Page 1 of How much RAM is enough?

I`ve got 512mb DDR RAM in my PC, and ordered another 512mb stick off of Ebuyer the other day. I do lots of video encoding, and video/graphics editing, so will often have at least two or three apps running at the same time - while I also have mIRC and eMule running too. More often than not I`ll also be browsing the net too!

My question is, is with 1GB of RAM, will it be enough for my needs? Because my PC is running dead slow at the moment - and I really hope the RAM arrives soon. I`m trying to encode two films at the same time at the moment on TMPGEnc, with both of them totalling up to around 20 hours total time. Would more RAM speed up these processes?

p.s. I`ve also got a 2.00GHZ Pentium 4 processor!


Thanks for any help peeps!

---

"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

TMPGEnc is mainly processor based - you may not see any increase in the extra ramk.

Otherwise a gig of ram is plently for just about anything you would want to do with your PC.

Are you sure you computer running slow is due to hardware? When was the last time you reinstalled windoze? I find when thing s start to get sluggish or unstable a reinstall works a treat.

Ben,
With adding and removing lots of big files all the time your HD will be getting really fragmented.
Try a defrag.

Also, from Start, Run, type msconfig.
In the startup tab see what else is scheduled to run at startup. If you don`t keep an eye on this loads of things can soon build up that you don`t need. Software `auto` update checks are always a favourite.

1GB is plenty.

hth

Ste

what operating system are you using ? i only ask because win 95/98/me does`nt like more than 512meg but win2k/xp will take advantage of any extra ram that you add

---

I AM NOT A LEMON, I AM A CABBAGE.

---

XP

(says Ben without moving his lips, erm, mouse...)

Ste

As encoders go, TMPGEnc is one of the slowest. I`d have thought you`d be better off spending your money on decent encoding software (such as Cinema Craft Basic), rather than on a shedload of RAM that you probably don`t need.

Also, why are you trying to encode two films at once? It`d probably be quicker to encode them one after the other.

Mike

Mike,
What`s the difference between Cinema Craft Basic and Cinema Craft SP?

Ben,
20 hours is a long time. I only do 1 at a time. Do you do `inverse telecine`? I do and it adds a bit of time but I can still do a film (2 files) in around 5 hours.

Ste

Cheers for all the help.

Mike, I`ve got Cinema Craft Encoder, but have not got around to working out how to use it yet - seems very technical. Usually I set my PC to encode during the night, so often by setting two they are done by the time I need to start using them. Normally I`ll run one after the other, but the past week I`ve been encoding two at the same time (often thats the case if one of them is taking a long time to encode, I`ll start another one going).

Think I might try a defrag, like Ste said. On startup, I have 22 things scheduled. Is that too much? I`d turn some of them off, but not sure what they all relate to.

---

"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

Somtimes I do use Inverse telecine. Often it doesn`t take 20 hours, but the particular file I`m doing at the minute spent a looong time analysing, though I couldn`t work out why it needed to analyse in the first place. I`m trying to encode to certain particular specs, so that if I use Ulead DVD Workshop it accepts the files (as the program is very very picky and will want to reencode my filesa again otherwise).

Also I`m encoding to burn to DVD - you usually encode to SVCD don`t you Ste? Would DVD take longer - or is it the same being that they are both MPEG2.

---

"The Internet is a communication device that allows people the world over to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

Imagine DVD will take longer - both mpeg2 but DVD will be a higher bitrate.

I think the analysing is the `inverse telecine`. When I don`t do it the picture is jumpy. Intrigued by this Cinema Craft now.....

22 things seems a hell of a lot.

Ste