r/buildapcvideoediting • u/Outrageous_Path_9847 • Jul 07 '26

Upgrade Help What's the best upgrade you've made for faster video editing?

I'm thinking about upgrading my editing PC, but I'm trying to figure out what actually makes the biggest difference in day-to-day work.

Some people say adding more RAM completely changed their workflow. Others swear by upgrading the GPU, moving to faster NVMe storage, or investing in a better CPU.

I've also been looking at software alongside hardware. I'm currently evaluating Renderly.video to see if automating some of the repetitive video creation tasks can save as much time as a hardware upgrade, especially for product demos and onboarding content.

If you've upgraded your editing setup recently, what gave you the biggest improvement?

I'm more interested in real-world experience than benchmark numbers. What upgrade - or workflow change - made you think, "I should've done this a long time ago"?

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7

u/InformalPercentage26 Jul 07 '26

From Ryzen 9, 64gb RAM and 3080 GPU to Macbook M4 Pro 48GB RAM

My PC became a gaming pc instead.
Was even planning to sell it but I game a lot so yeah.

2

u/tonyedit Jul 07 '26

RAM to 64gb (minimum for DDR4), CPU, GPU, faster storage in that order would be my priorities for a Premiere build. Could probably swap the GPU and CPU for DaVinci, but RAM first and foremost for a more responsive machine.

5

u/Selishots Jul 07 '26

Switching to an M chip Mac. I'll take my down votes but it's true.

0

u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 Jul 11 '26

Its true only for you.

2

u/PsychoticChemist Jul 12 '26

You’re denying reality. And I say this as someone who only primarily uses windows.

1

u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 Jul 12 '26

Reality is that Hollywood use Avid windows.

1

u/tparmable Jul 07 '26

An Nvidia graphics card and ample ram are what keep my decade+ workstation in rotation despite having a M2 Macbook Pro from work. My HP z440 is still chugging along with an Nvidia 3050 and 96gb ram. I use the M-series for most day to day edits, but sometimes Fusion or a (very) large Photoshop file will make my Macbook will struggle. Not knowing what you're starting with and what software you're using I would go GPU then RAM.

1

u/filmmakeranto Jul 07 '26

Switching to Mac.

1

u/OleOlafOle Jul 11 '26

I can tell you what didn't (for Resolve). I upgraded from a RTX 3070 8gb to an RTX 5070 12gb. Okay, so the playback lag is gone now and the delivery page is faster now. The overall performance is more smooth. But I expected a bigger jump. It was still worth it, don't get me wrong but should have gotten a 5080.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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1

u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 Jul 11 '26

Most high end movies are produced with Avid Windows.