BEST "STUDYING" HARDWARE CONFIGURATION / EARLY 2018

Hello there!

I'm an indipendent documentarian and editor from Turin, Italy.

After many years of macbook life (which once was necessary due to me using fcp) i decided to come back to pc in order to build something powerful I couldn't afford by adopting apple systems...

I have now the chance to study new post-production systems and I'd like to go deeper in after effects, ad especially davinci resolve...

so

my question is

what should the best config i can get for 3500$, a reference monitor included, considering that i'm making this to practice, working on my project and starting working on low-medium budget projects...
so i'd like something really powerful to work smoothly but i don't see myself working on high end stuff anytime soon...
so ram / graphics / monitor and stuff...

THANK YOU!

v

i7 8700K overclocked with good cooling
GTX 1080 8GB
32GB good RAM
3 or 4x 4TB HDD in RAID 0 (don't forget backup source files)
decent (e.g. Samsung PRO) SSD for system drive

Monitor wise- this is tricky. As for start I would go easy and get something which can be hardware calibrated- some eg. Dell. If you need just HD then maybe Eizo or NEC. You can also get LG OLED TV which will also do HDR.

Maybe others have better recommendation- I'm not an expert.

You can get a decent setup for HD for that price that will work for some UHD material, but I would say good UHD monitoring is out of the question. Andrew's PC specs are good, but graphics card prices are nuts currently.

For the monitor, something like the HP DreamColor Z27x is good, unless you can find a used broadcast monitor with a better display. True 10-bit, full Rec. 709 coverage, hardware calibration.

Are those DreamColor any good? I only heard bad opinions about them and I know top VFX place which tries every new model, but they always stay with Eizo+NEC.

Are those DreamColor any good? I only heard bad opinions about them and I know top VFX place which tries every new model, but they always stay with Eizo+NEC.

Not really, there are issues which have been well documented online. A bad example, but it's easier to remember offhand than Eizo/NEC model numbers. After buying a new PC, I don't think OP will have enough money left for a genuinely decent monitor either way, though.

This PC should be about 2K$ (or maybe I'm to optimistic), so 1.5K$ is enough for decent "PC" monitor, specially just HD one.

don't think OP will have enough money left for a genuinely decent monitor

I think my Flanders 2416 was around $4-$5K when I bought it all those years ago. Maybe the OP can find a previously-enjoyed one, now that the industry has moved on from cold-cathode fluoro.

Otherwise, the new line of 4K LG displays that support direct digital control and internal LUTs might become a credible option -- if you can also afford the C6 probe and CalMan software... which is going to run you another couple of K's.

Still, this is nothing, peanuts, in the greater scheme of things... given the price point that we used to associate with Standard bearers, and of course there are still displays out there in the exotic-sports car budget range.

jPo, CSI

This PC should be about 2K$ (or maybe I'm to optimistic), so 1.5K$ is enough for decent "PC" monitor, specially just HD one.

With American prices more like $3000, assuming he has nothing now. Very bad time to buy, unfortunately.

It's about 2.2K£, so is this going to be 3K$ in USA?

See if you can pick up a BenQ PG2401PT with on board 3D Luts for hardware calibration. We have been using one as our reference with DaVinci for several years now and it has recouped it's cost a hundred fold.

24" 10bit IPS with dedicated Rec.709 input. We use ours with 12G SDI Decklink 4K Pro and a SDI to Display Port converter. There is a new native 4K model out now also with 14bit LUTs, the SW271 - check it out: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... hd_4k.html