I’m looking to build a powerful water-cooled AMD editing rig on a £2000 budget. As a video editor, I need a system that can handle 4K footage and effects work smoothly. In this article, I’ll go over my component choices and considerations for building the ideal editing workstation within my budget constraints.
Selecting the Right AMD CPU
The CPU is the most important component for video editing, as it handles all the timeline playback and effects. For AMD, the Ryzen 9 series offers the best performance for the price. I compared a few options:
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AMD Ryzen 9 5900X – 12 cores/24 threads, up to 4.8 GHz boost. The top-tier consumer Ryzen CPU. Provides amazing multi-core performance for the price.
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AMD Ryzen 9 5950X – 16 cores/32 threads, up to 4.9 GHz boost. The ultimate AMD consumer chip. Overkill for just editing, and costs £300 more than the 5900X.
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AMD Ryzen Threadripper – More cores, but requires more expensive TRX40 motherboards. Not cost effective for my budget gaming/editing build.
After comparing benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 5900X offers the best balance of price and performance. The 12-core, 24-thread chip handles multi-tasking and effects easily.
Finding an AMD Motherboard for Overclocking
Since I want to overclock the CPU for extra performance, the motherboard needs to have strong VRMs and power delivery. The X570 and B550 chipsets are best for overclocking AMD CPUs. I compared three options:
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Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite – A mid-range X570 board with decent VRMs. Reliable but less cooling. £190.
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MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge WiFi – Feature-rich B550 board with good VRMs. Extra USB and wireless. £170.
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Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi – One of the best B550 boards. Excellent VRMs, cooling and overclocking. £190
The Asus ROG Strix B550-F seems ideal – it has beefy VRMs to push the 5900X while staying under budget. The B550 chipset includes all the PCIe 4.0 lanes I need too.
Choosing Fast Low-Latency DDR4 RAM
For Ryzen systems, fast RAM is important to prevent CPU bottlenecks. 3600 MHz CL16 seems to be the sweet spot for price/performance. I compared a few options:
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Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600 – Basic low profile RAM without RGB. £135.
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G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600 – Solid RAM with RGB lighting. £165.
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Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600 – High end RAM with amazing looks. £210.
The G.Skill Trident Z Neo hits the right balance – just £30 more than basic RAM for nice RGB aesthetics that fit my build theme. 32GB ensures I won’t run out while editing 4K video.
Picking the Right GPU for Rendering Effects
The GPU accelerates rendering and effects in Premiere Pro and After Effects. I don’t need a top-end gaming card, but at least 8GB VRAM is recommended:
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NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti – Newest midrange card. Excellent performance but hard to find in stock. Around £400.
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AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT – Great 1080p/1440p gaming and rendering. Cheaper at around £350 now.
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NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super – Proven GPU with 8GB VRAM. Founders Edition is under £400.
The RTX 2060 Super seems like the best option – cheaper than the 3060 Ti and readily available. It handles rendering well while fitting my budget. The 8GB VRAM is critical for 4K editing.
Choosing the Right SSDs for Fast Scratch Disks
For video editing, you want fast NVMe SSDs for scratch disks and footage. I’ll use one drive for boot and one dedicated for scratch:
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Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB – My favorite high-speed PCIE 3.0 drive for Windows and programs. Reads up to 3500 MB/s. £130.
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WD Black SN750 1TB – Budget NVMe with read speeds over 3000 MB/s. Good scratch disk option at £110.
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Samsung 980 Pro 1TB – Blazing fast new PCIe 4.0 SSD. Up to 7000 MB/s reads. Overkill for my needs at £180+.
The budget WD Black SN750 is perfect for a dedicated Premiere Pro scratch disk. Paired with the 970 Evo Plus for boot, this storage combo offers great real-world video editing performance without breaking the bank.
Custom Cooling Loop Parts Breakdown
Here’s a quick rundown of the parts I’ll need for a custom cooling loop:
- Pump – Laing DDC 3.2 PWM – Reliable and powerful. £90.
- Radiator – EK CoolStream PE 360 – Quality thick radiator for CPU cooling. £80.
- CPU Block – EK Velocity – Great block compatible with AM4 sockets. Acrylic top looks nice. £70.
- Fittings & Tubing – 10x EK fittings, 2 meters of soft tubing. Should cover the full loop. About £100 total.
- Coolant – EK CryoFuel Clear premix. 1L will be plenty. £15.
Altogether the cooling setup will cost around £350. This leaves enough room in my budget for the other components and keeps the AMD 5900X icy cool for heavy workloads.
Putting It All Together!
Based on my research and comparisons, here is a complete part list that should build an excellent water-cooled AMD editing rig within a £2000 budget:
|Type|Item|Price|
|:-|:-|:-|
|CPU|AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor|£449.99 @ Scan.co.uk|
|Motherboard|Asus ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard|£188.48 @ Ebuyer|
|Memory|G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory|£162.99 @ Newegg UK|
|Storage|Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive|£131.99 @ Amazon UK|
|Storage|Western Digital Black SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive|£108.99 @ Amazon UK|
|Video Card|Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card|£369.99 @ Technextday|
|Custom|Laing DDC 3.2 PWM Pump|£89.99 @ Scan.co.uk|
|Custom|EK CoolStream PE 360mm Radiator|£79.99|
|Custom|EK-Velocity AM4 CPU Waterblock|£69.99|
|Custom|Fittings, tubing, coolant etc.||
|Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts||
|Total|£1652.40||
This powerful Ryzen editing rig has the multi-core performance, RAM, SSD speeds, and GPU power I need for smooth 4K editing and effects. With the custom cooling loop keeping the CPU chilled, I’ll be able to overclock the 5900X for some extra rendering power during long project sessions. Right around £2000 for everything!
Let me know if you have any other component recommendations. I’m pretty happy with these parts, but I’m open to suggestions before I start buying. Excited to get building!
