Things to consider before buying a Content creation PC

If you're a new content creator or an experienced one you will have to ask yourself "What system would suit me best for content creation purposes?"

This is the question that everyone in the field of content creation asks at some point and not just once multiple times. Why? Because tech is improving constantly.

How to choose the right system?

Let's start by discussing stuff that will impact your content creation processes. I will be covering different aspects such as system requirements, performance tweaks and indicators and system preferences in Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Technology is always evolving. It's pretty difficult to select the right components that are future proof and deliver good price to performance value. People overspend on extra HDDs when you can spend that money on good quality SSDs.

Anyways, you need to consider the minimum system requirements of Adobe Premiere Pro and After effects.

Since Adobe releases new versions every year make sure you are in touch with the latest system specs:

The kind of content creation you do regularly should define your pc configuration. Let's divide the type of content creation into 3 types:

Beginner

Simple content that doesn't require much editing skills. (Video Cut pasting etc).

Intermediate

Some creativity involved with colour grading and vid transitions usually utilized by Youtubers, ad agencies and other corporations with some graphics and effects included.

Expert

3D remodelling, motion graphics artists and visual effects artist and editors use this kind of content creation.

Questions to ask:

How much is your usage of Premiere Pro and After effects?

Determining this phenomenon will help you choose your CPU, GPU and RAM.

Core clock vs Clock speeds?

After-effects depends on your Core clock speed. While Premiere Pro makes use of higher thread count.

No of displays

If you're working with multiple displays then you need a system with enough power to deliver that throughput to those displays. So choose wisely, although an ultra-wide monitor is better than dual or triple display setups.

The Resolution you'll be working on

If you render your content at 1080P there is no need to get an 8K system with Dual GPUs and all. Your workflow is the defining factor.

Playback and storage performance

Your storage drive speed is of utmost importance. Data needs to travel from GPU to CPU and vice versa so definitely look into investing in SSDs and NVMEs.

Multiple CPUs and GPUs?

Even though Premiere pro supports multiple processors and multiple GPUs. With the coming of Intel i7 and I9 series, Xeon E and AMD's ThreadRipper series processors, it's rare to see pcs with multiple processors and GPUs. However, Premiere Pro can work with Three GPUs but that's also pretty rare. After-effects, on the other hand, uses only a single core so make sure you get a processor with high clock speeds.

With all these questions answered. Here are some recommendations of PC according to your workflow and use case:

Beginner

Ryzen 5 3600
MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200MHz
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB for OS
Adata XPG S40G 1TB
GTX 1650 Super
Corsair CV650

Intermediate

Ryzen 3700X
MSI X570 A-Pro
64GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200MHz
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB for OS
Adata XPG S40G 2TB
RTX 2080 Super
Corsair RM650x

Expert

Ryzen Threadripper 3970X
Aorus Xtreme TRX40
128GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3600Mhz
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB for OS
Adata XPG S40G 2TB
RTX Titan
Corsair RM1000x

These specs have been recommended by PCLab and you can get your beginner and intermediate specs from them by going at this link: https://www.facebook.com/pclabpk

Let us know what PC specs are you using or planning to buy for your content creation purposes in the comment section. We'd love to hear from you!

You can also check out Things to consider before buying a Gaming PC