Hi there! I am thinking about building my first PC, which will be mainly used for photo and video editing (Photoshop, Lightroom and Adobe Premiere Pro / Davinci Resolve).
Can you advise on what would be the best key components for such a build? (GPU, Processor, motherboard, monitor…)
My thought at the moment is that I should probably invest most of my budget in the processor (i9-13900k?) and then just get an “okay” GPU (maybe something from the Nvidia 30 series, or low tier 40 series, even something used??) since photo and video editing programs wouldn’t really get the most out of it anyway.
Don’t really have a clue about what motherboard would be best for the use the PC is going to have. Happy to hear suggestions and things to look for.
Finally, what would be good monitor options for color fidelity, within a reasonable budget of ~ $300?
Is there anything else that I should keep in mind when building a creator PC?
Thanks!
what’s your budget for the pc? You can look around on this website to get an idea. https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/
From my experience dell monitors are pretty accurate color wise, and you probably want IPS over VA or TN in that case too. https://pcpartpicker.com/products/monitor/#X=24000,39735&m=13&D=30000,390000&P=2,7
Thank you!
I will check those links out.
I would like to keep it around $3,000 (3,000€ since I live in Europe).
Cool, I checked out your other link! I liked the 4070TI choice, its a solid card price performance wise. I’m gonna argue with you from here so you can be sure what you want :) Let me make you a counter offer https://es.pcpartpicker.com/list/GM9b4s Are you sure you want a 13900K? I think the 13700K is enough in most cases, maybe get a better GPU from that budget save. I cut the RGB ram and instead opted for a more reasonable priced one. I also added a different cooler around the same price point from a reputable brand. I cut down the Motherboard, do you need wifi? Big cut in the storage department, this one I’m not sure what you need. In theory the smaller 2TB SSD should be enough for normal projects, with the added HDD used for completed projects, but if you’re a big data cruncher you might want to revert that, since your original SSD had a bit more performance, be it at a higher price point. I cut down the Power supply, I think 1200W was overspecced. I chose a different case cause 300€ seemed arbitrary high, but leaves you with plenty of room to build. I added some case fans. I chose a higher resolution monitor over refresh rate. You could from here either save the money from the churning or invest it in the 4080 that’s why I left both gpus in the list.
Looking forward to your reply!
Thank you so much for the feedback! this is great input.
I guess the main decision here would be: 13900k or 4080? Where should I invest more, on the CPU or the GPU? What is my workflow going to benefit from the most? My understanding was that photo and video editing software is more reliant on the processor than the GPU. What do you feel would have a bigger impact in performance?
As for the motherboard not having WIFI… I guess it is not something I strictly need as of today, but I would like the motherboard to be as future proof as possible and I don’t know if I might need it, or just want to use it for convenience, in the future. I am also thinking if I should get it with at least 2.5gbps ports. My network infrastructure doesn’t support it at the moment, but again, thinking about future proofing the setup, it might be worth it. Does that make sense?
I am happy with the cut in storage. I do have a NAS that I use for long term storage of finished products, so I don’t need that much HDD space on the PC. I think it is important to have an SSD with good performance for OS&applications, and for project files. So your proposal sounds right.
WRT the monitor, you are also right, resolution is probably more important for the kind of use I plan to give this PC than refresh rate, which I guess is only relevant for gamers. So thanks for the suggestion.
Also agree on the original power supply being overspecced, so happy with this and the other changes you suggested.
So, thanks again for the suggestions, and back to the original question: CPU or GPU? Where should the dough go? :)
13900k or 4080
now that we are in the nitty gritty, I looked around for some benchmarks.
Photoshop, Lightroom and Adobe Premiere Pro / Davinci Resolve
looks like adobe doesn't utilize the gpu too much
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photoshop no difference with better gpu https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/photo-editing-workstations/adobe-photoshop/hardware-recommendations/#gpu
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lightroom no difference with better gpu https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/photo-editing-workstations/adobe-lightroom-classic/hardware-recommendations/#gpu
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premerie pro *almost * no difference with better gpu https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/video-editing-workstations/adobe-premiere-pro/hardware-recommendations/#gpu
while davinci resolve does
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davinci resolve heavily leverages the video card https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/video-editing-workstations/davinci-resolve/hardware-recommendations/#gpu
the difference between 13900k and 13700k in photoshop and light room seems negligible to me while there is a difference in premiere pro ~ 8% slower
- https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/13th-Gen-Intel-Core-Processors-Content-Creation-Review-2369/#Photography_Adobe_Photoshop
- https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/13th-Gen-Intel-Core-Processors-Content-Creation-Review-2369/#Photography_Adobe_Lightroom_Classic
- https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/13th-Gen-Intel-Core-Processors-Content-Creation-Review-2369/#Video_Editing_Adobe_Premiere_Pro ~ 8% slower
davinci resolve 4080 vs 4070TI ~6% slower
- 4080 2478 https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4080-16gb-content-creation-review/#Video_Editing_DaVinci_Resolve_Studio
- 4070ti 2333 https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/nvidia-rtx-4070-and-4060-ti-8gb-content-creation-review/#Video_Editing_DaVinci_Resolve_Studio ~6% slower
difference calculation
I’m no expert on your software, that’s you :) And I think it shows because steel-manning an argument for a 4080 seems really hard now with the cold numbers in front of us. It is ultimately up to you and your workloads. In the past, where you more plagued by davinci resolve being slow or adobe? Are you willing to spend 33% more money(358€) on a GPU for 6% performance? (I wouldn’t) Would you spend 29% more money(150€) on 8% performance in 1 of the 3 applications? (again I wouldn’t)
Wi-Fi, 2.5gig for NAS
The motherboard I suggested has 2.5gig networking and Wi-Fi, in the original reply I wrote that I slashed that, but I checked again and the motherboard has it. You got a full size ATX motherboard, in theory you can add PCIE expansion cards for these purposes when you get to it. For more USB or additional 2.5 gig networking or wi-fi. From my experience especially wi-fi cards seem superior to the onboard wi-fi solutions from most motherboards.
example add-in cards
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How would something like this look?
