YouTube is one of the most popular streaming platforms of today’s time, and it has provided a great opportunity for content creators. So today we’ll be helping you out with the best desktops that can be bought to create content on YouTube, be it a Livestream or a pre-recorded video.
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Minimum & Recommended System Requirements for YouTubers
YouTubers need a PC mainly to edit various types of multimedia files. A YouTuber at the initial stage can go with such a PC that has an AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM, an Intel UHD Graphics 770, and a 512 GB SSD.
But if anyone wants a more optimal experience and to ensure smooth video rendering and editing, a YouTuber must have a PC with high-end specifications like; the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 32GB of RAM, a powerful GPU like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, and an SSD with ample storage capacity.
Minimum System Requirements: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | 16GB RAM | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | 512 GB M.2 PCI Express NVMe SSD.
Recommended System Requirements: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or better processor | 32GB RAM or more | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or better GPU | 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD and 1TB HDD or more storage.
5 Best Desktops for YouTubers:
1. Dell Alienware Aurora R10 – Best Overall
Bottom Line: If you’re looking for some top-of-the-line hardware for a lot of 4K processing, streaming, and gaming on YouTube, the Aurora R10 is an absolute treat. With great looks, it also brings great performance which makes it the right choice if your tasks are on the heaviest side of the scale.
Key Features:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- RAM: 32 GB
- Storage: 1 TB SSD
Pros
- Good specs
- Excellent performance
- Good connectivity by default
Cons
- Can be expensive
- Major upgradability or expansion can be troublesome
- Only 1 year of warranty
Video creation and editing any raw footage for YouTube needs a lot of work, both on the Editor’s part and the system on which the work is being done.
So here is a desktop that is built to do a lot of heavy lifting, the Dell Alienware Aurora R10.
This is one of the top variants of this desktop, with a Gen 3 based, 5000 Series Ryzen 7 CPU, a high-end offering from AMD.
This has got 8 cores, 16 threads, and a robust maximum clock rate of 4.7 GHz (basic CPU turbo boost). You can always overclock the system if you are prepared to tamper with system stability.
Next, you’d be getting an RTX 3070 GPU, the right choice if you’re into the newer generation of GPUs that NVIDIA has to offer.
This 8 GB video card is going to provide you with enough power that you may use in video editing or gaming.
There are also 32 gigs of RAM present by default, and a 1 TB SSD drive. With specs like these, this variant of the desktop, at least, can go a long way without any overclock or upgrades.
Be it 4K editing, or 1440p gaming, this Alienware desktop can take on anything and the good connectivity is a bonus that you get along with the impressive performance.
2. ASUS ROG Strix GL12 Gaming Desktop – Runner Up
Bottom Line: Professional YouTubers may find it useful. Its mid-range specifications allow you to work on multiple multimedia files at once. The runner-up position is due to its high processing capability.
Key Features:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-9700K
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD and 1TB HDD
Pros
- RGB lights and fan supports
- Storage sections, easily upgradeable
- Updated Wi-Fi interface
Cons
- Very bulky design
- Missing USB Type C port
- Side panels are not gorilla glass protected
This is a good option for YouTubers because it has powerful hardware that can handle demanding video editing and rendering tasks.
The device is equipped with an overclockable Intel Core i7-9700K processor.
It has 8 cores and 16 threads and provides high performance and smooth multitasking.
Additionally, it features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card which helps in generating high-end visuals and offers ray-tracing facility.
The device also has a 512GB SSD and 16GB of DDR4 RAM, which ensures fast booting time and faster data processing speeds, and smooth multitasking.
It can smoothly handle video editing, rendering, and gaming.
3. Dell OptiPlex 5000 Desktop – Value for Money
Bottom Line: This device is packed with a very decent amount of specifications and is available at an affordable price. The entry-level YouTubers will be very thankful for this value-for-money product.
Key Features:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-12500
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 770
- OS: Windows 10 Pro
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 512 GB M.2 PCI Express NVMe SSD
Pros
- Powerful i5 processor with an affordable price tag
- Has an ethernet LAN port
- Easily upgradeable
Cons
- Very boring design
- Not cooling efficiently
- USB Type C port missing
This Dell desktop is a great value-for-money option for YouTubers as it offers a great balance between performance and affordability.
It comes with an Intel Core i5-12500 processor. It provides more than enough power to handle video editing and rendering tasks.
It comes with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD. So users can experience faster and smooth multitasking.
This device offers a variety of expansion options, such as multiple USB ports, display port, and HDMI outputs, which allow for easy connectivity to external devices.
