Want buttery smooth playback for 4k footage on AFX/Premiere

[aphamfx]

Hello! I'm from Australia and in the animation/film industry. I work as an editor and motion graphic artist. Unfortunately, I lack the knowledge when it comes to the technical side of things and was hoping for some guidance. (Love your website and posts, and have learnt a lot!)

Issue/concern
Our computer at work is sluggish when it comes to playback in AFX/Premiere when dealing with HD and especially 4k footage (so we always have to rely on proxies). I just want to be able to preview my work without always having to pause and to be able to render and export my projects faster - is that possible? Or are proxies the only solution?

Main workload
Adobe AfterEffects for motion graphics using HD and 4k+ assets. (Motion tracking, rotoscoping, animation)

Secondary workloads
Video editing in Premiere Pro (animatics and MVs), Photoshop, Lightroom, inDesign, Illustrator, and recently we've been using Blender for 3D modelling and lighting.

More context
I'm always running at least two to three Adobe softwares at a time especially when it comes to 'dynamic linking' between Premiere and AFX or having Media Encoder exporting in the background so that I can multitask projects. Our projects/provided assets are starting to get bigger too, so I'm also worried about that. (We were given RED footage for our latest project, and that was a real struggle even with proxies and we've got some live-action TV series in development and almost in production that'll eventually come our way)

Budget
At the moment we don't have a specific budget as I was told to get what I think is best, so I've chosen the highest cost in the PC builder for the time being.

Future proof
Ideally we'd like to have this PC future-proof for as long as possible and be able to upgrade further down the track when necessary.

Purchasing Parts
Friendly reminder that I'm from Australia, so I'm not too sure how much of a difference these parts suggested will affect me. But I'll be shopping online for what's a reasonable/affordable price.

I hope this information helps! Please let me know if you need more!

This is the PC build I was recommended when I put the build for AFX.

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

• CPU: Intel Core i9 13900K 3.0GHz 24-Core Processor ($569.97)
• CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($89.90)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z690 Aero D ATX LGA1700 ($319.99)
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 4090 24GB - MSI Gaming ($1649.99)
• Memory: 64GB (2x32GB) G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 CL30 ($249.99)
• Storage SSD: Samsung 860 QVO 2TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($257.99)
• Storage PCIe-SSD: WD Black SN850X 2TB NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive ($149.99)
• Power Supply: Corsair RMx Series RM1000x 1000W ATX Power Supply ($253.47)
• Case: Fractal Design Define R5 Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($147.50)
• Total: $3688.79

 

[Jerry James]

• CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 ($89.90)

Switch out the cooler to something like a Noctua nh-d15 or something. It'll handle the heat spewed by the Core i9 13900K better.
Other than that, seems like a very solid build for video editing.

PS. Also check your RAM usage in After Effects. It uses quite a bit of RAM and some your slowdowns could be caused by AE being forced to move out of memory, into page file.

 

[aphamfx]

Thanks so much for your reply and help! Most appreciated and will definitely give that a go. =]