Bottleneck of my sys?

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

1) Upgrade to CS6
2) Install an SSD for your cache and OS

If you’re going to upgrade your RAM to 32GB and it’s going to hurt then go for that as well.

It’s quite important to purchase parts/apps that you can re-use in a new CPU when you eventually upgrade your CPU.

You don’t need a faster GPU unless you’re intending to use lots of ray-tracing found only in CS6.

Finally, the Spacebar for playback is underrated. Try it on your footage/timeline panels to see if it starts playing your timelines faster than a RAM preview.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[Jeff Brown]

You did not mention if your footage is on a (SATA2) RAID. That could help…

-Jeff

[Walter Soyka]

[Roger Maus] “Rendering times are tolerable, but while working I have to reduce resolution and press capslock a lot…”

This is part of life with After Effects. Even on high-end systems, I am constantly using things like reduced resolution, Shift-RAM preview for low res and skipping frames, and proxies.

Adobe maintains an excellent page in the documentation called Improve performance [link] which includes many tips on tweaking your system and workflow.

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

[Roger Maus]

Sure it’s not Premiere, but still I feel it could be better… (better than one-eighth resolution and mandatory breaks due to forgotten capslock) Thanks for the link, looks worthwile! And Shift+RAM was new to me too!

[Roger Maus]

@Roland: Thanks for your response.
1. Upgrading to CS6 is projected.
2. System drive is SSD. Sorry for not pointing it out.
3. What do you mean by “If you’re going to upgrade your RAM to 32GB and it’s going to hurt then go for that as well.”? (I am confused about the “hurting”…)
4. Spacebar… i’ll give it a try!

@Jeff: No, no raid. All regular SATA2. Only sys is on SSD. Also, this is where the cache is.
I don’t find it practical to “outsource” all the footage on a SSD/RAID every time I’d like to work on a project.

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

[Roger Maus] “3. What do you mean by “If you’re going to upgrade your RAM to 32GB and it’s going to hurt then go for that as well.”? (I am confused about the “hurting”…)”

The RAM you upgrade to on your existing rig may not be usable on a new machine. So … be mindful of this – I guess that was what I meant to say. 😉

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer