Hi,

Just upgraded my system from:

AMD Athlon 64 X2(dual core) 4600+ with 4gb mem Vista 64
to
Intel Q9450 Quadcore, overclocked to 3.4ghz(from 2.66) 8gb mem Vista 64

I made some speed tests. I captured 1 minute of Video in DV-AVI and the same video as HDV1080i@25(canon hv20).

Started new project in Prem Pro CS3 - used Adobe Media Encoder to render MPEG2-PAL-DVD HQ Widerscreen. Are you ready for the results?


AMD machine
-------------
DV-AVI -> MPEG2PALDVD 58 seconds
HDV1080i -> MEPG2PALDVD 276 seconds

Intel Quad:
-----------
DV-AVI -> MPEG2PALDVD 19 seconds
HDV1080i -> MPEG2PALDVD 63 seconds

We're talking 430% more power! So go get a Quad, you're worth it!

My new rig:
------------

Gigabyte DQ6 DDR2 X48 Express
Q9450@3.4ghz
8 gb OCZ PC8000 memory
Geforce 8800 GTS 512 G92

No down side? Alas, some programs are singlethreaded and thus won't benefit much. The Q9450 supports SSE4 and have 12mb cache - so even single-minded apps gets a boost!

Why are you still reading - you should be ordering a new CPU :-)

Regards,

LlllAaaaRrrrSsss (quad version)

So many "reads" and no reply :-)

I can add a short list of single-minded apps(so far):

DivX - you can enable multithreading - but I only get about 30% on all cores
including DivX converter and DivXAuthor

// Lz

Dear Lars,

Nice info, thanks for posting your results.

Is your system stable running at 3.4Ghz?

Have you performed a long render, long enough so that the cpu gets a real workout? I ask just in case the cpu gets too hot.

Dan,

Thanks! I've run an eight hour burn-in-stress from SiSoftSandra, 100% cpu usage.

I have a Noctua CPU cooler and the Antec P182 case has 2 120mm fans surrounding the CPU - so the computer is very quiet AND cold!

I belive I could get the machine running 3.6 stable - but I won't push my luck!

The Q9450 is VERY clockable :-)

// Lazze

I went from a single 3.2 intel core to a q6600 quad recently and sure, it renders faster but that is not really what matters most to me. My old system did struggle a bit if I opened Premiere/encore and Photoshop simultaneously and everything got somewhat sluggish. That's not the case anymore now, but beside that my quad doesn't help me edit faster :)

I'm actually most happy if my system is stable rather then saving half an hour on rendering a wedding. Since I take a break every 2 hours at least from editing I usually plan my work that my machine renders during that time.

I upgrade my pc every 3 years and never go for the fastest combination as this is a waist of money, buy high end today and already have a mid end system 4 months later.

Noa,

True true! But today the Q9450 is "mid-end" - here in sweden it has the same price as Q6600. But Q6600 doesn't have SSE4 and is still 65nm technology(draws more power and generates more heat).

For me, rendering times are important, because with fast renders I can test 4-5 renders per "short movie" and get the best Quality vs Size. It also gives me a much faster workflow in some situations (like capturing 60min, edit 15min, generate DVD 15min, means I can go from rough DV tape to a "nice" DVD in less than 2 hours).

// Lazze

Hi Lars,
Great thread. I'm and currently in the process of building a brand new edit suite. $2000.
I also want to run Quad with 8gb of ram pc6400... Just a question. Do you have any other hardware tips for making a superfast suite???
What made you choose that motherboard?

Did you find the better graphics card improves editing or not?

cheers

Blake,

I'd decided to go with the X48 chipset - and then there aren't so many choices. The Gigabyte DQ series of motherboards are famous overclocking/stable boards. I didn't want to go DDR3 - so the Gigabyte DQ 6 X48 DDR2 was perfect for me.

The gfx-card doesn't real speed up editing - but its good for games :-)

Quad core is really nice - gives you a very quick and responsive OS + great rendering times.

