Will a CUDA video card help me?

[michelb]

Hi,

I am trying to decide if I should upgrade my computer or purchase a new Cuda video card to help me with avchd editing. I have core 2 duo @ 2.4ghz with 2 gigs of memory. I'm running vista ultimate and videostudio X3.

This machine is used for editing and as a dlna server. I don't do a lot of editing but would like to be able to use the files directly without choppy playback or long freezes. I have my own manual process to use proxy files but I would like to avoid it if possible.

My plan right now is adding one more gig of memory and an nvidia gts450. Could this work and allow me to keep this computer? An upgrade to X4 ultimate is also a possibility.

Thank you.

[Ken Berry]

I am hoping that DVDDoug will jump in here as I seem to recall him being an expert on graphics cards. The question of CUDA has been discussed in the past, but I am not sure any firm conclusions were drawn. However, I think it is safe to say that a CUDA card (and associated hardware acceleration) should help in the playback of your AVCHD, though it may not necessarily assist in the actual rendering.

[teknisyan]

If you're planning to upgrade your rig, I would suggest that upgrade the processor and RAM instead, since the processor do most of the work when editing HD/AVCHD videos and not the GPU.

I suggest that you get a Core i5 or i7 processor with a 4GB or larger RAM then just match that with a decent nvidia/radeon processor, then you should be all set. I'm sure the others can suggest a more specific video card.