Upgrade CPU Worth It?

Molaram wrote on 2/2/2009, 6:15 PM
Vegas Studio has worked flawless for me for the last 4 years so I just upgraded to version 9. I recently acquired a HD camcorder and understandably wanted to edit Hi Def Video. I idiotically neglected to first read the minimum system requirements for HD editing unfortunately. My system is an old Athalon 64 4000+ (running at 2.4 GHz), Win XP Pro, 3Gigs of Ram, tons of HD space, and very stable. I can import video files fine but preview is quite choppy (audio is fine) and I'm assuming it will get even worse and likely unmanageable when I try to trim and splice together several HD clips. I have tried all the adjustments to preview quality and project templates to no avail. Question: would it be worth it (meaning would I see any appreciable improvement in working preview quality) if I got my hands on an Athalon 64X2 4800+ and perhaps OC’d it? I realize this is still quite an old CPU but I have a socket 939 Mobo to deal with. I can get my hands on one for $150. I should really just upgrade the Mobo etc but I am very happy with everything about my system except for its inability to handle these large HD files.

Sorry I forgot to note I am using a Canon HF 100 and recording at 1920x1080 (17Mbps I think)
Your comments are appreciated.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 2/2/2009, 7:10 PM
Vegas' performance is almost entirely tied to the processor speed. You'll get more bang for the buck upgrading the processor than anything else you can do.

The question is, will it be enough to be worth it, or will you be better off investing in a new motherboard that allows faster chips? Personally i'd go for the bigger upgrade. I did one last spring where i replaced the motherboard, CPU, and RAM (not more RAM, just that the new motherboard didn't use the old RAM chips). I spent about $200. My preview and rendering speeds improved 5x. If instead i had spent $100 on the fasted CPU the old motherboard would hold, my improvement would have been less than 2X.
musicvid10 wrote on 2/2/2009, 8:01 PM
Just to add a bit to Kelly's excellent advice:

Upgrading to a multiple core processor will definitely increase performance. You may be intent on improving your preview performance at this point, but the real payoff is in render times.

Going for the newer, bigger upgrade is probably worth it. However, I make it a point to stay at least 18-24 months behind the technology curve for two reasons -- price and stability. For instance, some really good, but slightly dated P35/Quad/DDR2 combinations can be bought for a few hundred today, rather than a thousand $$ or more for more for the cutting edge stuff, and the performance will be beyond your wildest expectations if you are used to single-core rendering times.
Ivan Lietaert wrote on 2/2/2009, 9:09 PM
The cheapest solution (read: zero cost) would be to use 'proxy files'. It is a bit time consuming (you first must convert your hd files to low weight files). Then you do the editing. Once done, you replace them with the original HD files and render your movie, which again will be time consuming.

A very rich and successful person once said that 'time is priceless', so it's up to you.

I have a Intel Q6600 quadcore system. This chip came out almost two years ago, but now is very cheap, but still lightning fast.
Eugenia wrote on 2/2/2009, 9:37 PM
Your processor is a Pentium4-class CPU, from 2005. Meaning, it's an older generation AMD Athlon CPU. You need a fast dual core CPU (preferably Intel, as Vegas is optimized for it best) to do AVCHD editing on Vegas (and 3 GB of RAM). You are looking a system at around $1000 I am afraid, to adequately deal with AVCHD. You can either use proxy files as Ivan said, but you need to buy CoreAVC PRO to use the proxy tutorial with AVCHD footage ($15), and it will still be slow when doing the last export.
musicvid10 wrote on 2/2/2009, 11:10 PM
**You are looking a system at around $1000 I am afraid,**

Not nearly that much.
Since the i7 launch, prices have come down quite a lot. A new name brand Q6600/4G system is $550 fully loaded, and he could get a new mobo and Q9300 for $300 assuming his box and existing RAM are up to it. That's a lot of processing power for a few bucks. Thanks for making my point about staying behind the pricing curve . . .
Eugenia wrote on 2/2/2009, 11:59 PM
I checked the PC I had in mind at Dell, and it costs $750, not $550. And DELL is one of the cheapest ones. Cheaper than that would probably be bad quality.
Molaram wrote on 2/3/2009, 7:26 AM
Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I think I get it (upgrade mobo/cpu/ram) is the best option I'm just dreading the upgrade process. I'm not concerned about the cost at all its just the windows hassles, software re-installation/re-registration, etc that have bitten me before.

