What do the new graphics mean for video editors? How are rendering times on the i7?

[joejoejoe]

Hey All,

I started a thread a long time ago on using the iMac as a video editing machine, and the general consensus was that the only thing holding back the iMac from being an absolutely fantastic editing station was the graphics.

Now here's a question for the pros: now that the graphics have been updated for the 27inch (from Radeon HD 4850 to 5750) are some of these problems solved?

I'm planning on doing a lot of work in Avid, Final Cut, and Pro Tools, and I want to get to know After Effects well.

Will 8GB of Ram be enough for me?

Most of my editing will be off of footage from my 5D Mark ii.

Thank you everyone.

 

[spinnerlys]

Current editing applications, even the likes of Avid MC and FCP, don't take advantage of the GPU, it's still the CPU that does the heavy lifting.

AE will profit from the upgraded graphics though, and as it is 64-bit, can also address more than 2GB of RAM, something Avid and FCP can't, as they are still 32-bit. But to run more heavy applications side by side, the more RAM the better.

And it doesn't matter where the footage comes from, at least from an editing viewpoint, as you could have RED or SD footage in the same editing application, and the GPU still does not really support the load. AE will work better though.

The bottleneck are still the I/O ports, as FW800 limits you to 65-75 MB/s.

 

[dexthageek]

Hey All,

I started a thread a long time ago on using the iMac as a video editing machine, and the general consensus was that the only thing holding back the iMac from being an absolutely fantastic editing station was the graphics.

Now here's a question for the pros: now that the graphics have been updated for the 27inch (from Radeon HD 4850 to 5750) are some of these problems solved?

I'm planning on doing a lot of work in Avid, Final Cut, and Pro Tools, and I want to get to know After Effects well.

Will 8GB of Ram be enough for me?

Most of my editing will be off of footage from my 5D Mark ii.

Thank you everyone.

8GB is a great start! However, to save yourself some $$$ get an iMac with base 4GB and then upgrade the RAM yourself. Apple charges ALOT for BTO ram upgrades.

 

[joejoejoe]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I was unaware that FCP etc don't take advantage of GPUs, strange.

Can anyone with experience editing using an i7 tell me what I can expect to get myself into with rendering times? Will they be exceedingly longer than a quad core Mac Pro?

Anyone spend a lot of time rendering with 1080p 5D footage?

I really appreciate all the input!

 

[GyroFX]

I thought FCP does take advantage of GPU. At least in my Quad G5 it did. I had the ATI X1900 GPU and was able to take advantage of it's real time Extreme RT functions. I would think this still holds true?