New video card for PPro CS5 in older system

[Mohit Chadha]

Hey all, I've got a three year old Core 2 Quad (Q6600 OC'd @ 3GHz) system, with 4Gb DDR2 RAM, multiple HD's (OS, media, previews all on separate drives), running Windows 7 x64.

I've just started using Premiere Pro CS5 mostly to edit 7D video (H.264 right?); also have some older DV/HDV footage but that's no problem.

At some point, likely not before the end of this year, I'll probably put together a new system. In the meantime, I figured I could spend ~$100 and put in a new video card to enable MPE and speed up my renders and timeline playback. I've searched and read these forums, as well as Adobe Premiere CS5 Video Cards with CUDA Acceleration Mercury Playback Unlock Enable MPE Hack Mod Tip and the PPBM results. I'm leaning towards a GTS 450 card, since the GT240 that was favored six months ago is at EOL and only ~$20 cheaper.

Here is one specific card for $100 after rebate: (Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1450-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card).

Thoughts on this or similar GTS 450 card being a good bang-for-the-buck?

In looking at the PPBM results, I see others with similar systems as mine getting ~10x improvements in rendering using MPE, would love to achieve anywhere near that with this video card upgrade. Thanks for all your thoughts and recommendations!

[Randall Leong]

With your OC'd C2D Q6600 system, anything higher than a GTS 450 is a waste of money unless you're planning to carry over your new card to a newer system, such as an i7-9xx or i7-2600, within the next few months.

[Mohit Chadha]

Originally Posted by Randall Leong

With your OC'd C2D Q6600 system, anything higher than a GTS 450 is a waste of money unless you're planning to carry over your new card to a newer system, such as an i7-9xx or i7-2600, within the next few months.

Perfect, just want to make sure I get the right card without spending too much. Since it'll be at least half a year before I build a new computer, I'm not going to spend too much on a card with a view to putting it in my new build.

This $100 GTS 450 seems to be the best bang for the buck with my current system limitations. Does putting a PCI 2.0 video card in a PCI x16 (1.0) slot reduce it's effectiveness for MPE?

[Randall Leong]

If the primary PCI-e x16 slot on your motherboard is of only PCI-e 1.0 spec (as it is if you have a P35 or older chipset), then it might reduce MPE GPU performance somewhat. Also affecting performance in CS5 is your system's memory throughput: Many such older mobos use only DDR2 memory rather than the newer and higher-bandwidth DDR3 memory.

[Mohit Chadha]

Yup, the PCI-e x16 slot is only 1.0 spec, and my RAM is DDR2 - the computer was built over 3 years ago (based on an Abit IP35-Pro MB). I'm trying to get the best bang-for-the-buck Premiere Pro CS5 upgrade, and I think a GTS 450 video card for $100 is it. As I mentioned, I do see others with similar hardware in the PPBM results getting significant MPE rendering improvements versus software-only.

I do expect to upgrade at some point within a year, so will continue to keep reading what others are building. Thanks for your help!

[Dale Anthony Smith]

Hi,
Studio One did some tests with different cards and their findings were that a GT240 was just as fast as the larger cards IF it had the DDR5 RAM... I got the 470 for my new system, but I am converting my old system to function as a parachute (backup) in case I am on a deadline and the new one craps out. (this has and will happen). So, you might not want to convert the old system to a boat anchor just yet...
Originally I had purchased a 240 with DDR3 and sent it back for the DDR5 version after reading the report.
The 240 will be able to unlock the Mercury Playback Engine, but you will need to add it to the list of approved cards...
Best of Luck.

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by Dale Anthony Smith

Hi,
Studio One did some tests with different cards and their findings were that a GT240 was just as fast as the larger cards IF it had the DDR5 RAM... I got the 470 for my new system, but I am converting my old system to function as a parachute (backup) in case I am on a deadline and the new one craps out. (this has and will happen). So, you might not want to convert the old system to a boat anchor just yet...
Originally I had purchased a 240 with DDR3 and sent it back for the DDR5 version after reading the report.
The 240 will be able to unlock the Mercury Playback Engine, but you will need to add it to the list of approved cards...
Best of Luck.

I know that, but the GT 240 is now nearly EOL at this point. As such, the prices new for the GDDR5 version of the card is now significantly more expensive than it is currently worth.