A core performance feature in Adobe Premiere Pro

A core performance feature in Adobe
Premiere Pro is the Mercury Playback
Engine (MPE), which optimizes video
processing calculations during previewing,
exporting, scrubbing, and other functions
in addition to playback. MPE employs
multithreading to take advantage of
multiple CPU cores (both real and virtual)
to accelerate these functions. The speed
of encoding and decoding the wide range
of media types Adobe Premiere Pro can
handle is also dependent on your CPU.
Additionally, if your computer has a
CUDA-enabled NVIDIA graphics card or
chip installed, it can also take advantage
of a qualified GPU to greatly accelerate a
number of functions—up to eight times
that of high end multicore CPUs, according to NVIDIA. Functions that are accelerated include a
growing list of effects and transitions (see the accompanying sidebar), scaling including different
pixel aspect ratios, deinterlacing, frame rate differences, blending modes, color space conversions,
and alpha channel interpretation. Below is a list of approved video cards and chips to maximize
the performance of the MPE as of early June 2012; check Adobe Premiere Pro’s technical specs on
Adobe.com (tinyurl.com/AdobePWP-04) for updates to this list to reflect new hardware: