Upgrading

[SnakeDeath]

I have a dual 1.8ghz G5 with the stock nvidia 5200 card and 2gb of ram. I'm looking to upgrade either to 4 gb of ram or getting a radeon x800xt card (both would cost about the same). I don't do very intensive video work, mainly just dv. But I feel like my machine needs something, or maybe it doesn't.

thanks,
mark

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I have a dual 1.8ghz G5 with the stock nvidia 5200 card and 2gb of ram. I'm looking to upgrade either to 4 gb of ram or getting a radeon x800xt card (both would cost about the same). I don't do very intensive video work, mainly just dv. But I feel like my machine needs something, or maybe it doesn't.

thanks,
mark

Well... What do you want to primarily do with it? What programs are you using?

If it's just iMovie DV video editing, go for a faster hard drive. If you are using Final Cut (Express or Pro,) get the RAM. If you plan on playing games, go for the video card.

If the main slowness now that you feel is when doing video compression, then don't do any of the above. The only thing that noticably speeds up video compression is a faster processor.

 

[bigbossbmb]

get more RAM for editing...the video card won't do much good unless you're using motion or stuff like that. I've got a 9600XT if you just wanted to bump up to a 128mb vid card though...

 

[SnakeDeath]

get more RAM for editing...the video card won't do much good unless you're using motion or stuff like that. I've got a 9600XT if you just wanted to bump up to a 128mb vid card though...

Do you mean that you have an extra 9600xt for sale? If so how much?

 

[FF_productions]

Do you use FCP??

Anyways, Video Editing relies on the PROCESSOR for all the rendering stuff. You could get a faster internal hard drive to boot up your computer, and another hard drive to store all your video if you haven't done so.

You could upgrade the Graphics Card for a program like Motion, otherwise it's useless for an App like Final Cut Pro. Do you have your processor-performance set to highest? What is going slow?

 

[SnakeDeath]

Yeah I have the whole final cut studio package. I have two internal harddrives and two external. Nothings really going slow, I just wondered what I could do do get a little boost or if I should just save my money. I have a little problem when I have extra money. I just want to spend it! So if I wont see any significant speed gains then I'll just save my $$$.

 

[ChrisA]

I have a dual 1.8ghz G5 with the stock nvidia 5200 card and 2gb of ram. I'm looking to upgrade either to 4 gb of ram or getting a radeon x800xt card (both would cost about the same). I don't do very intensive video work, mainly just dv. But I feel like my machine needs something, or maybe it doesn't.

thanks,
mark

Take a look at "activity monitor". Let it run while you do normal stuff with you mac. It's in the application/utilty folder. Look at two things (1) the memory display. If "page outs" is not some low number that does t change" then add more RAM. But if it is low and stays low adding RAM wil not help much (2) look at the CPU display. If it is near 100% then you simply need a faster computer.

Activity monitor is there so you can make informed choises about hardware upgrades. Look at it when you think the machine is slow and you can find the bottle neck then put you upgrade money there.