PC build for editing | davinci resolve

[zerocool22]

Hi guys,

So my pc is getting old around 5 years now. Playback rate is not that great in davinci resolve to the point I am losing too much time, still running an amd ryzen 1700x and gtx1080, SSD's and 32GB RAM. 
Not sure if there are any major breakthroughs that have sped up your editing workflow through your pc hardware lately.

Thinking about getting an i9 14900k and an rtx 4070. But open to any advice!

Thanks!

[zerocool22]

Oh I do have an m1 macbook lying around, but I never use it. I prefer windows. 
But if it works better, I might need to switch.

[eatstoomuchjam]

In my experience, if you're editing on a laptop - and especially if you want to do it while not plugged in, modern Macbooks are really hard to beat.  My M2 Max is good enough that I no longer see any reason that I'd keep a desktop computer around (I still have one for gaming and if selling it wouldn't be a big pain, I'd probably do that since I boot it up about once per month).

On the other hand, if you want the highest price to performance (and absolute highest performance) on a desktop computer, PC hardware is more powerful - and in many cases, you will be able to upgrade pieces instead of needing to upgrade the entire unit.

As far as your proposed spec, I think you'll be unbalanced in favor of a very high-end processor and a mid-range graphics card.  You might consider a somewhat lesser CPU, again knowing that upgrading in the future will be an option if needed.  Do you plan to overclock the CPU?  If not, there's not much benefit to a K vs non-K variant.

One other consideration might be whether you plan to use any of the "AI" features that are being added to Resolve.  If so, it might be worth considering one of the newer Intel Core Ultra chips (if the price difference isn't huge) since the main "benefit" of them over 14th generation is that they have a coprocessor for machine learning.  I have no idea if Resolve can even use it yet, but even if it doesn't yet, it's a safe bet that BMD will add support in the near future.

Anyway, that setup will be night and day faster than what you're using now.  You definitely won't be going wrong with it.

[Yannick Willox]

The machine you are suggesting should be a lot quicker than what you have …

i have something that is 50% slower and I edit 10 cams of 4K braw. Realtime noise reduction is only 8-10 fps, but your 4070 should handle that if you need to.

your bottleneck could be the SSD. Make sure your buy a nvme M2 big enough for your working projects. SATA ssd can be too slow.

[stephen]

You can use Davinci Resolve practically with any mid range or even low specs PC or laptop and still have smooth scrubbing and editing experience by just changing a few settings. You can find which ones in Learn Color Grading youtube channel. The only difference between different PC or MAC configurations would be the export times. Faster and more powerful PC or Mac will give you shorter export times. 

In the comments of the following video you can find benchmark results from different generations and configurations of Apple Arm chips and PC builds as well, how their export times compare to each other. You can benchmark and compare your current configuration if you are curious. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aKttjfY-Og

Was in a similar position as you, considering PC upgrade. Bought second hand Mac Studio instead for several reasons

• good price - 1500 E for a well specked machine - Mac Studio M2 Max 12 Core CPU, 30 Cores GPU, 64 Gb RAM. Not willing to spend 4000-5000 E for a brand new MAC machine with similar specs. 64Gb RAM is a must. 1500E though is a very good price and I don't mind buying second hand. SSD test showed it is in really good shape with lots of write cycles left.
• get some firsthand experience with arm processors and have at least one machine running Mac OS. Always wanted to try those Apple Arm processors, they are so efficient and fast.
• VirtualBox which I use professionally can now run on Apple Arm CPUs.
• use it as a video / photo editing machine, as my PC build is relatively old - i7 9700K with Radeon 6600 8Gb.
• run some local AI models, do some research in this area, related to my professional work. Apple ARM CPUs have unified memory with fast access which makes them really good to run AI models. They can’t do AI training though.
• Mac Studio has a replaceable SSD. If at one point in time mine dies I can still buy one from Apple or from alternative source for cheaper price. It doesn't have screen, keyboard and doesn't move so in theory it should be less prone to failure.
• Apple ARM CPUs and Graphics have hardware decoding for x265, which is another bonus for video editing compared to my older PC

It is small, dead silent and runs everything so fast and smooth that I really don't need anything better. Mac OS has it quirks and if you've been a PC user for a long time, you'll need some time to adapt. Maybe in the future I still will upgrade my PC but currently Mac Studio is my main machine for video editing.