Adobe CS4 advice

[Kumara]

Quick question.
I am considering purchasing a desktop with the capabilities mentioned below. Is it powerful enough to make use of the CS4 Premiere Pro and edit the video clips from Canon T2i without glitches. I bought the CS4 Production Premium Suite a month before the release of CS5 and have not been able to use it since. So I was hoping, at least a robust machine will help me use it finally.

Thanks in advance.

Processor & Memory:
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 960 (3.2GHz)
8MB Cache
12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz

Drives:
2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB SATA II, 7,200 RPM, 32MB HDD's)
2TB SATA II Hard Drive 7,200 RPM

 

[Subhadip Sen]

Instead of purchasing an expensive desktop, the upgrade to CS5 will impact performance far more dramatically. Adobe normally have a 30-day grace period. If you had purchased CS4 within 30 days of CS5's release, you might be entitled to a free upgrade. Not sure if it applies, but you could find out. Even if it doesn't, buy a Core i7 930 instead and upgrade to CS5. Not only will you get better performance in CS5, you will also save $300 as a bonus, which you can invest in a GTX 470 for CUDA acceleration.

I have tested CS5 and Canon DSLR footage on a dual-core laptop. Works perfectly and realtime. The only other NLE that provides this level of performance is Vegas Movie Studio 10 PE (and presumably the upcoming Vegas Pro 10).

 

[Tim Hole]

I completely agree with Subhadip. CS4 was heavy and slow, I even preferred CS3. It was like the difference between Vista and XP, then we got win 7.

I am running a custom built i7 930 with 12GB RAM and it works really nicely with RED footage and everything else I try to pipe through it.

Having not had any experience with the format (is it AVCHD?) I heard it is quite a troublesome and intensive format for computers to work with so for the sake of your sanity do what you can to upgrade. However it should also be noted that GPU acceleration won't affect playback so it may not be any different in CS4-CS5 for cutting.

 

[Prabhat]

Need help in deciding a desktop for the T2i and CS4 combination from the options I have...


Intel® Core ™ i7-930 Processor 2.8GHz
1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache
12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM memory
Drives:
1.5TB (7,200RPM) SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
LightScribe 16x max DVD±R/RW SuperMulti drive


Intel® Core™ i7-870 Processor at 2.93GHz
8MB Cache
12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 x 2GB)(2 x 4GB)
Drives:
1TB 7200RPM SATA II Hard Drive
16X DVD±RW Drive


Intel® Core™ i7-950 Processor (3.06GHz)
Intel® X58 / Intel® ICH10R Chipset
12GB DDR3 Memory
1.5TB SATA II Hard Drive
22x DVD±RW Drive
Front Panel 19-in-1 digital multimedia card reader

Thanks

 

[Prabhat]

What's the deal with GHz? The systems are i7 870/930/950 processors but the GHz is so less than the recommended (3.4GHz for HDV; dual 2.8GHz for HD)
Also does CS4 not work on windows 7?


CS4 recommended system requirements are
CPU: 2GHz or faster processor for DV; 3.4GHz for HDV; dual 2.8GHz for HD*
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista**)


I think all hobbyist CS4 users are in the same dilemma of not able to use CS4 nor being able to move on to CS5...Sometimes it makes me wonder if CS4 buyers should be reimbursed by Adobe

 

[Prabhat]

Is CS4 compatible with Windows 7?

 

[Eric Addison]

Yes - CS4 will work with Windows 7

 

[Prabhat]

Thanks Eric!
I am a bit confused between the 3 systems capacities as I am not familiar with the Ghz vis-a-vis 870 / 930 / 950.

Intel® Core ™ i7-930 Processor 2.8GHz
1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache
12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM memory
Drives:
1.5TB (7,200RPM) SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
LightScribe 16x max DVD±R/RW SuperMulti drive


Intel® Core™ i7-870 Processor at 2.93GHz
8MB Cache
12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 x 2GB)(2 x 4GB)
Drives:
1TB 7200RPM SATA II Hard Drive
16X DVD±RW Drive


Intel® Core™ i7-950 Processor (3.06GHz)
Intel® X58 / Intel® ICH10R Chipset
12GB DDR3 Memory
1.5TB SATA II Hard Drive
22x DVD±RW Drive
Front Panel 19-in-1 digital multimedia card reader


Thx.

 

[Tim Hole]

Not quite sure what you are getting confused about my friend. They are all quad processors so 4 cores with 8 threads. So there is essentially 4x 2.8Ghz in a i7 930.

I would personally go with the i7 930 or 950. Are you buying pre-built or building yourself? Look at getting DDR3 1600Mhz RAM instead of 1066Mhz

 

[Prabhat]

Thanks Tim! But honestly speaking I did not know much about the capabilities. Lot of catch-up to do...

Just to remind you that I will be using the system only for the T2i and CS4 Production Premiere suite combination. Premiere Pro and After Effects being the main usage.

These are pre-built systems, so I have to pick the best fit for my purpose from these 5 systems without changing the specifications. The configuration of other systems that I can choose from are:

Processor & Memory:
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Six-Core Processor at 2.7GHz
12GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM memory
Drives:
1.5TB (7,200RPM) SATA 3Gb/s hard drive


Intel Quad-Core Processor Q8400S (2.66 GHz)
1333MHz FSB
4MB L3 Cache
8GB 800MHz DDR2
Drives:
1TB SATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive


Appreciate all your help.
Thx.