Lesser CPU with more RAM now or get better CPU and upgrade RAM later? (R5 1600/16GB vs R7 1700/8GB)

[Kawaii Besu]

My planned workload would be weekly 1080p video editing, and then, well, gaming. I've heard everywhere that 16GB is now the bare minimum for not only video editing but also AAA gaming. But, well, there's the rising RAM prices thingy.  

 

If I were gaming, yeah, this is an obvious choice. But, since I'm video editing, I wonder if the extra cores on the 1700 would benefit so much on video editing that I can just live with 8 gigs for now, and then add another stick once prices hopefully come down. Or is the R5 1600 more than enough for my workload, especially 1080p video editing, and that I need the extra 8 gigs of RAM now.

 

Thanks! c:

 

And also, yeah, my graphics card is going to be a GTX 1060, if you're wondering. T:

[Bworde15]

Just now, Fillypino Pride said:

My planned workload would be weekly 1080p video editing, and then, well, gaming. I've heard everywhere that 16GB is now the bare minimum for not only video editing but also AAA gaming. But, well, there's the rising RAM prices thingy.  

 

If I were gaming, yeah, this is an obvious choice. But, since I'm video editing, I wonder if the extra cores on the 1700 would benefit so much on video editing that I can just live with 8 gigs for now, and then add another stick once prices hopefully come down. Or is the R5 1600 more than enough for my workload, especially 1080p video editing, and that I need the extra 8 gigs of RAM now.

 

Thanks! c:

 

And also, yeah, my graphics card is going to be a GTX 1060, if you're wondering. T:

Get the 1700 because later you can add another stick of RAM but it would be a lot harder/more expensive to upgrade your CPU.

[Bananasplit_00]

CPU first, then the RAM

[intender]

On my windows 10 system I I have 16GB but never really see much more usage than 6GB of Ram.  I dont do video editing though.  I do some audio though.  I would say to make sure that your swap file is moved off of an SSD if you plan on using one of those, and put it on a HDD.  Its possible that you will get some swap usage and you dont want to kill your SSD from constant writes. 

[BloodyWaters]

Better CPU more ram later. 

[Majestic]

Yeah 16GB is required for some games, depending on the settings. For example PUBG runs poorly on machines with 8GB only.

But it's not really worth sarcrificing the stepdown in CPU, if that is overstepping your budget.

[maartendc]

As a general rule, CPU is a much more expensive upgrade down the line, so better invest in a better CPU first. Adding a stick of RAM is easy.

 

I don't really know much about video editing, but I assume 8GB of ram should be okay if you keep all other background apps running to a bare minimum. It depends on the length of the file you are editing I suppose. The bigger the file, the more RAM you will need. If you edit short clips, should be fine. Full length movies, probably not.

 

I have 16GB personally, and while doing real work in CAD, Revit, etc. I rarely see more usage than 8 GB.

 

Also, if you get a really fast SSD (preferably M.2 PCI-e), you will not notice a lack of RAM that much versus swapping data on a traditional HDD.