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Dell Precision upgrade help to work efficiently with HD
Hi,
-This is my first post on the Creative Cow forums, hello, glad to be here-
I’ve had my Dell Precision 490 for about three years now, and it’s been great for editing standard DV, 720p P2 footage, even 1080i HDV, but lately it’s been painfully slow. I’m pretty sure it’s because I upgraded to Premiere CS4, which is great but has the other processes running at the same time. And I’m working with footage using Cineform Prospect, and 1080p footage from the Canon 7D.
So, I need to upgrade, but I’m not sure whether to start from scratch with a new computer, or if it’s possible to get my current PC up to speed with a few parts. Here’s what’s inside now:
-(1) Dual Core Xeon Proc. 5120 1.86, 4MB L2 Cache, 1066Mhz
-6 GB DDR2 RAM – (2x) 2 GB, (4x) 512 MB
-nVidia Quadro FX 550, 128 MB
-250Gb, 750Gb, and 1Tb internal HDD’sI’m thinking of getting (2) 3.0Ghz processors and a better video card – will that make a big difference in my ability to get seamless HD playback, as well as adding filters & effects, and cut back on render time?
Thanks a lot in advance.
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2 Replies
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We use the mov H264 files from a Canon 5D mark II @ 1920×1080 1080p you may need to render these files first so that they will run smoothly in the timeline and if you have 30 minutes of these clips it may take 4 to 5 hours to render overnight, preferably.
We still use Premiere Pro 1.5.1 which is the updated High Definition patch from Cineform.
The results on a Dell Dimension Series 8400 3.2 Ghz 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB with only 2GB Ram is older than your computer, does a very good job especially Exporting to Movie to Tape to utilize the advantages of Full High Definition on a Sony Bravia 46 ” HD Monitor.
If you go to DVD you will get only SD, Blu-ray will record Full HD.
We have noticed very little slowing of the computer when we run it on Restricted Start Up ie., only Premiere Pro working , no Security Software and no internet connection
We too are looking to upgrade, but, CS4 is not the answer yet, as you still need to render. You do not need to render with Sony Vegas Pro 9 but, after Premiere Pro it is a pain to use and the monitor window does not match Premiere Pro. We are looking at a Dell Vostro 430 i7 Processor(2.80GHz, 8MB to suit Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 System requirements. I might add the better computer will provide faster effects and transitions on the timeline
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It may be we still use Windows Xp Professional for which Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 Plus .1 Up grade was designed, there may be some issues with newer Operating Systems. I have an added problem in Australia with the 5D video running at 30 fps and not 25 which suits our Canon HV20 @25 fps PAL: for Export to Tape. Which means we need to change the specifications in the project to Export, and that is time consuming and a pain.Your 7D also works in 25fps which would be a plus to us. However, Canon advises a Firmware update, soon, will be available to change the 5D to 25 fps, the sooner the better.
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