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Optimum PC set up for After Effects
Hello,
I have recently bought a new PC to work mainly on compositing in after effects and for some 3D work in Maya. I would like any tips on how to set up the machine to optimise it’s performance; by this I mean how to best set up the preferences in after effects and also congiguring windows to get the most out of the machine.
The pc has 4 gig of RAM, two dual core Opteron model 275 processors, Nvidia FX 1500 256mb pro video edition and 2 x 250 gig hard drives with a 500 gig external drive connected by fire wire. I have been reading about virtual memory paging files, can I set these for more than one drive? and also that you can only actually use 3gig of ram on a 32 bit machine and you have to configure windows to see more than 2gig. I am finding it hard to digest all of the info and would like some advice in laymans terms please!
Thanks for your time
M
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1 Reply
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I’ve never seen anybody have to tweak a system for After Effects. Nevertheless, here are my pea-brained thoughts on the matter:
1. If you need to know about the 3GB switch, search the COW, probably for “3GB”, maybe adding “switch” and “XP”. Some don’t recommend it … read the posts.
2. AE isn’t as responsive to OpenGL as 3D apps are. It’s getting better, though. Try searching the COW for “openGL”. Search the AE help, too.
3. Normally, we say “get as much RAM as you can, the fastest processors, and to a lesser extent, fast drives for the media”. The drive speed is more crucial with NLEs. Processors affect rendering speed (and preview speed, when not using OpenGL), RAM affects number of frames available for RAM preview, and disk speed affects render/preview speed when you have to access a lot of frames from disc that don’t need much rendering.
4. If you’re serious about speed, get Nucleo Pro. It allows AE to use both processors effectively.
5. I kinda thought that if you had to use virtual memory paging files, you’ve lost the speed battle because you’re now using the disk. But it’s been a looong time since I’ve worried about such things. 🙂
6. Speed is more affected by how you organize your workflow, and how fast you can navigate around your interface. Also, pre-render and re-import movies that you will use a lot, and pre-render and re-import stills that had to be rendered. Aharon Rabinowitz should have some tutorials on workflow.Anybody else?
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