Need to improve Video Editing

shortone · 7 Nov 2006 at 21:42

Hi All,

I have been doing a lot of video editing recently, I would really like to improve my rendering times, I am using AVid Xpress Pro, the problem is I have 2 young kids so money is really tight, I cannot upgrade my whole system to a conroe which is what I am sure will be suggested. I probably have about £150 to spend so will be more than likely looking for second hand kit (no i dont have access to the MM).

For this money I think my otpions will be either to upgrade the memory or the cpu which one of these will I see the biggest improvment ?

My currents system is
AMD 3700 san diego 939 oc to 2600
1gig Kingston Hyperx 3200 ram ( 2x 512)
Epox nvraid 4 mobo
2x 72gb raptors in raid 0
1 x 300gb seagate drive
Leadtek 7800gt 256mb

I was considering trying to get hold of a 4400 x2

Any help as always will be apprecited.

Cheers

Shorty

Lithium · 7 Nov 2006 at 21:52

CPU, MEMORY + DISK Access is key to fast rendering.

Going for a faster CPU will likely see the most improvement but you cant ignore the other two either.

Gas Panic! · 7 Nov 2006 at 23:32

A dual-core processor will help massively.

shortone · 8 Nov 2006 at 00:35

Cheers

I think I will try to get hold of a 4400 as they have 1mb cache, does that make sense ?

R B Customs · 8 Nov 2006 at 00:44

yes dual core will effectivly ( dont shoot em down here) *double* performance.

i know how you feel. i also edit video and it takes an age to render ! i use vegas and it ahs a network render feature. if you have any other PCs kickign about that may help.

disk access speed is not as iportant than the other two IMO, especialy when working with generated media

just my 2 pence

shortone · 8 Nov 2006 at 08:57

Thanks

If anyone sees any 4400s for sale can you ley me know, Oclockers only do a 4600 now which is beyond my budget.

Cheers

Shorty

xirokx · 8 Nov 2006 at 09:50

ive seen a competitior (well known one) selling opty 170's for £130 mate...

go go go go go go go

dual core definately would help, also may want to think about getting some more RAM as well

Captain Fizz · 8 Nov 2006 at 10:11

R B CUSTOMS said:
...If you have any other PCs kickign about that may help.

Indeed - If it's anything like 3D Studio Max then it uses a type of distributed computing and you can have other PC's join in when rendering.
(Sweeeet feature!)

Dual-Core should literally double performance as stated.
Check your "Peak Commit Charge" after rendering something (in task manager).
If Peak Commit Charge > Physical RAM, you need more RAM too.
(If Peak Commit Charge < Physical RAM, no need to upgrade it)

shortone · 8 Nov 2006 at 10:39

If Peak Commit Charge > Physical RAM, you need more RAM too.
(If Peak Commit Charge < Physical RAM, no need to upgrade it)

Thanks for that tip captain

shortone · 8 Nov 2006 at 11:08

xirokx how does the 170 compare to the x2 4400 ?

I know very little about opterons.

xirokx · 8 Nov 2006 at 11:18

i believe they are very similar in terms of stock speed and l2 cache...

but as the opterons are made for servers and the price they going for at the moment you be mad not to get one....

DJsean · 8 Nov 2006 at 11:25

LINKY!

OcUK Have an X2 4400 in their clearance section - It's OEM and is more than the 4600 retail in the normal "CPU" section.

I'm sure it's merely been overlooked and they will beat the price of their 4600 retail for the OEM chip if you have a quiet word in their ear...

Sean

shortone · 8 Nov 2006 at 12:23

Hi DJSean

Thanks for that link, I did phone up OC but it turns out that its the real price, they said it refelcts the price they paid for them and as its the last of the 939s thats what I will have to pay.

I think I will just have to go the ebay route
But thanks anyway.