Opinions on Intel build for Video Editing/Encoding (and later gaming) for a friend.

[Cyber Akuma]

I am helping build a PC for my friend. His primary use will be Video Editing/Encoding, and his secondary use will be for gaming, though due to the limited budget and video encoding requiring a good CPU and amount of memory, we decided to actually hold off on the GPU/gaming for now as that's not as important as the video editing, and just drop in a GPU later when he can afford it. He has a budget of $1000-$1200. So before we pull the plug and start buying the parts, I wanted to ask people's opinions on the parts list. 
 
RGB is not important and we will not be overclocking. Also, there were many constraints and special cases I dealt with that I want to cover before mentioning the parts lists since I am sure these will be some of the more common questions people will have about the parts list: 
 
1: Please, no arguments about Intel/AMD, please. I have answered this question dozens of times while I was piecing this thing together and have many reasons not to go AMD, but among them some of the biggest are that: 1. I can get a 9700K for $30 cheaper ($300) than I could find a 3700x ($330) anywhere, 2. The 9700K seemed to be roughly the same performance at the 3700x and in many gaming benchmarks even surpass it by a bit. 3: A lot of this build at this point has been centered around the motherboard, and having to change that would require changing half the parts, as even the case was specifically chosen around this motherboard. 4: But most important of all, as mentioned preivously the parts list has no GPU. We are planning to put one in later, but Ryzens don't have an IGP while Intel's CPUs do, and tossing in a GPU would require me to completely discard my entire parts list just to fit one into the budget.... which will be tossed away anyway later when a proper GPU is purchased later, on top of that being a waste I would have to start completely over, so AMD isn't really an option here. 
 
2: Obviously, if there is a good reason I should not choose some part, there is a much better similarly priced alternative, or other such advice I would want to know, that is the whole purpose of this post of course. That being said, I spent several days researching all these before I picked them, so please try to give me advice on the parts list itself instead of just completely ignoring the list and spending a few minutes putting together a completely different list. I am only saying this because people have done that before and it really does not help, especially when most of the time they don't even take the mentioned budget or constraints/uses into consideration. 
 
3: Yes, I know there are no accessories listed. We were just focusing on trying to budget in the best internals we could for now, just the essentials needed to boot the system and edit video, he already has a mouse and we are doing to see if we can find a cheap keyboard while at Microcenter for now. I have a spare monitor he can borrow in the meantime until he can get a decent one... good monitors are not cheap and would take a large chunk out of the budget otherwise. I already have a valid unused Windows key that I don't mind letting him have. 
 
Anyway, thank you if you still got through that rambling wall of text, sorry about that, here is the parts list: 
 
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/y8C4tg
 
A few explanations as to why I picked these, since that might help people give me better opinions or recommendations on any changes I could make: 
 
CPU: 
As mentioned before, I wanted to not scale back the CPU in order to budget in a lower-tier GPU as that would impact the video editing/encoding, so I went with the best CPU I could get in the budget that also had an IGP. We live near a Microcenter that sells the CPU for $300 if we buy it in-person, and an additional $30 off if we get a motherboard with it. 
 
Cooler: 
The 9700K does not come with one, and I heard (though with conflicting reports) that the 9700K runs hot, so I tried to get a pretty decent cooler that was not absurd overkill like the Noctua D15 for example. Noctua always seems to be on the top or close to the to on most reviews and have been for years... although I was surprised how the U14S was only a little cheaper than the flagship D15. I was considering the Cooler Master Hyper 212 as well due to how much cheaper it is... but it's cooling is not as great and I am worried if it can keep up with a 9700K running at full stock power, as well as worried about the paste that would come with it, I know that the paste that Noctua coolers comes with is one of the best without going into excessive overkill territory. 
 
Motherboard: 
Usually I prefer ASUS motherboards, and as this is a 9th gen Intel, I wanted to go with a Z390 chipset. However, I read reviews that ASUS dropped the ball with "Faked VRMs" this generation of motherboards ( https://www.hardocp.com/article/2019/01/06/asus_rog_maximus_xi_hero_z390_motherboard_review/7 ), so after more researching and reviews Gigabyte seemed to be the second best bet, and the one that seemed to be the best without hitting extremely high prices was the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master or the Ultra. I am a little worried about the Master however, some of the reviews on Newegg claimed quality issues with it (I didn't see those for the Ultra, but it also had less reviews so it might not have had as many people use it) but I have no idea how true those user reviews would be as none of the professional reviews I saw talked about this, many seemed to love the board. I was originally considering the Ultra as it's basically a slightly cheaper Master with slightly less features, but it's not always in stock at Microcenter for that bundle deal I mentioned while the Master is. We will still decide which one to go with there if we need any more wiggle-room in the budget. 
 