It is an excellent choice for YouTubers who are looking for a powerful, reliable, and affordable computer that can handle their video editing and rendering needs.
4. HP Omen 25L – A Mid-range Beast
Bottom Line: It may not be the absolute best in terms of specs, although the bunch of utilities, and especially the reliability that the OMEN 25L provides to any YouTube content creator is impeccable.
Key Features:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 512 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD
Pros
- Looks better than a typical gaming desktop
- Good performance
- Convenient connectivity
Cons
- Can be expensive
- RAM upgrades are limited to 32 GB only
- Not the latest Bluetooth or WIFI
Up next is HP Omen 25L that has made a name for itself in the prebuilt gaming desktop market.
Its user-friendly design, top-end specs, and such other features help it to hold superiority over other gaming PCs.
The desktop comes with a Ryzen 7 3700X processor, with 8 cores and 16 threads and a clock rate ranging from 3.6 GHz to 4.4 GHz.
This can be very beneficial for Youtubers when working with the projects that are to be uploaded.
In this variant, HP has included an RX 5700 GPU, which is a good 8 GB video card, but not as good as some of the NVIDIA alternatives. What it lacks primarily is the ray-tracing capabilities, but the good thing is video editing has nothing to do with it anyway.
While streaming or playing games too, there are very few content creators who use these features, especially when using a single PC for gaming and streaming at the same time.
The RAM present in this variant is 16 GB, which can be upgraded quite easily. There is a 1 TB Hard drive in this, and 512 GB of primary SSD storage as well.
The internals are very convenient to access, and you wouldn’t need any tools to open up the glass panel either.
5. SkyTech Shadow 3.0 – Amazing in the Price Range
Bottom Line: The SkyTech Shadow 3.0 is the one for those YouTubers who are mostly into 1080 video processing, as well as gaming on the same resolution from time to time. It too has many configurations and is ample future-proof, should you need to upgrade the system.
Key Features:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
- OS: Windows 10 Home
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 1 TB SSD
Pros
- Affordable pricing
- Decent performance
- Easy access to internal components
Cons
- Small storage space
- The latest WIFI or Bluetooth is not available
- No USB Type-C
The desktops mentioned above might be powerful, but they are also quite expensive. This makes them unsuitable for beginners and for those aspiring YouTubers who were looking for budget-friendlier options.
For those of you who have needs such as these, we have the SkyTech Shadow 3.0.
It comes with a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, one that can be considered one of the processors ideal for content creation on a budget. This 6 core CPU can be very industrious to your current needs.
The desktop comes with an RTX 2060 GPU with 6 GB of VRAM, and this can handle heavy amounts of renderings and editing on 1080p and 1440p. For 4K however, you’ll need a slightly better video card though.
And if you also host gaming sessions on your channel, then all the better as the specs it has are great for that also.
There is a 1 TB SSD fitted in this, and 16 GB of RAM present. There are RGB coolers inside that are visible through the tempered glass side panel, which also makes it easy to access them.
The case itself is spacious, so adding bigger components or replacing one of the existing ones won’t be all that difficult.
How to Choose Right Desktop for a YouTuber?
Any YouTuber has to spend hours creating and editing a video, which when increases in quality and size becomes difficult for an average desktop to handle.
And not just videos, the content creators also often play and stream games, which are even more intensive applications.
The choice of the hardware is thus very important, especially if you’re a full-time creator on YouTube. But this would vary from one to another, since making usual videos or talk shows does not require as much power as streaming games.
Moreover, if you are streaming games at all, the game itself has a role to play in the overall system usage.
Hence, to make the choices a bit easier, this guide can be used. Here you’d find all the relevant information so that when the time comes, you’ll know exactly what you’re looking for.
Budget
Before going deeper into this, the first thing that a YouTuber has to decide is how much he/she is ready to spend on this desktop they are planning to buy. If it’s prebuilt, then all you need to look for is the right configuration.
On the other hand, if you are building the desktop on your own, then you’d be getting a lot of flexibility.
And, you can make some crucial decisions regarding it that would determine the price tag too, which should be lower than a prebuilt with similar specs, 9 times out of 10.
In either case, if you’re looking for gaming, streaming gameplay, and anything of the sort, a budget of around $1200- 1500 should be good, depending on the brand. Building your PC could prove to be very effective at this price point.
For serious content creation, say editing 4K videos and such, add $500 more to it, and you’ll have for yourself a desktop that can take on some serious workload.
For beginners or those with lighter work, the best price segment is $800-1200, depending on the kind of content that you want to create.
