Need Better System to Run Adobe Premiere CS4

[Funky Monk]

I have just upgraded my version of Adobe Premiere from 1.5 to CS4 but now video files move slow and jerky. My current system is an ASRock Socket 478 Mobo, Pentium 4 3GHZ processor, 2 GB RAM, 32MB Matrox G550 graphics card. What I would like some advice on is whether I could get a performance increase by upgrading the graphics card to a 256MB one (NB. this is an AGP board). I would say that under Premiere Pro 1.5 videos played well so it seems as if it is the demands of CS4 for more power.

But I am on a real tight budget. I know it would be better to upgrade to a new computer but I have spent so much onn upgrading so much else that I would like to know if I could just make a few changes to my present system for now, whic would be much cheaper. Thanks.

[rallynavvie]

I don't think Premiere really uses any consumer-level GPU acceleration so I wouldn't count on an upgraded consumer video card helping you out.

I'm a bit surprised that the performance difference between Premiere Pro 1.5 and CS4 are that noticeable on your machine. I'd have to look at the release notes but perhaps they dropped support for an instruction set and your CPU isn't new enough to use the latest version (SSE4.x or whatever it's up to now).

[lowellriggsiam]

If it helps I have a 9600 phenom with 3MB ram, an ATI Radeon HD 2400 HT running Vista premium and it ran well.

[Soopafresh]

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 can also accelerate Video but only with Quadro GPUs. Photoshop works with normal Nvidia GPUs. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 can use the Quadro GPU to accelerate high-quality video effects such as motion, opacity, color, and image distortion. They will enable faster editing of multiple high-definition video streams and graphic overlays and provide a variety of video output choices for high-quality preview, including display port, component TV, or uncompressed 10 or 12-bit SDI.


Unfortunately, Quadro cards can cost a bit. And AGP ones are rare.

http://compeve.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8&zenid=c189545db154e0...b1b53b953c20c2




All of this stuff is like trying to turn a Hyundai into a Porsche. You just end up with a weird looking Hyundai and probably spent as much money had you bought the Porsche in the first place.

[edDV]

I'd bite the bullet and get at least a Core2 Duo motherboard and CPU. An investment in an AGP Quadro will have limited life. You will need more CPU power eventually. You can get a Core2 Quad + Mobo under $300 if you shop.

[Soopafresh]

I'd bite the bullet and get at least a Core2 Duo motherboard and CPU. An investment in an AGP Quadro will have limited life. You will need more CPU power eventually. You can get a Core2 Quad + Mobo under $300 if you shop.

+1

[rallynavvie]

Yeah I was going to mention that a workstation video card like the Quadros is going to set you back a good portion (if not the entire cost) of a new system that would be money better spent. Consumer-level cards are the nVidia GeForce and ATi Radeon cards.

[Funky Monk]

Ok. I think I need to go the upgrade to newer system route. Thanks for all your advice.

On that, I was looking at a system - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/isysex.html - with 2 options of CPU. I'm now wondering which is better - a Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 at 2.93GHZ or a Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 at 2.50Ghz ???

[rallynavvie]

If you are truly working with video a lot you may find the quad-core actually gets more use than the dual-core. I don't think Premiere itself is SMP but I know the Mainconcept encoder it uses will use all four cores.

[Funky Monk]

If you are truly working with video a lot you may find the quad-core actually gets more use than the dual-core. I don't think Premiere itself is SMP but I know the Mainconcept encoder it uses will use all four cores.

Ta. What does SMP stand for?

[poisondeathray]

What does SMP stand for?

Symmetric multiprocessing, i.e. multi CPU core capable

[Soopafresh]

4 or quad core

Good decision upgrading. It'll pay for itself (eventually).

[lordsmurf]

I don't think MC uses 4 cores in the Adobe version, aside from H.264

[rallynavvie]

I don't think MC uses 4 cores in the Adobe version, aside from H.264

In fact it uses 8 for MPEG2