Well the 280 is Amd's older architecture (it's a re-badged 7970) so I know that will work. The 290 and 290x use their new architecture so I'm not sure if Vegas supports them yet.

Vegas OpenCL seems to be generic, or at least they have a generic version that works everywhere. This is the video composite and effects engine which is always used at all times. There is someone one this forum, skeeter I think, that has a 290 and it worked fine with Vegas proper.

As for encoder GPU use (render as)

Sony AVC OpenCL GPU use seems to be generic and works with newer architectures.

Mainconcept AVC OpenCL is hard coded to specific architectures and does not work with 7xxx series or the 2xx series. Anything graphics core next and newer is a no go.

Cool thanks for the info. I switched to Sony AVC a few months ago because it seems to support gpu better so I guess I'm good there. I also just found a review of the 290 at Anand Tech's site and he has a gpu encode benchmark with Vegas Pro 12 right on there, so I guess gpu encode support works as well. Sounds like the 290 is safe to buy, just have to find the Sapphire one for sale now. Thanks again!

That render Anand is doing is XDCAM EX. The XDCAM EX encoder does not support GPU. He is probably encoding the Vegas GPU demo/benchmark project. You have to do an encoder test since playback is never faster than real time.

Note from my previous post that the video composite and effects engine is always used. Playback or render, and this is what Video Prefs controls.

The only two encoders that support GPU for themselves are Mainconcept AVC and Sony AVC. They have their own independent GPU option. Sony AVC does not do much with GPU, but it is something.

OP,

What NormanPCN wrote is 100% correct. Right on the mark.

Cool thanks again, I'll probably just get a 290 and do some timing tests, then go from there.

Just picked up a MSI 290X OC today, using it with an Intel 4770k on Windows 8.1 driver version 13.12 (latest), hoping it works good - will soon find out.

I am not sure where you all get idea that only Sony AVC, MC AVC are accelerated. XDCAM EX is accelerated too but not selectable because it uses the standard OpenCL. On my GTX580 I get about 20% load rendering a HDV 1440x1080 to XDCAM 1440x1080. The same applies for MPEG-2. SONY-MFX only gets 10% load. Windows AVI with SONY YUV gets a good 30%. BTW...I closed to preview window to avoid getting GPU load from drawing the video in the preview window during rendering.

There's an option (somewhere) to disable preview while rendering.

Do you know for certain it uses GPU power to preview while rendering or just assuming? I've never noticed that much of a difference in render times (CPU) myself.

I am not sure where you all get idea that only Sony AVC, MC AVC are accelerated.


Via analysis and that render times being identical CPU only and GPU accel (video prefs) on. I would not trust loading since you do not know what it is measuring.

Why would Sony explicitly claim that Sony and MC AVC encoders are GPU accelerated and not claim the same for anything else. Sony claims the composite and effects engine are accelerated. This is used at all times. Playback and encoding(render as). Sony claims the two AVC encoders have GPU accel ability.

Sony very explicitly gives control of GPU usage. For each item they claim is accelerated they give you control of GPU on/off usage for that specific item. They give us this fine control because they know there are going to be app bugs, driver bugs and incompatibilities.

The mpeg-2 encoder in Vegas is written by Mainconcept. XDCAM EX is also mpeg-2. Nearly all the decoders/encoders are MC. They have never claimed their mpeg-2 encoder is GPU accelerated. They do claim their AVC encoder has those options.

Vegas may be using GPU to generate video stream frames before giving them to the encoder. Closing the preview does not stop Vegas from using GPU to generate the video frames for the encoder.


but not selectable because it uses the standard OpenCL.

Both Mainconcept AVC and Sony AVC use OpenCL at least on stuff other than Nvidia.. Sony does not actually say what they use, they just say GPU generically, but if you dig a little you can find out.


Windows AVI with SONY YUV gets a good 30%

Vegas has nothing to do with encoding to Window for Windows. In using Video for Windows an application simply sends frame by frame to the API and the encoder does its thing. Whatever that may be.

Vfw has been depreciated dead code since 1996. It exists for backwards compatibility. An encoder for Vfw certainly can do what it wants to do, including something new like GPU use. "Sony YUV" is not actually implemented by Sony. That 4CC (UYVY) links to a Microsoft YUV DLL (at least on my installation).

I did a bit more digging for you, I already new those facts. Here is an extraction from the SCS website which specifically mentions OpenCL for encoding:

"Working with OpenCL™ supported devices from AMD and NVIDIA, Vegas Pro 12 leverages GPU acceleration for video FX, transitions, compositing, pan/crop, track motion and encoding, providing a significantly faster workflow. GPU acceleration streamlines the video editing experience in Vegas Pro 12 by providing playback performance gains and faster rendering times, ideal for industry professionals who work on tight deadlines where every second counts."

If you also look at he GPU Acceleration page you will find a comparison for XDCAM render times.

Here is some more proof. I put a 60sec DV 1440x1080 50i on the time line and rendered it out to XDCAM EX 1920x1080 50i:
GPU ON: 21:00sec.
GPU OFF: 44:00sec

If I render the same to XDCAM EX 1440x1080 50i then both times are about the same 16:00sec; I believe in that case it is more or less a re-wrapping rather then an encoding or a very light encoding as frame size, frame rate and PAR are the same.

Here is some more proof. I put a 60sec DV 1440x1080 50i on the time line and rendered it out to XDCAM EX 1920x1080 50i:
GPU ON: 21:00sec.
GPU OFF: 44:00sec


What is using the GPU? The Vegas video engine or the XDCAM EX encoder or Both?

Answer we don't know. We do know the video engine can use GPU.

If one does a test with Sony AVC for example, you will can get four different and distinct encoding times.
CPU video prefs and encoder.
GPU video prefs and CPU video encoder.
CPU video prefs, and GPU encoder
GPU for both.

So Yes, rendering to XDCAM EX can use GPU, and will be faster rendering but I submit it is only the Vegas video engine using the GPU.

Again, the mpeg-2 encoder in Vegas is written by Mainconcept. Mainconcept is in the business of selling their encoders and decoders. Why would they not promote that the mpeg-2 encoder supports GPU accel, just like they do for their AVC encoder.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/GPU_power_in_Vegas_Pro_11