Trying to build an editing+motion design+3d character animation machine

[Gaurav]

Hi, I am Gaurav. A freelance motion designer and video editor from India. I'm looking for a config which helps me get through editing, motion design and animation softwares.

Most of my current work depends on after effects and premiere pro. But with this new machine I'd also like to explore DaVinci resolve and blender/Maya. I currently work on a 10yr old Lenovo z570 which didn't pose a problem until I went freelance this year. Now it's become unbearable for me to sit and watch a 1 min video render for almost an hour and a half.

I'm looking for a performance build under 2500-3500$ budget. I would also love to know your thoughts on whether I should build a PC or go for a laptop under that budget.

Thank you all for reading. Looking forward to your suggestions

 

[Alex Glawion]

Well, you'll have considerably higher performance on a Desktop PC vs a Laptop at the same price point. So if you don't need mobility as much, a desktop PC should be the clear way to go.

Here's a PC-Build suggestion that would run your workloads well:

CGDirector.com Parts List: https://www.cgdirector.com/pc-builder/?=6MM8n

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor ($745.00)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($89.90)
Motherboard: MSI X570 Tomahawk ATX AM4 ($252.61)
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB - MSI Gaming X Trio ($1115.99)
Memory: 64GB (4 x 16GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 C16 ($232.99)
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 2TB M.2 Solid State Drive ($227.90)
Power Supply: EVGA 650 B5, 80 Plus Bronze 650W Power Supply ($59.99)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275Q ATX Mid Tower Case ($169.99)
Total: $2894.37

Granted, the GPU is last-gen, and if you can find, say a 3060Ti, 3070 or above for less than what the 3080 above costs, then go for it. Maybe get a stronger PSU (850W) for any 3xxx-gen GPU.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[noisywan]

Hi, your pc builder applet is quite helpful.
I just noticed that the newest Intel CPU it recommends is 10900K 3.6Ghz.
Is this on purpose or the applet database is not updated yet with 11th and 12th gen processors? (I looked for a timestamp on the page but couldn't find any. )

 

[Alex Glawion]

Hi, your pc builder applet is quite helpful.
I just noticed that the newest Intel CPU it recommends is 10900K 3.6Ghz.
Is this on purpose or the applet database is not updated yet with 11th and 12th gen processors? (I looked for a timestamp on the page but couldn't find any. )

It's partly on purpose. We haven't gotten around to adding 12th gen yet, and we purposely skipped 11th gen as that gen didn't make much sense in comparison to AMD's offerings and was almost never recommended in the builder anyway. The builder calculates its recommendations itself based on benchmark scores.

We are adding 12th gen as we speak.