Hello everyone, welcome back after a while. The thread title might not be perfect, but it’s what it is. This past week has been tough on my computer setup. I’m hoping a little typing will bring some peace back, just like it did during my vBulletin days! I’m currently an audio engineer who now spends a lot of time editing and exporting videos. In fact, there might be 6 to 10 major video projects at my workplace each year, and I’m the only one who really understands how to handle them. That’s why I’m eager to learn Premiere Pro on my own, without relying on software.

My old studio machine was an HP Omen 870-214na. It was bought to replace a faulty studio unit from years ago. It worked well enough, but had its limits. I upgraded it to passive cooling, though the BIOS kept showing CPU fan errors. I tolerated that for a while—mostly because I record and mix music, which uses less power.

Once I started video editing, my CPU temperature climbed to 85°C with the Nofan CR-80EH cooler. That pushed it up to 44°C during 4K renders, and it stays around 12°C when idle. That’s exactly what I needed for a rough week.

My 16GB of RAM was getting maxed out by Premiere Pro. To cope with the situation, I upgraded to 32GB of Crucial Ballistix RAM. The deal was good, but I had to replace one slot in the Omen motherboard soon after—suggesting possible damage from a previous user.

I’m working from home now and can’t afford downtime. My Surface Laptop 2 can’t be kept in the fridge during exports, so I had to assemble my PC from scratch. I’m confident enough with building systems to get it right, even if I didn’t make the best choices. I’m typing this on a brand-new machine and completing projects smoothly—so far, I’m pretty satisfied, though a bit stressed.

I chose a Corsair 275 quiet model and an ASUS z270p motherboard. My research was limited, so I had to buy separate Bluetooth/WiFi adapters (arriving next week). The setup works! Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to disable BitLocker before the Omen failed, and I only found the recovery key later.

Here’s my current setup:
- i7-7700 Pali KalmX GTX1050 TI
- 16GB RAM (Crucial)
- ASUS z270p motherboard
- BeQuiet Pure Power 10 400W PSU
- Corsair 275 quiet CPU cooler
- New motherboard for overclocking

I’m wondering: if I upgrade to a used 7700K, would it be worth it? I have enough cooling capacity, but I’m not sure. The need for speed might be more about passion than necessity. Video projects are frequent, so a high-end machine probably isn’t essential unless I’m doing heavy rendering.

I’m also curious about AMD options—would a 5th gen i7 unlocked or newer with more cores be better? Or should I stick with the current build?

The downside? Both Crucial RAM sticks are mediocre. Speaking of, the Nofan CR-80EH was great before editing, but the studio lighting was more annoying than the machine itself. Thanks for reading—I’m starting to feel a bit more at ease now!

They are around $300 used, which seems unreasonable given just four cores and hardware support.

I believe upgrading to a new AMD system would be the best choice. It would eliminate many concerns and improve performance. The days of quad-core processors are behind us; even eight threads are fine as long as you're productive. A 3700X would suit you well. With the right motherboard, you could later upgrade to a 3900X and keep making progress before the platform becomes outdated. If this was solely for gaming and money was limited, I’d recommend sticking with the 7700 and focusing on your work. However, the 7700K feels outdated for current needs—though it’s still functional, it doesn’t meet today’s demands.

Thanks for the updates. The 7700 is performing well, and the new cooling system is boosting its performance to 4 to 4.1ghz during 4K rendering. With a suitable case now in hand, I’m considering the next move. Budgets are limited, but I’ve managed to upgrade to a machine for 120 euros thanks to a new motherboard and case. It’s not about splurging on a high-end CPU like the 7700k; saving money and exploring AMD options seems more practical.

It's surprising how close AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X comes to a newer 7700K at just 475 euros compared to the 369 euro version. Would an Asus PRIME X570-P work well as a base for a 3700X? The listing mentions the Ryzen 9 3900X as its maximum, but since I'm not a power user, pairing it with a 3700X could offer solid future-proofing once those high-end chips drop in price later.

Once completed, sell the 7700 and board to receive some cash back.

Absolutely, it's definitely worth exploring more. At the moment, I'm just thrilled to have control over the fans!

Further investigation uncovered several eBay listings. I secured a used 470 motherboard with a BIOS update and purchased a 3700x board for approximately 350 euros. The online world can be risky; appreciated the guidance.