How to speed up AE 7 (specs included)

[Nathan Quattrini]

What would be the first thing you would do to speed up AE 7`s performance? (to edit m2t as well as SD stuff) I`m looking into the following options :

1. the plugin by Cineform (for HD),
2. There are 3 open slots for RAM , 1 filled with a 1 gig stick
3. Hows the graphics card and how does it affect AE performance
4. better (?) processor

If you had to create a pecking order, what would it be and why? Thanks

CODE
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/18/2007, 15:49:04
Machine name: MEI-3A41C302804
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
ystem Manufacturer: INTEL_
System Model: D975XBX_
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 821MB used, 1636MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0161&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7776 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/16/2005 04:09:00, 3908608 bytes

[Mark Leonard]

is your board rev .304 or higher? if so first ditch that D cpu and get a core2 duo. that alone will significantly boost you up. I would 2gig next for ram next. those 2 things will cut rendering times in half. I have both cpu's and actually have the 3.4 D cpu which is faster than yours on nearly identical pc's and the core 2 duo is easily twice as fast as my 3.4 D. and my quad core gets here tomorrow so no more D cpu's for me :)

[Pete Bauer]

Aside from hardware config, you'll want to convert any mpeg / m2t into an intraframe file of some type, presumably an AVI. The long GOP formats will seriously bog down AE and Adobe recommends against using them in AE.

[Lee Wilson]

Gridiron’s Nucleo Pro

[Nathan Quattrini]

Originally Posted by Lee Wilson

Gridiron’s Nucleo Pro

umm? Whats that. If I were to look into a Core Duo 2 how much would that cost? And whats the difference from that and what I have? I`m not much a hardware guy so please go easy on me :) Also would that require getting a new motherboard? Also "is your board rev .304 or higher?" I don`t know what that means or where to find it :D

[Conor Ryan]

Herr Lee makes a good point. I think the large, bold font may indicate that this question has popped up a few times before.

To put it simply:
Get a computer with as many fast processors as you can, and as much ram as you can afford. This is the basis for anything else you do. How much that costs depends on what you get, and where you get it, so I suggest you dig around the web, and locally, for some shops that sell such things.

It can range from a Dell or a Mac mini, to some hybrid custom monster that you or a friend builds from parts torn from the guts of other machines. It's up to you.

Then when you have that, get Gridiron Nucleo pro. This is a piece of software, like a plugin for After Effects, that allows the programme to use all of the processors in a machine at the same time. This is something that AE doesn't do very well on its own.

There is an option to do this with scripting, see www.aenhancers.com and dig around there. This is more complicated than Gridiron, and not as good, but is free. So if you're willing to give it time, have a go.

Then, when you have one machine sorted out, think about setting up a network of machines to make a render cluster. This is yet more complicated, but yields another jump in performance.

The use of a different codec won't mean a great performance improvement, you should be working with uncompressed files anyway, for the quality of it. Lastly, The graphics card is useful for OpenGL previews of 3D comps, and as effects and plugins develop that use graphics cards to render, you may see more realtime stuff, but not yet. I wouldn't expect such things until the next full release of AE.

[Nathan Quattrini]

Well 1. being new to the site I didn`t run across the specific issue in my run through alot of the different areas. 2. I have specifics and need specifics. One piece of software won`t magically fix everything. 3. I gave a list of choices, while open to other suggestions, the list serves a purpose. I work in a company with only 10 people, so budget is very important.
So to have large bold unsentenced answers to me is rude and unprofessional. I wasn`t clear enough in my post I guess to mention these are about my best 4 options that budget may allow.

Is Gridiron only for AE usage and improvement? I`ll see about that scripting stuff and see if i can sort it out. As of right now m2t files are killing the machine in AE, fairly fine in Premiere pro 2. I did read m2t is bad for AE anyway, but i do need to still find a solution for it all.

*edit* I checked out nucleo pro on their site, seems all it does is render in the background while not affecting other programs. Thats not really what I need. I need the performance of just using the program to increase, as I have to use it right now on %25 preview quality at half size, and even that is slow. Would nucleo improve realtime work? Or is it only for when you need to render and work on other things simultaneously? Thanks

[George Loch]

A few things you could do to speed up AE:

1) Dump the Pentium:

The Pentium D CPUs were a desperate move by Intel. They were getting trounced by AMDs X2 cpus in every way and tried to do something to stem the flow of users to the AMD camp. The Pentium D is just a hack of a CPU and is not optimized at all. You will be much better off with a Core2Duo setup - that is a cpu done right.

2) Nucleo will help:

Nucleo clearly helps speed things up in rendering times but, the amount of speed up depends on your system and the render content. I would first look at h/w upgrades and see if that makes you happy enough.

3) Workflow:

Be sure to look at your workflow in terms of formats and codecs. I have seen that trying to manipulate m2t files natively is very expensive CPU-wise and an intermediate codec OR an uncompressed codec makes a big improvement in over all responsiveness and render times.

First and foremost however, dump the cpu.

-gl

[Mark Leonard]

yeah that cpu is your worst enemy right now. Take a flashlight and look inside you current computer. look around on the actual motherboard and look for the name of the board. obviously it will have Intel and *xbx there. then looking really really hard in that same area you will see a "rev 304" or maybe 303 or whatever number. this is your boards revision number. instead of making a completely new motherboard with a new name. some of these "big and smart" companies tweak and improve there components w/o actually making major changes to the part. So they issue the same part with the same name but up the revision number one unit so they (and us) will know that's it's the newer tweaked part. (lets go of hand...)

so, if that number is 304 or higher then it means that you can go buy a core2duo today and stick it on that pc and be running in seconds. if its lower then you SOL and the board doesnt support the new cpus. I have the xbx rev 304 and running a quad core QX6700 and it trounces anything I've used. 20-30 times faster than my P4 D 3.4ghz and at least 2-3 times faster than my core2duo E6700. remember even the cheapest core2 will trounce your pentium D.

hands down your CPU sucks. I have it, I bought it, I used it...IT SUCKS!!!!(actually mine is the 400mhz faster one than yours, so if I think mine sucks that bad, then yours......) No matter what else you do you wont notice that much of an improvement till you upgrade that cpu to a core2. even if you have to buy a new mb to go with the new cpu. you can try whatever you want with buying more optimization software, a quadro FX 4500, or just keep defragging till your computer's blue in the face. But right now that CPU is what's holding you from hanging with the big boys :)

next in line would be:

2. 2gig good ram (i have 4gig corsair 6400C4 and very happy with it)
3. raid 0 for you workload drives
4. optimization software