Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? at DVinfo.net

Norris Combs · September 15th, 2011, 10:52 AM

A while back, I posted about my problem with Vegas shutting down when opening AVCHD files. I was looking into building a system that would be able to handle AVCHD. My current rig seems to be the weak point, and not Vegas, though I'm not 100% sure.

Any of you have problems editing AVCHD with Vegas Pro 8?

What do you think of the following? Cost is $1000.
Thanks,

PC comes with these:

Intel Core i7-930, 8 MB L2 Cache, 2.80 HHz
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333 MHz
1.5 TB hard drive, 7200 RPM
AMD Radeon HD 6450 1 GB DDR3
Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio

Are the following "upgrades" worth the money?

[1] Upgrade CPU to i7-960, 3.20 GHz costs $470.

[2] Upgrade to 12 GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333 MHz, 6 DIMMs, costs $160.

[3] Upgrade to AMD Radeon HD 6670 1 GB DDR5 costs $30.
Upgrade to AMD Radeon HD 6770 costs $110
Upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Single 1 GB costs $190

[4] Upgrade to Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium costs $40

[5] Add 2 USB 3.0 for $38

Seth Bloombaum · September 15th, 2011, 06:21 PM

Well, this is just opinion, based on what I'd do. Someone else's answer might well be different, and for good reasons that make sense to them and their workflow.

I'd want to do both the Vegas upgrade and the new PC. You should be able to get a $140 upgrade to v11 when it comes out - native AVCHD on the timeline will be better on any machine.

However, for it to be good, the i7 processor is the ticket!

I'd go with:
the standard 2.8GHz
Don't know if the RAM costs are current - I saw 12GB of RAM in last week's fry's ad for <$100. 8GB is probably fine for Vegas alone. If you're back and forth to Photoshop or AE, 12GB would be better.
All soundblasters are poor-to-barely-acceptable, but, I'm a sound snob. I sure wouldn't pay to upgrade to a more expensive SB.
USB3 is going to be more important, and it would be worth it to me for $38.

nVidia - also seems an expensive upgrade. Same card by eVGA is $120 at newegg.com - I'd thought a system builder would get it for less?.But, it's a lot harder to say if the promised timeline improvements with v11 AVCHD will be worth spending money on. Some others of the increased use of GPU with new versions have been underwhelming... I'm interested to see it happen.

Chris Harding · September 15th, 2011, 09:27 PM

Hi Norris

Last month I came from a DuoCore 2.2GHZ with 3GB ram to an i7 2600 3.40GHz and 8 GB ram and it's awesome in terms of rendering direct from native files.

I would definately also upgrade Vegas!! I found that 10 was so much better than 9 and 11 sounds good apart from the fact that you seem to need a very expensive Nvidia card to get smooth previews!!!

With my rig I still get video dropping down to half resolution after a while but apart from that the whole setup is magic....I'm not sure if more ram will work but it's not a big deal....personally I would go for the faster processor!!

Chris

Jeff Harper · September 15th, 2011, 10:12 PM

I would hold off on buying anything until the specs needed to take full advantage of Vegas 11 comes out. Why? Because you will want to know what qualities you need in your video card that will take advantage of the GPU accelerator features. You don't want to buy your system and then regret not having the right video card, which may very well help timeline performance and rendering speed.

Otherwise, I'd go for the 960 and 12GB of Ram, and add the USB 3. The CPU is where everything happens for Vegas. $500 is a steep premium, but I would still say go for it. But the graphics card, right now, is questionable because of upcoming changes to Vegas. We simply cannot recommend a card, no one knows what will be best, yet.

Chris Harding · September 16th, 2011, 02:10 AM

Vegas 11 is talking about the Nvidia Quadro Card ... they have various configurations mostly at staggering prices ...my wholesaler looked up the cost of the Quadro 7000 card and it's a cool $20,000!!!! Mostly used for high end 3D CAD systems...next down was the 6000 at a cool $4800.00 ....That certainly isn't in my budget at all !!!

If you look on the Nvidia You Tube channel there is a brief video but no specs as yet!!!

I'm pretty happy with Vegas 10 64 bit!! Even my DuoCore was able to handle AVCHD but alas preview was pretty much out of the question!! I used to transcode my footage to HDV first!!

Chris

Jeff Harper · September 16th, 2011, 07:24 AM

Chris, can you provide a link to anything at all about Vegas 11 graphics requirements for taking advantage of the GPU?

Mike Kujbida · September 16th, 2011, 08:00 AM

Jeff, it's been "hinted at" in the http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-hap...ro-11-ibc.html thread.

Norris, I only see one (rather large) hard drive.
The usual recommendation is to go with a minimum of two hard drives with C being for programs only and D, etc. being used for all your assets.

Jeff Harper · September 16th, 2011, 08:32 AM

Those are some expensive cards, for sure.

Mike Kujbida · September 16th, 2011, 09:09 AM

Way, way, WAY out of my budget :(

Jeff Harper · September 16th, 2011, 09:29 AM

Norris, Mike is right about the video drive, don't forget that. Needs to be a separate drive, the faster the better.

