[hardware] Post production on a pc

So I've got a

PC with Windows 7
Premiere pro cs6
4gbs of ddr3 ram 1800mhz
AMD phenom II 955 Black edition 3.2ghz quadcore
EVGA GeForce GTX550 Ti SuperClocked with 1gb.

coming from canon h264.

How much worse is editing the compressed formats on my pc going to be..

I'm hoping to edit straight from an SSD e-sata connected dock on prores or dnxhd files (is this even possible because of the formatting of the disk with macdrive?)

Should work fine. I've been using Macdrive to access RED files from a HD via USB 3 on my home PC.

I would recommend doubling your RAM though, and it is always best to copy those files to your local drive.

@Luke

Well, my internal HDD isn't an SSD disk, just 7200RPM SATA300 HDD :p, so I was hoping the SSD through e-sata would give me a higher bandwidth.

Can I conclude that even with the bigger bitrate of the Prores / DnxHD footage (approx. 200+ Mbit) vs. the h264 48Mbit i'm used to editing, that because of a lesser amount decoding needed with Prores/DnxHD it is easier or marginally heavier on my system?


I think my card has 192 cuda cores and premiere cs6 is using it, upgrading that doesn't do much I guess?

I'm guessing more RAM is always a good idea yeah ;p just double it or even more?

4GB is barely enough to run Win7...you should def double it, at a minimum.

A better graphics card will allow you to off load some of the work from the processor to the GPU of the card. (the whole GUI and some of the effects applied on the timeline) The 550Ti is a good card, the 560Ti is much better. It's a real sweet spot for price/performance. It has double the CUDA codes of the 550 and is really cheap right now.

If you are concerned about the smoothness of editing, simply get another 7200RPM 300SATA hard drive and raid it with your existing one (after backing everything up) This will dramatically improve your playback/editing performance.

So if you are looking for priorities...in my opinion...
1. RAM
2. Second HD and make RAID
3. Improved graphics card

sean

PS: To RAID it has to be the same HD as your existing one. Size, speed, capacity. Ideally, it should be identical to the one you have.

A 3.2Ghz quad core CPU and 7200rpm hard disk drives should be plenty fast enough to work with the BMCC'c ProRes & DNxHD, which are "only" up to 220 megaBITS/sec.

I suspect that even a middle of the road GPU will be fast enough as well.

Working with CinemaDNG requires very fast storage (HDD RAID, or SSD), but not necessarily for ProRes & DNG unless you routinely edit several HD layers at once.

As others mentioned, adding lots more RAM is a good idea, and relatively inexpensive these days.

Well, I just ordered myself 8 more gigabytes of RAM

Thanks guys. I'll probably be buying the camera next year ;p (that's when my budget allows it)

So If I start having the illussion my system could take on RAW footage, what else should I add ?

More or less to say, what are the systems you guys are working on currently? And are you planning to upgrade?

So, can any of you help me obtain an Proress 422 HQ or DnxHD file similar to those that come out of the BMCC?

(so I can test the performance of my system)

I know approx. what Raid is, but can you explain it a little more + where I can buy a good RAID station? thx

I want to shoot a 2 hours movie and don`t know exactly how to achieve good performance when I edit and colour grade such a long "video" in full 2,5K resolution..

My PC

i7 2600k
GPU 560 ti
16 GB RAM
2 x SSD 128/one is for the system(win7) and one for Adobe
1TB HDD 7200
WD 2TB HDD Caviar black

So, can any of you help me obtain an Proress 422 HQ or DnxHD file similar to those that come out of the BMCC? (so I can test the performance of my system)

John Brawley has provided some BMCC ProRes 422 HQ files here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=374

Related links:
http://herefortheweather.wordpress.com/ ... ma-camera/

John Brawley has provided some BMCC ProRes 422 HQ files here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=374

Related links:
http://herefortheweather.wordpress.com/ ... ma-camera/

Thanks!