Building a video editing system...

[Slow Eddie]

I'm building a new video editing system and my knowledge of memory specs is severely lacking. Does anyone have any specific memory recomendations for this sytem? Keep in mind video editing performance and more specifically video rendering is the highest priority.

I also noticed that newegg didn't have any cas2 DDR2 memory. The best they had was cas3. Does cas2 just not exist in DDR2 form? What are the performance benefits of DDR2 over regular DDR?

Thanks,

Eddie

 

[MrHaze]

DDR2 has no advantage over DDR right now. It's more expensive and usually slower (higher latencies).
Eventually, DDR2 will outperform DDR.

Are building an Intel or an AMD system?

Mr. Haze

 

[Slow Eddie]

Thanks for the info. Its an intel system.

Eddie

 

[Slow Eddie]

Also, is it worth it to go with the 2mb of L2 cache versus 1mb? Price wise its only $70 more on a 3.2 ghz processor. Is there that much of a performance increase?

Eddie

 

[mshan]

I am also building a video editing computer and my impression is that amount 1 GB minimum, 2 GB probably ideal right now) for heavy Photoshop and video editing. Latency doesn't seem to be mentioned as as important.

http://www.videoguys.com/system.htm

Given how long rendering a project may take, I would think that complete system stability (i.e. high quality RAM that is completely compatible with your mobo and chipset of choice) would also be critical.

 

[Chosonman]

slow eddie,

Over here in Anandtech, we're not very good with intel questions. You might say we're slow with intel.
If you're looking for a video editing computer I would say wait till the AMD64 X2 comes out next month.
The dual core AMDs should knock the socks off any Pentium.

As for differences in RAM latencies and caches.. I would never think $50, $60, $70 is worth a minute increase in performance unless you truely have money to burn.
It's 90% marketing, 9% Investment and 1% performance.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Chosonman
slow eddie,

Over here in Anandtech, we're not very good with intel questions. You might say we're slow with intel.
If you're looking for a video editing computer I would say wait till the AMD64 X2 comes out next month.
The dual core AMDs should knock the socks off any Pentium.

Speaking for yourself, but not for the rest of us?

Sloweddie,

If you are using a 9xx series chipset, you may need DDR2 regardless. Check the mobo spec. As a general rule, the bigger the size, the slower it is. I have faster memory on a 533 bus, so it makes little difference. I might gain 1-2% at best, but I seriously doubt it is even 1% faster than some of the slower latency chips.

Since most NLEs are still only 32-bit, getting more than 2GB is not worth much. So, if you fully populate the memory slots, it is not like you will lose out on an upgrade later.

Follow the above linked Videoguys article the mshan linked. The Videoguys mess with this all day long, so have some authority. They also have some killer deals on NLEs and related stuff too.

Dual Core will be nice and I think the X2 will be great, but the Geek Tax on any of these systems for the next 6 months may not be worth it. Check your NLE's spec as dual processors/cores could be a waste of money.

As a rule, choose the software first, then get the system best suited.