Upgrading my system: Best approach?

[lamerc]

I'm doing a lot of video editing with Adobe CS5. I want to upgrade my system to handle the processing better, and my first thought is just to throw more RAM in it. Unfortunately I know just enough to know that isn't necessarily the best approach.

But I thought I'd ask anyone more knowledgeable than I: What will give me the best bang for my buck in terms of video processing? And are there any bottlenecks in system performance I should be watching?

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<<< System Summary >>>
> Mainboard : Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
> Chipset : Intel P45/P43
> Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2833MHz
> Physical Memory : 4096MB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
> Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
> Hard Disk : SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (1000GB)
> Hard Disk : Seagate ST31000333AS ATA Device (1000GB)
> Hard Disk : Western Digital WD2500YD-01NVB1 ATA Device (251GB)
> Operating System : Windows 7 Professional Professional 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
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[Poppa_Meth]

Have you installed CUDA drivers for you GPU and set up Adobe to use it? That helps a bit for video editing.

[budwzr]

AFAIK, Win7 has no ram limit, so more and faster ram might work. It all depends on if CS5 will actually use the extra ram. Adobe is not famous for quick and nimble software.

Another option might be an SSD drive, and install the software on that.

USB3 drives are very fast, but you need a USB3 port.

I would say on a 64 bit system, that the CPU and Ram are the weakest links. I would say throw 8 gigs of the fastest ram you can afford in there first and see what happens.

AFA your workflow goes, using two drives, one to edit, and the other to render. Prerender often and try to keep the tiimeline simpler. If you have complicated animations or composites, do them separately. Work smart! Try to render when you go to lunch or away from the desk.

[Case]

AFAIK, Win7 has no ram limit, so more and faster ram might work.

I don't know about Win7, but the motherboard certainly has its limits:
• 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting upto 16 GB of system memory.
• Support for DDR2 1300/1200/1150/1066/800/667 MHz memory modules.

It all depends on if CS5 will actually use the extra ram. Adobe is not famous for quick and nimble software.

Adobe did go 64 bit for a reason: access to more ram.

[deadrats]

for the most part your pc's performance is limited by your cpu; disk speed only comes into play if you're working with very high bit rate video, such as that found with uncompressed video, likewise ram can be a factor if you're running a lot of apps in the background and you're bumping up against your ram limit, also more ram will make it easier to load large hd files into some editors.

having said that, the cpu is what does most of the processing, so in all honesty you best bet is to upgrade your motherboard and cpu and if you're going with intel, you will need to upgrade the ram as well.

[lamerc]

Thanks all!

Poppa_Meth: Since I don't know what CUDA are, I'm going to go with "No, I haven't." I'll look into that.

I don't know about Win7, but the motherboard certainly has its limits:
• 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting upto 16 GB of system memory.
• Support for DDR2 1300/1200/1150/1066/800/667 MHz memory modules.

Yeah, that's just the sort of thing I was afraid of missing.

having said that, the cpu is what does most of the processing, so in all honesty you best bet is to upgrade your motherboard and cpu and if you're going with intel, you will need to upgrade the ram as well.

So, any advice on planning motherboard/cpu upgrades?

[budz]

DDR3 ram is cheap these days......what cpu are you looking at? Intel or AMD? I have the same mobo & cpu as you do which does video stuff fast enough for me.....If I was to upgrade I'd get a AMD 6 core cpu.....AMD Bulldozer will be coming out at the beginning of summer....so you gotta decide which cpu you're gonna get first then work from there.....Just my 2 freaking cents!

[jman98]

AFAIK, Win7 has no ram limit, so more and faster ram might work. It all depends on if CS5 will actually use the extra ram. Adobe is not famous for quick and nimble software.

