how can i maximize my render speeds?

[jkaz]

hi,

I have a 2.8 8-core MP with the 2600XT, 2 gigs of ram and 2 internal HD

I want to maximize: video editing and related rendering as it relates to hardware performance.

what is my ultimate goal? and what steps do i take if i want to upgrade in small chunks?

is there a point of diminishing returns on ram?

do i want to consider internal raids?

does the video card help with render for output to dvd etc?

any advice is much appreciated!!

thanks,

Jeff

 

[arjen92]

The more RAM the faster you can render. When you have very fast hard drives (10000rpm) it will increase the speed too, because when it renders it has to write on and retrieve information from the harddrive.

 

[ChrisA]

hi,

I have a 2.8 8-core MP with the 2600XT, 2 gigs of ram and 2 internal HD

Get more RAM. I think you will notice the extra RAM every time you double it's size. So the first doubling (from 2 to 4) gives the most for your money. Then going from 4 to 8 cost twice as much for about the same gain.

Faster disks may help, but only if you are using a video format that taks a lot of spcae like 1080.

But you do not have to guess or ask people here to guess. Watch the Activity Monitor and see how cpu, ram and disk are used and then buy a hardware upgrade to address whatever is the bottleneck. Your goal is to keep the CPU(s) fully utilized and not waiting on data. Lots of RAM and fast disks will do that.

 

[-DH]

FCP relies much more heavily on processor speed than on RAM for rendering most effects. The exception to that is when using FXPlugs - they rely on the power of the graphics card. RAM has very little to do with rendering speed or efficiency. In fact FCP cannot address more than 2.5gb of RAM. That said, extra RAM does help when you have multiple applications open (FCP, Photoshop, After Effects, etc).

What arjen92 said; "The more RAM the faster you can render. When you have very fast hard drives (10000rpm) it will increase the speed too, because when it renders it has to write on and retrieve information from the internet." is totally wrong. Rendering does NOT connect to the internet - you don't even need an internet connection to render. I have no idea where that bit of misinformation came from.

-DH

 

[AviationFan]

I concur with DH.

Furthermore, you can make a huge difference with things that are not related to your hardware: optimizing your workflow, choosing the appropriate codecs, configuring tools such as Compressor to really use all of your eight cores, etc. All these things can have a significant impact on your productivity, I'd say more so than the choice between the slower vs. the faster hard drive.

- Martin

 

[LethalWolfe]

hi,

I have a 2.8 8-core MP with the 2600XT, 2 gigs of ram and 2 internal HD

I want to maximize: video editing and related rendering as it relates to hardware performance.

Upgrading to 4 gigs of RAM will help overall system performance but probably won't help render speeds very much. Rendering is almost entirely CPU dependent for FCP and GPU dependent for Motion and Color.

is there a point of diminishing returns on ram?

Yes. But that point depends on what apps you are using.

do i want to consider internal raids?

Faster storage will help w/RT performance, to a point, but won't help w/rendering.

does the video card help with render for output to dvd etc?

No.


Lethal

 

[jkaz]

thanks for the responses!

another question:

I have my OS and App files on one hard drive and my media on another hard drive.

Would choosing a 3rd hard drive as the destination for render files or files created for dvd- would this help?

Thanks!

 

[bigbossbmb]

set up a virtual cluster using Qmaster (4 instances) and then encoding with Compressor will be up to 4x faster.

do a search, I have a thread on creating a virtual cluster from a few months ago.

 

[arjen92]

FCP relies much more heavily on processor speed than on RAM for rendering most effects. The exception to that is when using FXPlugs - they rely on the power of the graphics card. RAM has very little to do with rendering speed or efficiency. In fact FCP cannot address more than 2.5gb of RAM. That said, extra RAM does help when you have multiple applications open (FCP, Photoshop, After Effects, etc).

What arjen92 said; "The more RAM the faster you can render. When you have very fast hard drives (10000rpm) it will increase the speed too, because when it renders it has to write on and retrieve information from the internet." is totally wrong. Rendering does NOT connect to the internet - you don't even need an internet connection to render. I have no idea where that bit of misinformation came from.

-DH

Whoops, sorry I meant harddrive instead of the internet (brainfreeze).
p.s. I've edited it

 

[jkaz]

i overheard someone saying that when you have 8 gigs of ram on an 8-core mac pro, each core gets a gig to work with.

anyone know of any truth to this?

thanks!

 

[AviationFan]

i overheard someone saying that when you have 8 gigs of ram on an 8-core mac pro, each core gets a gig to work with.

anyone know of any truth to this?

No, that's not true. The assignment of memory and cpu or core time to processes and threads is very dynamic, as it should be due to the different needs that different pieces of software have. 1 GB per core may by be achieved at certain times by coincidence, but it is definitely not a static assignment.

- Martin

 

[dagomike]

Yeah, rendering is CPU intensive. Compressor with a virtual cluster will maximize your cores. You just can't export directly from FCP, you have to export to QT first, then dump into Compressor.

 

[bigbossbmb]

i overheard someone saying that when you have 8 gigs of ram on an 8-core mac pro, each core gets a gig to work with.

anyone know of any truth to this?

thanks!

The rule of thumb is to have at least one gig per core so that when you do a virtual cluster, each core will have access to at least one gig.

 

[bearcatrp]

One thing not mentioned is scratch disc. If you are using only one disc, the read and write will slow down your encoding time. Have your program on your main hard drive, and have it encode to another. Watch your page ins/outs in activity monitor. If your page outs are more than 10% of your page ins, increase your ram. You can also look at your virtual memory to see when encoding is writing to virtual memory. I only see a few kb's and I have 8GB ram in my mac pro. I do have about 1% in my page outs. My suggestions would be:
1. Scratch disc first.
2. 4GB ram. 8GB would be better.
3. Raid if you can afford it and really need it. If this is your way of making money, then definitely raid.