FASTEST 4K rendering system for CS6 - Dual XEON or GPU (NVIDIA Cuda Cores) ?

[Guest]

Hi, I need to build a new POWERFUL video editing machine for After Effects/Premiere and could need some input as I am low on time.

The machine must be really fast in video editing/rendering, and I will be working both 1920x1080, 3840x2160 (24p) and 4K x 4K resolution projects. I work with a lot of timelapse, meaning a lot of large frames, and also computer generated frames inbetween key frames, eg. to slow down footage (Using both Adobes own, and different 3rd party engines for this).

First, I work in Adobe Creative Suite CS6 (After Effect and Premiere).

1. Should I choose a dual XEON R5 system (2630/2640), or is a fast i7 3960/3930K sufficient?

Higher end XEON E5 cpu's are really expensive, and as I understand from some sources, current models are "old" and should be replaced anytime soon, but I don't think I have time to wait. I know EVGA/ASUS have dual i7 motherboards, but are there any software (Adobe CS6) able to utilize dual i7 cpus as of today? I am unsure if there is any point in buying such a motherboard for my purpose.

2. I know some processes can be done by GPU. And I am tempted to buy the new GTX690, (and mod/hack Adobe info files so it becomes compatible with AE/PR), even if I know only a single GPU is currently supported in Adobe CS6 (giving me 1536 cuda cores), due to the possible use of the new NVIDIA hardware encoding system on newer NVIDIA cards, that may be possible (hopefully) to utilize in Adobe CS6 in the future. Or at least stand-alone.

3. What would be the overall fastest in rendering with Adobe CS6 (primarily After Effects)? Dual XEON E5-2630/2640 or a GTX680/690 card with 1536 cuda cores? (The higher XEONS above 2630/2640 are way too expensive I think, as well as NVIDIA QUADRO 5000/6000 Cards)

4. When I search about hardware/GPU rendering I now get a lot of threads about the "new raytracing engine" for rendering 3D. But I am not looking to render 3D, but 2D (What happened to "good old" mercury engine? ), and I need to do 2D rendering as FAST as possible!! I will be producing a 24 minute 4K x 4K (circular) movie for a client, as well as several "regular" 4K projects (3840x2160). I am confused why 2D rendering is not mentioned in raytracing rendering enginge.

5. Would 64GB DDR3 ram be sufficient? I am worried if I decide to overclock a little I may run into problems if going for too much RAM. Then again I may not need to overclock if the system is fast as it is.

6. Regarding Storage I could go for eiter a RAID workstatoin (RADI 5 or 6? Or other?), or a fast rendering workstation, with a slower and larger server for backup. I suppose I could use some increased write speed on the workstation as I will be rendering 4K x 4K footage in high bitrates, but I don't think the hard-drives will be the bottleneck here, but the rendering capabilites!?. Although I know choice of harddisk/storage is important in a video editing system, the other issues as with choosing Dual XEONS or i7 3930K + GTX690 (or both XEON + GTX690) for rendering is more urgent do decide upon right now.

Any input will be greatly appreciated!!

Best,

Ola

[RjL190365]

Guess what, Mark? The freezing and pausing might have been caused by the nature of the dual-CPU setup to begin with. Some portions of CS6 use only a single CPU at a time - and when something switches from single-CPU to dual-CPU operation, there is a significant latency in the switching.

[MarkWeiss]

I found part of my problem this evening. My Contour Shuttle Pro 2 was sending a constant "Shuttle In Left 7" command to Premiere, causing it to fast forward erratically. I cracked open the Shuttle Contour and re soldered some iffy looking joints where the encoder is connected to the printed circuit board and reassembled it and now it works as it should. Good only lead-free soldering strikes again!

I was working a bit in AfterEffects this evening and amazed that it actually runs more smoothly than Premiere Pro. AE seems to like working on multiprocessors, but Pr doesn't.

[mariojrmatos]

I have a same problem. I need a laptop for 2.5K video editing on CS6 products, especially Premiere and After Effects, plus some 3ds Max and Maya medium-level modeling. Battery is not an issue but good CPU, GPU and RAM are crucial. My budget is about €2500.

I know that a desktop workstation is way better and gives us more for our money but I have one, a pretty powerful one, so what I need now is a laptop for video editing when I’m on the road because I work all around the world hence the necessity of a mobile solution.

[Todd_Kopriva]

See this page for information about hardware for Premiere Pro and After Effects: http://adobe.ly/pRYOuk

[fredsky2003]

mario, it will be very diffulct to found a laptop with lots of RAM.

i found some from Asus and DELL/alienware, with 32GB + SSD + 2nd hdd + gtx 680M... about 3000$ the double from a desktop equivalent.

you can add some USB3 video card like blackmagic if needed.

fred

[mariojrmatos]

* ("a similar problem")

Thank you fred.

I found the exact same thing. Right now the max is 32GB (Asus, DELL, Alienware and Clevo) with up to four disks (between SSD, HDD and mSATA), MX processors and GTX680. I didn’t look at the dual processors and dual GPU’s machines because the software I use just doesn’t take advantage of such hardware setup.

And, yes, the top configuration barely reaches the performance of a desktop costing half the price but I need to get a mobile solution so I’ll probably go with an upgradable laptop later so that I can buy the best hardware for the price and later on, when the now “latest and greatest” CPU’s and GPU’s suffer a cut in the price tag, I’ll make an upgrade for a higher cost/benefit.

As I said I don’t need a beast of a mobile workstation and that wouldn’t even be a smart move because at some point the law of diminishing returns comes into play (this is a major aspect for me).

Thank you for your input.