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PowerMac G5 Ram or GPU?
In my office we have a G5 dual 2GHz with OSX It’s like 4 years old or something.
We are using Final Cut Pro HD Suite. In Final Cut I find myself rendering constantly to watch playback of my edits. My PC at home with Premiere Pro 2.0 never has to render to play back…The playback is just pixelated. Final Cut gives me a red screen saying something like rendering required.
I’m clueless on upgrading MACs, do we need to upgrade the GPU or add more RAM.
Currently the factory installed ATI Radeon with 64mb RAM is the GPU.
We have all 8 bays of ram fill with paired 256 cards starting in the center and going out. Equalling 2GB RAM.
I have been looking at the ATI Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition or adding 4GB RAM
Any Suggestions?
Recommendations?Jason Hewes
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8 Replies
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Give us more info about your G5. Your profile reflects a Windows PC. You should not have a problem with a normally configured G5. What drive are you capturing to and in what format? Do your capture and sequence settings match?
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We capture in sd 4/3 dv quicktime files … nothing fancy. We use external drives though. IDE 250GBs and 750GBs 7200RPM via firewire.
The computer has two internal sata drives one 70GB with the OS and Final Cut HD the other 150GB is a media bin which I just recently formated … it is empty currently.
I have been reading other posts and I have noticed that others mention this problem, of having to render constantly, when working with text. Also they mention adjusting the “RT” setting. I plan to do so as soon as I get to work on Monday.
I was hoping a hardware upgrade would make a noticeable difference when it comes to rendering and the ability to work without the need to render.Jason Hewes
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You should have no problem simply reviewing an edit or with many wipe and dissolve transitions. If you lay down a new shot on the timeline and you have to render it, then the settings for you sequence are not set to the same parameters as your source material. Check the sequence settings first. Review the section in the manual on real time previews.
More ram will speed up your rendering and help with long timelines and a more powerful graphics card couldn’t hurt, but your machine as is, is fine for DV.
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You say that in Premiere, the PC never asks you for rendering; if it can’t keep up with a sequence or effect, the playback just becomes pixellated.
The equivalent of that in FCP is the “Unlimited RT” option. Set your timeline to that instead of to “Safe RT”, and you’ll see that the computer doesn’t ask you for renders; it will just skip frames when it can’t keep up.
This said, FCP’s scrolling text effect is a real dog; I’ve never understood why something as simple as scrolling text through the screen requires so much render time…
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Thanks for all the replies. After all my message board and forum searches I think I get it.
As I understand it, programs like Premiere and Final Cut use system RAM and the CPU for rendering while programs like After Effects and Motion use the GPU and Video RAM primarily.
True?Jason Hewes
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Jason,
I cut HDV and DV regularly on a dual 2Ghz G5 – I get maybe 2-3 tracks of realtime before I need to render. This with a G-SATA array. It still has the standard GFX card.
I think you should, with an internal SATA drive, manage at least two. So, as others have stated, check your sequence settings carefully. If your editing DV, use the easy setup for DV. Make sure the sequence matches your footage. Make sure Unlimited RT is on, and you aren’t in Safe RT mode. As others have stated, your problem is not the GPU or RAM if you’re getting a red render bar – especially if it’s just putting a clip down. Single clip with red render bar means a setting mismatch. If it plays OK but needs rendering as soon as you put an effect on, then I’d go for the Unlimited RT being off.
I think the system I edit on has about 4 gigs of RAM. More RAM is ever a bad thing, but yours should be fine on what it has. Get that sorted first before you throw money at it!!
HTH
Jason
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Before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
Then when you do criticise him, you’ll be a mile away. And have his shoes.*the artist formally known as Jaymags*
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[Jason P] “I think you should, with an internal SATA drive, manage at least two.”
Oops, meant to say ATA – but as long as they’re fast ones it will still hold. DV data rates are not onerous. One more thought – always worth making sure FCP is using the correct drives for storage and playback. Check your System Settings for drive assignment.
J
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Before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
Then when you do criticise him, you’ll be a mile away. And have his shoes.*the artist formally known as Jaymags*
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Thanks again for everones input. I went unlimited RT and then changed User Preferences by unchecking Report dropped frames during playback, and the Abort ETT/PTV on dropped frames. It is now very pixelated but I don’t have to render!!!! I’m so happy.
Jason Hewes
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