Processor vs. RAM Vs. Video Card = which to focus on

x-angel

x-angel

Well-known member
Hey guys,

I recently moved up into the world of HD Video with the acquisition of 2 Nikon D7000s which records into Quicktime MOV..

Now, obviously, I am shooting in 1080p, 24fps. I user Adobe Premiere/After Effects for post production. (CS4)

My current setup for a Computer is an AMD Dual Core 2.7Ghz, with 8GB of DDR2 memory.

I have a Radeon 4350 Video card.

Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit

I understand that the HD video is a bear to process, but it took my computer 2.5 hours to process 6 minutes of HD video(in to a WMV.) That seemed a little long to me.

I am usually pretty computer hardware saavy, but I have heard different answers on this question: What makes the most difference when working with HD: the Prcessor, the Amount of RAM, or the video card? Combo of all 3? What hardware setup would be recommended to help live preview as well as faster processing.

I just wanted to ask this before I go and drop money on a AMD QUAD core and max out a board with 16GB of ram. I know that this would make a HUGE difference in any event, but I just thought I'd throw this out there. I know that any upgrade from wha tI have right now will make a difference, and that this seems like a commonsense question, but I thought I'd ask.

:dankk2: in advance
 
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Upgrade to CS5 and get an NVidia Cuda Card. That will already make a MASSIVE difference!

0.02c

Edit:

Until the Cuda Cards appeared, Graphics Cards only really changed the game at the top end of the spectrum.
Obviously RAM, processor, fsb and hard drive speeds make a huge difference, but the CS5/Cuda combo are unbelievably effective!
 
I am assuming that you are suggesting CS5 because it is truly ALL 64 bit and will address all 8 gigs oif my memory unlike what CS4 does? And which Cuda card do you receommend?
 
Cs5 eats it for breakfast. I can have multiple effects, gaussian blurs, color corrections and it just flies. It uses the ram, graphics card. Having a processor with multi-threading helps as well (i7 or newer). If you don't have the cash you can buy cineform and convert the footage I believe for an easier edit. You could also offload some files from your drive into another hard drive. This will free up more space.

The nvidia 470 gives the best bang for the buck as well. But computers are always changing. And Adobe just released it's cs5.5 version so it's already made some changes.

Hope this helps.
 
Ok... well I will up to CS5 at least, and try to get CS5.5 ASAP. I heard that CS5 was intitially very buggy....was I misinformed?
 
Video editing needs a fast processor (fastest I7 you can get), lots of RAM, and for CS5, you would be even better off getting a Graphics Card with Cuda engine (by Nvidea).
There are also reports, that CS5 runs great with a 6 Core processor. (I7 980 and I7 990X. They cost roughly £700 though)

For Adobe CS5, you will find that it runs much better with an Intel processor. Also check here: http://ppbm5.com/Benchmark5.html
 
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Even older cards like the 275 GTX can get you affordable fast CUDA rendering on the Mercury engine. I would recommend the models with > 1g memory if you intend to work with 4k.

You can also help mankind with your CUDA cores while not rendering. Stanford University has pioneered a super-super fast engine that you can selectively loan your CUDA cores to, solving the problems of protein folding involved in diseases like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and many cancers. (http://folding.stanford.edu/ if you would like to help, make sure you select the high performance engine for GPU's and not the CPU version as the GPU is SOOOOOO much faster and unnoticable while doing anyhting other than CUDA rendering)
 
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