Video Card Upgrade

[momoffduty]

Ready to upgrade a video card and have no clue what to look for, etc. Have researched a bit and my eyes glaze over. Currently have a new monitor with a VGA cable to nowhere, using the standard cable. Would like a video card that can support dual monitors...one a monitor and the other a TV to preview. Would appreciate any advice and really just tell me which card to get.

One thing I did notice with PE3 and now with Pro is that I can't add effects to transparent video. It does not show up and have to put a lens flare or Generate effects on the pic or picture. GPU and other transitions work just fine. Must be my current video card?

Thanks.

[Bob]

Could you tell us a little about your computer. Does it have a video card now or are you using video on the motherboard? If it's a separate card, do you know what it is? Video cards come in three different connector types: PCI, AGP, and PCI-Express, do you know what type of video card slot your computer has? If you don't know the answer to those questions, what's the make and model number of your computer?

I don't think the "effects on transparency" issue is likely to be the video card. But, I'm not quite sure what you mean though -- could you give a more detailed description of what's not working. What effect did you want to apply, what is the source of the clip with transparency (still or video). It's not totally transparent, right? What does it look like before and after applying the effect.

[Bobby]

And, to compound things, I think there was more than one kind of AGP. So it's really critical to find out what kind of connectors (motherboard card plug-in connectors, not out the back) your PC has. Do you have a manual for the motherboard or from the manufacturer?

[Chuck Engels]

Cheryl, You don't need a video card to get a TV preview because you already have the Pyro Link.
You can connect a TV to the Pyro Link and get a very nice TV preview

[momoffduty]

This is a big gray area for me, so try my best to answer the questions.

AMD Sempron Processor 2800+. Looked under Device manager>Display Adapters>NVIDIA GeForce6100. Is this the video card or should I look under something else in the Device manager?

Last fall, went back to the guy who built my computer and added more RAM, a second internal hard drive, and purchased a larger monitor. Since I was getting into the video editing, asked him what I should invest in next and he said to upgrade the video card. He has since moved.

Looking thru the binder of computer info, have a book...looks like the motherboard...K8NF4G-SATA2 ASRock

The monitor is a Hanns-G HW223D and supports VGA which my card does not. Does this make a difference...am I missing out?

Didn't realize the PYRO could be used for TV preview, just using it for analog capture. Guess I need to go online and read the manual.

Wanted the dual hookup if I need to upgrade my video card anyway.

As for the effects. Have seen a few tutorials that you put a lensflare on transparent video and keyframe. When I do that nothing shows up even if I render. But, if I put the lensflare on a pic or video track it does show up. So, I am using the effect correctly. In PRO there is Generate Effects such as the Cell Pattern effect which you are suppose to put on transparent video, but it does not show up. It shows up on black video or on a pic, but you can't see thru it. Some of the effects under Convolution Kernel seem to freeze things up too. Can't remember exactly, but think I read in one of my books about support from a video card...?...can't remember exactly and haven't tried them out since I first got PRO in June.

If more info is needed, where should I look and what do I look for. Like I said this is a big gray area for me. Thanks.

[Bobby]

That motherboard has a PCI Express X16 slot, so it should take any of the standard PCI-E x16 video cards. I assume you are using the built-in chipset and if so would have to disable it in the BIOS before inserting the new card.

Just post and we all can help!

[Barb O]

The monitor is a Hanns-G HW223D and supports VGA which my card does not.

Looking at wikipedia, it seems to me that the NVIDIA GeForce 6100 does support VGA but does not support DVI. My understanding is that in theory, DVI would give you a higher quality image - but I don't know how much of a difference and I don't know anything about that specific monitor.

I am posting the link I read so that someone who knows more about this area, can comment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_6_ ... Force_6100

Bob, Bob, Chuck or whomever,

Another question that I think is very interesting is where Cheryl asked about limitations on the functions of Premiere Elements because of her current onboard video -
What functions of Premiere Elements might Cheryl be able to use if she adds a PCI-E x16 video card that she does not have available today with the GeForce 6100?

[momoffduty]

The cable to nowhere is the DVI now that I read the link on Wiki. Hard to understand all of what this entails. My brother said he will swap out the cards for me next time he is in town, just need to know which one to get that suits the editing and the programs PE3 & Pro and my system. Have some comp grad students that would swap it out too, but may not know the specs for video editing. That is why I trust the opinions here. Thanks.

[Bob]

AMD Sempron Processor 2800+. Looked under Device manager>Display Adapters>NVIDIA GeForce6100. Is this the video card or should I look under something else in the Device manager?...have a book...looks like the motherboard...K8NF4G-SATA2 ASRock

The K8NF4G-SATA2 motherboard has the NVIDIA GeForce 6100 chip set built-in. Since your Device manager entry for the display adapter says NVIDIA GeForce 6100, you are using the built-in video support. As Bob points out, that motherboard also has a PCI-E x16 slot which could be used to install a video card to use in place of the built-in video.

The Sempron brand is AMD's value line of processors competing against Intel's Celeron line. As such, it's not a particularly powerful cpu. A standard Intel Pentium 4 can out perform it, and the newer Intel Core 2 Duo processors will be significantly faster.

