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Best use for SSD in after effects
Hi
I have recently aquired a 60gb OCZ Vertex Solid state drive, and would like to know how best to implment this drive into my setup to increase After effects’s performance.
The area my machine struggles with is RAM previews – though i am getting to grips with the tweaks of settings on how to sort this.
This post is to get the hardware foundation right for a streamline setup.
I currently have two 500gb hard disks in RAID0 – Windows 7 64bit is installed on this! (i have another internal 1tb drive for media)
I currently have 4gb of 800mhz RAM – I have an extra 2GB in the post.
Then in a month or so i will be up to 8GB.I intend to work on High def 1920×1080 video projects.
Please see my Spec at the bottom of this emaiil for the rest of the essentials.
My Question is really based around how to slot my SSD into the equasion.
What would you do?
1. Install the operating System & after effects on the SSD.
2. Use the SSD as the scratch drive.
3. Keep the operating system on my Raid0 – But install After Effects on the SSD.
4. Install the operating system on my SSD but keep after effects on the raid0.I’m sure there are more combinations to this.
Essentially i want my PC to be all about after effects – i don’t mind waiting for windows 7 to load. I just want to be able to work in the fastest way i can.
Any help is much appreciated.
My Spec: After Effects CS5 – Windows 7 – 6GB 800mhz DDR2 RAM – 1tb-Raid0 – 60gbSSD – AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ Processor, 3.0GHz.
Gigabyte 9500GT 512MB GDDR3 -
5 Replies
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[Andrew White] “Essentially i want my PC to be all about after effects – i don’t mind waiting for windows 7 to load. I just want to be able to work in the fastest way i can… My Spec: After Effects CS5 – Windows 7 – 6GB 800mhz DDR2 RAM – 1tb-Raid0 – 60gbSSD – AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ Processor, 3.0GHz. Gigabyte 9500GT 512MB GDDR3”
Personally, I’d use the SSD for the OS and applications — you should get a pretty good overall speed boost versus a spinning disk.
If you really want your PC to be all about After Effects, then you could use a beefier processor and more memory. I think those are the biggest performance bottlenecks you face now.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
I agree with Walter. 60gb is too small for too many projects. AE is cpu and memory bound. Put your money there.
Use your 1tb raid0 for your work space. Use the internal 1tb for a daily online backup. Have another external 1tb harddrive for a weekly offline backup. Use DVD/Bluray or ideally tape for archives as needed to get old large projects off your drives. Write a simple script using robocopy to mirror the raid0 to the internal drive, or use synctoy. Use the same or pick up some backup software like genie-soft for the external drive. You only need to plug it in once a week when you back up.
This will give you fast working performance (off the raid0), and three tiers of backup. Today, yesterday, and last week.
Cory
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Thanks guys – i’ll go for this setup.
I will be able to get up to 8gb Memory soon, thats all my motherboard will take for now 🙁 my processor can only go up one more notch too. I guess i need to think about purchasing a new motherboard then.One last quicky if i may. With 6gb – do you think i should still have mulitprocessing turned off in after effects with this setup?
And the same with 8gb?
My Spec: After Effects CS5 – Windows 7 – 6GB 800mhz DDR2 RAM – 1tb-Raid0 – 60gbSSD – AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ Processor, 3.0GHz.
Gigabyte 9500GT 512MB GDDR3 -
It’s easy enough for you to test your own footage on your system. Also follow what Todd says about memory:
https://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/2010/10/please-try-recommended-memory-settings-for-after-effects-cs5-and-give-feedback.html -
Thanks Guys – i get my memory today so will run a few tests!
My Spec: After Effects CS5 – Windows 7 – 6GB 800mhz DDR2 RAM – 1tb-Raid0 – 60gbSSD – AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ Processor, 3.0GHz.
Gigabyte 9500GT 512MB GDDR3
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