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Pentium D for HDV?
We are starting to use After Effects CS3 for the first time on a Pentium D 3.2GHz (dual core) processor. It is impossibly slow (let alone trying to render) in HDV 1080i. The video tutorials by Andrew Kramer show AE can behave well, but HDV on our computer is unusable.
(1) Do we need to upgrade to a Core 2 Duo (e.g. the E6850 3GHz processor), please?
(2) Or would a slower Quad Core (the Q6600 2.4GHz) be better?
(3) Can AE CS3 take advantage of more than 2 processors on the PC?
(4) Can CS3 for Windows take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM?Our computer has 4GB RAM (533 DDR2), WinXP, 5 SATA 7200rpm hard drives (separate scratch disk), Nvidia Quadro FX540 video. The startup has the /3GB switch. Naturally we have little installed on this editing computer, certainly no anti-virus.
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5 Replies
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Hardware aside, you should never composite with HDV. You should convert it to something like the Photo-JPEG or Animation codec before importing it into AE. Do this before spending money on new hardware.
(HDV uses interframe compression, which AE hates. The other codecs do not use interframe compression.)
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Much like MPEG-4, After Effects HATES HDV because of its compression type like Steve mentioned. The problem is not your machine, it’s the codec you’re using.
That said, here’s my take on your questions:
– slower quad vs. core 2 duo – It depends on where you need the horsepower. A quad will help more in rendering tasks (provided you have enough RAM, see point below), while a faster processor will help speed up the creation process and general interactivity within AE.
– AE CS3 and RAM/Processors – AE CS3 will use as many processors as you have, provided you set it up properly. On the RAM issue, while Windows can only address 3GB RAM (with the 3GB switch enabled), that amount is per process. Most apps are limited to that 3GB limit since they are only a single process. AE CS3 gets around this by using a Nucleo-like trick during rendering, wherein multiple instances of AE are launched in the background, all working on your render and all using as much RAM as is available. Keep in mind – AE CS3 won’t use all of your processors unless there is enough RAM per processor for it to do so, and the recommended amount is 2-3GB per core.
In order to get AE CS3 to use all your cores and RAM, make sure multiprocessing is turned on in the After Effects preferences. It will tell you how many cores it can use based on the available RAM.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Thanks for that, guys.
How do I convert to another codec? Do I have to buy one, like Cineform? Or is there a free codec or one inbuilt in CS3?
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Wow! Thanks for that reply.
Does this also apply to a Windows PC, or only a Mac?
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These same principals apply to both Windows and Macs, although (and I could be wrong here) I believe people are seeing better multiprocessing results on Macs. This could simply be because quad-core PCs are not as common and therefore results are not as commonly made available.
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