AE7 Running Slow....upgrade? at DVinfo.net

Travis Johnson · August 6th, 2007, 11:41 AM

I am currently running on

AMD64 3000+
1gb of PC3200
600gb (combined of two drives)
ATI AIW 9800 Pro

When I try to live preview video with no effects the playback is only at 17fps if that. What can be done to better the performance of the program?

Emre Safak · August 6th, 2007, 12:19 PM

What kind of video? Is OpenGL acceleration enabled?

Travis Johnson · August 6th, 2007, 01:16 PM

Just DV, not sure I will check on that when I get home.

Shawn McCalip · August 6th, 2007, 07:43 PM

If you want to see anything in real-time in AE, you need to create a RAM preview. Put the cursor at where you want to start, and hit the 0 key on your number pad. AE will generate a preview with sound (if applicable) and play it back in real-time. AE won't play real-time any other way- even if there's nothing but raw video on your timeline. Hope this helps..

Travis Johnson · August 7th, 2007, 06:41 AM

I attempted to enable OpenGL for the video card but it would always switch back to Direct3D. I then tried the RAM preview but AE7 stopped responding and I had to shut down the program.

Noa Put · August 7th, 2007, 09:48 AM

Your pc is too slow to handle AE without any frustrations, you need to have a fast dual or quad core pc or mac with lots of memory.

Shawn McCalip · August 7th, 2007, 10:53 AM

Your PC is not too slow... The only person with a dual-core machine where I work is me- and it's my own personal machine. We're running AE 5.0 on our slowest machine, which is a dual 1gHz Pentium III. Yes, it's a little slow, but it runs. The machine you have, Travis, should be quite enough to use After Effects.

However, the one thing I'm not sure about is your video card. If it's the AIW 9800 Pro that I'm thinking of, it might not have OpenGL support. If that's the case, you won't be able to utilize the OpenGL Renderer in After Effects.

I'm not sure why you're crashing out when trying to make a RAM Preview. If it were my machine, I'd start by first making sure nothing else is running. Close all other programs, internet browsers, iTunes players, instant messengers- anything that's running besides Windows and AE. Then try it again.

From what I've seen here, the worst-case-scenario would be that you have to upgrade to a better video card. Best case scenario would be that you make your machine a little more efficient, and things start behaving a little better.

Noa Put · August 7th, 2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn McCalip

Your PC is not too slow...

A PIII (Dual?) does not even meet the minimum requirements to run the latest version of AE, and I"m sure that counts for version 7 as well. When I said "too slow" I didn't mean that his pc couldn't handle AE, only that it would be frustrating slow, especially when you have several effects applied. If travis wants it to run any faster he needs to upgrade his pc, there are some tips however that can be used to improve the performance, see below

Tips for performance improvements
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Afte...4205D4FB7.html
System requirements
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/systemreqs/
Supported open gl graphic cards
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/opengl.html

Shawn McCalip · August 7th, 2007, 03:39 PM

Heheh, well, working with the PIII chip is immensely frustrating, even with the older version of AE. You can't add more than one or 2 effects before you notice the lag in performance, so while it's not fun to work with, it is functional. Barely. That system, for the most part, is living out its last days as a barebones newscutter, since its overall usefulness in commercial production is pretty much gone.

Thanks for posting those links, Noa. I see that the 9800 card is supported- so it may be an issue of upgrading a driver or something.

However, I think the AMD 64 3000+ processor should be adequate to run AE. It's clocked at 2gHz, and even though it's only a single core, it should be able to get most basic jobs done. I can run AE 7 on a dual AMD Athlon setup at 1.6 gHz and 1 GB of RAM without too much of a problem, so I don't see why Travis couldn't run it on his. That's not to say he couldn't get better performance by upgrading his machine. We would all love to have the latest super-duper 16-core workstation that consumes as much electricity as a small city, but unfortunately, that may not be an option some people's cases.

Anyway, if an upgrade was an option, I'd probably get a more powerful video card first. Just my two cents.

Emre Safak · August 8th, 2007, 08:08 AM

OpenGL make a big difference in rendering speed but I do not know how much it is helps with previews.

Travis Johnson · August 30th, 2007, 11:51 AM

Thanks for the replies everyone. Right now I'm wondering if I should upgrade the CPU, Video card and memory in my system or just save up for a whole new system. Money is a bit tight considering I just picked up a new VX2100. :P

Shawn McCalip · August 30th, 2007, 01:00 PM

If money is tight right now, you'll get the most bang for your buck by upgrading to 2 GB of RAM. If you have room for 2 512MB sticks, that will run you less than $100, and 2 1GB sticks should come in well under $200. Its not going to be anight and day difference though. You'll most likely notice that things are a little quicker than usual.

With CPUs and video cards, their prices are more equalized and a bit more expensive than RAM. You'll be better off upgrading either one, but I think you'll get more performance overall by putting in a better CPU. Some of the upscale Athlons and Dual-Core AMD chips are quite nice! Best of luck to you!

Travis Johnson · August 30th, 2007, 08:45 PM

Yeah I priced two sticks of 512 DDR400 with a cas latency of 3 at $55 actually, and I was thinking of going with a AMD AthlonX2 4200 priced at $78, and a friend of mine has a Nvidia 6600gt or 6800gt, i dont recall but it has 512mb of DDR2 and that would be $120. So yeah $255 and I can get all the major components upgraded.