Actually it's a 32bit or 64bit version of Windows question. All 32 bit versions of Windows, including Win 7, are limited to at most 4 GB of RAM. The limit is much much higher with quite a bit of variability on all 64 bit versions of Windows. It can be anywhere from 8 GB to 2 TB depending on the OS. Do note that "Windows Starter" versions of Windows (whatever that is) is reported by Microsoft to be limited to 2 GB on all versions whether 32 bit or 64 bit.

[lamerc]

DDR3 ram is cheap these days......what cpu are you looking at? Intel or AMD? I have the same mobo & cpu as you do which does video stuff fast enough for me.....If I was to upgrade I'd get a AMD 6 core cpu.....AMD Bulldozer will be coming out at the beginning of summer....so you gotta decide which cpu you're gonna get first then work from there.....Just my 2 freaking cents!

Yeah, it looks like DDR3 is actually cheaper than DDR2...which shows how behind the curve I am there.

Looking around I'm thinking my cpu is still solid, it's the motherboard that's lagging. If I get a new motherboard and some DDR3 memory, that might do it.

[budwzr]

Looking around I'm thinking my cpu is still solid, it's the motherboard that's lagging. If I get a new motherboard and some DDR3 memory, that might do it.

And you may get little or no improvement too. Adobe software "runs on Windows", but from inside it's own shell (GUI). There's an extra degree of separation, and it's not truly optimized for Windows. That's why a lot of people call it bloatware.

I would check with other users too.

[deadrats]

So, any advice on planning motherboard/cpu upgrades?

june 7th bulldozer will be released and all the benchmarks will hit, there is some innuendo that bulldozer will be a disappointment, only reaching sandy bridge performance, there is some innuendo that it will mop up the floor with sandy bridge, so far, surprisingly enough, there haven't been all that many leaks (usually less than a month out we already know how fast a cpu will be).

i would wait to see a) how fast bulldozer is and b) how aggressively it's priced; if you can score a 4 module 8 core bulldozer for about $200 and it's competitive with an i7 2600, then you jump all over that bad boy (that's what i'm doing).

if it's another phenom disaster, well then an intel is the way to go.

[deadrats]

Looking around I'm thinking my cpu is still solid, it's the motherboard that's lagging. If I get a new motherboard and some DDR3 memory, that might do it.

your Q9550 isn't bandwidth bound by ddr, that's what it was design to work with from the get go, i'd bet money that you wouldn't see any measurable improvement going with a new motherboard and ddr3.

[budz]

If you wanna keep the cpu you have then get a Gigabyte mobo that still supports DDR3 ram & your cpu.....Unfortunately there's only 2 models to choose from.

Both support up to 16gb DDR3 Ram.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128496


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128467

[edDV]

Thanks all!

Poppa_Meth: Since I don't know what CUDA are, I'm going to go with "No, I haven't." I'll look into that.

I don't know about Win7, but the motherboard certainly has its limits:
• 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting upto 16 GB of system memory.
• Support for DDR2 1300/1200/1150/1066/800/667 MHz memory modules.

Yeah, that's just the sort of thing I was afraid of missing.

having said that, the cpu is what does most of the processing, so in all honesty you best bet is to upgrade your motherboard and cpu and if you're going with intel, you will need to upgrade the ram as well.

So, any advice on planning motherboard/cpu upgrades?

I have that same motherboard/CPU on my #2 machine. It came in DDR2 only and DDR2/3 versions.

In my experience, RAM over 4GB has little effect. Others may have different case histories.

I've invested in a specific purpose i7 GigaByte Mobo machine for a fast render project. I'm still editing on a machine similar to yours with limited issues. What are your specific problems?

I'm doing a lot of video editing with Adobe CS5. I want to upgrade my system to handle the processing better,

Explain your project workflow.

[lamerc]

In my experience, RAM over 4GB has little effect. Others may have different case histories.

I've invested in a specific purpose i7 GigaByte Mobo machine for a fast render project. I'm still editing on a machine similar to yours with limited issues. What are your specific problems?

Explain your project workflow.

