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Upgrading video card

Specific to Premiere Elements Version 12.

Upgrading video card

Postby mikecox » Thu May 08, 2014 1:48 pm

I'm upgrading my computer so it will handle video editing better. I'm installing a SSD, an additional 2GB of RAM, and a new video card.

I have picked out the SSD and the memory, but I can't decide on a video card; there are SO MANY :ha:

I don't play video games do I don't need one that supports them. I just need one that will support PrE and PD, one that is as fast as possible but not more than I need. I can go as high a $500.; but only if I HAVE to. The question is, do I HAVE to?
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Re: Upgrading video card

Postby Bob » Thu May 08, 2014 4:27 pm

Mike,

What are your system specs? If you've posted them previously, I apologize, I couldn't find them. What I would like to know is:

Operating system (I think you said Windows 7 64-bit -- is that right?)

CPU

Total RAM installed (what you have now)

Motherboard model number

The internal drives (how many, capacity of each with amount free, what rotational speed if not ssd.)

Current video card and video ram (if any).

And, anything else you think I should know about. If any.
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Re: Upgrading video card

Postby Steve Grisetti » Thu May 08, 2014 8:47 pm

Also note, however, that Premiere Elements doesn't do much with your video card so, if you're buying the card for Premiere Elements editing, a minimal 1 gig card will do.

Though there's also no such thing as too much computer power, so Bob's recommendation will no doubt apply no matter what program you're editing with.
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Re: Upgrading video card

Postby mikecox » Fri May 09, 2014 1:55 am

Bob wrote:Mike,

What are your system specs? If you've posted them previously, I apologize, I couldn't find them. What I would like to know is:

Operating system (I think you said Windows 7 64-bit -- is that right?)

Yes

CPU
Here are a couple pages from the manual
Image

Motherboard model number
I found the motherboard here; but there isn't much on the specs
http://www.discountelectronics.com/product?gclid=CPCr_pmfnr4CFYqFfgod6j4ArA&product_id=4652&product_model=125

The internal drives (how many, capacity of each with amount free, what rotational speed if not ssd.)


I have an internal HHD, but, as I said; I'm upgrading. That will be replaced with a SSD and an additional 2GB of RAM to bring it to 8.
Michael :cool:
Pr Pro, Ps and Lr CC, Canon Cameras: 60D and 70D
WIN10 Pro, Surface Book,
i7-6600U CPU@2.6GHz 2.81, 16GB RAM,475 GB SSD, 211 Free
Intel HD Graphics 520, NVIDIA GeForce GPU
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Re: Upgrading video card

Postby Peru » Fri May 09, 2014 7:41 am

From the mobo specs: Available Expansion Slots include 1 PCI, 2 PCIe x1, and 1 PCIe x16

With the processor and setup you have now, any video card that fits the above requirements (assuming that the slots haven't been filled with something else) will work. The only way you would improve performance, though, is with a faster CPU and more memory.
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Re: Upgrading video card

Postby mikecox » Fri May 09, 2014 8:52 am

Peru wrote:From the mobo specs: Available Expansion Slots include 1 PCI, 2 PCIe x1, and 1 PCIe x16

With the processor and setup you have now, any video card that fits the above requirements (assuming that the slots haven't been filled with something else) will work. The only way you would improve performance, though, is with a faster CPU and more memory.
Ok, then I"ll stop worrying about the video card and concentrate on installing my SSD and increasing my memory; and now I guess I should also be talking to someone about replacing my CPU. Beginning to wonder if I shouldn't be thinking about just buying a new computer! When I bought this the Dell Tech who sold it to me assured me that is was enough computer for video editing; but it looks like he didn't know what he was talking about. Teach me to not do the research!
Michael :cool:
Pr Pro, Ps and Lr CC, Canon Cameras: 60D and 70D
WIN10 Pro, Surface Book,
i7-6600U CPU@2.6GHz 2.81, 16GB RAM,475 GB SSD, 211 Free
Intel HD Graphics 520, NVIDIA GeForce GPU
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Re: Upgrading video card

Postby Bob » Fri May 09, 2014 10:25 pm

Hi, Mike!

As Steve and Peru indicated, the video card isn't going to make much difference. Your system has a Radeon HD 5450 card with 1GB video ram. That should be fine for what you are doing.

Your system maxes out at 8GB ram. It certainly wouldn't hurt to add the extra memory to max it out. 8GB seems to be a sweet spot with Windows 7 64-bit. Photoshop CC can make use of the additional memory also -- definitely a consideration if you work with large sized images with multiple layers. But, unless you are constrained on memory, it may not make a lot of difference in performance. Before you add additional memory, take a look at what you are using.

Download Process Explorer from Microsoft and install it. Run the programs you normally do. You should probably do something in Photoshop and something in Premiere Elements. If you run an application that uses a lot of memory, be sure to run that too. When running Premiere Elements, use the project where you were having problems with playback on the timeline. Now run Process explorer. From the menu, select view then System Information or use the keyboard shortcut ctrl+i. Select the memory tab. On the lower left there will be a section labled "Commit Charge (K)". There will be 3 values for "current", "limit", and "peak". What it the value for "peak"? If it is substantially lower than the Total Physical Memory (shown lower down in the panel), you probably won't benefit from adding additional RAM. If the Peak is close to or over the Total Physical memory, you will most likely will benefit from adding RAM. While you are at it, take a look at what the cpu utilization is doing while you're working in Premiere Elements.

The CPU speed is one of the crucial factors in performance. Video encoding and decoding is very cpu intensive. Fortunately, you have a quad processor which you want if you are going to process avchd or similar high definition video. The Q8200 processor runs at 2.33 GHz. Upgrading the cpu is going to be tricky. That motherboard takes an LGA775 socket and the cpus that use that are at end of life. You probably won't be able to find a new one although used ones are available. Don't bother upgrading to 2.66 GHz, that won't make that much difference. Look for a Q9650 3.0 GHZ.

While a faster CPU would certainly have better performance, I wouldn't have expected you to have quite the degree of issues you are having. I'm not convinced that the cpu speed alone is the problem.

You have a single disk drive and it's partitioned. The primary partition is going to be busy from the normal operation of the OS. If you are also accessing one of the partitions during the processing, it will degrade performance. You can also degrade performance by not having enough free space on the drive. Swapping the disk drive for an SSD will improve performance. The system will boot faster and programs will load faster. You have room in your system for a second hard drive. If you install the SSD for the system drive, keep the hard drive and use it for your media and preview files.
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