Premiere Pro super computer needed

[Harm Millaard]

XP can use 4 GB. Normally this is allocated between the OS and applications in 2 GB chunks. OS gets 2 and applications get 2. Using the boot.ini switch it is possible for applications to use up to 3 GB (if they were compiled with that capability) and allow the OS only 1 GB. Whether that is beneficial depends on the application and the housekeeping tasks of the OS. Under a 64 bit OS this limitation is removed. When you have 16 GB RAM under a 64 bit OS, each application can use 2 GB for itself. If you have AE, AI, EN, PS, PR and SB open at the same time, each can use 2 GB of RAM and the total is still 12 GB, leaving the OS with 4 GB for housekeeping. This is all assuming 32 bit applications, like CS3. Hope this explains it somewhat.

[Blast1]

https://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

[Harm Millaard]

If money is not an issue, a HP Integrity Superdome with 64 x Itanium2 @ 1.6 GHz CPU’s, 2 TB of RAM and a couple thousand 15K RPM SCSI disks would be a supercomputer you are looking for. It is way faster (2.5x) than a IBM System P570 with 8 Power6 CPU’s @ 4.7 GHz. Price/performance is the best in it’s class.

[Eric Jurgenson]

Tyan Tempest i5000 series mobo
(2) Intel core 2 quad Xeon (3 GHz)
4 GB RAM
single SATA boot drive
ATI X1950PRO 512
Matrox Axio LE or RTX2
Win XP Pro
Suitable RAID array and adaptor(for Axio: ProAvio RS8 HDS, or two T5’s; Adaptec dual 320SCSI card)
Pioneer DVD burner
(2) NEC AccuSync ASLCD24WMCX-BK 24″ monitors

[Gary Bettan]

excellent advice Eric!

We have found that the Tyan Tempest i5000 series mobos are the best for those building or having custom machines built for NLE.

For an overview of several levels of DIY machines check out our DIY 5 Update – Build your own computer for Digital Video https://www.videoguys.com/DIY5updateNAB07.html

Using the Matrox hardware (RT.X2 or Axio LE)is another big productivity booster. While you ca do quite a bit with the software only, when it comes to HDV footage, the Matrox hardware gives you a level of real-time performance allows you to be more creative.

Gary

Videoguys.com 800 323-2325

We are the desk top video editing and DVD production experts!

[Chris Knight]

I’ve been using a Dell Precision 690 for the last month, and it performs perfectly (whether it’s 30 second spots, or 30 minute shows). I use Premiere CS2 (and After Effects 7). I’ll be upgrading it to CS3 on Monday. The only bottleneck in the system is Premiere CS2 (during rendering, it only uses 10-14 percent of the CPUs). After Effects 7 goes up to 30 (so, using both at the same time doesn’t cause any issues with system performance). I suspect CS3 will change all that.

The specs:

Dual Quad Core 2.66 Ghz Xeon CPUs (Dell did not offer 3Ghz as an option)
3 gigs of RAM
250 GB boot drive
4 x 500 GB RAID 0 array (internal, SATA, Samsung brand)
External FW800 2 TB RAID 1 array for archiving.
AJA Xena LHe SDI/Analog I/O with the breakout box.

[Eric Jurgenson]

Not bad, but we’re talking high performance here, and that would require a Matrox card. The Xena LHe is only an I/O card. The 690 would be OK with an RTX2, but the case isn’t well ventilated enough for an Axio card.

Also, you have to remember to back up your video drive frequently. Personally, I feel much more secure with a RAID 5 array; something that exceeds 400 MB/s read speed for Axio. (By the way, that’s megaBYTES, not megabits.)

[Eric Jurgenson]

That is if I was editing with Adobe Production Studio CS3.

If I was playing checkers, I’d go with Harm’s rig.

[Harm Millaard]

Or use Linux on this rig and switch to Autodesk Smoke for editing.

[Chris Knight]

“we’re talking high performance here, and that would require a Matrox card. ”

The AJA allowed me to edit and publish 240 30: spots in under a week, using 11 video tracks in 24 timelines (divided into 2 projects). Not one hiccup, crash, or performance issue. There is nothing the Axio has that could have made this work process go any faster.

Also, 400MB/Sec is great if you want HD, but the original poster didn’t specify that. The 188MB/sec I get from my (very well ventilated) Dell is more than enough for SD work, and certainly adequate for a couple of HD tracks. As for video backup, Premiere’s project manager does a great job archiving content to another drive – and if the RAID 0 fails (which is very rare these days), you just batch-recapture everything.

Spending money for the sake of having the fastest whatever doesn’t necessarily make you work faster. For the same price as a fibre-channel RAID 5 Array, you could buy an entire additional video editing system with a slightly slower hard drive. That, in effect, would double your performance.