Dear forum members,


Powerdirector version used: 14.0.1931.0
SR no: VDE150629-01
Running on Windows 10 Home edition.


I need to purchase a new desktop PC, but seriously need some of your kind advice!

It will be used to run Powerdirector (as above) and aside from that just to watch iplayer, browse the web etc.
The video editing capability is my priority, and I’m assuming the PC will then be easily capable of the other, but please correct me wherever I’m wrong here.
More (hopefully relevant) details follow about where I’m at with this (sorry this is not very brief!):

I’m thinking of going with a self-build, (perhaps from Novatech, owing to good all-round customer reviews from Which?)
Going the self-build route seems to make sense, but throws up so many questions - I’m not a ‘techie’ person in general so I’ve been doing a lot of learning, which it’s obvious could go on forever.
Perhaps I’m worrying too much about details beyond my understanding, but though I feel I’ve read a lot I still don’t feel qualified to make the necessary decisions. It’s hard to know which bits not to worry about, if there are any!
I’d like to spend about £500 max on the PC itself (ideally less), since I need also to buy a monitor, keyboard and OS. My budget really couldn’t stretch much above this. My attempts at the self-build so far are coming out at a higher price. Perhaps for my needs I could get by with a much more basic desktop?

Importantly, I want to ensure my desktop PC will, at the least, outperform my laptop for the editing, which is an HP Notebook, I’ve attached a screenshot showing the specs for this.
The laptop cost £370-ish when new two years ago, and of course being a laptop that includes monitor, keyboard and OS in the price, which a self-build desktop doesn’t. I have made some videos on this laptop. It just about copes with what I’m doing come the finished project, but will crash if I don’t perform each operation slowly, allowing it time to catch up.
My videos are probably not very complicated in terms of what Powerdirector is capable of. (I’m making films of how to paint watercolours!)

I’m given to believe that if I spend as much on a desktop as a laptop then in general it should be at least as good or better in terms of performance/processing ability. But this must be a generalisation, and I guess I can’t assume it to be true regarding video editing needs.
It seems my laptop is actually pretty good (for a laptop, and at that price) for the job, as indeed to shop assistant told me at the time.

In terms of a self-build, I’m tempted to want:
An SSD, say of 240GB
An HDD of just one TB, and store mainly on a couple of external H Drives as backups anyway. In fact I’m tempted to save money here and not even have an HDD, just the SSD. Bad idea?
The processor - I’ve read a lot about them but still feel unqualified to make a decision from the ones available if I go with a self-build.
An Intel core i3, or perhaps i5. Good idea or not?? Perhaps I don’t need such a good one as an i5 for my needs. Or even the i3!
Then there are the AMD options….?
I am thinking I will not need Blu-ray capability.

One specific question regarding using Powerdirector 14 on the PC:
Do i need a processor that is made for ‘multi-threading’, or ‘single threading’ to use Powerdirector 14? My understanding of this term is not clear at all, but is it the case that individual software uses either one or the other ?

I need to keep the price down, but when googling for ‘Video editing PC’ (i.e. finding a shop-ready PC rather than self-building) the results are mainly way above my budget, presumably aiming at those doing projects more professional and complex than I am.
A lot are also in fact PCs built mainly for gaming, which I do none of. The latter have a high Graphics spec perhaps making up a lot of the cost, which I’ve read is not very important for video editing.



Any advice on anything here would be very much appreciated!
Please let me know if I need to provide more info of any type.

Thank you very much in advance.