I have a dell pc with pentium 4 2.3 ghz processer and 512mb Ram. I am running VS8 and not having any problems with it, seems to work fine. BUT.... I was wondering if increasing to 1gb would speed things up in any way, such as when rendering or creating/creating video files, which seem to take a long time. Would there be any other benefit to additional memory or would be wiser to wait till I can buy new faster PC?????
Thanks for any input/advise.
Bob S.
512mb Ram
Moderator: Ken Berry
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maddrummer3301
- Posts: 2507
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 10:24 pm
- Location: US
Hi,
Computers love memory, a short answer.....Yes.
Whenever windows uses it's physical memory it then starts a process
called swapping to disk. Windows starts to use the available
disk space on the harddrive as memory. Programs slow down.
You may come across this when you are running applications and
you see the screen refresh itself slowly from top to bottom (crawling).
It's very noticeable.
All computer operating systems(Mac, Linux, windows) love memory.
Purchasing a new computer:
Today buying a new computer is challenging because of all the
different processors and motherboards.
Personally I prefer an "Intel" processor with an "Intel" supporting
chipset(s). The supporting chipset(s) are very important.
A "Hyper-threading" processor running XP/Linux is a very good choice.
The new "AMD" processor's are very fast (Intel's competition).
I would start looking at a new system by going to
http://www.asus.com/ . This way you can see how motherboards,
processors, supporting chipsets and memory all work together to
have a reliable efficient computer.
Whenever you see "Socket xxx" example:Socket 478
that means the processor has 478 pins on it that connect to the
motherboard.
You can also purchase a "Turnkey" system.
A "Turnkey" computer is a computer system that's built and comes with pre-installed
software/hardware guaranteed and tested to work reliably.
(One shouldn't install new software/hardware on a Turnkey system
unless tested and verified by the company).
Hope this helps,
MD
Computers love memory, a short answer.....Yes.
Whenever windows uses it's physical memory it then starts a process
called swapping to disk. Windows starts to use the available
disk space on the harddrive as memory. Programs slow down.
You may come across this when you are running applications and
you see the screen refresh itself slowly from top to bottom (crawling).
It's very noticeable.
All computer operating systems(Mac, Linux, windows) love memory.
Purchasing a new computer:
Today buying a new computer is challenging because of all the
different processors and motherboards.
Personally I prefer an "Intel" processor with an "Intel" supporting
chipset(s). The supporting chipset(s) are very important.
A "Hyper-threading" processor running XP/Linux is a very good choice.
The new "AMD" processor's are very fast (Intel's competition).
I would start looking at a new system by going to
http://www.asus.com/ . This way you can see how motherboards,
processors, supporting chipsets and memory all work together to
have a reliable efficient computer.
Whenever you see "Socket xxx" example:Socket 478
that means the processor has 478 pins on it that connect to the
motherboard.
You can also purchase a "Turnkey" system.
A "Turnkey" computer is a computer system that's built and comes with pre-installed
software/hardware guaranteed and tested to work reliably.
(One shouldn't install new software/hardware on a Turnkey system
unless tested and verified by the company).
Hope this helps,
MD
-
Trevor Andrew
Hi Bob
I increased my ram to 1 Gb a few weeks ago.
The first thing that was noticeable was the reaction time of VS, inserting or deleting clips always had that delay, a pause that could sometimes take ages. The increased ram cured that, now almost instant reaction to the curser.
Project playback is much improved, I can view the ‘album transitions’ a little jerky but at least they play.
Things seem to be running much smoother.
I haven’t had the opportunity to check the render times properly. But from the small tests I have made Avi to Mpeg it does not seem to have improved that much. 2.5 to 3 times the video length.
Working with Mpeg files --- rendering faster than real time being no problem.
If you choose a new pc, get plenty of ram.
I increased my ram to 1 Gb a few weeks ago.
The first thing that was noticeable was the reaction time of VS, inserting or deleting clips always had that delay, a pause that could sometimes take ages. The increased ram cured that, now almost instant reaction to the curser.
Project playback is much improved, I can view the ‘album transitions’ a little jerky but at least they play.
Things seem to be running much smoother.
I haven’t had the opportunity to check the render times properly. But from the small tests I have made Avi to Mpeg it does not seem to have improved that much. 2.5 to 3 times the video length.
Working with Mpeg files --- rendering faster than real time being no problem.
If you choose a new pc, get plenty of ram.
-
jchunter_2
RS,
At 2.3 GHz, you could get a couple of more years out of that computer if you increase the memory to 1GB AND add a 10,000 rpm hard drive inside. I added a Western Digital Raptor WD740GD a few months ago that has been like a shot of adrenaline.
To get the full benefit you have to reinstall the operating system on the faster drive, which is a PITA - but all-in-all, definitely worth the trouble.
Results
The computer now cold boots in about 30 seconds instead of 40 sec.
Computer restart takes 50 sec. instead of 55 - 60 sec.
Cold starting Video Studio 8 takes 17 sec. instead of 40 seconds!
Restarting VS takes 8 sec. instead of 18 sec.
Making a 30-minute mpeg video file (mixture of mpg video and slides @ 8000 kbps) now takes 11 minutes vs. about 16 minutes.
All performance measures were identical whether or not my slower 7200 rpm IDE drive was also connected and operational.
At 2.3 GHz, you could get a couple of more years out of that computer if you increase the memory to 1GB AND add a 10,000 rpm hard drive inside. I added a Western Digital Raptor WD740GD a few months ago that has been like a shot of adrenaline.
To get the full benefit you have to reinstall the operating system on the faster drive, which is a PITA - but all-in-all, definitely worth the trouble.
Results
The computer now cold boots in about 30 seconds instead of 40 sec.
Computer restart takes 50 sec. instead of 55 - 60 sec.
Cold starting Video Studio 8 takes 17 sec. instead of 40 seconds!
Restarting VS takes 8 sec. instead of 18 sec.
Making a 30-minute mpeg video file (mixture of mpg video and slides @ 8000 kbps) now takes 11 minutes vs. about 16 minutes.
All performance measures were identical whether or not my slower 7200 rpm IDE drive was also connected and operational.
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THoff
Most harddrive vendors have utilities to make the migration from one drive to another much easier -- Maxtor has MaxBlast, and Western Digital has Data Lifeguard.
These utilities allow you to make drive-to-drive copies, so you can take your existing drive, copy it to the new one, and then use the new drive as the boot drive with all programs and data intact.
If you buy a retail drive, the software is usually included on a CD, but if you buy a bare OEM drive, you can still download the software from the respective manufacturer's website.
These utilities allow you to make drive-to-drive copies, so you can take your existing drive, copy it to the new one, and then use the new drive as the boot drive with all programs and data intact.
If you buy a retail drive, the software is usually included on a CD, but if you buy a bare OEM drive, you can still download the software from the respective manufacturer's website.