Dave Osbun
Forum Replies Created
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I’m kind of shocked that you’re asking these questions since you are a system reseller. You should know hardware like the back of your hand!
Telling you what hardware to install is next to impossible without knowing what the budget is. However, here are some basics that all system sellers/builders should adhere to, in regards to workstations:
Install the fastest CPU the budget permits. Intel Xeon is probably overkill nowadays, so go with the Intel IvyBride i7 processor.
16gb is probably the minimum RAM
It’s not a true WORKSTATION if it doesn’t have a Quadro 4000 video card.
SSD system drive (128gb minimum), 7200rpm 6gb/s SATA hard drive as system drive.
Motherboard should have, at the MINIMUM, two 6gb/s SATA ports. If you’re going to stripe some fast hard drives together for video storage, you’ll want to make sure the mobo has four 6gb/s SATA ports.Dave
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Many years ago I was having an issue like this, in my transitions, with Vegas Pro 8. I realized it was due to having all of my video clips on one Firewire hard drive (and my Vegas projects were also residing on my system drive). My setup was this way because I was using it strictly as a test system- a system to learn the software on, since I don’t do this professionally. Once I set up a different hard drive configuration (installed multiple hard drives, two striped drives for video only), the issue went away.
I’m not saying that your system configuration is the issue, just merely pointing out what caused my issue and how I corrected it.
Dave
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It could be quite a few different things causing this. First thing i’d check on his system heat. Your CPU is working quite hard when rendering, so maybe it’s getting so hot that it’s causing the system to crash. There are many free utilities that let you monitor CPU heat. Keep an eye on the CPU temp during the render process.
Since GPU render support seems to cause so many issues, you might want to disable it and see if that fixes your issue.
Also- where are you rendering to? System drive? A different hard drive? How much free room is there on the drive you’re rendering to?
Dave
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I don’t think you’ll get any quicker render times by having 32gb RAM vs. 16gb. However, with the price of memory nowadays, if the budget permits then having extra RAM isn’t going to hurt. If you’re going to buy a new motherboard, i’d recommend buying one that has at least two 6gb/s SATA ports on it: one port for your SSD system drive, the other port for a large ‘regular’ hard drive.
Dave
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Video card vendors (some of them) make changes to the base chipset. Some perform a mild overclocking, but you’ll see no benefit in your video editing workstation (it’s strictly for gamers, really).
If you can’t fit two video cards in your system, you have to see what’s blocking them. Usually it’s the computer case. The case must be large enough to hold two GPU cards.
The type of motherboard also comes into play here. Most modern mid-to-upper range MOBOS have one PCIe x16 slot. The other PCIe slots will be slower (x8, x4, etc.). Does your video card take advantage of PCIe x16? If it does, you then have to see what the other PCIe port speed is. If it’s x8, then when you install both cards they will run at the slower speed (x8 in this example). This speed drop will not affecting your video editing.
DO NOT FORGET the power supply. Make sure your PSU is powerful enough to run two GPUs (plus all other system goodies). Video cards do use up a decent amount of wattage.
Dave
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What are you trying to do, copy a BluRay video that you have, or are you trying to burn a BluRay and add the anti-copy feature?
Dave
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Well, upgrading to the most powerful Ivy Bridge i7 cpu and Z77 motherboard chipset(or Intel Xeon for ultimate performance) will help, and probably an increase in RAM to at least 16gb. How much will it help? Probably impossible to tell. You must weigh the cost/benefit, obviously. If you do this for a living, then it’s probably worth the money to upgrade. Your render times are affected by other variables, like effects. For example, I get a 1:1 render ration (8 minute video takes 8 minutes to render), but this is with nothing fancy done to the events on the timeline, and it’s from an Ivy Bridge i5 cpu.
If your incredibly long render times are affecting your business (or ability to do thereof), then definitely buy the most powerful hardware you can. If it’s not THAT important, then maybe just upgrade the cpu & motherboard and start from there.
Hope this helps,
Dave -
Awesome info Graham- Thanks!! And i’m not even the OP!
I love when I learn something new that makes life easier!!
Dave
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Quite possibly your variable bit rate render settings had too ‘wide’ of a stretch between the two. What were your render settings? Did you choose constant or variable bit rate? You might want to crank up both the max and avg variable bit rate settings, or choose constant- with a high bit rate.
Dave
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Great post Mike! I wasn’t aware of that website…..will come to good use!
Dave