i5 vs i7 processor? how would it affect performance on premiere?

As long as each system meets the system requirements for Premiere Pro with fast storage media, either should run Premiere Pro well.

If the i5 and the i7 are the same generation, you can expect faster transcoding and faster rendering on the i7.

Also, it depends on whether it’s a desktop tower, a mini desktop, or a laptop. If you use a desktop tower, there should be enough cooling to get the most performance out of an i7 or i9.

But if you use a mini PC or a laptop, if cooling is too limited, an i7 or i9 will be faster than an i5 only for a short period of time, and then it will have to slow down to stay cool. In that case an i5 could a better value.

In general it might be better to get an i5 with a graphics card that is fully supported for graphics acceleration in Premiere Pro, because the more Premiere Pro can use GPU acceleration, the less work the CPU has to do, which will both free up the CPU and potentially run cooler than making the CPU do all the work.

Like Peru Bob stated, it depends. And do not compare completely different CPU or GPU generations.

Assuming that you have one of the newest 12th-Gen S-series desktop or H-series laptop CPUs, then one would need to install a relatively crappy and underperformance GPU on that i7 system to get its overall performance in video editing apps down to the level of the same-gen, same-power-class i5 CPU that's equipped with a mid-range GPU.

In other words, with the 12th-Gen CPUs a beefier GPU can almost compensate for the slightly inferior CPU.

It depends upon which CPUs and which graphics cards.

It also depends upon the media and effects used.

Moved to hardware forum.