The way Premiere is coded, especially if you're working with long-GOP files which require tons of CPU/RAM cycles ... the amount of RAM you have supporting the CPU and the ability of the MOBO to allow CPU/RAM transit are crucial for Premiere performance. So yea ... massive amounts of RAM are useful 1) if the mobo can handle massive CPU/RAM transits and 2) the CPU itself is fast enough to be worth buying the RAM.
And part of the way things are is a legacy of decisions made in past years. Current Premiere management differs in marked ways in how they "see" the app needing to move forward from the previous management. As would be expected anywhere, I suppose. For example, the current situation of meta-driven media from cameras like RED, Arri, Sony & others was certainly not something that seemed likely just a few years back. That alone requires a completely different coding for many processes.
So they're having to keep a product out that is workable for a massive user base while planning out and executing updates to try and get parts rewritten as they want them to be.
But ... it's a massively complex app. Changing something "here" can easily break something in some process "there" that you won't find on only a couple hundred machines running it. Doesn't seem likely looking at the base code. But as soon as you push it out for clients, someone somewhere is going to get a broken process. So even the cleanup process is ... dense.
I just got to meet and talk some at Adobe MAX with the person brought in a few months back to run the reorganization and planning for stability and performance improvements. Good conversation. He's blunt about the challenges he's got, but quite happy to wade in and work away. And amazingly, for all the changes within the team he's already made, the engineers are all thrilled about having him doing this. Because ... they are all users of the app themselves. They do want an improved app. And the list of bug fixes is impressive, especially the ones that have been there for AGES.
Premiere works on the widest base of gear of any NLE out there. FCP of course only works within that tightly limited Apple 'ecosphere' ... very few pieces of gear even going back a decade to plan for. Avid limits what gear it will use. Resolve has it's own limits, and shall we say, preferences for BlackMagic gear over others because their model is to get you into their software so you buy their hardware.
So changes are coming. Some are already showing, such as the limits on certain types of gear like video cards that Premiere will utilize. The "system compatiblity" setup was created to tell the users when their kit ain't up to the needs of the current version. I'm sure there'll be other changes.
And yea ... they make it clear that there's some changes coming at some point in GPU use also. But what those are, and when they may come, ain't got no clue. As that's all private info not shared outside the staff. We'll see it when we see it.
Sooner, of course, is nearly always better from our user perspective ... sigh.
Neil
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