Getting a New Video Card

[Daniel Smith]

Hi.

 

I bought and built my current computer nearly 4 years ago, and it's still running strong. However, the graphics card (Nvidia FX5200) has bust.

 

Unfortunatelly my motherboard will only accept AGP graphics cards.

 

I'm thinking of just buying a new, good, AGP graphics card (for about £100) and installing that. However, what I'm wondering is, how much of the GPU's power will these video editing suites use? Or do they rely on the CPU? (i.e. Premiere Pro)

 

Thanks.

Dan.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[Alexander Joyce]

Hi.

 

I bought and built my current computer nearly 4 years ago, and it's still running strong. However, the graphics card (Nvidia FX5200) has bust.

 

Unfortunatelly my motherboard will only accept AGP graphics cards.

 

I'm thinking of just buying a new, good, AGP graphics card (for about £100) and installing that. However, what I'm wondering is, how much of the GPU's power will these video editing suites use? Or do they rely on the CPU? (i.e. Premiere Pro)

 

Thanks.

Dan.

 

From Adobe.com

 

GPU-accelerated rendering

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 automatically adjusts to take full advantage of the power of your graphics card, accelerating the preview and rendering of motion, opacity, color, and image distortion effects.

 

I think even if some of the effects rendering and such is done by the graphics card, most of the processing is handled by the CPU. Therefor you would probably get the biggest boost by going for a video processing card like the AJA or Decklink(ofcourse you won't get any of those for £100).

Premiere is a little different, but look at the Avid Nitris system. Pretty much everything is in the Nitris box. Same goes with Media Composer. You can have it with or without the Adrenaline box, but it opens up a whole new world to have the Adrenaline handle the video processing.

[Daniel Smith]

From Adobe.com

 

GPU-accelerated rendering

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 automatically adjusts to take full advantage of the power of your graphics card, accelerating the preview and rendering of motion, opacity, color, and image distortion effects.

 

I think even if some of the effects rendering and such is done by the graphics card, most of the processing is handled by the CPU. Therefor you would probably get the biggest boost by going for a video processing card like the AJA or Decklink(ofcourse you won't get any of those for £100).

Premiere is a little different, but look at the Avid Nitris system. Pretty much everything is in the Nitris box. Same goes with Media Composer. You can have it with or without the Adrenaline box, but it opens up a whole new world to have the Adrenaline handle the video processing.

Ok thanks.

 

The only problem is, I also like the odd game of Command and Conquer 3... And I'm not sure how well a Decklink or AJA card will going to handle that. (I won't be doing any serious, serious editing from home, just the odd job when I'm playing about, however it more than likely will include HD)

 

I think for now I might just get a second hand AGP card off ebay, live off that for the time being, and once I've saved enough money I'll build a new PC with an Nvidia 8600 GPU. (Pretty mental graphics card)

Edited May 28, 2007 by Daniel Ashley-Smith

[Alexander Joyce]

Ok thanks.

 

The only problem is, I also like the odd game of Command and Conquer 3... And I'm not sure how well a Decklink or AJA card will going to handle that. (I won't be doing any serious, serious editing from home, just the odd job when I'm playing about, however it more than likely will include HD)

 

I think for now I might just get a second hand AGP card off ebay, live off that for the time being, and once I've saved enough money I'll build a new PC with an Nvidia 8600 GPU. (Pretty mental graphics card)

 

 

The AJA and Decklink cards are PCI cards for capture and processing of video only, so you would still have to have a graphics card.

I'd get a PCI express motherboard also before investing in an AJA or Decklink card.

[Daniel Smith]

The AJA and Decklink cards are PCI cards for capture and processing of video only, so you would still have to have a graphics card.

I'd get a PCI express motherboard also before investing in an AJA or Decklink card.

Oh I see..

 

Unfortunatelly getting a new motherboard isn't an option, otherwise I'd just get an Nvidia 8600 straight off.

 

Basically the whole backstory is that I don't nearly have enough money to build a new computer, but I'm wondering if it's worth buying a crappy graphics card for the time being, or buying a good graphics card and extending the use of my computer for another 2 years.

 

I think I will get a basic one from ebay, £25 jobby. That will have to do until I've saved enough for a new system.

 

Thanks Alexander.

[David Bradley]

Good idea Daniel. AGP simply doesn't have the bandwidth to cope with top end GPUs. I'd find something from Nvidia's 6000 series like a 6800GT. As far as editing goes I would invest in a Nitris suite or something of the like.