Help with a graphics card

Kev M

Kev M

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Morning all,

I really know nothing about graphics cards so could do with some pointers. It was never an issue before but I've just bought a GoPro and Premiere Elements which seems to be having a fit when I try to import the one video I've recorded.

I figured I probably need a graphics card for video editing but have no idea what will work with my PC.

Processor: AMD Athlon II X$ 640 Socket 3GHz
MB: Asrock 890GM Pro3
RAM: 4GB
OS: Win7 64bit

I don't do any gaming, it's purely for occasional video editing and if possible I'd like to keep costs below £50.

Thanks,
Kev
 
What's your current graphics card as it's also possible that it could be a codec problem?
 
Don't think much video editing software uses hardware acceleration so a graphics card will not make much or any difference.

You might do better asking in Talk Video as this sounds like a codec problem. Does Premier elements open other types of video file OK? Seems the camera records in MP4 format. have you tried opening an MP4 from a different source?
Is it a recent version of elements that would understand the format?

Oh and most video editing programs have 1 month free trials you can download. Give Sony vegas or cyberlink power director a try. they also might install codecs that will get elements working :)
 
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define "a fit". if you have task manager open when doing the import does the CPU usage max out?

god knows what gopro use for codecs but theyre a pain in the arse to get working properly i found.
 
and there was me hoping it would be so simple.

At the moment I don't have a graphics card, only what's on the MB. I didn't have time last night to see if the file would play in anything else. The only other thing (probably quite important) is that I wasn't paying attention when I installed it and installed it in the Program Files not Program Files (x86) folder so I guess I've installed the 32bit version.

I'll have another go tonight once I've installed it in the right area and check the CPU on import if it hangs again (the program goes unresponsive).

I assumed I'd be better off with a dedicated graphics card as the gopro site recommends a minimum of 128mb graphics card and I'd read somewhere else that a lot a card can speed things up when editing HD videos.
 
I'd be willing to bet it's a processor/memory issue. 4GB on a video rig isn't a lot and a x4 640 isn't a fast processor (by todays standards). The board has 128MBytes sideport memory for video (i.e. doesn't use shared system memory - assuming you've set it so in the BIOS), so you should be OK there.

Open up Task Manager and see what memory usage/processor utilisation is when you next import.
 
I'm sure Program Files is for the 64-bit versions whereas the (x86) folder is for the 32-bit versions of programs. So it looks like you've installed the 64-bit version so this is looking more and more likely to be a codec/driver problem or even more likely a processor/memory problem as Andy has mentioned.

I don't reckon it's a video card problem as that will be primarily used for playback of the video. It's been a good 8 years since I was involved in the video editing industry but that was mainly Avids they used.
 
Thanks guys, plenty to check tonight then.

Another 4GB or ram is cheap enough, if that's what's required. I'm not certain but I'm pretty sure I've got the codecs for mp4 files as I've got quicktime installed and a metroska (i think) codec pack.

Hopefully I'll have time to find out before the wife starts moaning about me spending more time on the computer!
 
Kev M said:
Another 4GB or ram is cheap enough, if that's what's required. I'm not certain but I'm pretty sure I've got the codecs for mp4 files as I've got quicktime installed and a metroska (i think) codec pack.
Click to expand...
Bring up Task Manager and see if the CPU is maxing out or if you have very low memory availability. Memory availability is shown on Performance tab and even moire detail is available in "Resource Monitor..." button. Should take 15 seconds to do.

BTW: don't blindly go installing codec packs - they can be a nightmare to get rid of if you install the wrong one!

It might also help to find out what the format of the file is. Download MediaInfo (easy google) and let us know what it thinks the file format is (audio and video codecs).
 
Yes another 4 gig of ram should help a lot.

If you spend £30 on ram you could also get a £20 video card second hand, AV forum is probably a good place to look.

Maybe something like a 8800gts
 
If you have 1 x 4 then buy another 1 x 4 if you have 2 x 2 then get another 2 x 2
 
Thanks for your help guys.

Bizarrely, coming back to it the next day and everything worked fine. I need to spend some quality time with it but nothing is maxing out on the RAM or processor so so far so good, although perhaps it needs setting up to use more resources and work a bit quicker.
 
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