Certain customizations, like choosing a better GPU over a better CPU and vice-versa would depend on your requirements, something we have talked about later on.
OS
With the budget decided upon, you’ll now have to choose the Operating system which you’d use for YouTube.
To keep things simple, we’ll be considering only Windows and the Mac OS here, which are the two most used operating interfaces by YouTubers.
First things first, if you were wondering if you could stream or edit on Mac OS, then the answer is Yes, but there are conditions. It has some software of its own, like Filmora, Lightworks Pro, etc, that you may use.
However, Apple devices are not as efficient in gaming as they are in other things, and given their price tags, you’d better stick to a Windows PC if you have ideas of a gaming channel in mind.
For video editing though, Mac OS makes things largely convenient.
It has better encoding facilities, which reduces waiting time, lesser delays when scrubbing through multiple layers of raw footage, and many other features that you can enjoy.
However, you won’t have access to as much editing software as a Windows user.
Windows supports most video editing software, gaming, and almost every other thing that you might need for a booming career on YouTube, although it isn’t as optimized as the Mac OS.
But it does have better hardware and software compatibility, which increases its overall convenience.
But personal preference is another factor that plays a role here. Several YouTubers use the Mac OS for editing and creating their videos, while there are lots of those who are dependent on Windows for the same.
Now, while you can build a PC on your own, the only way to get an official Apple device is to buy it. And yet again, their steep prices become an issue at times.
However, a Hackintosh or a custom-built Mac OS supported computer can be a solution, but it isn’t for everyone.
Any device supporting Mac OS can also be used to run Windows, although with a few glitches. So on paying more, you get to run both OS’ in a single device.
Given that you realize the advantages and drawbacks of both, either Mac or Windows can be used. Your comfort with a particular OS and the other devices that you use, thus play a huge role here.
Processor
No matter what myths may be clouding it, video editing is one of those things that utilizes both the core count and clock rate of the CPU being used, but not both at the same time.
Encoding is benefitted by a higher frequency, while multiple cores and threads come to play when a video is finally being exported.
Certain things determine the choice of the CPU- the software you intend to use (both related and non-related to YouTube), benchmark scores, budget, personal preferences, and so on.
One important decision is whether to go with Intel or AMD, with the latter having launched a new generation of processors in such a short time.
Both the brands are now providing various options in different price segments which makes it difficult to suggest a specific option.
An average YouTuber does not have to make videos larger than 8-10 minutes of playback usually, which means that you wouldn’t need too many cores for the task to be done quickly.
A better clock rate would be beneficial instead, at least in this case. So, a 6-8 Core Intel or AMD CPU would be the best choice and this would not exceed your budget either.
For live-streamers and gamers though, or someone who makes lengthy videos, a CPU with 8 or more cores might just be useful. But such a CPU can often be expensive, no matter what brand you choose.
Graphics
Next comes the graphics, which is yet another extremely important piece of hardware that makes tons of difference in the overall performance of a desktop. And since you’d be working with creative and visual stuff, you must choose the right GPU.
Editing a video is mostly dependent on the CPU, but certain software and visual effects depend on the video card, and the amount of VRAM present therein. There are many software that directly rely more on the GPU too.
The GPU performance is very essential when it is used for rendering purposes, or adding certain effects to your videos on YouTube.
Editing and rendering a 1080p video, which is very much a standard resolution, requires a GPU with 4 GB (or more) VRAM. So, a GTX 1050 Ti, a GTX 1660 Super, or any other GPU of the sorts should be what you must aim at.
Now if we are talking about 4K editing, both better CPU and GPU performance would be needed. This means that you’ll need to have 6+ GB of VRAM in your 4K editing rig.
In these situations, the best GPUs for you would be the RTX 2070 Super, RTX 3070, and such other video cards in the RTX 3000 series.
When it comes to brand preference, well NVIDIA seems to be a slightly better option over AMD. Both the brands support the popular editing software being used today, but NVIDIA does offer better optimization in certain ones and ray-tracing features as well.
Having said so, the Radeon RX 580 and the RX 5700XT from AMD are two such video cards that are surely worth considering. Wait some more, and you might be able to get a Radeon RX 6000 Series GPU on a prebuilt desktop.
RAM
With the choice of the processor and graphics adapter made for the tasks at hand, it is now time to select the amount of RAM that a YouTuber’s desktop would need.
The CPU has to do most of the work, be it editing a video or carrying on a Livestream, which means that it needs to have access to ample amounts of memory to keep working at the same pace.
