Hardwire PC Build Guide: Making A Video Editing PC Under INR 1 Lakh

Have you ever tried editing an Ultra HD resolution video on a generation-old PC or laptop? It’s like running a marathon with a bag full of iron bricks. One moment, you are cutting the clip and your system freezes without warning. You start questioning all your life choices. Forget this, your PC is processing everything, even during basic colour grading and you also feel it’s time for an upgrade. But wait, does that mean selling a kidney? Absolutely not, unless you are entering Apple’s showroom.

You can actually build a high-performance editing PC for less than INR 1 lakh without resorting to desperate measures. Unlike gaming PCs, where it’s all about flashy RGB and FPS bragging rights, an editing machine only needs a sharp brain, not just a brawn. A powerful processor, high-speed RAM and a decent GPU are your best buddies here because no one wants to stare at a frozen preview window and count deadlines. With the right components, you can glide through 4K edits, render timelines smoothly and even add effects without your system crying for mercy.

The best part?

You don’t have to compromise. With some smart component choices, you can build a beastly editing rig that handles Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and After Effects like a pro, all while staying under budget. So, if you are ready to leave lag, crashes and endless render times in the past, let’s dive into the ultimate budget-friendly build that will make editing feel like a breeze.

Core components

Processor (CPU)

Choosing the CPU is one of the most crucial decisions when building a PC. So, go as high as you can in this department. I selected two options in this price range, one was AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (not a 3D version) and the other was AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (8-core, 16-thread). The price difference between these processors was negligible (approximately INR 1,500), so I picked the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X over all the options. It was available for INR 19,500 on Amazon India.

It has high single-core performance as well as the best multi-core performance in this range and the processor is clocked from 3.5GHz to 4.7GHz.

Graphics card (GPU)

The GPU is the superpower of an editing PC. This is another expensive investment and it can capture 1/4th of your total expenses. The GPU selection is more interesting than the CPU selection. In this price range, I also selected two GPUs: one was the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB) and the other was the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB). The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 was costing more than INR 34,000 at this time but the Zotac GeForce RTX 3060 was just INR 25,000.

The price difference was much bigger than the brand value. In fact, Zotac graphics cards are also based on NVIDIA’s architecture. So, you will get almost the same performance on both cards but I picked Zotac because of the price.

Motherboard

After spending a massive amount of money on the GPU and CPU, let’s burn more on the motherboard so that it can hold the two other components. In this budget, we can buy the MSI B550M Pro-VDH Wi-Fi but the MSI B550M doesn’t support DDR5 RAM. However, a decent-quality, high-frequency DDR4 RAM will be enough to handle all the editing data. The price of the MSI B550M Pro-VDH Wi-Fi is somewhere around INR 10,000.

Cooling options

Heavy processing units also produce heat and at this point, we require a decent master fan to cool down the system and keep it away from overheating and CPU throttling. This is one of the cheapest but also the most important components of an editing PC.

In the budget range, rather than going with a flashy design, you can pick an effective turbofan. After analysing all the options, I am picking the Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED Turbo (Air Cooler). Rather than going with the Black Edition version, you can pick a base version with RGB lights. The current price of this Turbo is INR 1,899 on Amazon India.

RAM

A minimum of 32GB RAM is required for entry-level editing. The Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2X16GB) DDR4 3200MHz RAM will be enough to handle all the high-bit 4K data. In fact, you will be able to edit and colour-grade RAW footage from cinema cameras. The price of the RAM is INR 8,000.

Storage

If you are building a custom PC, you can divide the storage into two options: one for fast processing and another for regular storage to save money. However, dividing your storage into primary and secondary affects the overall performance because of slow data transfer from one part to another. Instead, you can opt for one storage option and it should be SSD only.

Some people prefer SSD for OS and software and secondary storage for saving data, but we will go for SSD only because timing and stamina are more important than storage size. Multiple brands sell SSDs but my pick is the Samsung 980 NVMe SSD. We will go with a 1TB storage size for the OS, storage and project files.

The price of this SSD is INR 6,790 on Amazon India.

Power supply

My first pick will be the Corsair CX650M 650W 80+ Bronze. It is a reliable power supply with enough headroom. It comes with less noise technology so that you can focus on your work. I have seen many gamers use this power supply as their first option. The price of the power supply is INR 5,000.

As of now, we have already spent roughly INR 76,189 and have covered all the important components. This price can increase or decrease according to the current demand and offers in the market. Now, we have roughly INR 24,000 in our pocket and we need to add more components to make our PC alive.

Cabinet

Now it’s time to buy a home for the powerful components. There are many fancy cabinets you can buy but only if you can exceed your budget beyond INR 1 lakh. In the past, I have used multiple Ant Esports products and they are sturdy and value for money. A tower cabinet will be better here and you can buy the Ant Esports ICE-511MT (Mid-Tower) cabinet. The price of this cabinet will be around INR 3,500.

Keyboard

For long-term use, I suggest buying a mechanical keyboard with number keys. You can buy the Cosmic Byte CB-GK-16 Firefly Mechanical Keyboard for INR 2,000 only.

Mouse

An editor spends most of their time with a mouse and during Photoshop, a mouse with an accurate sensor helps a lot. Otherwise, you will face latency. You can buy an ASUS ROG gaming mouse but it is expensive. Instead, you can buy the Logitech G102 Lightsync, worth INR 1,500.

Monitor

Acer, Asus, Samsung and BenQ make decent-quality monitors but LG’s Ultrawide range is one of the best for editing purposes. An ultrawide monitor helps editors cover more areas and by using the standard colour mode, they can select real colours. A 29-inch LG Ultrawide Full HD monitor costs roughly INR 17,999.

So, we have exhausted the budget and the estimated price of our Hard Editing PC is INR 1,01,118 only. You can also customise your PC with the same specifications for less if you get better deals on the components.

This PC is powerful enough to handle all editing tasks. However, to run heavy editing on software like Blender 3D, you may require even more powerful specifications.

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