Last fall, went back to the guy who built my computer and added more RAM, a second internal hard drive, and purchased a larger monitor. Since I was getting into the video editing, asked him what I should invest in next and he said to upgrade the video card. He has since moved.

I don't think the guy who built your computer was particularily knowledgeable about video requirements. I think he thought it would be more like gaming. The video requirements for NLE editing are not particularly taxing. Your present video supports DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2 and should be adequate. At some point, you will need a more capable video card with a faster graphics processing unit (GPU). But, for now, your Sempron cpu is probably a bigger bottle neck as encoding video is very cpu intensive and as you move into high definition video (especially AVCHD) your cpu requirements will rise significantly. You might want to consider a new computer your next upgrade. You may be surprised at how good some of the inexpensive entry level machines with core2 duo processors are these days. If you do decide to go that direction, definitely keep the old machine, it's perfectly adequate for web browsing, word processing, and such.

The monitor is a Hanns-G HW223D and supports VGA which my card does not. Does this make a difference...am I missing out?

Your monitor supports either VGA or DVI input. Your motherboard video uses VGA. So you are fine. If you were to get a new video card that supports DVI, you could potentially see a higher quality image on the monitor, but it's going to depend on the quality of the monitor electronics as well as your video card. I've seen some monitors that were noticibly sharper with DVI compared to VGA and I've seen others that you could hardly tell the difference.

Didn't realize the PYRO could be used for TV preview, just using it for analog capture. Guess I need to go online and read the manual...Wanted the dual hookup if I need to upgrade my video card anyway.

If you are otherwise satisfied with your current system I see no need to upgrade. Especially if you are willing to use the Pyro. However, you don't need an expensive high end video card and NVIDIA video cards with tv output can be obtained inexpensively. So, it's not a major investment if you want to go that route. Likewise, you can get one that has both TV output and dual monitor support should you want to add a second monitor. Some questions to ask though, does your TV have s-video input or does it use component input for the aux monitoring function? And, Is it high def or standard? The answers will affect which card to get.


The effects you mentioned need pixels to work on. If the layer is fully transparent, they won't show.

[momoffduty]

Thanks so much for the replies. I am amazed at the knowledge here and the help. And Bob, thanks for explaining things in plain English for me. The TV has s-video input. After weighing everything, think I will try the Pyro route first. As for the transparent video has no pixels so you can't see the effect....that did cross my mind...must have missed a step on the tutorial, probably have to use another effect in combination to get a transparency overlay like the Displacement Map Effect. As for the few effects that bog down in the Preset folder, not too concerned because I have more than enough other effects to work with.

Guess you all saved me some $$$, where do I send the check? Thanks again!

[Bill Hunt]

Cheryl,

It looks like you have PCIe for a video card. If you do decide to replace it, one thing to think about is, are you even thinking about Premiere Pro CS4? If so, look at the various nVidia cards that offer CUDA, as CS4 supports this.

I'm bummed, because my nVidia Quadro FX4500 cannot be upgraded to CUDA. The problem with this is I have a US$1800 card, that is a "dead end." Well, that's life in the computer world. nVidia has done CUDA for lower-end cards, and higher-end cards, but old Hunt is out in the cold. It still works well, but...

Hunt

[momoffduty]

Thanks Bill, not looking at CS4 at the moment. Very happy with what I have now and how things run pretty smooth on my computer. Thought I was missing out on the DVI cable and did want to hook up the TV for previews. Have to figure out the Pyro for that. I have big gray areas when it comes to computer equipment and how it all interrelates. Some days it seems like it all is a house of cards. Upgrade Firefox and that created problems with Trend PC, then upgraded Trend PC and that caused problems with the Wacom & HP printer, Installed Nero 7 for the lightscribe driver and that effected the browse option in PSE & wmp.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Cheryl,
On the Pyro you will see Video Out ports, connect from there to your TV (needs to be RCA or S-Video I think).
When you are editing in Premiere Pro or Premiere Elements you will see the monitor on the TV just as you do in the program.
The Mode switch needs to be set to Digital/Blue light for this to work where normally the light is Red/analog for capture.

[momoffduty]

Chuck, must be reading my mind again Was going to try to hook it up on my own first and then ask questions. Glad you gave me a start, Thanks!

[Bill Hunt]

Cheryl,

One little caveat, should you add a new video card. Since your video chip is on the MoBo, it will likely be set in the MoBo's BIOS. Be sure that your installer knows this, so they can go into Setup (at boot) and disable the on-board video chip. Also, some MoBo's have jumpers, or DIP switches, that enable/disable various on-board features like video and audio. If you have the MoBo booklet, have the installer give it a good read. You can also print out the data, usually in PDF form, from the mfgr's Web site. When replacing an on-board feature it is not always as simple as pulling out an existing PCIe card, replacing it with another and installing the proper drivers. Most often one has to also disable the on-board feature, so the new card will function properly.

Now, if you can just find me CUDA support for my beloved Quadro FX4500!!!!

Good luck,

Hunt