Soliciting advice on processor selection for video editing rig

I've been asked to come up with the specs for a new build that will be used primarily for video editing. The target program is Avid.

The buyer and I are going Intel for this build.

I am torn by the selection of the top tier processors at this point in time for a high horsepower rig.
The candidates:

• LGA2011 w/i7 4820 4-core, 4 channel (Ivy Bridge)
• LGA2011 w/i7 4930 6-core, 4 channel (but there is a budget, and $580 is a bit too much)
• LGA1150 w/i7 4770K 4-core, dual channel (Haswell)

The i7-4960X is out of the question, budget wise.


The Haswell 4-core seems to have better bench performance in video rendering than the Ivy Bridge 4 core. But about equal performance with the 4930 6-core.


What say you all as to the best bang for the buck here?

If you can wait a ~ month (last week in June), the 4790K will be in stores. It has a base clock of 4GHz and boost of 4.4 GHz and better thermal properties.

Layback Bear said:

4 Cores with 4 channels and hype-thread would seem to make sense. i7 4820k.
I have never done video editing so that my opinion is very limited.

If need be it does over clock well with proper cooling.
For video editing I'm thinking over clocking isn't wanted but who knows.

I'm not sure either, but you would think that tasks that clearly run faster on more processor cores would benefit from those cores running faster.
It would be fun to experiment with it, but I will not get that opportunity in this case.

GeneO said:

If you can wait a ~ month (last week in June), the 4790K will be in stores. It has a base clock of 4GHz and boost of 4.4 GHz and better thermal properties.

Has there been any indication of the price on that processor?

Boozad said:

Out of the ones listed I'd definitely recomend the 4770k, but Geneo's advice is good if you can wait for the 4790k. Of course, if no overclocking is intended then the standard 4790 is already available. I'm seriously considering upgrading to the 4790k myself.

The thing I'm struggling with is whether the processor micro-architecture or memory bandwidth plays a bigger role in these tasks. I don't know enough to make a strong recommendation either way.

TVeblen said:

GeneO said:

If you can wait a ~ month (last week in June), the 4790K will be in stores. It has a base clock of 4GHz and boost of 4.4 GHz and better thermal properties.

Has there been any indication of the price on that processor?

$340 unless you have a microcenter nearby. Microcenter will sell it in-store for $290.


Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more!

INTEL Core I7 4790K CPU w/ free gaming Tshirt **CPU will ship separately when available** at TigerDirect.com

Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Desktop Processor BX80646I74790K - Newegg.com

Maybe I will ping him.