The software that you’d use, say Adobe Premiere Pro or Illustrator, are going to take up a considerable amount of system resources.
This is especially true with the RAM, and even if you are editing in 1080p, the best would be to have at least 16 GB of memory on your desktop.
Some experts recommend 32 GB even, but this depends on the size and intensity of your projects, and your budget too.
Now if you’re extremely tight on budget, the least that you can go with is 8 GB, but know that your desktop would be able to run only a few programs at the same time with this.
Not to mention, the overall rendering performance might just take a hit as well, but not always.
On the higher end, 2K or 4K editing requires 32 gigs of RAM, while you may opt for 64 GB if you have the money to spend, and have heavy multitasking to do on memory-hogging software.
Regarding RAM frequency, AMD CPUs are slightly sensitive towards it, but even then the performance differences wouldn’t be much.
Intel CPUs would not benefit either if you install superfast RAM modules. As long as you’re in the 2800-3200 MHz range, you have nothing to worry about.
Storage
And finally, the storage aspect of the desktop has to be taken care of. Editing your clips for YouTube would mean working with a lot of raw data, and as the quality of your videos increases, so will the file sizes.
So, it’s evident that you need storage, lots of it to be honest. And not only space, if you’re looking to bring out the best performance from your PC, the storage speed would also matter as well.
Now a faster storage drive would not magically fix the frame drops, but it will increase system responsiveness by quite a margin, especially if you use a speedy PCIe M.2 SSD as the primary drive.
But SSDs are considerably costlier if you compare them with a regular hard drive. So you’ll need to have both of these, a smaller 256-512 GB SSD (depending on your budget) to store software data, system files, and such, and a hard drive too.
The hard drive may be slower, but it is also cheaper and hence would act as a storehouse for your finished projects. All the other things that do not benefit from a faster storage drive can be put in it as well.
Using only an SSD would increase the desktop’s price tag, while only a hard drive for storage would not be very comfortable to work with.
Connectivity
The reason for more storage is also why you’d be needing good connectivity, but there are other things as well. Most of the connectivity is related to the motherboard, so the motherboard quality can matter here.
Prebuilt desktops come with motherboards chosen by the concerned brand while building a desktop gives you more options.
Nevertheless, one has to look for the best within a given budget. This includes USB 3.0 ports, USB Type-C ports, and even Thunderbolt ports if possible.
And it’s always good to have spare ports, you never know when you might need one.
WIFI and Bluetooth are important for a video editor or gamer on YouTube, and it’s better if you get the latest versions of these. Older ones would do too, as long as you have the option of replacing the concerned adapters with newer ones.
At some point in your career as a YouTuber, you are most likely to feel the need of adding one or more monitors to your setup, for which you’d also need free video ports.
These can be HDMI, VGA, and so on, and would be available on your GPU mostly. Hence make sure you choose the right GPU.
Accessories
Watching anything on YouTube is very comfortable on a large screen, and the same goes for when one has to edit a video to upload it on this platform.
Working with videos, in general, is much better when you have a wider viewing area, be it on a single wide-angle monitor, or two separate displays.
Hence as a YouTuber, make sure you keep some part of your budget aside for accessories such as this.
The hardware you use would determine the quality of the resolution that your desktop would support, while the size of the monitor(s) is something that you can decide on your own.
However, buy a high-frequency monitor only if you need one, and remember that no matter how good a 240 Hz refresh rate may sound, 144 Hz gets the job done for the most.
Not only that, but you’ll also need other devices such as speakers, a good camera, a webcam, etc, and maybe even some lighting equipment if you do not already have those.
These are the basic things that every content creator has to use, and there are various other things that you need too.
And don’t forget a decent mouse and a keyboard, since these are the most essential accessories.
FAQs:
Is a Core i5 CPU enough for YouTubers?
As a creator on YouTube, you can easily use a desktop with a Core i5 processor, unless you are gaming and streaming it at the same time. It can be considered as the minimum specs, and for better performance, we would suggest a Core i7 or a Ryzen alternative.
How much RAM do I need to edit 4K videos on YouTube?
To create 4K videos on YouTube, or any other platform for that matter, you’d have to keep at least 16 GB of RAM as a minimum. Anything above that up to 32 GB would be beneficial, but beyond that, it is simply overkilling. However, lesser RAM would not provide a comfortable enough experience.
Finishing up
Every content creator has to struggle in his/her early days, especially if they have taken up YouTubing as a serious profession. But a good desktop can be very essential to improve the overall workflow and create high-quality content for the viewers to enjoy or learn.