Blackmagic Forum

What's a good desktop system for Resolve Studio? Started speccing out a build and but parts selling for way over the list a pre-built system looks like a better deal. The system will be dedicated to audio and video editing. My laptop run DAW's ok but I need something with a good external graphics card for video editing. i7-11700 or older i7-10700 or Ryzen 7 5800 and Nvidia RTX 3070 look like the sweet spot for cost and performance. Seems odd to run an AMD processor with NVIDIA graphic but it's supposed to run ok and RX GPUs have a bad rep for reliability.
How would you spec out a dedicate system to run Resolve Studio and Reaper. I'll probably keep using Reaper for audio-only projects. Open to other suggestions 1660ti and lower spec cpu may even be enough


Ryzen™ 7 5800
RTX 3070 or RX 6800 XT
32 GB RAM
512 GB SSD

i7-11700 or older i7-10700
RTX 3070
32 GB RAM
512 GB SSD


off lease workstation with one of the Xenon W series chips and Quadro graphics
W-2123/ W-2225
Quaddro P2200/ P4000
32 GB RAM
512 GB SSD

or>

Either of the first two.

What are you editing? The big difference between your first options is the updated Quick Sync on the 11th generation Intel CPUs. If you avoid the non IGPU chips. Right now that's the only thing that can hardware decode 4.2.2 HEVC. If you need that or might need that you choice is likely made. Go with the 11700

Other than that pick whatever works out cheaper. Prices are such a mess right now.

Thanks. Sound like 11700 and RTX is a good option. Didn't know that about Quick Sync. Going to start with basic video editing trimming clips, transitions, cropping, inserting clips, setting points, color corrections, and exporting. Basic stuff, most systems will run but I want something I can expand to and use for a couple of years. For audio, I create tracks, record and gauge audio volume, input sound effects, and music, mix, edit, and adjust levels. and export. Friends been editing video and audio on Resolve and I like the idea of an all-in-one program.

I would choose the second.

And then add more drives.

Puget Systems in Washington has a great list of components that they provide for medium-to-large Resolve systems:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommende ... esolve-187

Even if you don't buy what they're selling, I think there's some good advice there. There are also some pro Resolve dealers that will custom-build a workstation designed specifically for post. Some include:

https://www.adkvideoediting.com
https://bizon-tech.com/
https://www.boxx.com/solutions/media-an ... ci-resolve
https://www.colorscene.com/pages/turn-key-systems
http://www.devilanddemon.com/
https://www.digitalstorm.com/workstatio ... diting.asp
https://www.itcreations.com/
https://www.mediaworkstations.net/
http://www.vfxtechnologies.com/
https://zworkstations.com

It's fair to say a great system for Resolve will also work fine for Premiere or Avid or a lot of other post software. And there are always affordable options available.

Jim Simon wrote:I would choose the second. And then add more drives.

It's true: we must have somewhere around $50K in storage at this point, and we're by no means a big company. I look at it this way: 10-12 years ago, a really fast 80TB RAID would cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, it's a few thousand dollars. I count my blessings that technology is as affordable as it is.

When I went to school, Avid was an $80,000 system. You couldn't buy the software alone.

Now for about 10x less, we can buy cameras, computer, software and produce Cinema quality results.

I love that!