Configuring New Windows 7 Computer For Vegas Pro 10

[D.J. Ammons]

Are there anythings I need to do to configure my new computer to optimize it running 64bit Sony Vegas Pro 10?

The sys is;

6 core AMD 1090t processor
ATI Radeon HD5870 1 gig graphics card
12 gigs RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Also are there any settings I need to change in Vegas Pro 10 to fully utilize my computer? I checked and the number of threads utilized is set at "16 max".

[Randall Leong]

D.J.,

First of all, your system is not optimally configured (hardware-wise) to begin with. Unless you have two 4GB sticks and two 2GB sticks of RAM, 12GB of RAM would have forced your CPU into a hybrid of dual-channel and single-channel memory controller mode. This is because all current AMD Phenom II CPUs have only dual-channel memory controllers. And AMD CPUs do not handle such a mixed memory controller mode as well as Intel CPUs do; in fact, the performance loss with AMD in this mode is so great that all 12GB of RAM might as well have run entirely in single-channel-only mode.

Second, Vegas Pro 10 does not support ATi or AMD GPUs in its Nvidia CUDA-specific "GPU-accelerated" mode (which is limited to encodes using the Sony AVC encoder). Thus, the encoding will be entirely using the CPU. Worse, the AMD CPUs are slower than the slowest of the Intel i7 CPUs for video editing because the AMD CPUs lack full support of SSE 4.x.

Third, you failed to mention how many hard drives are installed in your system - and which brands and models of such drives. Systems with only one hard drive installed and systems with old and/or slow hard drives are ill-suited for video editing.

As for the maximum number of threads, "16" is the default setting (a system equipped with two quad-core Intel Xeon 5500-series CPUs have 16 threads). But AMD's 6-core CPUs have only six threads.

[D.J. Ammons]

Randall,

I have always used a second hard drive for Sony Vegas projects, captured footage, rendered footage, etc. For the new system I have a 7200 rpm 2 tb external Iomega eSATA drive.

My research on the six core AMD chips when it comes to rendering does not agree with some of your statements. The top of the line AMD six core chip like my 1090t does a better job of rendering than the lower line i7 chips and is on par with the high end i7 Intel chips or almost as good. Of course the $900 Intel six core chip blows it away!

I knew going in the ATI HD 5870 was not CUDA enabled but so far the reports I have read have only seen very incremental improvements with that so it was not a huge factor with me. For my budget I feel I got the most bang for the buck. However if I had realized what you said about the RAM I would have stepped up and gone to 16 gigs of RAM to keep it matched. I don't suppose there is any chance I have four sets of 3 gigs? LOL!!!

[Randall Leong]

D.J.

Maybe not Vegas. But Adobe always favors Intel over AMD. (This coming from the mouth of a former Vegas user who is currently on Adobe.) Thus, my above statement is not always applicable. And if you look at the PPBM5 list at PPBM5.com (which is indicative of expected performance with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5), you'll find that the fastest AMD system (and a heavily overclocked one, at that) only performs on the same level as some of the low-end i7 systems that are running at their stock speeds.

And nobody makes 3GB sticks of RAM at all. RAM always comes in base-2 (e.g. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1M...512M, 1G, 2G, 4G, 8G...) 3GB does not fit into this sequence evenly. Thus, the only way you can have 12GB is two 4GB sticks plus two 2GB sticks, or three 4GB sticks. Three 4GB sticks would have forced single-channel-only mode with the AMD CPUs.

[Jon McGuffin]

I wouldn't get overly worried about the RAM configuration, yes Vegas tends to prever the i7 processors a little over the AMD 6-core's but the reality is that they are both screaming and you'll only really notice a bit of difference in rendering times and it's not likely to be earth shattering anyway..

Same for the video card, you did ok by not getting CUDA, it *only* comes in when you're rendering out via the SONY .mp4 codec... Even then, it's not a night and day difference unless you have one of the big $1000+ cards which you don't...

Google around on "Windows 7 optimization" and you'll find some really good guides out there to tweak performance of your system.

The users here who did mention the hard drive scenerios are right though, this could be a big deal and you should have at least two drives going with your projects, etc on the secondary drive.

Jon

[Jeff Harper]

Generally speaking, to answer your question, directly, no, there is nothing you need to do hardware wise.

Your hardware sounds fine and will work great with Vegas. Your video card is fine. The much touted GPU acceleration is worthless, as Jon noted, unless your encododing Sony avc, and even then the differerence is negligible. It doesn't help with timeline performance, which is where Vegas needs the most help anyway.

Windows-wise you might go into power options and set your hard drives to never go to sleep, and generally set things to maximum performance.

Congratulations on your new system, and welcome to the world of Windows 7. It is a great OS. I've been using it for nearly two years and if is my favorite. You'll love it.

[Leslie Wand]

echo all that's been said, and jeff's comment taht it's a great os....

if it's purely for editing then you wont be needing av - but if you do, i recommend m$'s mse - free and very, very low footprint.

[D.J. Ammons]

Thanks everybody!