Installed 2 gigs RAM but feel no difference in FCP5

[Gary Adcock]

[tstyle9] “I bought an additional gig of ram to deal with the rendering issue. Rendering a simple 8 second clip still takes me about 4 mins. Am I just setting my expectations too high for 2 gigs of RAM or is there something i can do?”

you have a fast machine, and a fair amount of ram..
BUT

What version of FCP?
are you reading and writing renders to the same drive? (don’t)
How fast is the storage?
Do you have 20% or more of the drive free?

sounds as if your issue is the speed of the storage OR what you are attempting to do.

for complicated renders I always find it better to render out elemental versions. This is do to FCP’s inability to concatenate ( combine) the math functions when using multiple filters on render. They can do it in Shake and motion but not yet in FCP.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows

[Tstyle9]

I’m currently using Final Cut Pro 5.0.1. I’m actually reading and writing on the same drive but would it make a difference if I partition my drives? Source videos on the partition and render files on the main drive? My storage speed is 7200 rpm and I do have more than 20% (maybe even 50) of the drive free.

I’m starting to realize the Unlimited RT works great, much better than before. Clips that I’ve captured from my mini DV tend to respond faster in FCP 5 as oppose to clips i’ve extracted from dvd. Thanks for responding!

[13]

“I’m currently using Final Cut Pro 5.0.1”

FCP v5.0.1 is not optimized for the intel processor, you need 5.1 or newer ( I am surprised it even let you install 5.0.1 on a intel machine) If in fact it is 5.0.1 that you are funning that would defiantly cause FCP to run slower,

It also sound like you are using your main hard drive (the drive with the OS installed) to edit your video from. NEVER edit from your main drive. The drive running the OS and applications has enough to do, having it also handle your video streams will just chock it up.

[Tstyle9]

I’ve installed fcp 5.1 and I’m seeing major differences in render times. Thank you.

[Gary Adcock]

[tstyle9] “I’ve installed fcp 5.1 and I’m seeing major differences in render times. Thank you.”

to your other question

Partitioning the drives will reduce the speed rather than give you more.
It is still the same drive platters being written to.

Read from one drive, write to another is always faster. Always

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows