PC Specifications - After Effects 3d & Anim

[Megamix]

My son starts college next week and he's using After Effects plus 3D Animation.
I'm out of touch with specs as i now use a Mac.

His current spec is a Presario AMD Athlon Quad Core X4620 with 3gb RAM and he's really struggling with rendering.

I need to get him a new PC which will see him through 2 years of using After Effects.

What sort of processor / RAM match do you think will do the trick?

TIA

[OllieJames]

Hi,

What OS is he using?

I had MAJOR trouble with Vista with rendering... my video PC now has the following specs and is needless to say - rapid!

2.97GHz Quadcore Intel i7 Processor
6GB DDR3 RAM
HD GFX Card w/ 1GB own RAM (speeds up rendering & playback)
Win 7 Ultimate
Adobe CS5 (CS5 makes a huge difference, as it uses different playback & rendering technology)

However if he's just using After Effects, the above is over kill.

Knowing what OS & what version of After Effects he is using would help with giving an answer :)

[Megamix]

Thanks Ollie
He's using Vista with CS4 so 2010 spec is Quad core with DDR3 - plus Win 7 and a decent Video card
I did get him a 1gb video card in a vain effort to get some improvement by - but that did not improve it one bit - but i think its raw processing power (with enough RAM) he must need.

[OllieJames]

Easy to fix... (he says, hoping the following works! Haha!)

If he's already got a quadcore processor & 3GB RAM - I'd suggest swapping over to Win 7 & rounding the RAM up to 4GB - he should see a vast improvement!

If this doesn't speed it up considerably, I'd give CS5 a shot. You may find the GFX card didn't do much as Vista is crap!

[Megamix]

Ollie
Just been corrected by my son - he is using Windows 7 !
Looks like CS5 or a faster processor speed is needed then.

[OllieJames]

Wow that's strange then! Yeah - must need a faster processor then! CS5 will make a difference, but if he's already running Win 7 and it's not that quick, I'd probably try a faster processor.

[BeerFunk]

It would be worthwhile checking that there are no other processes running too, particularly ad/malware.

[Vectis]

Wow that's strange then! Yeah - must need a faster processor then! CS5 will make a difference, but if he's already running Win 7 and it's not that quick, I'd probably try a faster processor.

:sofa: m :sofa: a :sofa: c :sofa: ?

[Shaun]

:sofa: m :sofa: a :sofa: c :sofa: ?

:lol:

[Megamix]

I'd buy Macs for all my family if I could justify it - he'll have to make do with a PC!

[sleah]

I'd buy Macs for all my family if I could justify it - he'll have to make do with a PC!

Buying a Mac 'because it's better' is irrelevent and really an urban myth, created by Mac 'Fanbois'.

You will go out and buy a Mac of 'such&such' spec, then say it's far better than the PC, which actually was a lower spec. DUH!

Just buy a PC the same spec as the 'Perfect' Mac - it'll be the exact same processor!!!!! - Apple are using Intel.
You'll likely get more bang for your buck buy spending the same amount on a PC as a Mac;)
Unless of course you want a Mac for other reasons........

Sadly Apple brainwash people with facts that aren't based on like for like comparisons or real-world use:(

Neither is actually better than the other - it's just down to personal preference.

[Megamix]

Simon.
I disagree.
I'd argue each point but you've obviously made your mind up and i'm not going to even try to defend my comment.
Enjoy your PC - I'll enjoy my Mac.

[James]

Windows Xp only allows a maximum of 3gb ram to be used, which when you're using lots of effects isn't really a lot

With regards to rendering times, there's not a lot you can do to speed things up apart from the obvious processor, ram, etc

What will slow down the rendering process is using lots of effects, and if he starts rendering in HD, then it's gonna get even s.l.o.w.e.r

Like in any line of work, speak to the pro's... http://www.videoforums.co.uk/index.php

[OllieJames]

I went in to the Apple Store on Regent Street (I think it's on Regent Street? lol!) to buy a Mac Pro a month ago, to replace my video PC - but after explaining to the guy what it had in it & what I was planing to do if a Mac Pro wasn't for me - and he said it out-spec'd the Mac Pro's anyway... (my claim to PC vs. Mac fame :D)

Mac's are good - but having used Mac Pro's with the company I now do work for, even they drag really badly...

As I suggested, and as the people on video forum's will suggest (they suggested it to me)... a GFX card with it's own RAM will help tremendously with rendering times. I'd try whacking in some more RAM too, as Win7 can recognise up to 8GB I believe? I know for a fact that After Effects uses 'RAM PREVIEW' to watch the timeline back, so the more RAM the better.