Will an intel core i7-920 be enough to run multiple apps from Adobe CS4, simulta

mind_work

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Nov 28, 2009
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Hi folks, I'm looking to buy a new PC computer to run the Adobe CS4 Master Collection for HD video editing and production as well as music and DVD creation. If I'm working on, say, 4 or 5 of the CS4 applications simultaneously (rendering, composing, processing, exporting, burning DVDs etc.), would the Intel Core i7-920 processor (8MB L3 Cache, 2.66 GHz) be enough? Or, should I get more speed/processing power (and if so, how much more). My main criteria is that I simply want to avoid hiccups and crashing. Also, I'm really concerned about the rendering not coming out right due to lack of processing power. I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks! Marc
 

tecmo34

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The i7 920 is the best processor for the money for your type of applications!! I would recommend buying 12GB of RAM to make your process run better! The combination of the i7 920 and 12GB of OCZ Platinum 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3 1600 RAM wil suite you needs very good! :D
 

rockyjohn

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What do you mean by "enough"?

Any standard cpu, including the i7-920, will be quickly maxed out running multiple applications of the kind you identify - especially rendering composing and processing. It is easy to see this when you see how much faster the 17-920 is over slower CPUs for running just one application. You start running multiples and it is going to slow down too - depending on the particular applications and workload. Most likely it may start slowing down a bit with just 2 (that is two run together will take longer to run than 1 by itself) and with 3 and 4 each will increase the time at an increasing rate - 3 will add more time then 2 did and 4 even more.

With the i7-920 you can overclock to help some, and later upgrade when the 6 core cpus come out.

But if you really want speed for those activities, you need to consider a workstation - although obviously at a much higher cost - or running fewer operations at one time, or getting a second i7-920 PC.

Are these commercial projects that will pay for the grreater processing power through increased productivity? If so you need to consider a workstation with a faster CPU (or more cores, or multiple CPUs) and a workstation graphics card - all of which will cost considerably more. It you want a rought idea, look at the cost of Dell workstations and compare them to the cost of their i7-920 based PCs.
 

mind_work

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Nov 28, 2009
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Hi everyone,

Thanks for the great advice. What do you guys think about the i7-965 or i7-975 processors? Are they worth the price in terms of increased performance for what I want to do?

Thanks friends!

Marc
 

rockyjohn

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Not worth the price if you are willing to OC. You can OC the 920 and get near or equal to the speed of those processors - at a considerable cost savings.

If you don't want to OC, then it depends on your situation as I said before. If this is work productivity - you have to calculate how much more work you can do and what that will pay. If personal, you have the same calculation actually, just that you have to value the extra personal work you can accomplish. Both calculation should consider what you can do productively with time while machine is cranking away.

Personally, for my home computer, I would choose to just do a little less.
 
The thing is that ANY CPU that will fit in a desk-friendly case, no matter how much money you have to spend, is going to be maxed out by HD encoding. It's just a fact of life. But with 4 logical and 4 hyperthreaded cores, an i7 CPU will be able to do that task effectively in the background while he's working on other tasks. The only real questions are how much CPU-intensive batch stuff like HD encoding is he going to do, and how long is he willing to wait for them?

The 920 is the sweet spot where you get the most performance per buck. You can go to the extreme editions, but spending twice as much money won't cut the HD encoding time in half - it might reduce it by perhaps 25%. Beyond that, you can go to a multiprocessor workstation solution, or beyond. You can throw as much money at it as you want, but the best bang per buck is still the 920.

And what's very important to note is that if spending money on a CPU above a 920 will take away from money that could be spent on RAM or on an SSD, then it's a bad choice.
 

tecmo34

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SSD = Solid State Drive, which is the lastest technology for hard drives. They are about 100x faster in speeds compared to the current fastes hard drives, since they have no moving/spinning parts like current drives. They will increase your PC's speed very nicely!!