iMac for video editing

[Vonjover]

I'm planning to buy an iMac and was wondering if a better gpu model would be any benefit? I do believe a stronger cpu will shorten render times but is gpu also a factor? I know it accelerates certain parts of premier's functions but not sure if it contributes to rendering as well. I am considering getting a midlevel 4k iMac or a midlevel 5k iMac, the difference i'm looking for being in their gpu's.

 

[Chamberlain312]

I'm planning to buy an iMac and was wondering if a better gpu model would be any benefit? I do believe a stronger cpu will shorten render times but is gpu also a factor? I know it accelerates certain parts of premier's functions but not sure if it contributes to rendering as well. I am considering getting a midlevel 4k iMac or a midlevel 5k iMac, the difference i'm looking for being in their gpu's.

CPU and Ram are priorities over GPU for video editing. Also if you can swing it, go with SSD option. If you get the 27” get the i7 for its hyper-threading capabilities.

 

[danielwsmithee]

If you really care about performance of video editing you'll see a much larger impact from switching from Premier to Final Cut then puttying that extra money into a faster computer.

 

[cynics]

With certain exceptions the biggest factor for a GPU for video editing is just having one (dedicated GPU) simply to move rendering load off the CPU. From there the specific GPU used has much less of an impact. For this reason you are better served with a 27" iMac which as a dedicated GPU.

RAM can also help things running smoothly which makes the 27" with easily upgradable RAM a more attractive option.

And like mentioned I would consider Final Cut due to its level of optimization and polish within MacOS.

 

[Vonjover]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! Yeah i'll be getting the 5k iMac, was planning to get a 4k so i could buy an eGPU with the extra cash but the 5k route is certainly better.

 

[giffut]

CPU and Ram are priorities over GPU for video editing. Also if you can swing it, go with SSD option. If you get the 27” get the i7 for its hyper-threading capabilities.

That´s not entirely true, though. The GPU is front and center with video work today, then foloows RAM and core speed/threads of the processor. For professional use - and with unlimited budget - you try to optimize all three right from the start. The Intel Kabylake based Macs utilize native HVEC/VP9 transcoding capabilities, which you absolutely want today for any realtime playback/processing of 4K content.

If you edit with Final Cut Pro, you want a dedicated AMD GPU, because it uses the GPU extensively - and is optimized for AMD - for transcoding, effects rendering asf. If you use Davinci Resolve - there is a free complete edition avaible for OSX, too - you want a dedicated GPU with at least 2GB for HD 1080p and minimal 4GB for 4k film rendering. Davinci Resolve likes NVIDIA much more than AMD, so there you need to organize an external GPU via Thunderbolt.