CS5 Memory and Multiprocessing *AE/PP

[Panagiotis Raris]

I recently finished tweaking my main editing system, and doubled the installed RAM.

Normally, when i am editing and either hit 'make movie', 'render', or 'export', i just leave the machine to do its thing, go work on the next project on the Q6600 backup system (later transfering all the project files to the main workstation for render/make movie/export) and come back in the morning. Now that i have a partner and a lot more projects coming along, (as well as a new i7 editing machine), i need both systems capable of maximizing memory.

System Specs
i7 950 D0 at 4.2Ghz 4 core/8 threads (max 100% stable/safe O.C.)
24GB RAM at 1600Mhz (max)
8 Disk RAID5 on Areca ARC-1222 (Everything else CS5 related)
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD (OS/CS5)
4 Disk RAID5 on Intel ICH10R (unused for CS5 work)
2x RAID1 3TB Seagate HDD (storage, unused for CS5 work)
GTX 460 1GB (MPE/CUDA enabled)

The other issue is while i am familiar with AE, i am NOT familiar with its optimization; i mostly worked with PP; this is no longer the case, and i wish to optimize these settings as well. I have the hard disk configuration optimized, but with AE i am unsure what is best.

I have read conflicting reports on memory and multiprocessing in AE. Thus far this is what i am using, as i assume having 1 virtual core 'free' and 4GB of RAM 'free' for OS utilization is logical. Thus far this is the fastest config i have used, though i have not had much time to test or play with it.

RAM for other apps: 4 (of 24 total)
CPU's for other apps: 1 (of 8 total)
RAM alloc per background CPU: 2
Actual CPU's that will be used: 7