The CPU is what I'll aim for first if anything. My friend is going to let me borrow the video card over the weekend to see how it runs in comparison to my current card. I am actually a PC technician, i'm just somewhat new to the building a PC for video editing. I built this PC as a gaming rig of course.

August 6th, 2007, 11:41 AM	#1
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	AE7 Running Slow....upgrade? I am currently running on AMD64 3000+ 1gb of PC3200 600gb (combined of two drives) ATI AIW 9800 Pro When I try to live preview video with no effects the playback is only at 17fps if that. What can be done to better the performance of the program?

August 6th, 2007, 12:19 PM	#2
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	What kind of video? Is OpenGL acceleration enabled?

August 6th, 2007, 01:16 PM	#3
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	Just DV, not sure I will check on that when I get home.

August 6th, 2007, 07:43 PM	#4
Shawn McCalip Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anchorage, AK Posts: 315	If you want to see anything in real-time in AE, you need to create a RAM preview. Put the cursor at where you want to start, and hit the 0 key on your number pad. AE will generate a preview with sound (if applicable) and play it back in real-time. AE won't play real-time any other way- even if there's nothing but raw video on your timeline. Hope this helps..

August 7th, 2007, 06:41 AM	#5
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	I attempted to enable OpenGL for the video card but it would always switch back to Direct3D. I then tried the RAM preview but AE7 stopped responding and I had to shut down the program.

August 7th, 2007, 09:48 AM	#6
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Your pc is too slow to handle AE without any frustrations, you need to have a fast dual or quad core pc or mac with lots of memory.

August 7th, 2007, 10:53 AM	#7
Shawn McCalip Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anchorage, AK Posts: 315	Your PC is not too slow... The only person with a dual-core machine where I work is me- and it's my own personal machine. We're running AE 5.0 on our slowest machine, which is a dual 1gHz Pentium III. Yes, it's a little slow, but it runs. The machine you have, Travis, should be quite enough to use After Effects. However, the one thing I'm not sure about is your video card. If it's the AIW 9800 Pro that I'm thinking of, it might not have OpenGL support. If that's the case, you won't be able to utilize the OpenGL Renderer in After Effects. I'm not sure why you're crashing out when trying to make a RAM Preview. If it were my machine, I'd start by first making sure nothing else is running. Close all other programs, internet browsers, iTunes players, instant messengers- anything that's running besides Windows and AE. Then try it again. From what I've seen here, the worst-case-scenario would be that you have to upgrade to a better video card. Best case scenario would be that you make your machine a little more efficient, and things start behaving a little better.

August 7th, 2007, 03:39 PM	#9
Shawn McCalip Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anchorage, AK Posts: 315	Heheh, well, working with the PIII chip is immensely frustrating, even with the older version of AE. You can't add more than one or 2 effects before you notice the lag in performance, so while it's not fun to work with, it is functional. Barely. That system, for the most part, is living out its last days as a barebones newscutter, since its overall usefulness in commercial production is pretty much gone. Thanks for posting those links, Noa. I see that the 9800 card is supported- so it may be an issue of upgrading a driver or something. However, I think the AMD 64 3000+ processor should be adequate to run AE. It's clocked at 2gHz, and even though it's only a single core, it should be able to get most basic jobs done. I can run AE 7 on a dual AMD Athlon setup at 1.6 gHz and 1 GB of RAM without too much of a problem, so I don't see why Travis couldn't run it on his. That's not to say he couldn't get better performance by upgrading his machine. We would all love to have the latest super-duper 16-core workstation that consumes as much electricity as a small city, but unfortunately, that may not be an option some people's cases. Anyway, if an upgrade was an option, I'd probably get a more powerful video card first. Just my two cents.

August 8th, 2007, 08:08 AM	#10
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	OpenGL make a big difference in rendering speed but I do not know how much it is helps with previews.

August 30th, 2007, 11:51 AM	#11
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	Thanks for the replies everyone. Right now I'm wondering if I should upgrade the CPU, Video card and memory in my system or just save up for a whole new system. Money is a bit tight considering I just picked up a new VX2100. :P

August 30th, 2007, 01:00 PM	#12
Shawn McCalip Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anchorage, AK Posts: 315	If money is tight right now, you'll get the most bang for your buck by upgrading to 2 GB of RAM. If you have room for 2 512MB sticks, that will run you less than $100, and 2 1GB sticks should come in well under $200. Its not going to be anight and day difference though. You'll most likely notice that things are a little quicker than usual. With CPUs and video cards, their prices are more equalized and a bit more expensive than RAM. You'll be better off upgrading either one, but I think you'll get more performance overall by putting in a better CPU. Some of the upscale Athlons and Dual-Core AMD chips are quite nice! Best of luck to you!

August 30th, 2007, 08:45 PM	#13
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	Yeah I priced two sticks of 512 DDR400 with a cas latency of 3 at $55 actually, and I was thinking of going with a AMD AthlonX2 4200 priced at $78, and a friend of mine has a Nvidia 6600gt or 6800gt, i dont recall but it has 512mb of DDR2 and that would be $120. So yeah $255 and I can get all the major components upgraded. The CPU is what I'll aim for first if anything. My friend is going to let me borrow the video card over the weekend to see how it runs in comparison to my current card. I am actually a PC technician, i'm just somewhat new to the building a PC for video editing. I built this PC as a gaming rig of course.