Building a powerful video editing workstation

[donquijote]

Hello everyone,

just starting out to build my first Hackintosh, but I need your advice and recommendation on the hardware components.

The workstation shall be capable of handling 4K video effortlessly, mainly while editing with Premiere Pro/Final Cut and color grading in Davinci Resolve.

Currently I own an old iMac 2011 that more and more slows down my editing process, so I'm in need of a better, higher-performance computer.

So far I found these components to be somewhat powerful:

-CPU: Intel i9 9900K
-GPU: Sapphire AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Nitro+ 8GB HBM2
-Mainboard: either ASUS PRIME Z390-A or GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

What I'm currently still in research of is: CPU cooler, RAM, HDD/SSD, power supply, fan and a fitting case.

In terms of expansion cards I want to have the option of future expandability. I decided to stay for the moment with these PCIe cards:
-two USB 3.1 cards (each three to four ports)
-one Thunderbolt 3 card (maybe the ASRock Thunderbolt 3 AIC?)
-one Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K

Would be great to hear from you, what do you think about this combination: might it work properly? which missing parts or maybe better components can you recommend? Budget I would say is around 2000 euros - better if lower, and if higher then at least I will take it into consideration

Thanks in advance!

 

[rubikcar89]

-Mainboard: either ASUS PRIME Z390-A or GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI

The ASUS Prime Z390-A is a rather low quality board. Go with the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS Pro WIFI or the ASUS Maximus XI Hero. The Z390 Designare would also be a good choice as it has two built-in Thunderbolt 3 ports.

 

[rubikcar89]

HDD/SSD

A WD Black SN750 or a Samsung 970 EVO or PRO (avoid the EVO Plus) would work.

 

[rubikcar89]

a fitting case

Any ATX case would work.

 

[donquijote]

Thanks rubikcar89 for this information!

I decided for the "GIGABYTE Z390 Designare" as mainboard and the "Samsung 970 PRO 1TB" as internal SSD.

For the RAM I'm aiming at 64GB or for the future up to 128GB. What do you think about two times the "Crucial 32GB DDR4-2666 LRDIMM"? Will it work with this configuration? Any recommendations on better options?

As of expansion cards I would like to have the option to add these in the future:
-ASRock Thunderbolt 3 AIC
-Blackmagic DeckLink Studio 4K
-Sonnet Allegro 4-Port USB 3.0
Will these cards work with the other already chosen components especially in terms of the mainboard expandability (PCIe slots)?

Case could be the Corsair Carbide 275R and power supply the Corsair AX760.

 

[rubikcar89]

128GB

The maximum ram you could use is 64 GB

 

[donquijote]

Why it says 128GB here?

Z390 DESIGNARE (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

 

[Adrian B]

If you are going to max out a motherboards RAM capacity then go for RAM on the Gigabyte RAM list for this board or from a manufacturer that has tested their specific 128GB RAM kit for this board and recommends it - you then have some comeback for dialogue with your supplier/manufacturer if you experience ram issues in the future. Worth paying a bit extra to have this. 128Gb of RAM on a consumer board is pushing the envelope.

 

[donquijote]

As far as I understand it's not a good idea to push the RAM to the maximum of the motherboard and only if someone tested it working before, right? Then I will stay for the moment with 64GB. Would two of the "Crucial 32GB DDR4-2666 LRDIMM" then fit nevertheless?

 

[Adrian B]

The Gigabyte Z390 Designare is a High spec consumer board. It has been tested by Gigabyte to work properly with a number of different RAM modules and kits from a number of suppliers.

These have been listed by Gigabyte (All good board vendors provide this information). You can see and buy the exact RAM kits that Gigabyte has confirmed pass their own validation process. Buying the correct RAM isn't as important on a cheap office computer but getting the right RAM for a video editing workstation that will use RAM to its full potential is best served by buying the RAM that is known to work really well.

No manufacturer can test every RAM kit - especially models that have still to come to market, but this list is your best option. Don't worry about buying 64GB or 128GB of known good RAM, but don't cheap out if you need this build to work at its best.

Z390 DESIGNARE (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com