How to increase performance?

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Solved by

Jan 25, 2013 04:50

Dear PD forum members,

I'm using PD11 and I'm currently not satisfied with the performance I'm getting. I experience slow editing and sometimes crashes too which I'd like to get rid of. I have a PC with the following setup:

Intel i7 2600k - Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
Radeon HD5450 - 16Gb DDR3-1600 Memory
RME Fireface 400 - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bits SP1 - Cubase 7.01 (32/64)

I think that my harddisks (I have 3 HD for Windows/programs, projects and one for audio samples) might be too slow and that I need to get a faster video card? Somehow I also can't hardware accelerate when producing videos.

Concrete questions:

- What should I upgrade to get a better performance working in PD?
- What is an often used graphics card that is highly recommended for PD work?
- What is the influence of harddisk and memory size and speed on editing in PD?
- How do you work to optimize performance? I produce music and I've always used a system where programs and windows are on C: - projects (music audio files and with PD also video files) are on a secondary drive, audio samples which are fixed on a third drive.
Might it be good to get an extra fast drive of say 2TB for video only? What are your experience to get the best performance?

Thanks a lot for your replies!

Cheers,

Harry

James Dotson

Senior Contributor Location: Tennessee Joined: Aug 24, 2009 20:40 Messages: 3066 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 14:20

Attach a copy of your dxdiag.txt from the computer. It gives a more detailed look at the specifications. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 15:42

Here's the dxdiag.txt file. Doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the display settings.

I'm still interested to hear what graphics card(s) and harddisk types (speed, size etc.) give great results with PD11 in your opinion?

Thanks,

Harry

Filename	DxDiag.txt	Download
Description	Dx Diag Output
Filesize	53 Kbytes
Downloaded:	444 time(s)

OnTheWeb1

Contributor Location: Michigan USA Joined: Jan 02, 2009 12:58 Messages: 511 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 15:48

No doubt that HD5450 is way underpowered. It's classed as a mid-range card and it is only in the middle of the pack there, which means it is not suited for anything more than general purpose use (not video editing).

Your processor and memory are fine.

To improve your disks, you could utilize the new SSD drives or a modern RAID array, but what you already have will work. Put your operating system on C drive. Change your temp files to be an a drive other than where the operating system is.

When doing editing, your source files should be on a different drive than your output file destination for best performance so it is not having to read from the same drive it is trying to write to as it is rendering.

Without a lot more information, though, it is your video card holding your back right now.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 25. 2013 16:28

Win8 64-bit Pro Retail
Intel i7-4770
16GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
MSI Z87-G45 Motherboard
ASUS GTX 660 Direct CU II OC 2GB GPU
1 TB RAID 1 (mirrored) Drive Array
Several scratch drives for video, TMP, pagefile.

OnTheWeb1

Contributor Location: Michigan USA Joined: Jan 02, 2009 12:58 Messages: 511 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 16:19

Here is a graphics card hierarchy chart. It lets you compare Nvidia vs. AMD/ATI to give you a rough idea or what performance levels from each brand are similar.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Here's another performance chart from Passmark that gives some idea of overall graphics power. You can search for your card and you'll quickly find the HD5450 is a dinosaur in terms of what is available now:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 25. 2013 16:23

Win8 64-bit Pro Retail
Intel i7-4770
16GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
MSI Z87-G45 Motherboard
ASUS GTX 660 Direct CU II OC 2GB GPU
1 TB RAID 1 (mirrored) Drive Array
Several scratch drives for video, TMP, pagefile.

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 16:36

Quote: No doubt that HD5450 is way underpowered. It's classed as a mid-range card and it is only in the middle of the pack there, which means it is not suited for anything more than general purpose use (not video editing).

Your processor and memory are fine.

To improve your disks, you could utilize the new SSD drives or a modern RAID array, but what you already have will work. Put your operating system on C drive. Change your temp files to be an a drive other than where the operating system is.

When doing editing, your source files should be on a different drive than your output file destination for best performance so it is not having to read from the same drive it is trying to write to as it is rendering.

Without a lot more information, though, it is your video card holding your back right now.

Ok, already thought the HD5450 was underpowered. Thanks to point that out!
What would be a good graphics card that would give a great performance with hardware acceleration and that would last for a couple of years?

As mentioned I'm currently using three drives. C: for OS/Program files - P: for projects music and video - S: for samples. The S: drive also contains the system paging file. I had the source files and the output destination both on P: so I could start by moving the sources to S: temporarily.

I'm considering buying a new HD for my videos only. So the video projects and destination files can still be on the P: disk but all the video files will be moved say to a new V: drive. Should I store the Autosave files to P: or V: then?

Thanks!

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 16:47

Would something like a GTX 650 be a good video card?

GTX 660 and Radeon HD7850 are quickly over 200 euro's which gets expensive quickly. I would consider these if there are advantages to buy them. If a GTX 650 is good enough I'll get one of these. Any specifics I need to look at? For instance there are Superclock 1GB and Superclock 2Gb versions?

Also an SSD drive good for video source files? Or just a 2TB 7200RPM Seagate Barracuda or something?

Thanks!

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 16:53

Quote: Here is a graphics card hierarchy chart. It lets you compare Nvidia vs. AMD/ATI to give you a rough idea or what performance levels from each brand are similar.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Here's another performance chart from Passmark that gives some idea of overall graphics power. You can search for your card and you'll quickly find the HD5450 is a dinosaur in terms of what is available now:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Ok, clear. Thanks for the overviews.
The GeForce GTX 660 Ti and GTX 660 can be good options.

