Buy more memory or not?

[Devdeep60]

I have 2 x 512Mb Kingston memory, XP Pro, AMD 64 3700+, 2 fast drives and AIT AIW 9800 pro

I have captured in Mpeg format and will need to convert these to DVD format (i.e. VOB files etc.)

Will I benefit from more memory? Also, what are the advantages of going over 1gb of memory?

[guns1inger]

No. I have 1GB, and push my PC pretty hard a lot of the time. Editing and encoding never comes close to using the full amount - usually tops out around the 800mb mark. The only time I hit the limits is when I am working with very large 3d renders.

Encoding with cce consistently uses 370mb +/- 10mb. ProCoder use a little less. Mpeg4 encoding seems to use a lot less memory.

[lordsmurf]

No.

[harley2ride]

I have two pretty equal machines. One has 2gb of memory, and the other has 1. No matter what I do, I have never slowed down the 1gb machine, and there is no gain or speed difference between them which is noticable. The only gain I have on my 2gb machine is when I'm running multiple instances of photo editing softwares and and using various effects on photos at the same time. I haven't actually checked, but I'm quite certain that I am getting into the extra memory when I'm doing that. Photoshop, PSP, and PhotoImpact all doing photo processes at the same time is very intensive... I haven't actually tried that on my 1gb machine yet, but I should do that in the near future... Most people wouldn't be doing that though!

[ROF]

I wouldn't spend any more money on your aging computer. You will benefit more from a motherboard/processor upgrade than you would from adding more memory.

[edDV]

AMEN,

But does an AMD 64 3700+ deserve to be called an aging computer?

It comes down to time value of money like everything else. Personal multi-tasking can be the solution. You don't need to stand there and stare at it while it encodes.

[ROF]

oops. I looked in the profile not the post for PC specs.

[MJA]

I think a faster harddrive will help(not alot).like a WD Rapter

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=rapter&Submit=E...&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

[edDV]

I think a faster harddrive will help(not alot).like a WD Rapter

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=rapter&Submit=E...&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

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I don't, hard drive access time is way down the priority list.

[Grain]

If your AMD 3700 is socket 939, and you add 2 more 512 sticks, it will likely only run at 333mhz instead of 400. For some reason most socket 939 boards are limited to that speed if all 4 memory slots are occupied. IF you do decide to upgrade, you'd be better off with 2 X 1Gb than 4 X 512. (and if your not using socket 939, disreguard )

[neomaine]

Devdeep60,

You shouldn’t have to 'convert' your mpeg2 video to VOB. I would have been happier if you said 'author' them to DVD, which is all you should have to do.

First make sure that you ARE capturing in a DVD compatible format for video and audio. See 'what is DVD' to be sure.

Though you have 2 drives (you specs are MORE than fine for any of what you're working on) you should make sure that you capture to one drive and author to another drive. The process of authoring usually needs workspace to get things done. This temp space shouldn't be where you captured from. In your case, this is what I would do for (relatively) optimum i/o performance.

1 - Capture to Drive 1.
2 - Set your 'temp' process in your authoring software to Drive 2. This will ensure good read streams from drive 1 and good write streams to drive 2. This way no one drive is doing both at the same time.
3a - If your authoring software allows it and you will be authoring and burning in one step then you should be all set.
3b - If you’ll be authoring and then burning with another tool. Then, with your 'temp' processing set to Drive 2, set your destination folders (VIDEO_TS...) to Drive 1. Again, this has the reads done on one drive and the writes to another.

Generally, make sure that you've defragged before you start any of this processing.

Though two drives sound good, three drives actually makes for a better setup. The first is for OS and programs. The second and third are for capture and processing as defined above. I've even seen people with the two drive setup partition their Drive 1 into two drives to simulate the three drive setup. It works fine by at least keep the OS partition free from the video processing. Less need to included it in defrag.

Don't let the last paragraph scare you. You current setup is just fine if managed properly.