Ericbowen
Forum Replies Created
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What do you have the sample rate of the audio set to?
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
Move the comp to your OS drive and check the ram Preview again just as a test to see how long the indexing takes. Input commands like interface options and keyframes are single threaded only. Those according to Adobe cannot be predicted well enough to program for efficient threading. That means you can quickly queue out the CPU interrupts on 1 core with those. I suspect that is what your scripts are doing if you have allot going at once. Also I normally don’t leave any CPU’s left for background processing with other applications and don’t see that behavior. However Windows gives you the ability to give background processes priority as a global setting which probably alleviates that. Unfortunately the nMpro’s are not ideal for AE because those 2 GPU modules don’t help at all. Really a PC is better for AE at this point since you can get 2 CPU’s instead. Your render times are not really that bad for AE with that many layers.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
There are so many variables which equate to considerations with a workflow that decide the threading and performance of CPU’s and ram with AE. You have to be careful with the information you gather because workflows are as different as flavors of ice cream and that means the ideal specs for you will be different to some extent.
1. CPU is most important factor for AE and remains so regardless of workflow. However what CPU is best for you is based on codecs of media used, FX used, and complexity of the comps. AE does thread very well by itself. However some codecs do not thread as well. Those will use ideally 8 to 12 threads and sometimes 16 and then GHz decides performance from there. Those codecs are normally Mpeg based such as AVC or Mpeg 2. Then codecs such as Red, DNG, AVCIntra, and most sequence of still based formats thread very well and will use almost what ever threads are available. You can sacrifice some GHz here but don’t go below 2.6GHz on any CPU. That is where the performance really suffers for any editing application. If you get a 6 Core you want 3.4GHz or higher and preferable 4GHz or higher. 8 Core can normally provide the performance boost at 3.6GHz or higher. Keep in mind Complexity of that comp ie layers and activity will add to the ideal threading requirement. The more complex the comp the more threads you need for ideal performance with ram preview or export. The codec that you export to can and will limit the threading though so keep that in mind if you see an export not thread well. Some FX don’t thread well either so if you see a poor threading export check your FX used.
2. Ram – you really want a minimum of 32 GB of ram for AE on most workstations. However you have to provide enough ram per thread to feed the cores the frame data. That normally equates to 2GB of ram per thread but atleast 1.5GB per thread needs to be available. If you get a Dual Xeon system then you absolutely will require more than 32GB of ram because of the amount of threads you have. otherwise you waste all of the extra processing power 2 Xeons give you. So if you get 2x 8 Core Xeons you need bare minimum 32GB of ram just for AE and not counting Windows or Graphic buffering. So that means you want 64GB of ram. Complexity once again raises this amount. The more complex the comp on average the more data per frame that has to be accounted for. That means you may need to raise that 2 GB per thread to 4GB per thread. Only you know how complex your workflow is. To give you an example, my 1 min AE comp with 64 layers takes 56GB of ram just to export with multiprocessing on. That is all 1080 frames as well with nothing in the 2K or higher range. That also raises the ram amount per frame.
I hope this helps with the overall things to consider with specs. The comments on the GPU’s having far less effect in AE are absolute. Also Walter is correct on the Quadro card. Don’t get that unless you need 10bit color preview and have a 10bit color workflow with monitoring ability. Use the money spent on that to get faster CPU’s. Don’t get any CPU under 2.6GHz no matter how many cores it has. Also make sure you get enough ram for the CPU you decide on.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
The Z87 boards and some Haswell laptops have Thunderbolt. This is an Intel technology and not Apple.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
Unfortunately the more that becomes the case the less performance available for the media content creation market with the standard OEM/s platforms. This is at the same time Codecs, applications, and GPU acceleration is pushing the required system specs far higher than they ever were. This is going to collide very soon with market expectations and deadlines. That is why the PC is vastly becoming the option and that will only increase as this becomes the case. As Windows progress’s the same path then Linux will have to adapt to the new market as will the Product companies.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
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Adobe definitely doesn’t run smoother on OSX 10.9 than Windows right now. The bug/problem threads alone in the forums is enough to show that.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
Just understand there is a performance loss with applications such as AE with the options Mac has right now. That translates into paying more for less.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
If Money is the primary deciding factor and I want the best option for the money spent then yes the Imac would be the choice in the Mac lineup. If you want the best performance with the budget you have and has to be a Mac then the 6 or 8 nMpro will give the best performance but at a much higher price for the performance gained.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com -
The Imac is better money spent because your not wasting money on what is not being used if this is primarily AE render. If you will edit on the system as well then the nMPro is the best performing choice and what I would get if I had to get a Mac and needed the most performance headroom for workflow and ram preview.
Eric-ADK
Tech Manager
support@adkvideoediting.com