RAM: 
There was three major types I was choosing between, Patriot Viper Steel ( PVS432G320C6K ), Corsair Vengance ( CMK32GX4M4B3200C16 ), and G.Skill Trident Z ( F4-3200C16D-32GTZKW ), all three were around the same price-point give-or-take around $10-20. After asking around and getting opinions I decided to go with the G.Skill, it's what I also used myself in my build as they seemed the best option at the time so that works for me. Though I do wonder if 32GB is overkill, the biggest way to save on the budget would be to get the 16GB version, but we are going to have to upgrade it to 32GB or even higher one day as this computer is going to have to last a long time. (Another reason I wanted to not go lower-end on any of the parts if I could fit it in the budget... the Master version of that motherboard for example can go up to 128GB while the Ultra goes up to 64GB... although I don't know how useful a 9700K might be by the time 128GB is actually reasonable... by then it might be time for a while new build anyway). 
 
SSD: 
Yes I know, why SSD and not NVME? That's actually because of a total screwup that's my fault. This SSD is the one part which was already purchased in preparation for building a PC last Black Friday (plans fell through and got delayed, which is why we are doing it now), I didn't know NVME was a thing until recently, which is why I recommended this SSD back then. So we can't really change that as we already have it and it's way too late to return it. That one is set in stone. I was hoping we could also add a HDD for mass storage.... but not sure how much we can go over budget, we will be looking at the OEM drives that Microcenter has while we are there for the CPU/Motherboard. 
 
Case: 
He mentioned that he wanted to keep the option open to install a Blu-Ray drive in it eventually, so I was looking for a case with a 5-inch bay. The motherboard also has a USB-C header and while not critically important, I wanted to see if I could get a case that fit both requirements and more or less would be compatible with most of the headers of the motherboard without costing a lot. (Sadly, this invalidates the case I initially chose, the LIAN LI PC-O11, due to having no 5 inch bay). This case is the best I found that fits all those. A 5 inch bay, USB 2.0 ports, USB 3.0 ports, and now comes in a version with the USB-C upgrade already installed (Was originally an additional add-on). A little worried about temperatures though, it seems to be between the same performance to slightly worse performance than similar cases in terms of temperatures, although by removing some of the soundproofing you can increase that by about an additional 10-12 degrees. The only other one I found was a very very nice case by Cooler Master.... that was $300. 
 
PSU: 
One of the most important parts you should NEVER skimp out on IMO, a bad PSU can wreck the rest of your system. SeaSonic seemed to top most of the reviews and charts yet again that I read, and I use SeaSonic myself, been running a 2012 build nearly 24/7 flawlessly. The PRIME/Titanium line seems to be the best SeaSonic has to offer right now, so I went with that. When trying to decide on how many Watts I would need, PSU calculators seemed to show around 480-550, so to be safe I wanted to go 650, but the 750 wasn't that much more expensive and figured had good wiggle room for future updates and I wanted to account for aging since as I said he would be using this for a very long time... plus some people were recommending I would need at least 750 anyway... although I don't know if they might have just been exaggerating. 
 
So... that's it. Yeah I know, sorry about the wall of text.... again. That is what I am trying to build and all the reasons why I chose the parts I did. Does anyone have any additional comments, opinions, or ideas to make or know of why I should/should not use any of these parts or have a better replacement in mind? 
 
Thank You

[Peresvet]

This is looking good, however, I'd probably prefer a CPU with more than 8 cores for encoding even if it meant picking a previous gen CPU because of budget restrains.

 

Also, why is there no PCIe M.2. drive? 

 

You want the fastest drive possible for video editing tasks. It only has to be as large as the video files you're working with at any given time. So a fast 128-256GB m.2 drive  would  do the job nicely and not break your friend's bank account.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by Peresvet

[Cyber Akuma]

Yeah, many have been suggesting a 9900K, issue is that thing costs almost twice as much as a 9700.... but I have been looking into possible compromises in the motherboard and case along with bundle deals that might make it possible.... but that's only if the Amazon links that PcPartPicker is giving me for the PSU are genuine. They feel like they fall into the "too good to be true" category.

 

And I mentioned how I was kinda stuck with the SSD.

[Peresvet]

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB is a real beast and it only costs around $50.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Can get this Samsung 970 Evo for $90.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-500GB-MZ-V7E500BW/dp/B07BN4NJ2J/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=SSD+m.2+Samsung&qid=1568208970&s=gateway&sr=8-3

[Haggis Veteran]

You said no interest in Overclocking so why are you getting the 9700k and not just the 9700 which is about £100 cheaper

 

I have a 8700 in my server and a Noctua D15S and its cool and anything, its a great cooler and you can add an axtra fan if needed in the future

 

I have a Fractal R Deisgn Black Edition and i love it, loads of space for drives and 2 sots for 5.25" drives

 

 

 

 

[Cyber Akuma]

5 hours ago, Peresvet said:

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB is a real beast and it only costs around $50.