I have an option to use my sons iMAC (iMovie 09) as it seems to handle these files very well but I just love the Vegas UI and the myraid of options available to me.

I'm not worried about rendering time as of yet (perhaps I will once I get into it) so I might try the CPU upgrade as a test first then go for the full upgrade if that fails.

Thank-you again for all the comments. Eugenia, I'm especially thankful for your BLOG and all the useful tips you post on it. Keep up the great work!
musicvid10 wrote on 2/5/2009, 8:15 PM
**I checked the PC I had in mind at Dell, and it costs $750, not $550. And DELL is one of the cheapest ones. Cheaper than that would probably be bad quality.**

What makes you think that? Which PC did you have in mind for $750 at Dell? Provide model # and specs. That's already $250 less than the price you posted. What major name brands do you consider bad quality? Why does anything priced less than Dell "probably" constitute bad quality?

Himanshu wrote on 2/6/2009, 7:09 PM
musicvid. Dude. Chill out. Don't attack people's opinions. If someone has a threshold of quality that's different from yours, what does it matter to you?
musicvid10 wrote on 2/6/2009, 7:19 PM
Not an attack, just questions, because I have never heard opinions like that before.

But if you see it that way, I retract the questions, and stand by my opinion that you don't need to spend $1000 to work with AVCHD. I noted two current sale examples from my local computer dealer above. They are not bad quality as was prejudged, but are respected name brand Intel Quad systems and components.
Molaram wrote on 2/9/2009, 8:39 AM
OK, I think I am past my sentimental attachment to my existing mobo and CPU. Here is what I am thinking about. Comments please….reasonable performance when editing HD??
Mobo: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4117136
CPU: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4140383&CatId=2328
I realize this will mean new PCI express video card (currently still on AGP) and new RAM. Also, does this mean re-formatting my drives and re-installing windows, all my software, etc? I had seen a windows post here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824125 that seems to indicate to me this will not be required?

Thanks again all....
Byron K wrote on 2/9/2009, 10:51 AM
$5 more you can get a quad core AMD.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3476410&Sku=CP1-AM2-9500

I'm also planning on upgrading my Video workstation and IMHO if you can afford it I'd go with the new Intel i7 w/ HT. Little more than the AMD but has New SSE4.2 instructions—Intel enhanced SSE once again, by adding instructions that can help further speed up media transcoding built in. Doing my homework now and hope to upgrade in about 6mos, hoping the prices for the processors start to drop.

-does this mean re-formatting my drives and re-installing windows, all my software, etc?

It's highly recommended to do a clean install to minimize driver/application conflict problems.

-I had seen a windows post here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824125 that seems to indicate to me this will not be required?

Hmm, Interesting...
2. Insert your Windows CD in the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM drive, and then let Autorun start.
4. Just as the computer begins to restart, turn off the computer.
5. Replace the existing motherboard with the new motherboard.
6. Turn on the computer, and then allow the upgrade to continue.
7. Setup installs the HAL, the IDE controller drivers, and any other drivers that the new motherboard must have.
8. After the upgrade is completed, reinstall any service packs or hotfixes that you had previously installed.

This may work but is a very "messy" upgrade path. The article says nothing about cleaning off the old drivers and "junk" that you won't need any more.

BUT... If Microsoft "says it it works" then it's gotta be good advice.

BUT... they also say that minimum requirements for Vista is 800-megahertz (MHz) 32-bit (x86) processor and 512 megabytes (MB) of system memory.

That setup may boot into Vista BUT is that enough for video editing or anything productive??? I think not.

((;