user17065: I have been perusing this page:
https://openbenchmarking.org/showdown/pts/ffmpeg
Something doesn't make sense to me, I am looking at the following CPU's:
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2650L v3 (30M Cache, 1.80 GHz)    
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2690 v3 (30M Cache, 2.60 GHz)     
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2640 v3 (20M Cache, 2.60 GHz)     
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2670 v3 (30M Cache, 2.30 GHz)


According to the benchmarking, the ideal processor is the E5-2640 from that list. I don't see the correlation between the benchmark numbers and the CPU specs, Now the page didn't specify which version of that particular model, so I picked a pretty new one that is almost identical to the newest v4.
I would have assumed that when picking a CPU for video encoding I would be looking the either the:

Highest base frequency
Largest onboard cache
Fastest bus speed

Or some other common metric. What is your experience?

user1871: The DV encoder used in the cited test is useless for gauging modern CPUs.
I ran the test command with the referenced media on a 4-core i5 and the difference between -threads 4 and -threads 3 is 0.5% and with -threads 2 is 1%. I see a much larger variance when I use H.264 encoding.
Of course, the bigger flaw is that the command is resizing the video. FFmpeg's internal scaler isn't multi-threaded!

user14504: A big question is will your encoder use multithreading. 
I have a dual E5-2697 v2 System, 48 Cores. 
So if I need to just encode video which does not or cannot, due to effects applied, use the GPU (cuda); then encoding in AE rather than PPro is much faster, as it can thread up to 32 cores, and render much faster. 
Otherwise; go with a processor that can be overclocked to the highest level. If your encoder can only use 1 core, you want the fastest clock speed possible... not more cores. 

17065: <p>I have been perusing this page:
<a href="https://openbenchmarking.org/showdown/pts/ffmpeg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://openbenchmarking.org/showdown/pts/ffmpeg</a></p>

<p>Something doesn't make sense to me, I am looking at the following CPU's:</p>

<pre><code>Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2650L v3 (30M Cache, 1.80 GHz)    
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2690 v3 (30M Cache, 2.60 GHz)     
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2640 v3 (20M Cache, 2.60 GHz)     
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2670 v3 (30M Cache, 2.30 GHz)
</code></pre>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9XelW.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9XelW.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>According to the benchmarking, the ideal processor is the E5-2640 from that list. I don't see the correlation between the benchmark numbers and the CPU specs, Now the page didn't specify which version of that particular model, so I picked a pretty new one that is almost identical to the newest v4.</p>

<p>I would have assumed that when picking a CPU for video encoding I would be looking the either the:</p>

<ol>
<li>Highest base frequency</li>
<li>Largest onboard cache</li>
<li>Fastest bus speed</li>
</ol>

<p>Or some other common metric. What is your experience?</p>
 1871: <p>The DV encoder used in the cited test is useless for gauging modern CPUs.</p>

<p>I ran the test command with the referenced media on a 4-core i5 and the difference between <code>-threads 4</code> and <code>-threads 3</code> is 0.5% and with <code>-threads 2</code> is 1%. I see a much larger variance when I use H.264 encoding.</p>

<p>Of course, the bigger flaw is that the command is resizing the video. FFmpeg's internal scaler isn't multi-threaded!</p>
 14504: <p>A big question is will your encoder use multithreading. </p>

<p>I have a dual E5-2697 v2 System, 48 Cores. </p>

<p>So if I need to just encode video which does not or cannot, due to effects applied, use the GPU (cuda); then encoding in AE rather than PPro is much faster, as it can thread up to 32 cores, and render much faster. </p>

<p>Otherwise; go with a processor that can be overclocked to the highest level. If your encoder can only use 1 core, you want the fastest clock speed possible... not more cores. </p>
