You need a much faster computer.

Your CPU is a 4 core 2.4 GHZ
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Quad+Q6600+%40+2.40GHz&id=1038

Your video card is NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT.
Its bench mark is only 256.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=GeForce+8600+GT&id=64

You may be able to edit standard definition video, but High Definition Video will bring that computer to its knees.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

I found the spec sheet for your card here.

The recommended minimum to edit Hi Def AVHCD video is 512Mb but most graphic cards on the market now start at 1Gb which is double. It doesn't only stop there. You should really look under the hood to see what you're buying. Your card is quite old now, with a memory bandwidth of 24Gb/s on a 128bit bus. New mid to top range cards run anything between 150Gb/s to 340Gb/s on buses of up to 384bits. This might sound like gobbledeegook to you but it's what basically amounts to how wide the pipe is that data has to run between CPU and GPU (graphics card). Too slow/small and you get bottlenecks/crashes.

I'm still using an Nvidia GTS 250 which is a GTX9600+ with extra bells and whistles.
It's got 512Mb and 70Gb/s bandwidth but it lets me edit in AVHCD without problems.

Thanks for the feedback.

So far, I've been using it to edit some old videos taken from 30 year old VCR tapes. Terrible quality stuff, but my little girl and my now deceased mother are there to be cleaned up and archived for posterity. The editing hasn't been a problem, except for the lag time on the video display, particularly when in before-and-after mode. If I can get a new video card that will make it a little more usable for this process in the meantime AND my CPU and board do not get in the way, I'll get a new video board. If not I'll live with it and when I'm ready to start editing my HD recordings of the grandkids, I'll get a new computer. Currently I can produce a one hour length SD sequence in a few hours. I start it up and go to bed. But at least editing works well other than the editing video display.

Dell told me that my computer (XPS420) would be compatible with:
NVIDIA GeForce GT630 2 GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card
VisionTek Radeon R7 240 Graphics Card - 2 GB DDR3 PCI Express 3.0

I have no idea if they are advising my correctly. Will the buss handle this? They only cost $65-80 so it wouldn't be much of a gamble. Gary

Ok, I see what you're doing.

I'm posting the specs for those cards you mentioned: GT630 and Radeon R7 240.

There are three flavours of the GT630, the fastest is the GT 630 'G5' running at 50Gb/s on a 128bit bus like your GT8600, so it will be a marginally noticeable improvement on your current card. Both the Radeon and the GT630 run on a 128bit bus which, in my view, positions them as "entry level" cards.

IMHO 128bit is bare minimal for video editing of any sort using modern 64bit Windows, but the good news is it'll work ( ) for SD (Standard Definition/VHS) like you're doing. If you think you want to move up to High Definition then don't buy it, plus you're probably looking at a new machine too.

The Radeon seems to slightly outperform the GT 630 'G5' by saying 'up to' 71Gb/s (instead of 'is') but that's it.

I'd check with the DELL guy to make sure they will work on your computer as yours has the older PCIe 2.0 connection for earlier cards. Modern ones are PCIe 3.0 but to be honest, I don't think there's anything much to it. PCIe 3.0 is just faster than PCIe 2.0 and everything gears down now to work with older equipment. So it should be no big deal. Check with DELL though.

If you can find a GeForce GTX 580 you'd be cooking.

Quick question, which version of Windows 64bit are you using?
Is it Windows Home Basic 64bit?

Good luck.

Home Premium

Does that affect anything? Gary

Only if you're using Home Basic edition.
It has a physical limit of 8Gb RAM.

Premium edition bumps that up to 16Gb.
So adding a 1Gb (or higher) graphics card to your machine with already 8Gb won't hurt anything.

Here is the info on that.

Leaving computers on over night is quite normal when working with videos.
Out of curiosity, how are you capturing/recording them to your Dell?

Quote: Only if you're using Home Basic edition.
It has a physical limit of 8Gb RAM.

Premium edition bumps that up to 16Gb.
So adding a 1Gb (or higher) graphics card to your machine with already 8Gb won't hurt anything.

