Video Editing.

[Deadtrees]

Q6600 @ 3.2ghz has been quite okay for me until I got myself into this video editing thing. After it took an hour to render 2 min. of footage, I realized i7 is quite needed. Thanksfully, my gf is looking for a new desktop which means I can sell her my current setup and go for i7 for myself. Sweet that is.

Anyway, below is what I'm planning to get (keep in mind those are CDN$) :

CPU: i7 860 - $325.99
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D - $154.98
RAM: g.Skill F3-12800 PC3-12800 9-9-9-24 @1.5v - $87.47
VGA: Radeon 5750 1GB - $138.67
Power: OCZ StealthExtreme 500W 135mm fan - $51.39
Case: Antec 300 - $62.64
ODD: LG GH22LS40 - $35.64

Everything is confirmed except very one thing: it's the video card.

It seems to me that 5750 is the best card in that price range. It's not like gaming performance is my top priority but if it offers better gaming performance compared to others in the similar price range, I should go for it. That's what thought.

However, I'm not sure if video card matters when it comes to video editing. For photo editing, I know it doesn't matter though many seem to think Adobe CS4 utilizes CUDA when it's just openGL.

I did some research and below is what I've gathered so far. I guess nvidia or ATI doesn't matter now but it might matter once CS5 comes along and CUDA matures. Am I right on this one?


http://forums.adobe.com/thread/511974?tstart=-1

http://aeportal.blogspot.com/2...cuda-acceleration.html

 

[randomlinh]

first off, what in the world are you doing that's taking an hour to process two minutes of footage?!?

second off, it all depends on your software package. if it explicitly says it can take advantage of the GPU, then yes, it'll matter. but I'm not really aware of anything that does other than 3d rendering software.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
first off, what in the world are you doing that's taking an hour to process two minutes of footage?!?

second off, it all depends on your software package. if it explicitly says it can take advantage of the GPU, then yes, it'll matter. but I'm not really aware of anything that does other than 3d rendering software.

It was 2 min of 5d mk2's 1080P footages and 70% of it had thisthis applied.

One thing I'm not sure is whether this whole CUDA this, CUDA that is more of a marketing hype or not. I recall when CS4 was first released and it seemed like CS4 utilized CUDA when it was only openGL. Even now, I see majority of people still believing nVidia is better due to that amazing marketing hype. Knowing that, I wonder if it's the case for video editing matter but I just can't find a clear answer.

 

[rudder]

Both ATI and Nvidia have their own GPU processing language. There are a lot of apps for CUDA available it seems... but to me it looks like they are all geared for university research. I think for now you may not see too many encoding apps working with CUDA and Stream because they are not as efficient in handling stuff like motion compensation.

I think the only officially released package is power director. But this was from a review I read several months ago so maybe the situation has been improved.

Your cards vendor may offer an encoder to work with whatever GPU you have. I just downloaded the ATI one. Reviews regarding quality have not been spectacular... but the whole idea is still neat.

EDIT: and regarding the comment about CS4... I think there was one plugin created for CUDA... but that is the extent of Nvidia benefit with CS4. And you will see a big improvement in going from a Q6600 to the i7. If you look at any benchmarks... this function of the cpu is where it really shines.

 

[Gooberlx2]

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=648

Nvidia recently released official end-user drivers supporting OpenCL. I don't know if AMD/ATI has done that yet. It may not really matter to you, but I figured it may offer some weight if you're looking for immediate support.

But, like others have said, it'll mostly depend on the software packages and what language they're choosing to support.

 

[akugami]

Currently, and in the near future, it doesn't really matter if you get nVidia or ATI. However, Adobe CS5 (think Premiere) will be getting CUDA support before DirectCompute or OpenCL because the CUDA tools have been out longer. While I don't doubt Adobe will implement acceleration using something that'll work in both ATI & nVidia in the future, it'll definitely lag behind CUDA for at least one software product cycle.

CS5 is still in development and speculation is that it'll get released in the middle of 2010. Maybe wait for Fermi (GT300) to come out early next year and use a throw in cheapy GPU for now? The GT300 will support DirectCompute, OpenCL, and CUDA so you have all your bases covered.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: akugami
Currently, and in the near future, it doesn't really matter if you get nVidia or ATI. However, Adobe CS5 (think Premiere) will be getting CUDA support before DirectCompute or OpenCL because the CUDA tools have been out longer. While I don't doubt Adobe will implement acceleration using something that'll work in both ATI & nVidia in the future, it'll definitely lag behind CUDA for at least one software product cycle.

CS5 is still in development and speculation is that it'll get released in the middle of 2010. Maybe wait for Fermi (GT300) to come out early next year and use a throw in cheapy GPU for now? The GT300 will support DirectCompute, OpenCL, and CUDA so you have all your bases covered.

As posted in other thread (by me.)

"I like the direction Fermi is taking but I need something right now and lack of information worries me a bit. Even if Fermi comes out as promised, I think it'll take some time for it to be utilized. Worst of all, I fear Fermi might be GPU verion of Pentium 4 given its massive size."

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees
I did some research and below is what I've gathered so far. I guess nvidia or ATI doesn't matter now but it might matter once CS5 comes along and CUDA matures. Am I right on this one?

As far as I'm aware, you're correct in this.

You don't mention your storage setup; I'm not sure it'll matter that much on short clips, but having high speed disks will make a great difference on longer renders.

As for 'future-proofing', there's no such thing.

 

[lior_lavi]

what about using a card specifically gear for video encoding like:

Leadtek WinFast PxVC1100(CRI Dual-CS Coder)
or
Matrox CompressHD Professional Accelerator Card

The price range on these cards are at the $200 - $500 level

Won't these cards will do a better job then CUDA will when it comes to video encoding? and at a much cheaper price.....