@Jspatz "Not sure why you say that. When you put a clip on the timeline there is a yellow highlight and the clip plays real time. When you apply an effect the line turns red and playback speed without rendering is CPU dependent. If you are configured with the right card so Premiere recognizes Mercury Hardware engine and you use one of the effects that access it, yellow line and real time come back, even with multiple tracks, although disk IO has to keep up."

Well, I haven't found that I need it at all, but I do have an 8 core i7 processor. I guess it can't do any harm to have CUDA enabled card, unless like me you're running a Hackintosh (all Macs have ATI cards).

@stonebat
NLE means non linear editor - in other words any computer based editing system. A linear editor was a tape to tape system or a Steenbeck film editor, for example.

You seem to be confusing the term NLE with graphics based effects acceleration - totally different! There were many advantages to NLE before GPU acceleration came along. ANY computer editor is NLE, regardless of GPU effects acceleration.

But yes, if your point is that CUDA effects acceleration offered by NVIDIA graphics cards is only useful if you use a selected handful of enabled effects, I'd agree with you: it is over-hyped and not strictly necessary on a fast system. It can't hurt to have the ability though, eh?

Again you seem to be confusing different technologies. Direct AVCHD editing without encoding is entirely separate from CUDA graphics card effects acceleration, although they are both present within Adobe Premiere CS5 & CS5.5

The term NLE doesn't refer to either technology, but to computer based editing generally.

An inexpensive 1GB CUDA card can deliver a worthwhile performance boost on a dual-core laptop running Premiere Pro CS5 in 8GB of RAM. On Lucas' 8-core, 16GB workstation with SSD drives, you'd want a high-end pair of Nvidia SLI cards running dual 30-inch 2560x1600 monitors:

http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/pa301w-bk

On my relatively modest 6-core, 12GB HP Pavillion workstation with its bundled Nvidia GTX260 card, I make do with a single NEC 27-inch 2560x1440 display:

http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/pa271w-bk

Sadly second-rate, I know, but with some threadbare shopping it all came in at under $3K.

@stonebat
I was a bigger Colorista fan when Final Cut portability was more of an issue. Now that the FCS era is receding into legacy, I've migrated to CS5's bundled Color Finesse app. While it's a contortionist trick to Dynamic Link it via After Effects into a Premiere Pro sequence, the waveforms, soft clipping, and gamma/pedestal sliders in Finesse's full-screen interface are too seductive to pass up. Whip this out like it's routine, and anyone peering over your shoulder will think you're a brain surgeon. Here's a before and after example on a crappy, under-exposed frame grab:

We can hope for excellent color correction for CS 6, now that Adobe acquired licenses from Iridas. While Color finesse has great features and image quality; i always found it too cumbersome and slow to do serious grading. I'm glad Adobe improved integration with Resolve for the time being.

BTW, a fast GPU is very relevant once you start effects work in any format, and it doesn't help at all with RED decoding (you'll need a Red Rocket for that).

wow

@LucasAdamson
SHUTTLE SH67H3 PC Barebone System as a motherboard. I'm a bit worried that the 300w ps is not enough. The cpu uses 95w max, video card 65w max according to the specs. Chipset, drives, memory, figure 100w max. Cutting it close.

If I can get away with a smaller form factor, its better for me. Power supply has a sweet spot in terms of efficiency. Getting a 800w ps and using 200 would be inefficient. I might be in that sweet spot unless I'm overlooking something.

The bigger PSU means it's capable of outputting more power. It doesn't mean it will waste more power.

I like a full tower case. 1 SSD for OS & apps. 4 * HDDs & a true hardware based RAID card for data & tmp & etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116042 I don't know anything about the raid card though. That looks cheap for a true hardware based raid. I'm waiting a couple more years before pulling a trigger... when software NLE products are more complete. CS6? CS6.5? CS7?

@LucasAdamson Can I ask why you think I need such a large PS? I'm trying to calculate the actual use. Am I overlooking something? SSD: maybe 5w, hard drive another 10w max, CPU rated at 95w and I won't overclock, video card rated at 65w, DVD drive maybe 15w?, CPU fan another 5w, and the chipset at max 50w. Do these components draw more than their rated wattage?

we are actually building somewhat similarly specs machines, heres mine that im building monday and it came out well under $3000, i think if i remember correctly it was all just under $1100

GIGABYTE GA-Z68P-DS3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 Motherboard

I7 2600k with Cooler Master Hyper 212

G.SKILL Sniper 16GB DDR3 1333

ASUS ENGTX460 GPU

3 x 1TB samsung spinpoint f3 (plan to add SSD when i have the funds)

650 Watt Antec PSU

run of the mill dvd drive

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

LG IPS236 23" monitor

I thought I saw this link some where, but couldn't find it again. Found it helpful:

http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm

I have I think 11 computers in the house, so obviously I needed a new one. And when I recently put a new build together I went for the i7 that has a turbo mode of 3400. Hyperthreading for 8 cores. I use very large heatsinks and silent fans, so I can work on audio as well. I put a $50 ebay Nvidia GT 240 in there, making sure that I had the DDR5 ram, not the DDR3. I used an SSD for the C Drive. I bought 16 gigs of ram, since it was dirt cheap. Seasonic HE Power supply, of course. And a $60 blu-ray burner, thank you Tiger Direct. Scythe and Nexus fans. The whole thing I guess was in the $800 range.
It runs fast! Everything plays in real time with load of effects. And the computer is completely silent.
So the first thing I do is to get out GPU-Z and see what really was slowing the other systems down. Ran a bunch of tests on CS5 after rewriting the ini file to enable cuda on my $50 card. And the max out of the card GPU load was 45 percent. Not even halfway up the scale on a $50 eBay card! So I took out the same card, and tried it out in a bunch of other computers: quad intel, quad AMD, core duo intel and so on. Nada. Gotta have that i7 hyperthreading turbo goodness. i7 rocks. It ain't the card.
My advice, FWIW, get an i7 with turbo AND hyperthreading for 8 virtual cores. Buy 16 gb ram cause it is cheap and you will feel satisfied, finally, with your ram. SSD, check, whizzo!!!
So that leaves the graphics card. And here, I just don't see spending a lot. Get 1gb DDR5, OK, but even my old DDR3 GT 240 has plenty of cuda in this system.
Monitor: IPS. Colors have to look the same in different places.
Power supply: I'm running 350, I never have had an issue, I'm sure 500 would be plenty, especially with Seasonic.