Here

While it's not wrong, it's also not entirely true. We're talking about GPU memory whereas Windows limits are only for the system RAM, also I don't know any GPU graphics adapters with more than 12GB on them, most have 1 or 2GB but in the next year or so we'll probably see that rise to 4GB thanks to 4K video gaming and displays starting to appear.

I'm having a similar choppyness issue when editing, my setup has an FX-6300 CPU (6 core @ 3.5Ghz), 16GB RAM, 260GB SSD SATA3 and a Radeon 6970HD with 2GB GDDR5 memory on it on THREE monitors. The card has five outputs, one of which is normally used for gaming and video playback on an HDTV, although that's not on when I edit video.

The video card should be more than adequate as per specs it handles over 170Gb/s and still allows me to play all the newest video games on the market, I expected to have no lag issues from it. It's still in the top 10 (seventh at last check) GPUs according to Tom's Hardware.

Specs here:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6970/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6970-overview.aspx#2

However I get unworkable lags when using the multi screen setup and when I limit myself to even one single HD monitor (1080/1990) the editing is still hard to work with, giving me too much lag when I compare to some of the videos I've seen on tutorials from youtube.

Clicking to select a clip for example lags anywhere between 1 and 5 seconds before the clip is selected and available to edit, zooming in or out on the timeline is like pulling teeth and syncronizing external audio, for example when using an external microphone to record the sound or better, to sync music to a lipdub (or music video) manually is near impossible.

I've tried copying all the video clips on the SSD drive but it makes no difference, my clips are usually 720p and up, mp4 format as saved natively with a Logitech c920 camera and/or video captures from bandicam (like fraps) that are also 720p and up.

Am I missing something? The PC otherwise runs very well, I use Acoustica Mixcraft 6.1 Pro Studio on a daily basis and that works flawlessly even when using huge lossless audio files from external USB drives on multichannel setups with sometimes a dozen different stereo tracks + plug-ins, VSTis etc.

Thanks in advance. AMD FX-6300@3.5Ghz, Asus mobo, 16Gb RAM, 260Gb SSD SATA3 + 500Gb Seagate Barracuda + 1Tb Seagate Barracuda, ATI (AMD) Radeon 6970 2Gb + 3 23" Acer H24 display panels.

If your lags are in Powerdirector, you should try lowering the preview resolution.

Very few systems can actually run HD real time preview in Powerdirector.
The preview system in PowerDirector has to do real time render and show what your edits will result in.
It takes a lot of processing to display real time preview in HD.


Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

My 8¢ worth (inflation)... expecting a normal computer (anything that cost less than, say, about $5G) to run preview, even standard definition, without lagging is a mug's game, at least that's been my experience. My computer, while not the most powerful in the hemisphere, scores 7.2 out of a possible 7.9 on the Windows Experience Index, and it won't do it.

My suggestion... after you finish your edits and are ready to produce or burn run about a 20 sec. Render Preview near the end of the clip to check the video/audio sync. Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Quote: My computer, while not the most powerful in the hemisphere, scores 7.2 out of a possible 7.9 on the Windows Experience Index

Win 8 now goes to 9.9. Win 8.1 no longer shows the Windows Experience Index. It's still there, but a hassle to find and run it. Command prompt only although I did find a GUI for it with Google. Intel i7 4770k, 16GB, GTX1060 3GB, Two 240GB SSD, 4TB HD, Sony HDR-TD20V 3D camcorder, Sony SLT-A65VK for still images, Windows 10 Pro, 64bit
Gary Russell -- TN USA

Thanks for the input, I'll try lowering the rendering preview quality.

Now to figure out how to lower the rendering preview quality... : AMD FX-6300@3.5Ghz, Asus mobo, 16Gb RAM, 260Gb SSD SATA3 + 500Gb Seagate Barracuda + 1Tb Seagate Barracuda, ATI (AMD) Radeon 6970 2Gb + 3 23" Acer H24 display panels.

