Video Workstation Buyers Guide

Video workstations provide a high performance and stable platform for creatives executing compute-intensive tasks such as video editing, colour correcting, grading and visual effects (VFX). Whether you are a filmmaker, editor, DIT, colourist, VFX artist, professional or enthusiast, you need a machine that you can rely on. This guide walks you through the main considerations when choosing a video workstation, so you can make the best choice for your requirements.

What makes 3XS Video Workstations special?

There are multiple brands of video workstation available in the market, and it’s an important decision to get right to make sure you receive a professionally assembled system, built from high quality branded components, it’s competitively priced, and is provided with excellent customer service in case you need support. 3XS Systems has been hand crafting PCs, workstations and servers for more than 30 years, so we have a huge amount of experience in building highly reliable systems that deliver the most performance for your budget. Here are the key reasons to buy a 3XS Systems video workstation.

NVIDIA Certified

Scan is an NVIDIA Elite Partner, awarded for our GPU-accelerated systems expertise.

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Trusted by you

Our video workstations are used by a host of leading organisations.

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Award Winning

Our systems have won hundreds of awards in the media.

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7 Days Support

Our experienced technical support engineers are available seven days a week.

3 years warranty

3XS Systems include a three-year warranty offering complete peace of mind.

GPU Accelerators

The graphics card or GPU is the most important component in a video workstation as it the main driver for rapid capture and rendering of high resolution video. We recommend NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs as they deliver maximum bang-per-buck for most workloads and NVIDIA professional-grade workstation GPUs for specialised applications such as virtual production.

	RTX 5090	RTX 5080	RTX 5070 Ti	RTX 5070	RTX 4070 Ti SUPER	RTX 4070 Ti	RTX 4070 SUPER	RTX 4070	RTX 4060 Ti	RTX 4060
GPU ARCHITECTURE	Blackwell	Blackwell	Blackwell	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace	Ada Lovelace	Ada Lovelace	Ada Lovelace	Ada Lovelace	Ada Lovelace
CUDA CORES	21.760	10,752	8,960	6,144	8,448	7,680	7,168	5,888	4,352	3,072
TENSOR CORES	680 5th gen	336 5th gen	280 5th gen	192 5th gen	264 4th gen	240 4th gen	224 4th gen	184 4th gen	136 4th gen	96 4th gen
RT CORES	170 4th gen	84 4th gen	70 4th gen	48 4th gen	66 3rd gen	60 3rd gen	56 3rd gen	46 3rd gen	34 3rd gen	24 3rd gen
Memory	32GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR7	12GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR6X	12GB GDDR6X	12GB GDDR6X	12GB GDDR6X	8GB GDDR6X	8GB GDDR6X
VR READY	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
OPTIMUM RESOLUTION	8K / 4K / UW-QHD	4K / UW-QHD	1440p	1440p	1440p	1440p	1440p	1440p	1080p	1080p

The table below highlights how much memory a GPU needs to process different resolution video sources.

Project Resolution	1080p	4K	6K/8K
Minimum VRAM	4GB	8GB	20GB+

3XS Systems video workstations can be configured with up to six GPUs. For further information on the full range of NVIDIA GPUs and their specifications, please read our NVIDIA GEFORCE GPU BUYERS GUIDE and NVIDIA WORKSTATION GPU BUYERS GUIDE.

Host Processor

The processor or CPU is the second most important component in a video workstation as it plays a key role alongside the graphics card in determining overall system performance in content creation applications. Most video workstations are equipped with either AMD Ryzen or Intel Core Ultra processors, and for the ultimate in performance we also offer Ryzen Threadripper and Intel Xeon-W configurations. Consideration should be given to the number of cores, memory capabilities and expandability in the form of PCIe lanes as this determines how many GPUs, SSDs and network cards can be used in the system.

You can learn more about AMD and Intel CPUs by reading our AMD DESKTOP CPU BUYERS GUIDE or our INTEL DESKTOP CPU BUYERS GUIDE.

Memory

While having sufficient memory on the graphics card is important, system performance will be crippled without adequate system memory. We use Corsair Vengeance RAM in our 3XS video workstations, with a minimum of 32GB on entry-level systems and more memory in high-end systems, ensuring optimum performance.

You can learn more about RAM requirements by reading our MEMORY BUYERS GUIDE.

Storage

Choosing the right combination of speed, type and configuration of your storage is an extremely important factor that affects performance of your workflows. The total amount of storage will depend on your specific circumstances – that is what type of content that you work with, resolution of the files, frame rates, compression type and codec type. Modern professional cinema cameras capture video with very little compression applied. Less compression means larger files to manage throughout the workflow.

To help you size the drives in your workstation the table below shows how much storage some of the most popular video codecs use.

Codec	Resolution	Frame Rate	Compression	MBps	Size of 10 Min Footage (GB)
Blackmagic RAW	4K	24fps	8:1	107	64
		24fps	3:1	280	168
		50fps	8:1	223	134
		50fps	3:1	590	354
	8K	24fps	8:1	161	97
		24fps	3:1	430	258
		50fps	8:1	335	201
		50fps	3:1	890	534
ProRes	4K	24fps	422	63	38
		24fps	4444	141	85
		50fps	422	131	79
		50fps	4444	295	177
	8K	24fps	422	251	151
		24fps	4444	566	339
		50fps	422	524	315
		50fps	4444	1180	708

We recommend multiple drives if budget permits, one SSD for the OS and applications plus additional SSDs for your current project and to act as a media cache. It’s also important to have sufficient storage to backup old projects, either HDDs in the workstation itself or an external NAS BOX.

Video I/O

Video I/O (Input/Output) cards aid importing and exporting video. These devices are common across every post production workflow and are what allow you to confidently monitor the timeline as you edit and grade. Connecting an I/O device to a calibrated colour critical monitor gives you the assurance that what you are seeing is the most accurate representation of your project.

If you are serious about colour grading, DIT work, Virtual Production or any other work that requires working with uncompressed video in real time then you should look at our range of professional CAPTURE PLAYBACK CARDS.

Additional Features

3XS video workstations can be configured with a range of power, connectivity and OS options.

Power Supply

Our video workstations are supplied as standard with high-quality 80PLUS Gold power supplies, ensuring a reliable and efficient power source for the system.

Connectivity

Our workstations are equipped with best-in-class connectivity, including ultra-fast USB-C ports, high-speed network ports and plenty of DisplayPort outputs for connecting multiple monitors.

Operating System

Our systems are preinstalled with Microsoft Windows 11 Pro. The Pro version supports larger memory configurations and offers many advanced security features.

Accessories

Our 3XS video workstations can be complemented by a range of accessories to suit every workflow.

Monitors

Choosing the right monitor is not only critical to ensure that what you’re creating is colour accurate, but a higher resolution monitor or multiple screens can boost your productivity. Learn more by reading our COLOUR MANAGEMENT BUYERS GUIDE.

Editing Keyboards

Professional video workloads will be accelerated by the use of dedicated video editing keyboards offering many simple shortcuts. You can learn more by browsing our EDITING KEYBOARDS section

Software

You can also spec your ideal system by the application(s) you intend to use. Explore our options for EDITING, EFFECTS AND RENDERING software packages.

Ready to buy?

Click the links below to view the range of 3XS Systems video workstations.

Pre-configured workstations Configure a workstations

If you still have questions on how to select the perfect system, don't hesitate to contact one of our friendly advisors on 01204 474747 or at [email protected].