Good luck!

// Lazze

I am building a new editsuite for HD right now (running CS3 and to be added with cineform Prospect HD)
Motherboard: Supermicro X7DWA-N
Case: Supermicro, 7045A-WTB
Processors: two 5430's
RAM: Will put 8GB to start with
HDD: 4x internal SAS Hitachi's, 320GBs

I believe this is a good alternative to the mentioned quad cores? The 5430 is about 350Euro at the moment...
What would you expect in case of speed compared to the conducted tests ? I hope my new system will be even faster - and unfortunately also more expensive...:-((

Ulli

Ulli,

Your machine will probably be faster - and as you say, alot more expensive. My machine costed 1350 EURO complete(without monitor).

// Lazze

Yeah - there is the price tag for the Server type of machine... will be roughly double in price.
But thanks for the comparison of dual core to quad core using CS3 - may be I should change my dual core to quad core on the current machine as well...

Ulli

Hi,

..............
AMD machine
-------------
DV-AVI -> MPEG2PALDVD 58 seconds
HDV1080i -> MEPG2PALDVD 276 seconds



Hi,
just made a short test with my old Pentium D 2,8 Ghz machine
(2Gb RAM, XP professional SP2, CS3)
exactly 1 min on the CS3 timeline with audio

HDV1080i -> MEPG2PALDVD 247 seconds

So a little faster than the AMD machine, but probably worthwhile to upgrade to quad core as well...

Ulli

If I were you, I'd go for a Q9450 - save the money and upgrade one more time in 18 months. The top-of-the-line stuff almost never keep its value for more than 8 months...

Anyhow, good luck!

// Lazze

Just got my Quad 3 weeks ago. 1.5TB drive space, 4GB DDR2, RARRRRRRR

It is a rendering beast!!! Love the quad...

I'm looking to upgrade my editing machine: A P4 3.2ghz HT ... Think I should see an improvement?

I'm looking to upgrade my editing machine: A P4 3.2ghz HT ... Think I should see an improvement?

Not if you buy a P4 3.4ghz HT instead :D
Just google for processor review or benchmarks, you can also take a look on tom's hardware site which has a big comparison chart for different processors.

Quad cores are really a JOY when working with Adobe products! I render a complete DVD(PAL) at 13 minutes - even noise reduction filters don't take forever!

// Lazze

Quad cores are really a JOY when working with Adobe products! I render a complete DVD(PAL) at 13 minutes - even noise reduction filters don't take forever!

// Lazze

Lars, a dvd can contain 1 hour, 2 hours or more so render times are dependable on the length of your source file. How long was the avi file that took 13minutes to render?

Noa,

About 54mins.


// Lz

Great thread Lars!

I have a system that I am overclocking and some say not to overclock (thread is on this forum). Some say stability is key. I really don't understand why people always think of overclocking as unstable. Extreme overclocking yes, but moderate no. The key is in the components.

Anyways, can you tell me why you chose an X48 over a X38 or P35? I heard the performance difference was negligable unless you wanted to crossfire.

Regards,
Mario

Mario,

I picked this DQ6-X48 mobo after having read several tests where they overclocked the CPU to 3.2/3.4/3.6 on this mobo. The DQ6-X48 got the best results on both speed and stability.

My pooter is running 24/7 more or less and I haven't had any stability/heat issues.

// Lazze

I got myself a quad (9300), and I am very pleased with the speed. It is noticeably faster than my old P4 2.8Ghz. Honestly, it's greasy smooth, even with Vista. I got 4gb of RAM though. :) Hey, I think it was like $80.

What about actual editing performance with the quad cpu's? How many layers can you guys get in realtime? In the RT department Premiere always seemed kind of behind other nle's when I tried it on an older P4 3.2 ghz system. Will Premiere eat up anything you can throw at it on a quad core system or does it still seem to chug a bit?

