Best 'bang for buck' GPU for PowerDirector 9 Ultra?

[rocknrolla]

I'm a newbie to video editing so just looking for advice on whether I should upgrade my integrated video. If so, what GPU will deliver a good value for money? My system will be primarily used for general computing, web and photo and AVCHD editing.

I'm leaning toward purchasing PowerDirector 9 Ultra to take advantage of the native 64 bit support. The vendor website lists 'supported' video cards but no recommended or min standard.

I've done some research into video cards and it seems the 5670 is the 'best' card I can get without having to upgrade my power supply. It also falls within my budget; however, I'm wondering if its overkill.

I'm also unsure as to which GPU features I should be concerned with (i.e. clock speed, # of processing streams, memory size)?

I would appreciate any insights the fine members of this forum can offer. Thanks!

[zoobie]

if you search here for "edit AVCHD", you'll usually find the minimum specs for editing...the general computing, web and photo will be insignificant in terms of computing power needed

[rocknrolla]

if you search here for "edit AVCHD", you'll usually find the minimum specs for editing...the general computing, web and photo will be insignificant in terms of computing power needed

Thanks for the quick reply, zoobie! I did what you suggested and found a ton of search results; however, none provided a good (and current) answer to my questions.

If anyone wants to step up with an opinion to my GPU question, have at it! That's the whole point of these forums right?
Has anyone purchased a video card lately and found it to be a great investment...or a waste of money? Lets hear about it!

I should add that I am a casual user and will be editing home videos.

[edDV]

Ask Cyberlink or their user forums.

GPU assist is very new. Never heard PowerDirector supported GPU assist.

[magillagorilla]

rocknrolla,
My 2cents. If you didn't already buy Power Director, don't do it! PD9 is an infuriating application. I have never witnessed a program crash and freeze more often. It also does a poor job with AVCHD and a worse job with .MOV contained h.264. In fact I could never get PD9 to load .MOV HD files. The application crashes every time. And no, I don't have a hardware problem, I installed this thing on several PCs at my house. And yes I have the latest patch. My PC is running a Core2 Quad with 4GB RAM which should be fine.

I finally got Sony Vegas Movie Sudio 9 Platnium for like $90, about the same price as PD9 and 1000% better. The application does not crash and edits my 17mbps AVCHD and my 44mbps h.264 .MOV files without a problem. It also offers GPU assistance on encode. Though from what I read GPU support offers minimal boost and usually only processes h.264.

Spend your money on a better CPU rather than a fancy GPU. My Core2 Quad does OK but an i7 would be a bit better.