September 15th, 2011, 10:52 AM	#1
Norris Combs Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: OC, CA Posts: 344	Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? A while back, I posted about my problem with Vegas shutting down when opening AVCHD files. I was looking into building a system that would be able to handle AVCHD. My current rig seems to be the weak point, and not Vegas, though I'm not 100% sure. Any of you have problems editing AVCHD with Vegas Pro 8? What do you think of the following? Cost is $1000. Thanks, PC comes with these: Intel Core i7-930, 8 MB L2 Cache, 2.80 HHz Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333 MHz 1.5 TB hard drive, 7200 RPM AMD Radeon HD 6450 1 GB DDR3 Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Are the following "upgrades" worth the money? [1] Upgrade CPU to i7-960, 3.20 GHz costs $470. [2] Upgrade to 12 GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333 MHz, 6 DIMMs, costs $160. [3] Upgrade to AMD Radeon HD 6670 1 GB DDR5 costs $30. Upgrade to AMD Radeon HD 6770 costs $110 Upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Single 1 GB costs $190 [4] Upgrade to Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium costs $40 [5] Add 2 USB 3.0 for $38

September 15th, 2011, 06:21 PM	#2
Seth Bloombaum Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,420	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Well, this is just opinion, based on what I'd do. Someone else's answer might well be different, and for good reasons that make sense to them and their workflow. I'd want to do both the Vegas upgrade and the new PC. You should be able to get a $140 upgrade to v11 when it comes out - native AVCHD on the timeline will be better on any machine. However, for it to be good, the i7 processor is the ticket! I'd go with: the standard 2.8GHz Don't know if the RAM costs are current - I saw 12GB of RAM in last week's fry's ad for <$100. 8GB is probably fine for Vegas alone. If you're back and forth to Photoshop or AE, 12GB would be better. All soundblasters are poor-to-barely-acceptable, but, I'm a sound snob. I sure wouldn't pay to upgrade to a more expensive SB. USB3 is going to be more important, and it would be worth it to me for $38. nVidia - also seems an expensive upgrade. Same card by eVGA is $120 at newegg.com - I'd thought a system builder would get it for less?.But, it's a lot harder to say if the promised timeline improvements with v11 AVCHD will be worth spending money on. Some others of the increased use of GPU with new versions have been underwhelming... I'm interested to see it happen. __________________ 30 years of pro media production. Vegas user since 1.0. Webcaster since 1997. Freelancer since 2000. College instructor since 2001.

September 15th, 2011, 09:27 PM	#3
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Hi Norris Last month I came from a DuoCore 2.2GHZ with 3GB ram to an i7 2600 3.40GHz and 8 GB ram and it's awesome in terms of rendering direct from native files. I would definately also upgrade Vegas!! I found that 10 was so much better than 9 and 11 sounds good apart from the fact that you seem to need a very expensive Nvidia card to get smooth previews!!! With my rig I still get video dropping down to half resolution after a while but apart from that the whole setup is magic....I'm not sure if more ram will work but it's not a big deal....personally I would go for the faster processor!! Chris

September 15th, 2011, 10:12 PM	#4
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? I would hold off on buying anything until the specs needed to take full advantage of Vegas 11 comes out. Why? Because you will want to know what qualities you need in your video card that will take advantage of the GPU accelerator features. You don't want to buy your system and then regret not having the right video card, which may very well help timeline performance and rendering speed. Otherwise, I'd go for the 960 and 12GB of Ram, and add the USB 3. The CPU is where everything happens for Vegas. $500 is a steep premium, but I would still say go for it. But the graphics card, right now, is questionable because of upcoming changes to Vegas. We simply cannot recommend a card, no one knows what will be best, yet. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

September 16th, 2011, 02:10 AM	#5
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Vegas 11 is talking about the Nvidia Quadro Card ... they have various configurations mostly at staggering prices ...my wholesaler looked up the cost of the Quadro 7000 card and it's a cool $20,000!!!! Mostly used for high end 3D CAD systems...next down was the 6000 at a cool $4800.00 ....That certainly isn't in my budget at all !!! If you look on the Nvidia You Tube channel there is a brief video but no specs as yet!!! I'm pretty happy with Vegas 10 64 bit!! Even my DuoCore was able to handle AVCHD but alas preview was pretty much out of the question!! I used to transcode my footage to HDV first!! Chris

September 16th, 2011, 07:24 AM	#6
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Chris, can you provide a link to anything at all about Vegas 11 graphics requirements for taking advantage of the GPU? __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

September 16th, 2011, 08:00 AM	#7
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Jeff, it's been "hinted at" in the http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-hap...ro-11-ibc.html thread. Norris, I only see one (rather large) hard drive. The usual recommendation is to go with a minimum of two hard drives with C being for programs only and D, etc. being used for all your assets.

September 16th, 2011, 08:32 AM	#8
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Those are some expensive cards, for sure. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

September 16th, 2011, 09:09 AM	#9
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Way, way, WAY out of my budget :(

September 16th, 2011, 09:29 AM	#10
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: Upgrade from Vegas Pro 8, or upgrade my PC? Norris, Mike is right about the video drive, don't forget that. Needs to be a separate drive, the faster the better. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."