Dumb newbie questions re:NLE Hardware for Adobe

[markthoma]

I apologize in advance for a) dumb questions, b) dumb questions in the wrong forum, c) asking dumb questions in the wrong forum that've probably been asked a zillion times before...
I just finished a small commercial project that probably took far longer than it had to. I'm using Adobe Premier Pro CS5 with After Effects 5. I have a two-year-old computer that's a Dell machine with 2.8gigahertz Intel Core i7 quad core processor and 8gb RAM, the graphics card is a ATI Radeon HD5700 with 1 gig of DDDR5 memory.

Here are my a) b) c) questions...

Would a newer 2 gigabyte card speed up the rendering process substantially? The prices for 2 gigabyte cards are all across the board $70 - $600. I'm assuming that's because the more expensive cards use a different/better kind of memory or input/output architecture but what do I want/need? Barring buying a new PC (which ain't gonna happen anytime soon) and assuming a 2 gig card would speed rendering substantially what should I expect to pay for a good card and what make/model do most people use?

Many thanks in advance

 

[nwstudios]

Premiere CS5 supports Nvidia CUDA cards on some effects. CUDA card can speed up some renders but don't expect drastic improvements.

 

[Exact]

I apologize in advance for a) dumb questions, b) dumb questions in the wrong forum, c) asking dumb questions in the wrong forum that've probably been asked a zillion times before...

The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask, so don't get the answer to

I just finished a small commercial project that probably took far longer than it had to. I'm using Adobe Premier Pro CS5 with After Effects 5. I have a two-year-old computer that's a Dell machine with 2.8gigahertz Intel Core i7 quad core processor and 8gb RAM, the graphics card is a ATI Radeon HD5700 with 1 gig of DDDR5 memory.

That still a reasonable machine. What is holding you back here is the combination of the software and video card, not one or the other, it's how they are being used together.

Would a newer 2 gigabyte card speed up the rendering process substantially? The prices for 2 gigabyte cards are all across the board $70 - $600.

The amount of memory on the card is not the only factor. If you are using software that is optimised for GPU acceleration on the installed type of card then more memory can't hurt and will often help. However, if the software is not optimised for your installed GPU type (i.e. CS5 is not optimised for your card) then adding another similar one with more memory won't help.

I'm assuming that's because the more expensive cards use a different/better kind of memory or input/output architecture but what do I want/need?

It's the GPU processing type (CUDA vs Open CL etc) that matters the most, and to know which way to go, check your software's recommended cards. For CS5 it's NVidia CUDA cards (see the supported list).

Barring buying a new PC (which ain't gonna happen anytime soon) and assuming a 2 gig card would speed rendering substantially what should I expect to pay for a good card and what make/model do most people use?

Many thanks in advance

If you want to continue using CS5 and see some acceleration you need to buy a video card that is specifically supported by the software. For this you would be looking at cards like the GTX570 as one example. There are lots more, but check the Adobe site prior to buying. Some of the newer cards may or may not work with the older software. I know the GTX570 works with CS5 because we've used it for a couple of years.

However, that's not the whole story. In order to see a significant increase in rendering speed you need to be using the effects that are specifically designed for GPU acceleration, so check the icons next to each effect that tells you if it's accelerated or not. If they are, you 'could' see a massive increase in rendering speed. If you are using ANY effects that are not GPU accelerated then they will still hold you back and no amount of GPU will help. ANY effect applied (which includes things like broadcast safe filters) that are CPU only, then the render speeds will still be slow.

If you use products like Neat Video (noise reduction) then some GPUs are now supported and it's important run their optimisation routines to figure out what combination of CPU/GPU provides the fastest processing.

If you use products like Magic Bullet Looks or Colorista II then all bets are off and your render will continue be slow.