LG,
the quality level control for the preview window is just under the preview window.
It's the little box-in-a-box icon 'tween the camera and speaker icons.
It is only adjustable when a clip is actually in a timeline. It has no functionality for clips solely in your library. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Wow Barry, that was fast! Thank you. I'll keep you posted. AMD FX-6300@3.5Ghz, Asus mobo, 16Gb RAM, 260Gb SSD SATA3 + 500Gb Seagate Barracuda + 1Tb Seagate Barracuda, ATI (AMD) Radeon 6970 2Gb + 3 23" Acer H24 display panels.

If anybody's interested in Render Preview, you can find an instructional video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNFhf7iBzNs

As the originator mentioned, it's a hastily concocted video and may be hard to follow, but it's all I could find on this subject. I would actually prefer written instructions but couldn't find any. However, although I ain't no rocket scientist I was finally able to figure out how to do it from the video. Using this method I can preview the selected segment using the High preview setting. Haven't tried the HD setting but suspect that would work too. Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

Now that I've finished my taxes, I can get back to the topic at hand. I'll try using a lower resolution on the preview. Maybe a new video card. Will still want to upgrade my computer someime over the next 18 months. I understand that the installation of PD12 is only for one computer. Is there a path to uninstall from an old computer and put it on a new one? Gary

Quote: Now that I've finished my taxes, I can get back to the topic at hand. I'll try using a lower resolution on the preview. Maybe a new video card. Will still want to upgrade my computer someime over the next 18 months. I understand that the installation of PD12 is only for one computer. Is there a path to uninstall from an old computer and put it on a new one?

You uninstall via Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features (Windows 7).

You then use the original installation files to install on the new computer.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote:

Quote: Now that I've finished my taxes, I can get back to the topic at hand. I'll try using a lower resolution on the preview. Maybe a new video card. Will still want to upgrade my computer someime over the next 18 months. I understand that the installation of PD12 is only for one computer. Is there a path to uninstall from an old computer and put it on a new one?

You uninstall via Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features (Windows 7).

You then use the original installation files to install on the new computer.

I was wondering about this myself, as I'm thinking about moving my program to another computer. It's been a while since my installation, but doesn't the program require some sort of valldation after installation before it can be used, and what happens when Cyberlink's records show it's installed on another computer? Photoshop had a procedure for this, but I can't find anything similar in Cyberlink's Help files or FAQs, but that doesn't mean there's not something there somewhere. Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5

but doesn't the program require some sort of valldation after installation before it can be used,

There is two types of activation.

1. The CD Key. Found on the CD cover in the boxed version and in the confirmation email on downloaded versions.
If you have the downloaded version I hope you have burned the Downloaded files to a DVD or have them backed up on External Hard drive.

2. after install you may need to activate the codecs. (component activation)

http://www.cyberlink.com/support/product-faq-content.do?id=12834&prodId=4&prodVerId=930

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote: I hope you have burned the Downloaded files to a DVD or have them backed up on External Hard drive.

2. after install you may need to activate the codecs. (component activation)

http://www.cyberlink.com/support/product-faq-content.do?id=12834&prodId=4&prodVerId=930

Thanks for your reply. I have the installation files and product keys to PD 10, 11 and this one. Since 11 & 12 are upgrades I assume I'll have to install at least V10 first, and maybe even V11 before I can install the current version. That's what I had to do with Photoshop from PS 7 to CS 6, or actually every other version. I got so I could do it almost automatically. However, on one occasion I had to reinstall Photoshop after a hard drive failure when I was unable to deactivate the program before uninstalling, and Photoshop wouldn't let me activate it on the new drive until I made a phone call and explained what had happened to a friendly representative. No problem, though.

So my question is, since I can find no method of deactivating the program, if I install and activate it on another machine will I run into problems because of the fact that Cyberlink shows it activated on the previous machine? Dell Precision 7510 Laptop
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Intel(R) XEON(R) CPU E3-1505M v5 @2.80 GHz
RAM: 32 GB
Windows Experience Index 7.5