Which is more important for editing, CPU or GPU?

[edwardv70747035]

I am torn between buying an older i7 (3rd gen) with the intel 4000 graphics card, or buying an i5 (4th gen) with a basic Intel Iris graphics card. I am editing on a 1080p monitor, and doing some work with 4k footage... Both systems have 16gb ram, and similar specs all around. The multi-core performance on the i7 is twice as fast as the i5, even though it is 1 generation older.

For editing in premiere is it more important to have more cores? Or is it ideal to sacrifice half of the computing power for a better gpu?

Thank you!

[Moderator note: moved to best forum.]

[Devyn Brugge]

Faster CPUs with more cores are better than GPUs. Multiple CPUs — even better. Video encoding and editing is a CPU intensive process. That being said, having a good GPU will aid in encoding GPU accelerated effects.

[Devyn Brugge]

I found this guide really helpful, though you don't have to go for the recommended CPUs metioned, it's a good place to look if you were building the ideal workstation today that still balances budget: https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-143/Hardware-Rec...

[Devyn Brugge]

Also, this will help:

FAQ: How do I speed up rendering, exporting, or encoding?

[Bill Gehrke]

Have you considered some of the new AMD Ryzen CPU's you will get more CPU horsepower per dollar   What is your ballpark price range?

[RjL190365]

In this case, both CPU and GPU are almost equally important. You see, you chose two outdated, old-generation CPUs with woefully inadequate integrated graphics processors that actually make even an 18-core, 36-thread CPU excruciatingly sluggish. And if your choices are laptop (rather than desktop) configurations, beware that all Haswell-generation mobile i5s, as well as some mobile i7s of any generation up to and including Kaby Lake, are only dual-core CPUs. And no dual-core CPU, even with hyperthreading, is as powerful as even a mediocre same-generation quad-core CPU, let alone a high-end CPU.

[got2golfster]

I know this is an older post but thought I would shed a little light on some things to consider.  I was looking for an answer to a different question.  So are all Ghtz the same - nope!  You cannot compare a processor running at 3 Ghtz in generation 5 vs generation 8.  Why is that?  Well there are a number of factors, later processors can have more and faster cache memory so faster to the next step.  The internal coding (what use to be called microcode) can be improved so that multiple procedures can be executed in a single cycle, denser circuits mean shorter distance for signals to travel (yes it is a short time but there are difference - see 3D memory), busses get bigger - you get the idea.