Is an expensive computer overkill?

[offbeatbryce]

huh? I have the same processor in another computer and the rendering is super slow. It's the graphics card trust me

 

[UserU]

Simple things to look for in your case:
Processor: i5 or i7. You don't really need anything more powerful than an i5 if you're not completely into the editing side of things.
RAM/Memory: 8GB or more. 8GB should be fine for you.
Storage: whatever you need. 500GB, 1TB+ or more.

Don't forget SSDs. If you render to an SSD, the write times are shortened!

 

[offbeatbryce]

Don't forget SSDs. If you render to an SSD, the write times are shortened!

I don't, I render to an HDD

 

[WolfWraith]

Don't forget SSDs. If you render to an SSD, the write times are shortened!

Yeah but the $ to GB value on an SSD is significantly higher compared to a normal HDD not to mention that I would never ever recommend using an SSD for any important data, once the SSD dies, the data is gone for good, unlike a HDD which still gives you a chance to retrieve your data even if only a portion of it. If they were going for an ideal setup it would have to be an SSD + HDD but a normal HDD will be fine in their case. That said, SSDs are just too expensive to use as an alternative to HDDs for storage.

 

[Maksim]

Yes, many new PCs are overkill, but there are things you can do.

Really it depends on how long of videos you are doing.

If you are mostly doing 2 to 5 min videos, the encoding times are not bad anyway. If you are doing long videos, it may mean a few hours to process.

In reality, any computer will be just fine, as long as it is about 3 years old or so.

In any case, no matter the processor, make sure you have a LOT of RAM as that would be your bottle neck.

Depending on the software you are using, will also dictate if investing in an expensive graphics card makes a difference. Some use the GPU to help encode, others do not.

Get an SSD, even if a small one to do the video work. Then store it on your HDD. I just bought two cheap 120 gig SDDs on Amazon for $45 each or so.

 

[FiREWiRE]

It all depends on what you film with, what you edit with, and the level of editing you're doing. If you're filming with somewhere between a 1080p camera and 4k, you'll want a computer that can render those types of videos. One thing I noticed when I was editing on an older laptop is that sometimes the editor will slow down a lot and you won't be able to tell if what you edited looks good or not, so that could be another reason to switch to an expensive computer. But say you filmed a 720p vlog, and didn't intend doing some crazy Casey Neistat editing, well than a cheaper desktop or laptop would be just fine.

 

[James Doppler]

If you want it a bit cheaper and don't want to build, there are some decent alternatives to Dell out there that sell them prebuilt. CyberpowerPC is good, I've heard. Amazon also has good deals, but I can't stress enough that you should read the reviews.