hardware supported video editing

[avatar[djedi]]

Hey gang,

How much do video cards help with video editing? I know that primarily GPU's are for rendering 3d graphics, but do any help with other video applications? And are there some cards that are better than others for doing this?

Also do some video editing software applications take advantage of video cards, and are there others that do not? I'm a bit of a nublet so any additional advice is appreciated!

I know that there is a such thing as a video capture card, but that's just a way of taking in video from assorted sources, and doesn't help with editing, right?

Thanks!

 

[jbean7457]

I do a lot of video editing for a part-time job I have and as far as I know there is no "card" you can get that will accelerate video editing (at least not with the programs I use). The only hardware upgrdade that greatly shortened my time rendering and editing was when I got a dual core processor. 2 gigs of ram is also essential to quick and responsive environment. A dedicated SATA harddrive for video clip storage (seperate from the OS) is also helpful.

Only time my video card comes into play is when I want to add certain special effects. Some effects rendering time (ripple...etc) are boosted by the GPU.