Speed Increase

[bowersbros]

What would be better, in terms of speed:

1) Keep my 2.7Ghz Intel Core i7 (dual core?) and 16GB DDR3 RAM 1333Mhz

2) Improve Processor and 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz

thanks

/Edit never mind. Turns out the macbook pro has the Processor soldered to the logic board. So to change it would be to change teh entire logic board. Not really practical, and very expensive.

Okay.

So, 16GB RAM or a SSD.

Would either of those help with general running significantly?

General running being browsing, image processing (photoshop, lightroom) audio processing (Soundbooth and QuickTime / iMovie) and video rendering (QuickTime, Soundbooth and After Effects)

Thanks

Currently, to render a 15 minute video will take 30 minutes for Full HD (29.97fps) and 2x 16-bit sound channels at 44Khz sampling rate.

I would like to get that below 20 minutes if possible.

[EcazS]

Generally it's going to be a bit faster, like browsing the web and the more "simple" stuff.
To decrease rendering time and processing you would need a better processor.

[bowersbros]

Ah okay.

Now another question.

Is it possible to get 'parallel' processors?

Eg, if i have a Core 2 duo, and i can somehow link another core 2 duo as a peripheral device (but maybe straight to Logic board rather then via USB or something)

So that it is effectively Quad Core? Thanks

[EcazS]

I don't think that's possible unless you get a motherboard with multiple CPU sockets.

[jacek]

Getting more RAM won't make much difference unless you regularly use 80%+ of your current amount of RAM. Higher RAM speed would help but I imaging 1333 is the highest supported.

An SSD would help massively with the OS load time and the time it takes for big programs (and Firefox ) to start up, but in terms of things like video rendering it would make no difference since that is limited by the CPU.

Is it possible to get 'parallel' processors?

Yes, big servers often have that set up. You need a special motherboard though as EcazS said.

[bowersbros]

Getting more RAM won't make much difference unless you regularly use 80%+ of your current amount of RAM. Higher RAM speed would help but I imaging 1333 is the highest supported.

An SSD would help massively with the OS load time and the time it takes for big programs (and Firefox ) to start up, but in terms of things like video rendering it would make no difference since that is limited by the CPU.

Is it possible to get 'parallel' processors?

Yes, big servers often have that set up. You need a special motherboard though as EcazS said.

1: Thank you, and How do i see how much RAM is currently being used up?

2: So, it helps with the load times. Which takes around 10 seconds for After Effects to load, so i'd say thats alright. Not worth me getting an SSD really.

3: Ah, so nothing that will fit into a laptop casing

Thanks

I guess ill just have to live with 30 minute rendering. I figure it could be worse

[EcazS]

I believe AMD is working with either Apple or Micro$oft to produce multi-cpu laptops. I read it somewhere a while ago on the AMD website. They would be fitted with 2 and 4 Quad-cores and 12-cores. They would be very expensive and mainly used for video production on the fly. I don't know how that project went but...I don't think it would work very well.

[Curia]

If you really wanted to look into it, there are some GPU cards (albeit expensive atm)that have a special function that allows for CPU work to be passed to the GPU due to a graphics card having a better setup and being able to chew though the work faster with greater ease. Im not sure how compatible they are atm, but its starting to happen more and more with GPU being given tasks usually done with the CPU (hash cracking and brute forcing for example.)

[EcazS]

Holy crap http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/chea ... less/13125

[Curia]

Holy crap http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/chea ... less/13125

I wouldnt be too scared, who ever is brutforcing the attack needs to have a dictionary file that just happens to contain the password your using in it, so the chances of revealing the pass hy47yd6h is not as as easy as they put it there, some dictionary files are 200gb+ and that considered small.

But yes, a decent GPU has alot of power, more than that of a CPU and can do the work alot faster.
have a look at these two links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPGPU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_processing

[jacek]

Holy crap http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/chea ... less/13125

A password that is a sentence is stronger, and easier to remember

[Curia]

Holy crap http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/chea ... less/13125

A password that is a sentence is stronger, and easier to remember

I never thought of that, but its pretty damn smart, im doing that from now on