 

5 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

Can get this Samsung 970 Evo for $90.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-500GB-MZ-V7E500BW/dp/B07BN4NJ2J/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=SSD+m.2+Samsung&qid=1568208970&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Like I said, the problem is the SSD is already purchased.

 

5 hours ago, Haggis said:

You said no interest in Overclocking so why are you getting the 9700k and not just the 9700 which is about £100 cheaper

 

I have a 8700 in my server and a Noctua D15S and its cool and anything, its a great cooler and you can add an axtra fan if needed in the future

 

I have a Fractal R Deisgn Black Edition and i love it, loads of space for drives and 2 sots for 5.25" drives

 

 

 

 

I was originally going with a 9700, but when I last checked the prices at Microcenter there was a mere $20 difference between the 9700 and 9700K while the K was clocked higher, uses a smaller process, and uses a bit less power so I decided to go with that. Currently the 9700 is $280 at Microcenter and the 9700K is $300.

 

Although maybe have been suggesting that I consider 9900K since although that would be useless over the 9700K for gaming, it would be a significant help with video editing. I thought that was impossible at first due to the processor cost, but people are pointing out several areas I can improve on that could make it fit.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

Since the first use of the system will be for work, and you want to go with Gigabyte for the motherboard vendor, how about their C246-WU4 workstation motherboard, instead?  It costs a little more, but it also allows you to later upgrade to a Xeon CPU and ECC memory.  As a workstation-product, it should have a decent support lifecycle.

 

Everything else mentioned looked good to me.  I have used about half-a-dozen Fractal Design cases in my previous computer builds and been very happy with them.  The most recent Define series I have used is the R5 with the USB-C upgrade, which works quite well.  I would image the R6 you selected to be a good choice.  One suggestion I have there is to get the model without the side panel window, as this means you get an all-metal side panel with noise-dampening material on it, which I think would be a better choice for a computer used for work-related purposes.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Peresvet]

5 hours ago, goretsky said:

How about their C246-WU4 workstation motherboard, instead?  It costs a little more, but it also allows you to later upgrade to a Xeon CPU and ECC memory.  

That's a very good suggestion actually, although I don't think ECC ram is needed here.

 

What would be even better is finding a dual CPU workstation mobo!

[Peresvet]

12 hours ago, Cyber Akuma said:

Like I said, the problem is the SSD is already purchased

We get that, but you could still maybe try and sqeeze $30-50 for a 128 or 256 Gb m.2 drive.

 

It would make a HUGE impact on performance. Check this out yourself:

 

https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Samsung-860-Evo-500GB-vs-Adata-XPG-SX8200-Pro-NVMe-PCIe-M2-256GB/m428560vsm636955

 

I've recently bought the aforementioned ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB for a secondary household PC and at its price point, there's simply no competition there performance wise. It gives the best bang for the buck!

 

You would use a faster and smaller drive for encoding tasks and then you would store the files on a larger, but slower driver. It makes perfect sense.

 

[Daniel F. Administrators]

i don't want to rock the boat but you can get an original threadripper 1920x for £274  atm its 12core/24 thread and would be way way faster for content creation video editing/streaming.

 

But feel free to ignore this as i know your not looking at amd  

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

correct me if im wrong but isnt a GPU important for video editing? GPGPU, CUDA, etc? i realize it's probably not required, but im sure it's much much faster for editing...

[Cyber Akuma]

7 minutes ago, Daniel F. said:

i don't want to rock the boat but you can get an original threadripper 1920x for £274  atm its 12core/24 thread and would be way way faster for content creation video editing/streaming.

 

But feel free to ignore this as i know your not looking at amd  

 

I would just get a 3900x if I was going to go 12 core, but those things are impossible to find right now.

 

2 minutes ago, Jason S. said:

correct me if im wrong but isnt a GPU important for video editing? GPGPU, CUDA, etc? i realize it's probably not required, but im sure it's much much faster for editing...

 

IIRC, that depends on if you use a GPS-based encoder, I think most of them are CPU-based. Pretty sure the software he uses just uses CPU.

[Daniel F. Administrators]

1 hour ago, Cyber Akuma said:

IIRC, that depends on if you use a GPS-based encoder, I think most of them are CPU-based. Pretty sure the software he uses just uses CPU.

CPU VS GPU for Video Editing

So, which one is more important for video editing, the CPU or the GPU? Well, if you were to ask this a few years ago, it would undoubtedly be the CPU. And overall, it’s still the CPU, but a good GPU will be beneficial, especially if you’re using Premiere Pro. Adobe has constantly increased GPU use with Premiere Pro, so a modern GPU will certainly help. Considering that video encoding is a very CPU-intensive task, you’ll want most of your money to go towards the CPU. However, if you use GPU-accelerated effects in your videos, note that Premiere Pro, for example, makes use of the CUDA cores to render those effects much better. It’s actually something that depends on your specific workload. But in the end, you’ll want to spend more on the CPU, as this is what will give you the most benefit when you’re editing video.