Thomas,

Having used PPro CS3 with a Quad CPU for a while now I can give you some more info.

1. When exporting, SD material uses the cpu more effecient(ie closer to 100% on all cores). When exporting HD material the usage is about 85% per core
2. All filters/effects behave differently in PPro, some use the cores really good, some does not - some mixes of effects uses all cores... so alas there are no straightforward answer

The overall editing experience is greatly enhanced when having quad cores and lots of memory. I haven't needed to stop and let PPro "work" - I can see that it does things in the background - but I can continue working. The only downside is that now I want MORE - I want 8 cores at 8 ghz :-)

I have high hopes for the comming 64 bit suite from Adobe - I belive we will see much better memory handling and hopefully more multi-core aware effects.

My next upgrade:

Dual SSD 128gb in stripe making a 256gb stripe boot/windows/temp volume with a read speed of 300mb/sec write 140mb/sec - coming in november or so...

// Lazze

Hey welcome to the world of QUADS.

I have been running a Q6600 2.4ghz over clocked to 3.2 Ghz with XP & 2 gigs of ram for some months now. With EDIUS 4.60 and single Sata drives here is what I can do.

16 tracks of mini DV 16.9 in pips realtime.
9 tracks of HDV 1440/1080 in pips realtime.

HDV to HDV m2t to send back to the camera runs at about 1.1
1 minute of HDV to MPEG2 DVD takes 30 seconds.
1 minute of DV to MPEG2 DVD takes 15 seconds.

With Photoshop CS3 it takes about 30 seconds to open a 950 meg multilayed 120cm/80cm psd file.

Who needs VISTA...ha ha...

For anyone looking for a Q9450, try Micro Center. Their price on a boxed Q9450 is a lot lower than any other reputable computer parts retailer right now:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0287628

I just got a 9450 with 4 gigs of ram. Very nice. I'm using Newteks' Speed Edit to edit HDV in an SD project for a style of editing that uses 1 hdv camera angle for both 'wide shots' and 'close-ups'. Anyway, it's fun to set Adobe Encore transcoding .avi's to .mpegs while at the same time editing HDV footage in realtime including overlays and a lot of resizing/positioning of the frame. Rendering Particle Illusion animations is such a breeze...

Can't wait to get my Cinema 4D installed and rendering! -:)

Mine doesn't play back Vegas 7 in quite real time. It tends to hang up on scene changes, and the longer it goes, the worse it gets. Haven't done any exporting.

I used to have a quad 2 years back, but upgraded to a 8 core system... you think quad is fast...

Robert M
"For anyone looking for a Q9450, try Micro Center."

Too bad there's not a store in my area.

Rather than getting the Q9450 just pay a little more and get the Q9550. It's down to $330 just about everywhere and Fry's just had it on sale for $299.

Core 2 Quad prices are dropping now that Intel's next chip is getting close to release.

Garrett

I'm running a Q6700 at 3.2Ghz at 1.5v (I need that much to keep it stable when I crunch with a SETI @ home optimized app). Render times for PSP sized H.264 MP4s were insane...

AMD Turion 64 ML-32=Near Real time (22mins takes +-22mins)
Quad Q6700 @ 3.2Ghz= 22mins takes 4-5 mins.

I was on a FSB speed of 400x8 but resorted to 320x10 at the same voltage since I think the FSB doesn't like to be OCed as much (only goes up to 1333mhz officially), this was because on that FSB speed, after a long time number crunching with SETI, it always freezes upon boot-up of Vista if the power is still fed to the motherboard (a ASUS P5K-VM mATX board) for a while after being shut down after a long crunching period. I hope the FSB is the answer to this mystery.

Nope, froze on Vista bootup again today even after several successful bootups over the past 6 days on the lower FSB speed. I'm stumped. Anyone interested can follow my thread on the SETI @ home Forums. Search for "Overclocking newbie to Q6700 to 3.2Ghz and a ASUS P5K-VM Mobo".