I just finished a big project with a number of AE fx work on pretty hi-res clips. Ultimately it rendered all right, but even with lots of pre-rendering and separating complicated bits into separate sub-timelines, it stuck a few times and for a bit there I was afraid I was going to have to render it in two(?) pieces and paste them together just in order to meet a deadline.

So, it works...but I was getting worried about that last render and would prefer if they all went a bit more smoothly.

As to my workflow, budwzr pretty much describes it:

AFA your workflow goes, using two drives, one to edit, and the other to render. Prerender often and try to keep the tiimeline simpler. If you have complicated animations or composites, do them separately. Work smart! Try to render when you go to lunch or away from the desk.

[edDV]

After Effects with layered composites will take substantial CPU power. I doubt more RAM will make much difference.

You are a candidate for an i5/i7 Sandy Bridge CPU if you can afford one.

[Nelson37]

ED, with regard to your comment regarding RAM over 4GB, are you specifically referring to using Adobe CS5 with a 64-bit OS?

More RAM is usually one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can do, up to a point. SFAIK using that particular software is one of the few that should benefit from going over 4GB, if the OS supports it. However, I'll defer to Ed's experience in this area.

Faster RAM than currently and/or a slight overclock might be a good way to go. I don't OC a new chip, but before considering the next upgrade an OC can be a free or very cheap alternative. A 20% speed increase is usually easily achievable.

[edDV]

It would have to be 64bit to go over 4GB. It depends on the type of effects editing or whether multiple Adobe apps need to be open simultaneously (e.g. for dynamic linking). The OP should monitor RAM usage. If AE is paging virtual RAM to disk, then certainly he would benefit from more RAM. This would be accompanied by drops from 100% CPU usage.

My main point is effects editing is mostly limited by CPU speed.

[lamerc]

It would have to be 64bit to go over 4GB. It depends on the type of effects editing or whether multiple Adobe apps need to be open simultaneously (e.g. for dynamic linking). The OP should monitor RAM usage. If AE is paging virtual RAM to disk, then certainly he would benefit from more RAM. This would be accompanied by drops from 100% CPU usage.

My main point is effects editing is mostly limited by CPU speed.

Yeah, and I am 64bit. I do think part of my current problem is that this is the first time I've used After Effects much, or in such a way as to have them linked and thus both open while rendering.

And monitoring the RAM usage is a good idea I really should have thought of. I'll do that in looking towards a short-term RAM fix, but definitely with an eye towards upgrading the cpu soon. Thanks!

[RabidDog]

As others have pointed out .. you are at the top of the processor tree with your Q9550 .. any significant upgrade will warrant a whole new Cpu eco system, eg CPU, MOBO, RAM and maybe cooler. In the meantime you would certainly see an improvement from more ram, and an SSD for the OS and prog would be good. Then a good (but not great) buy a fast 2tb disc. And work smart ... set your renders to start just before you go for a dump .. they'll be ready when you get back!. Maybe even get a second PC? or a second monitor.

[edDV]

It would have to be 64bit to go over 4GB. It depends on the type of effects editing or whether multiple Adobe apps need to be open simultaneously (e.g. for dynamic linking). The OP should monitor RAM usage. If AE is paging virtual RAM to disk, then certainly he would benefit from more RAM. This would be accompanied by drops from 100% CPU usage.

My main point is effects editing is mostly limited by CPU speed.

Yeah, and I am 64bit. I do think part of my current problem is that this is the first time I've used After Effects much, or in such a way as to have them linked and thus both open while rendering.

And monitoring the RAM usage is a good idea I really should have thought of. I'll do that in looking towards a short-term RAM fix, but definitely with an eye towards upgrading the cpu soon. Thanks!

Adobe AE/PP/PS program preferences can be set to allocate RAM for exclusive application use or let Windows manage RAM. Setup can be tricky. Best to ask about this in specialty AE forums.