. Nothing is cheap now.

Thanks

 

[southendkid]

I was quite surprised at the cost of some built PCs, costing several grand. Nothing is cheap now.

A lot of it is down to the pandemic, the production of computer parts went down a lot during Covid but at the same time demand went up because everyone was stuck inside and wanted something to do (I know that's why I bought my gaming laptop). The industry is still struggling to produce enough to meet demand so prices have been hiked massively to try and reduce demand for the newest technology.

The other reason is cryptocurrency, you can create more of cryptocurrency by performing complex functions but to do that you need an expensive computer that's capable of running those functions, suddenly graphics cards which previously were only in demand by gamers were being snapped up by people looking to get on the gravy train and manufacturers weren't ready for the increase in demand.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I thought Macs were standard for video editing.

 

[Floval Flyer]

I bought a HP Omen desktop PC in the end.

A Mac is what I’m saving for…

 

[LukeK1989]

For a budget of £800, building a PC might offer better value, especially for video editing and gaming. You'll want to focus on a solid processor (like AMD Ryzen 5 or Intel i5), at least 16GB RAM, and a decent graphics card (like NVIDIA GTX 1660). SSD for storage will speed things up too.

For the last three years, I've been dabbling in video editing as a side gig. My old Asus, which is over four years old, isn't the most powerful machine. I needed something easy and versatile, so I stumbled upon Movavi. It's like a final cut for Windows - super user-friendly, packed with features for both newbies and pros, and, best of all, it runs smoothly without any hiccups on my older laptop.