Find Your Best Desktop Computer For Video Editing

Desktop computers are a great choice for editing family videos or filming. They offer excellent performance and cost less than laptops. These desktop computers also offer seamless rendering, high-resolution screens, enough RAM for multitasking and ample storage, all of which are essential to unleashing creativity.

Important Considerations

The best desktop computer for video editing will depend on the type of content that you are creating. A YouTube how-to series requires less processing power than a feature film, or video created for virtual reality. You’ll need to have a computer that is fast enough to meet your deadlines if you are producing commercials.

Your desktop computer should be able to support all your creative tools. Video editing software, for example, requires lots of RAM. Multitasking creative applications such as those for creating graphics and manipulating still images will require even more.

Consider the type of external hard drive you will use. You may not require an external hard drive for small projects that were shot on a smartphone, or only to be used online. If the video files are small, you may be able to upload them directly onto your computer.

However, larger projects require more processing power and storage. Transferring your working files onto a storage drive with high performance can be a great way to extend the capabilities of your computer. A good bulk storage system will accommodate large files for archiving completed projects and raw footage.

Video Editing PC Specifications

The higher the performance and speed of the PC used for video editing, the better the output quality. Let’s look closer at the basic specs.

• Processor.

The clock speed of your computer’s processor affects the ability to edit your content. The higher your frequency, the better you will be able to run creative applications and edit project files. You’ll need more processing power for a more complex editing project. This is especially true if you are editing 4K video footage that has large files. A high-performance processor will be essential if you want to perform color corrections, add effects, use layers, import graphics or add transitions.

Rendering video project files is required between each edit. You could, for example, cut raw footage and render your project. You can then add a graphic layer to your project and render it again. Then you could do a color correction pass, and then render again. Your computer’s rendering and exporting capabilities are affected by the number of cores in your processor. These tasks are performed faster with more cores.

• Graphics card. 

The graphics processing abilities of your computer are critical to video editing. A integrated graphics card provides high-resolution displays and accurate color gamuts for color correction. You can use multiple monitors to access bins of clips, files and other items.

• Memory. 

If you are under a deadline, the computer’s RAM, or memory will allow you to work quickly, render large files and produce high-quality results. Memory is not the same as storage, where you store files. If you do not have enough memory on your computer, even if it has plenty of storage space, creative software can crash. Memory is especially important if you are using several creative software applications at the same time.

• Display. 

The ability to see accurate color is crucial for editing video in any application. This includes posting videos on social media or producing a documentary film. A computer screen that matches the resolution of your video footage is required. Standard high-definition (HD) video has a resolution of 1920×1080, and 4K video is four times the pixel resolution(3840×2160).

• Storage capacity and performance. 

Video creation generates many large files. The raw video footage becomes even larger when you add graphics, sound, and effects. It’s important to have both a reliable bulk storage system and a storage solution that is high-performance for your working files.

Storage drives can be divided into two types. Hard disk drives have arms that are equipped with multiple “heads”. These read and write data onto spinning disks. These drives offer a cost-effective way to archive final projects and raw footage. Solid-state drives do not have moving parts. Since you do not have to wait until the platters start spinning, they dramatically reduce access time. You can quickly sift raw footage and edit huge files directly from the drive.

• I/O Ports and connectivity. 

Video Editing requires a computer that has high-performance ports to allow monitors, external storage devices, speakers and other peripherals.

The connection speed is important. With computers that have a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port (10GbE), you can easily transfer large video files to your storage drive. With PCs that are Wi-Fi 6 enabled, you can upload video files quickly and securely to the cloud.