Budget desktop build for video editing

Hey there. I need a new rig for video editing. My old Intel Core i7-4790, which served me well enough back at Home Depot, has officially hit retirement age. I’m trying to put together a build on a budget, but it needs to handle 4K footage reasonably well. I’m not doing heavy color grading or crazy VFX; this machine is strictly for basic assembly and cutting.
From what I gather, Intel 12th Gen processors have decent integrated graphics, so I figured I could hold off on a discrete GPU for a while. Here is the configuration I've drafted. Any suggestions on where to swap things out to save cash, or perhaps where I should spend a little more to avoid bottlenecks? I need this thing to be reliable and quiet—I don't mind paying a bit extra for peace of mind.

i5-12600 approx $733 (seems like the sweet spot for price vs performance, maybe)
MSI PRO Z690-A approx $633
Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 approx $333
Evga SuperNOVA 550 G3 550 W approx $200
Kingston NVME 1TB approx $233
Zalman S2, 1x120mm approx $117

total approx $2250

If you’re already committed to picking up a motherboard with a Z-series chipset, you might as well go all the way and grab a processor labeled with a K, like the Intel Core i7-12700. Honestly, if you aren't in a massive rush, it might be worth just sitting tight for a little while, since both AMD and Intel are gearing up to release their next generations pretty soon anyway.

bluesurfer66 said:If you're already looking at a motherboard with that specific designation, just get the unlocked CPU—something like a 12600K. New series from both AMD and Intel are dropping soon, assuming you have the patience to wait.

So what would be the cheaper motherboard option? And thanks, though I didn't see anything about a new generation launching in just a few days.😁

Dana Morgan19 said:So what would be a cheaper motherboard option? And thanks, I didn't realize the new generation was dropping in just a few days.😁

B660 motherboards support those CPUs. You seriously don't need a Z-series board. Better to grab an Intel Core i7-12700 (8+4 cores instead of 6+0) on a B660 than to pick an i5 and try to overclock it on some overpriced motherboard.

In my opinion, the best bang-for-your-buck for productivity right now is Intel 12th Gen, specifically a mid-range setup using DDR4.
DDR5 is still pretty pricey. Plus, the next AMD generation isn't going to support DDR4.

Intel announced the 13th Gen today. It'll likely support DDR4 too, which could make it a solid move compared to the 12th Gen, but they're only launching the K-series first—non-K models won't show up until 2023.

Depends if you can wait a month or two for it to hit the shelves. I wouldn't count on AMD for productivity at this budget; even though the 7600X and 7800X are decent chips, Intel has more cores in the mid-range now thanks to those efficiency cores. AMD only really wins on productivity in the high-end segments (and you'll need DDR5 for that).

If you can hold out for a couple of months, wait for Intel 13th Gen to drop and see what makes sense then.
For productivity, I think the Intel Core i7-12700 is great, provided the price drops a bit below $1000.

Also, I don't know how much you rely on GPU or iGPU hardware acceleration. Intel processors (non-F models) have QuickSync, which might actually help you out.

On the other hand, maybe it's worth grabbing a cheap card like that Nvidia Quadro; you might get some use out of its hardware acceleration.

https://www.bestbuy.com/example-link

Pairing it with something like an i5 12400F or an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (around $1300-$467 for both, which is a good deal, or go for the 5800X if you have more cash) should give you a solid performance-to-price ratio.

Maybe someone who knows their stuff better can weigh in.

P.S. Just noticed there's a 2x16GB DDR5 kit (though it's only 4800MHz) for $400, which isn't half bad.

It looks like DDR5 prices have finally started to dip. The real headache with this latest Intel 13th Gen lineup, though, is the complete lack of an upgrade path moving forward; it feels like Intel is just leaving us hanging.🙄 On the other hand, the new AM5 platform should stay relevant for quite a while longer.

The 7600X would make a solid foundation for a serious upgrade down the road. It sits somewhere in the ballpark of a 5800X or a 12600K, depending on what you're actually doing... though it’s tough to draw a straight line between them since the jump from the 5000 series to the 7000 series is a different beast entirely, much like how Intel scales based on use cases.

The only real headaches right now are availability, pricing, and just waiting for those B650 boards to actually hit the shelves. So far, AMD motherboards seem overpriced—it feels like the same old trick Intel pulls where they dump all the high-end, expensive boards on us first.

If you’re eyeing that new AMD 7000 series, I’m not sure if you caught this, but there's this weird quirk where it targets 95 degrees Celsius and then just tweaks the frequency to stay right at that limit. It’s a total shift in logic compared to what we've seen before. Previously, temperature was basically just a byproduct of voltage; now, it seems the temperature itself is driving both the voltage and the frequency. At least, that's how I've gathered it. Apparently, it’s designed that way on purpose and isn't supposed to be an issue, but I don't know—it feels a bit off to me. Anyway, if you decide to pull the trigger, you might want to invest in some seriously high-end cooling for both your CPU and your case, because this thing is going to run hot.