Intel or AMD for video editing?

[Splinterdog]

A customer has asked me to put a machine together for video editing and he's suggested an Intel Core i7 10700K, but he's open to suggestions.
I may be a little biased towards Ryzen and would probably suggest a Ryzen 7, but then I watched this video suggesting that Intel would be preferred because of the IGPU. But if we're adding a GPU anyway, how much of a difference is the IGPU going to make if you set it up for the discrete GPU to render?

 

[Bill_Bright]

I am 100% against Intel vs AMD arguments. It makes no sense to me. It is like trying to compare Ford to Chevrolet.

You have a specific Intel and that's good. But without a specific AMD, the argument is flawed. Both makers make excellent and reliable processors.

Plus, in this scenario, video editing depends greatly on the graphics solution and RAM too.

 

[mclaren85]

Without suggesting any brand, I would pick server type cpu.

 

[QuietBob]

What software does the customer use?

 

[Splinterdog]

What software does the customer use?

Adobe Premier.

 

[looniam]

Adobe Premier.

then maybe this will help:

Hardware Recommendations

Our workstations for Adobe Premiere Pro are tested and optimized to give you the best performance and reliability. View our hardware recommendations.

www.pugetsystems.com

Does Premiere Pro work better with Intel or AMD CPUs?​

At the moment, AMD is stronger in terms of live playback and exporting performance in Premiere Pro in most cases. However, Intel's Core processors (particularly the new 12th Gen models) are great options as they perform close to a similiarly-priced AMD Ryzen CPU, but include Quick Sync which can be used to process H.264 and HEVC media rather than relying on the GPU to do those tasks. This frees up the GPU to be used for processing GPU accelerated effects, debayer R3D footage, etc.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Looking at that, without server CPU's it would have to be 12700/900k

 

[phanbuey]

I am 100% against Intel vs AMD arguments. It makes no sense to me. It is like trying to compare Ford to Chevrolet.

You have a specific Intel and that's good. But without a specific AMD, the argument is flawed. Both makers make excellent and reliable processors.

Plus, in this scenario, video editing depends greatly on the graphics solution and RAM too.

It's fine as long as it's a question of which tool to use, and not which brand is better - software-specific workstation you want to tailor the best platform to it.

If running blender 24/7 then 5950x is much better since way less power usage, if premiere-pro then 12700k/12600k. If a giant webserver then something else....

 

[Splinterdog]

then maybe this will help:

Hardware Recommendations

Our workstations for Adobe Premiere Pro are tested and optimized to give you the best performance and reliability. View our hardware recommendations.

www.pugetsystems.com

Thanks! I did look at that page and wanted opinions from TPU users who have experience in video editing.

I am 100% against Intel vs AMD arguments. It makes no sense to me. It is like trying to compare Ford to Chevrolet.

You have a specific Intel and that's good. But without a specific AMD, the argument is flawed. Both makers make excellent and reliable processors.

Plus, in this scenario, video editing depends greatly on the graphics solution and RAM too.

This isn't an Intel vs AMD argument whatsoever and for the sake of argument, a Ryzen 5800X would be another choice for this set up, of course paired with a decent GPU.
But my question remains about the Intel IGPU argument when using a discrete GPU?

 

[phanbuey]

Thanks! I did look at that page and wanted opinions from TPU users who have experience in video editing.

This isn't an Intel vs AMD argument whatsoever and for the sake of argument, a Ryzen 5800X would be another choice for this set up, of course paired with a decent GPU.
But my question remains about the Intel IGPU argument when using a discrete GPU?

If the software uses quicksync, like the adobesuite then it's a really good idea to include the GPU -- also if they go intel ARC down the line the two should work in tandem for an extra boost.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Thanks! I did look at that page and wanted opinions from TPU users who have experience in video editing.

This isn't an Intel vs AMD argument whatsoever and for the sake of argument, a Ryzen 5800X would be another choice for this set up, of course paired with a decent GPU.
But my question remains about the Intel IGPU argument when using a discrete GPU?

You need the best platform for the job, whether it is AMD or Intel.

 

[ir_cow]

Either Threadripper or Alder Lake. That's my choice for (serious) video editing. However Alder Lake kind of sucks with 4x DIMMS and 64GB kits are nearly 1K so avoid MBs with DDR5. You will want 64GB or more for serious video editing. A few 4K sequences can eat that up easily. My projects are a mix of 4K and 1080 and it sits around 38GB in use.

That means if you want more than 64GB, Threadripper really is the only choice without pulling your hair out over stability issues.

 

[Splinterdog]

You need the best platform for the job, whether it is AMD or Intel.

Agreed.

It's fine as long as it's a question of which tool to use, and not which brand is better - software-specific workstation you want to tailor the best platform to it.

If running blender 24/7 then 5950x is much better since way less power usage, if premiere-pro then 12700k/12600k. If a giant webserver then something else....

It's a commercial video editing studio, so I'll probably suggest i7 12700K and fortunately socket LGA 1700 is available here. I'm checking his budget for memory and GPU.
Threadripper is out because he'd need a sizeable mortgage to fund one

 

[Bill_Bright]

It's fine as long as it's a question of which tool to use, and not which brand is better - software-specific workstation you want to tailor the best platform to it.

