What is a Good Processor Speed? For Gamers & Video Editing Work

Thrilled to make your space with a high-end gaming machine that can support the latest games at high settings? If yes, then you definitely narrow down your search to a processor (if you already have a graphic card). In that, you have to consider two main aspects i.e. processor speed and number of cores.

If you ask in short, “What is a good processor speed?” My answer would be, it depends on how you gonna use your computer. If you are buying a processor for gaming or editing, getting a higher multicore processor with higher clock speed is good. And if you are just buying for watching videos, browsing, and doing little office work then there is no need to go for higher clock speed.

Now, you get the short answer to what you are looking for. But there is more than just the clock speed such as the number of cores, the architecture of the processor, etc. So, stick to us till the end and we give you all the answers that are you looking for.

Lets first take a look at what is a good processor speed signifies or how it works?

How Processor Clock Speed Works?

Processor Clock Speed is defined as how quickly the CPU can process, retrieve, and interprets a given instruction. So, with higher clock speed, your processor compiles the information at a higher rate which simply means it takes less time.

Faster clock speeds mean that you’ll see ordered tasks completed at a quicker rate making your experience seamless meanwhile reducing the overall time.

In general, these clock speeds are measured in gigahertz (GHz) and higher the number higher the clock speed.

Now, the question still arises “What is a good processor speed?” I already stated the answer in the bolded lines but its time to sketch you the detailed answer on how it works and which clock speed is best for you based on your requirement.

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What is a Good Processor Speed?

To depict the question of “What is a good processor speed?”, we have subdivided the section based on the needs of the users. And I am sure, you definitely get fit-in either of these categories.

What is a Good Processor Speed for General Purpose Computing?

With general-purpose computing, I mean seeking some word processing tasks, browsing the web, running some general programs, watching videos, playing music, doing light spreadsheet work, etc.

So, if you want to buy a processor for this type of general-purpose task, you don’t need to get you head more into it— just buy any latest Ryzen 3 or Intel i3 processors. They are more than enough for your daily task.

Even the dual-core channel with a base clock speed of 3GHz is more than enough for it.

What is a Good Processor Speed for Gaming?

While building a gaming PC, two things you have to consider, one is what type of gamer you are, and at what is your budget?

What is a Good Processor Speed for Entry to Mid Level Gamers?

If you are an entry-level gamer, you definitely don’t need to spend too much on the processor. Intel i3 or Ryzen 3 processors with a GTX graphic card can make your pc ready for the entry-level to mid-range gaming.

Modern Intel and AMD processors provide a clock speed around 3 to 4GHz which again comes with 4-core processors. So, in short, it can handle a pretty bit every game you fed into your system.

So, a combination of a 4-core processor with a clock speed of 3GHz to 4GHz and a GTX graphic card (1050ti) can handle a variety of games at high to ultra-high settings:

Assassin’s Creed
TC’s The Division 2
Hitman 2
Tomb Raider
GTA 5
Far Cry 3
Battlefield 1
Crysis 2 and Crysis 3

But, if you want to secure yourself for the best performance and also for the future games then you can invest in Intel i5 or AMD Ryzens 5 processors which have both higher clock speed and also more cores.

What is a Good Processor Speed for Pro Gamers?

Based on how many frames you want to achieve, you can upgrade your pc likewise. In simple terms, if you can cope-up with low FPS rates then an Intel i5 or Ryzen 5 CPU are enough to make you play every latest game with a graphic card of RTX series.

But, if you have money and don’t want to compromise on anything then i7 or Ryzen 7 would be the best for you.

What is a Good Processor Speed for Video Editing?

Video editing has very little to do with graphic cards but more with the CPU multicore and clock speed. So, a processor less than i5 or Ryzen 5 with a base clock speed of 3.5 to 4GHz is the minimum requirement for building a video editing pc.

So, how I know which processor is best for me? This table will help you with that.

S.No.	Performance	CPU	Memory
1.	Entry Level	Intel Core i5/ Ryzen 5	8-12 GB DDR4
2.	Mid-Range($1500)	Intel Core i7/ Ryzen 7	12- 16 GB DDR4
3.	Standard($2000)	Intel Core i7/ Ryzen 7	32 GB DDR4
4.	Professional($2500)	Intel i9/Xeon/ Threadripper	32- 64 GB DDR4

Moreover, these are the top 5 latest CPUs for the Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and for Adobe video editing applications:

AMD Ryzen Threadripper
AMD Ryzen 9
Intel Core i9
AMD Ryzen 7
Intel Core i7

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What is a Good Processor Speed for Ultimate Builds?

For instance, if you are dreaming to build a PC for high-end performance usages such as extremely complex and data-intensive programs or other high-performance works related to engineers, researchers, and military or government users.

In all these scenarios, you can’t compromise on anything from the processor point of view. So, if you doing such type of work, then you typically require a more advanced processor with higher clock speeds and a higher number of cores.

General FAQ

Is a higher processor speed better?

Ans. A higher processor speed always doesn’t mean higher performance. There is more than one factor that decides the performance of a processor. Other factors such as architectural designs, efficiency, number of cores, and cache memory are responsible for the processor performance. And that’s why alone the clock speed no longer becomes the deciding factor for how powerful a CPU is.

Which is better 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz?

Ans. On the paper, 1.8 GHz wins over 1.6 GHz. But there slightly no improvement is seen. But if you compare dual-core 1.8 GHz with quad-core 1.6 GHz, then a quad-core 1.6 GHz processor outrank the performance of dual-core 1.6 GHz.

What makes a computer run faster?

Ans. In a PC or laptop, there are certain factors that are responsible for the computer to run smoothly. Some hardware factors are RAM( DDR4/DDR3), SSD/Harddisk, processor, graphic processor, monitor refresh rates, motherboard, etc. And some software factors are too much-installed apps, regular updates, multitasking, etc. are the governing factor for lower performance.

So, with this our topic of “What is a good processor speed?” ends. But we have more stuff for you, check our electrical and computer science section.