Dual Processors VS. Single Processor for Prem 1.5

[PimpDaddyDA]

Regarding the PC computer to edit DV footage, using Prem 1.5:

Is it really necessary to have dual processors (ie:Dual Xeon)
in the computer
OR
Can a DV movie be simply cut with a P4 chip...?

We've got 80 hours of tape to sort thru w/24bit sound track.

I'm putting together a system and need some advice on which "brain" to get for the computer.

It costs more to get the dual...... I'd like to keep the cost down...
Will I suffer uploading it all without a dual chip... or is the dual chip only needed if I'm uploading and cutting at the same time???

Heeelp!

Thanks!
Darryl

[Constantine]

You don't NEED dual processors to cut with Premiere. You will get enhanced performance, obviously, but it's not necessary, especially if you're only doing DV. I believe Premiere Pro takes advantage of Hyper Threading, so you may want to save money by getting a Single P4 chip with Hyper Threading. Just my two cents. DV video isn't really that demanding.

[jazzx]

To get you more on the reality of actually performing your edits on your machine, you 'll soon find out that you can never have enough power even if you're simply doing SD (HD needs a really good rig!) Unless you're not making ANY adjustment to the original content even a color correction, or other simple post process (Not to mention using Twixtor or a Magic Bullet plugin) will slow things down, meaning that you really need to make the most out of your budget.

My suggestions,
Go AMD, these guys produce a much better a chip for the Money than Intel does they also have 64 bit at a much better price.

Proposed Rigs

A) Value-Machine: Athlon 64 3200 or 3400, 1-2gb of RAM, A good M/B (Asus, Abit, Gigabyte - let me know if you want details), VGA 6600gt, A raid 0 set of 180 or more Seagate NCQ disks . 1000$ including a good case and PSU

B) Fast Machine: Athlon 64 4200 537$ X2 (Dual Core) or 4600 X2 803$ (Prices will drop, as the chip comes out at the end of may) 2gb or more of RAM , Also an appropriate m\b, an nv Quadro card (You can use a regular to save money) A raid 0 set of 180gb or more Seagate NCQ disks . 1700 - 2400$ with a good case and PSU. Price will go higher if you use an Opteron Chip, so it's your call.

Dual Core (X2) Athlons and Opterons are the fastest processors right now (George Lucas used only AMD Opterons for the Star Wars Episode III) As you will find in numerous benchmarks when it comes to video or 3D they really shine!
Dual core technology is actually the next big thing (Whether from Intel or AMD).

Windows XP pro 64bit is a must for these machines as you get about a 20% performance increase on Premiere 1.5 and After Affects 6.0 (Right now the only related software that has been tested to be fully compatible with xp64).

Unfortunately AMD has a lot of enemies on the NLE world mostly because they're used to going for Intel.

[Constantine]

I agree with going with AMD chips. They are an incredible value and perform really well. The ONLY reason not to go with AMD is if Hyper Threading is really important to you. And 64bit processing may make this a null issue for you anyway. Peace.

[fixitinpost]

I just purchased a single processor machine

Case: Antec P160 $122 ENU
Power Supply: Rosewill RE502-SLV ATX 500W $45 Newegg
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 $145.50 Newegg
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer $267 Newegg
RAM: 2x Kingston ValueRAM 1GB (2 x 512MB) $91 each Newegg
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST380017AS$64.50 Newegg
Fan: Antec 120MM SMARTCOOL $16 ENU
OS: XP Pro SP 2 OEM $147 Newegg
Video: SAPPHIRE 100586DVIL $57 Newegg


Total with shipping = $1049

I'ts blazing so far, and I haven't noticed much performance difference between my system and that of a friend's, who has dual Xeon processors. We're actually benchmarking them tomorrow. I was able to keep the cost down because I already had the DVD burner, monitors, semi-pro audio interface, and 250gb video drive.

[newtodvx100a]

I have a P4 3.2 ghz, its not fast enough. Switching to FCP and dual g5's.

[phd]

Use a P4 HT CPU,
se http://www.adobe.se/products/premiere/pdfs/premiere_overview.pdf
Premiere is made för 32 bits CPU with HT

[jazzx]

Premiere is made för 32 bits CPU with HT

Premiere 1.5 Pro works fine on WinXp64 bit, it even runs a bit faster.

As for Hyperthreading, well there's been alot of debate whether this technology was really of any use, or just a marketing gismo (I say it's the last) Some software vendors say they support HT on their software but we don't really know whether this move exists simply to justify Intel's choices. Adobe and most of the other NLE hardware and software makers have always been Intel's little dogs, they do and act as it pleases, they rarely mention AMD as an alternative because that would mean a healthy competition and that's not Intel's plead, which simply want's to be alone. You can make your own conlusions about this situation.

The 64bit era is here and both chipmakers will support it along with all the software and hardware vendors (Photoshop CS2 has 64 bit support) expect a native 64 bit edition on all the major NLE software soon, because right now this is where the market is going, Dual Core and 64 bit.

Cheers.

[phd]

Yes it works on 64 CPU but only use 32. I dont think it culd be faster, have you done any measure?

[Jarred Land]

If you can wait a month... AMD is coming out with a quad core chip designed for NLE's not gamers... render times etc go to half. I have a dual Xeon and to be honest, its only about a 20% increase that i have noticed.

[Neil Rowe]

nice! i wonder how affordable they will be at release. hopefully not too bad. ..which reminds me, anyone have any experience with a quad processor mobo running an NLE?

[jazzx]

Actually Dual Core chips are not as good on gaming as are their single core counterparts(At least not yet), According to press releases and actual benchmarks,
Dual Core technology has come out to fill the gap between the server and desktop line of chips and to present with affordable technology on people's ever growing needs.
All review sites are indirectly suggesting that these chips pretty much belong to the Prosumer arena.

[craigbowman]

LOL You guys just crack me up when you get into these glopney vs. fleenerhosen tech discussions.

http://24.71.76.197/mentor/wheee.png

Wheeeeeeee...

[ransom]

From what I've read the number of nesting levels greatly affects PPRo 1.5 performance. If you only nest a few levels you should be fine with a P4 3.0 w/HT. Get at least 1 gig of Ram and a couple fast HD's and you'll be fine.

[matthewd5]

i hope they come out with a version of premiere pro that supports render farms.

a render farm for those of you who haven't read about it is when you run a render only program on a spare computer on your network. the main program sends chunks of the project to the render only machine and then they both (or in the case of a true render farm ALL) work on it.

i've been playing with this with after effects and it can be a ton of fun watching the render times plumit.

matthew

[jazzx]

I also hope that the render farm implementation is not the same as the after effects one as it is quite a fuss and you actually lose more time copying project files than gaining on rendering time.

[matthewd5]

what render software are you using?

i am using the xfactor gridiron and its not like that.

other than having to install any extra filters you have on the render slaves it does everything for you.

i have never tried just using the render version of after effects without the gridiron add-on.

matthew