I agree - to a point. But that was not the question. The question was, "Intel or AMD for video editing?" That's an invalid question.

Even if the best processor for a specific program is from Brand A, that does not mean every Brand A processor will be better than every Brand B processor.

So again, any such comparison is pointless without knowing the exact model numbers under consideration.

 

[Splinterdog]

I agree - to a point. But that was not the question. The question was, "Intel or AMD for video editing?" That's an invalid question.

Even if the best processor for a specific program is from Brand A, that does not mean every Brand A processor will be better than every Brand B processor.

So again, any such comparison is pointless without knowing the exact model numbers under consideration.

We've now moved on from that, Bill.

 

[Tetras]

How serious is the usage? Is it a hobby, or are we talking time is money?

 

[dgianstefani]

We've now moved on from that, Bill.

He's not always the brightest

Yeah, 12900k all the way.

 

[Splinterdog]

How serious is the usage? Is it a hobby, or are we talking time is money?

It's a professional video editing studio, so yes, time is money.

He's not always the brightest

Yeah, 12900k all the way.

I can only get hold of i7 12700K down here which I'm sure is up to the job.
The customer initially opted for a SATA SSD but of course I'm recommending an NVMe, but the size is important from a cost point of view. In terms of rendering, one would imagine that an NVMe blows a SATA SSD out of the water, not to mention a spinner. We'll be adding a large HDD for storage, but rendering to disk would surely be much faster onto an NVMe? It certainly is on my machine.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

It's a professional video editing studio, so yes, time is money.

I can only get hold of i7 12700K down here which I'm sure is up to the job.
The customer initially opted for a SATA SSD but of course I'm recommending an NVMe, but the size is important from a cost point of view. In terms of rendering, one would imagine that an NVMe blows a SATA SSD out of the water, not to mention a spinner. We'll be adding a large HDD for storage, but rendering to disk would surely be much faster onto an NVMe? It certainly is on my machine.

My ddr4 z690 board has 4 gen 4 NVME slots which would be really good for that setup.

 

[R0H1T]

I'd go 5950x but if the Intel IGP can be put to good use, note using IGP & all core load don't expect temps to be pretty, then the 12th gen is a better choice overall. Also don't OC it!

 

[Frick]

I'd seriously go for the 12900K in this case, if they can afford it, assuming more performance means more work done per time unit. Also go big on storage and RAM, I assume that is where the big bottle neck happens.

 

[Splinterdog]

I'd seriously go for the 12900K in this case, if they can afford it, assuming more performance means more work done per time unit. Also go big on storage and RAM, I assume that is where the big bottle neck happens.

The 12900K is silly money down here. About 50% more than an i7 12700K, so we'll stick with that I think.

My ddr4 z690 board has 4 gen 4 NVME slots which would be really good for that setup.

I can only find this Rog Strix DDR 4 down here. Is this what you have @Tigger ? (the other Strixes are ddr5)

 

[Deleted member 24505]

The 12900K is silly money down here. About 50% more than an i7 12700K, so we'll stick with that I think.

I can only find this Rog Strix DDR 4 down here. Is this what you have @Tigger ? (the other Strixes are ddr5)

View attachment 236212

Yes, thats the one, had zero problems with it.

 

[QuietBob]

But my question remains about the Intel IGPU argument when using a discrete GPU?

I believe these graphs will answer your question. The GPU used was an RTX3080:

What is interesting to see is that with the H.264 media, the Intel Core processors - and the new Core i9 12900K in particular - are significantly faster than their AMD counterparts. You may not think that the CPU would make a big difference here since Premiere Pro is also able to utilize the GPU to decode this type of footage, but having Quick Sync on these Intel processors seems to give a nice boost to performance in the latest version of Premiere Pro. Because of this, the Intel 12th Gen CPUs are close to 2x, or even 3x, faster than the AMD Ryzen 5000 series.

However, for the codecs where Quick Sync is not able to be used, the results are a little bit more balanced. The second chart is looking at the live playback score for the 4K RED tests, and while Intel still holds a very solid lead at the 12600K/12700K level, the 12900K trails about 4% behind the Ryzen 5900X when using DDR4 memory. With DDR5, however, it catches back up and is right in line with the Ryzen 5900X.

While we only specifically pulled out charts for these two codecs, this seems to hold true for live playback across the board, and for exporting as well. Essentially, if the media used is a format that Premiere Pro can utilize Quick Sync for decoding, Intel has an extremely large lead. For other codecs, Intel still maintains a solid lead at the 12600K/12700K level, but the 12900K only takes a lead when using DDR5 memory.

Source

 

[Splinterdog]

I believe these graphs will answer your question. The GPU used was an RTX3080:

View attachment 236214View attachment 236215



Source

Very useful so thanks for that. I've recommended the i7 12700K and the Asus Rog Strix Z690 DDR4 as per @Tigger set up. I'm also going to suggest at least a 1TB NVMe.