What to expect from a new build I'm planning
JayNewWeb Jul 18, 2010 2:43 PMI have a basic "opinion" or "guess" question, please.
I'm planning a new build at some point and have to make a decision on when to take the financial plunge. In a few months, funds will be better, but I can manage the cost now if the speed improvements will be worth it. Speed improvements mean time which means money.
I'm running a small business producing videos for ourselves for business presentations (marketing and fund-raising) using Premiere Pro, outputting to FLV and DVD.
My content is pretty simple: video footage (talking head) from a camcorder, with two more tracks for titles and Photoshop images, with dip-to-black transitions. Soon I'll have my video guru provide some 3D animations that will also be included.
Until now, I've been capturing my footage into an interlaced project where I cut the raw footage into usable pieces. Then, I output those pieces to AVI, which I then run through a routine in Virtual Dub with presets my guru provided me with to take care of noise reduction and deinterlacing. Then, I import that resultant AVI (or set of AVIs) to a progressive project where I finish my editing and add the additional tracks with the titles, images and transitions.
Then, I output that to AVI, and convert those AVIs to FLV and/or use Encore to create DVD images.
The main concern I have is the very long wait times when I output to AVI from Premiere, process with Virtual Dub, and output to DVD image from Encore. (Of course, reduction in any wait time adds up, too.)
So, I have to try to guess at what kind of time I'll save when doing those tasks (and across overall working time) once I build the new machine. That will help me decide on whether to build the new machine now or later, based on the financial criteria.
I currently own an HP workstation, but it will not support the new Fermie CUDA cards. I want to use a GTX-470 (or -480). This is the pivotal issue that requires I build a new machine. Until then, I’m not using the CS5 MPE-CUDA features. What I don't know is how much time it will really save me on those major time-consuming tasks when I do make the jump.
One important consideration may lie in the fact that, accoring to my video guru, one of the advantages of the way Premiere CS5 plays well together with the approved CUDA cards is that it does GPU-based deinterlacing. He's suggesting this should may save me the time of having to do it in Virtual Dub phase (I'm not sure what he suggests about the noise reduction -- I think he may have commented that it may no longer be unnecessary, though to me it has seemd to make a huge improvement). (Note: I see there are still some bugs in CS5 that hamper the benefits for now. For instance, I've read that there's an issue with CS5 whereby it takes a long time to export to AVI, and that there's a compromise with DV on an external monitor, but I don't know that those are issues in my decision since the former is going to exist regardless of whether I do the new build and the latter probably doesn't even apply to me.)
Here are my two system configurations, the "before and after," that I want to compare or, rather, to please ask for some guesses about as to potential time savings. Maybe I should call them the "Current" and "New build."
CURRENT:
- HP z400 machine -- mid-tower (no room for cooling a Fermie card)
- CPU: Xeon quad-core 4-thread
- RAM: 8MB DDR2
- GPU: nVidia FX-580 (obviously won't support new benefits of CS5 the way the GTX-470/480 in the new build will)
- DRIVES: one HD for OS/apps, one HD for swap, and three HDs in a RAID-5 array for data
NEW BUILD:
- high-end full-tower case with plenty of cooling support
- MOBO: ASUS P6X58D
- CPU: i7 930 (maybe OCd a bit, or maybe 980x)
- RAM: 12GB DDR3 triple-channel
- GPU: nVidia GTX-470 (or maybe 480)
- DRIVES: either same as current system, or maybe going to five drives in a RAID-3 array for data
I'd be hugely grateful for any guesses as to how much time in the major encoding tasks (and in overall work time) the new build is likely to save me.
Thanks so much!
Jay