OnTheWeb1

Contributor Location: Michigan USA Joined: Jan 02, 2009 12:58 Messages: 511 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 17:08

No doubt the 660 and 660ti are powerful cards, but expensive. It depends what your needs are. I have a GTX460 and it works for me and was only about $80 US on eBay. Faster is always more fun but more expensive

Some big considerations are you using output formats that leverage the extra GPU processing power? For example, if you produce to a .WMV format, hardware acceleration is not available and will mostly use your CPU and not your graphics card. MP4 and AVCHD output formats will take advantage the extra graphics hardware available.

Also, if you turn on many of the Fix/Enhance features like stabilization, this shifts more load on to the CPU compared to the GPU, so it somewhat depends on which Powerdirector features you frequently use as to how much you'll gain from hardware acceleration.

I'll answer your harddisk questions a bit later as it is time for dinner. Win8 64-bit Pro Retail
Intel i7-4770
16GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
MSI Z87-G45 Motherboard
ASUS GTX 660 Direct CU II OC 2GB GPU
1 TB RAID 1 (mirrored) Drive Array
Several scratch drives for video, TMP, pagefile.

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 17:14

The GTX 660 is around 200 euro's.
I use mp4 as output format so i can benefit from these cards.
I'm not using much enhancements.

BTW, will the editing in PD11 also increase with a faster graphics card? Sometimes it's very slow when editing video files or when previewing in HD etc.

OnTheWeb1

Contributor Location: Michigan USA Joined: Jan 02, 2009 12:58 Messages: 511 Offline

Jan 25, 2013 23:35

Quote: The GTX 660 is around 200 euro's.
I use mp4 as output format so i can benefit from these cards.
I'm not using much enhancements.

BTW, will the editing in PD11 also increase with a faster graphics card? Sometimes it's very slow when editing video files or when previewing in HD etc.

Yes, your editing experience will be significantly better with a faster graphics card than an HD5450.

Regarding your system/harddisk questions:
The ideal system would look like this:
Fast, multicore hyperthreaded processor like Intel i7 or true multiprocessor system
Fast Graphics GPU / SLI configuration (multiple GPU cards ganged together)
Operating system on its own SSD drive.
Paging file on its own SSD cache drive
Temp file variables configured with their own SSD cache drive.
Dedicated source drive (possibly multiple source drives)
Dedicated destination drive with significant write speed for HD production such as RAID array because SSD is too pricey.

So, it depends how serious you want to get.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 25. 2013 23:36

Win8 64-bit Pro Retail
Intel i7-4770
16GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
MSI Z87-G45 Motherboard
ASUS GTX 660 Direct CU II OC 2GB GPU
1 TB RAID 1 (mirrored) Drive Array
Several scratch drives for video, TMP, pagefile.

James1

Senior Contributor Location: Surrey, B.C., Canada Joined: Jun 10, 2010 16:20 Messages: 1783 Offline

Jan 26, 2013 00:29

Hi,
I run an I7 processor as in my signature, with a Geforce 560ti 1GB graphics card and the latest Nvidia drivers and have no problems
Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

Visit GranPapa64's channel for your YouTube experience of the day!

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 26, 2013 16:54

Quote: Hi,
I run an I7 processor as in my signature, with a Geforce 560ti 1GB graphics card and the latest Nvidia drivers and have no problems

Thanks

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 27, 2013 05:25

Ok, probably going for a ASUS Radeon HD 7870 DCII or Gigabyte GTX 660.

Does PD11 work better with AMD or nVidia or doesn't it matter?

Cheers,

Harry

Xerox

Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Aug 09, 2009 01:36 Messages: 446 Offline

Jan 27, 2013 05:50

I have the Radeon listed in my signature. It's actually on the CPU. Accelerated ENCODING is available for MPEG-2, WMV, AVC/H.264, MPEG-4, and MKV. There's a separate download from AMD that contains codecs needed for accelerated encoding. Only certain models are affected. The download is mentioned in small print on Cyberlink's webpage for PowerDirector 11 at the bottom of the specification page. Gateway DX4380, AMD A8-5500 Quad Core 3.2GHz with ATI Radeon HD 7560D; 16GB RAM; 1 TB SATA 7200 RPM; Windows 8 Pro 64-bit; PDR11, PDVD12.

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 27, 2013 05:53

Thanks xerox. Do most PD users use AMD or nVidia cards? So in your case the HD 7870 would be a good choice for me?

Xerox

Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Aug 09, 2009 01:36 Messages: 446 Offline

Jan 28, 2013 04:29

I don't have a graphics card. The graphics adapter is on the CPU. Something new to me.

I don't know how many PD users are using which cards.

Gateway DX4380, AMD A8-5500 Quad Core 3.2GHz with ATI Radeon HD 7560D; 16GB RAM; 1 TB SATA 7200 RPM; Windows 8 Pro 64-bit; PDR11, PDVD12.

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Jan 28, 2013 05:19

Quote: I don't have a graphics card. The graphics adapter is on the CPU. Something new to me.

I don't know how many PD users are using which cards.

Clear. I'd like to know:

- Who prefers nVidia over AMD and why?
- Is the performance of nVidia or AMD in PD11 better optimizable?
- Or doesn't it make much differenc?

If it doesn't make much difference I can get a Gigabyte GTX 660 which is cheaper.

Cheers,

Harry

Harry Maes

Newbie Joined: Jan 25, 2013 04:38 Messages: 48 Offline

Feb 27, 2013 01:21

A quick update: I have OC-ed the I7-2600k to 44x now and it improved the working with PD11 significantly. I didn't upgrade the video card and dont think it's really necessary.

Only issues I have now is that PD11 occasionally freezes when opening a video for editing. The edit window appears but I can't use any controls in the edit window?
My PC is stable for all other programs and remains stable after I kill PD11 from the task manager. I can restart PD11 and work on the project again. So there's no overheating or anything else causing this.
Any idea how to get some more insight on why PD11 hangs?