I see your argument to go for the latest 40xx GPU generation, too. But as said, not sure at the moment if that will work with the actual version of Vegas today

@Wolfgang S. That is a good point. We do know it doesn't use the dual encoder currently, only the single encoder, and I"m not sure if Vegas needs to be upgraded to fully take advantage of the processing too, such was the case with Topaz AI products, although a bit different because they use the Nvidia Tensor cores, I'm not sure if Vegas does, but if it does at this stage would only be for the AI GPU FX.

@MH7 You were asking about if the extra speed of NVME drives is utilized in Vegas. I know it makes a difference with closing files at the end of a render, but to get maximum speed you'd need to be writing to your NVME C drive, which most people wouldn't do, or you'd need an additional NVME drive where you encode your files to. Any disk caching Vegas does would likely be the fastest writes.

In Resolve I notice it mostly with smart cache. In this example I alter contrast which forces the smart cache to rebuild. It's writing at twice the speed of the 600MB/s theoretical limit of SATA, in reality my SATA only writes at 480MB/s due to overheads.

Vegas Insider Wolfgang recommends 12GB too. The new decoder/render engine(?) may be here by the end of the year, and if you upgraded infrequently such as you're doing now, it won't be for another 6 years you upgrade, you want to get things right the first time, we don't know what the requirements will be.

I hear what you’re saying. I am definitely aware of that. But, as the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side. In saying that, what specific new decode/render engine are you referring to, do you mean of VEGAS Pro or of the RTX 4070 possibly coming out (as you might be aware, there is already an RTX 4070Ti out that some seem to say is overpriced and not good value for money).

Nothing more soul destroying then trading your very expensive GPU for 1/2 of what you paid, to buy and even more expensive GPU.

Soul destroying might be a tad extreme, but I get what you mean, and I agree. I would probably say disappointing myself, or having buyer’s remorse. For this reason I try to never rush into things but consider different options and think about them carefully.

But you ask your questions, you get varied opinions, it's then up to you.

I hear what you’re saying and I am definitely aware of that.

Something separately to this is that I have been really thinking about is the new AMD RX 7900 XT with its 20GB of vRAM, which would be more than enough vRAM for anything. What’s anyone’s non-bias opinion of it?

To be honest, having an all AMD PC build, from someone who had an HP Pre-built Intel/NVIDIA-based system before my current one, I have been pretty impressed with its performance. It’s just that I have started really noticing its age these days. So, as you might understand, I have been tempted to go with an all AMD upgrade again, with an AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and RX 7900 XT, as I have become used to AMD’s hardware performance.

On that note, though, the CPU and GPU specs of the HP pre-built were as follows:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
• NVIDIA GT 430 1GB vRAM (updated from what it came with, of which I think was the NVIDIA 8400GS, but I could be wrong about that).
• 4GB of DDR2 RAM (it initially came with 2GB)

So, as you can see, anything would’ve been quite a quite a significant upgrade for me compared to that.

Regarding the AMD RX 7900 XT I don't think anyone's tested it in Vegas. I wouldn't sign up to test it myself, esp. given the state of AMD drivers. We have quite a few RTX 4000 series NVIDIA in the benchmarks I listed (see my signature).

For CPU, I'd rather have the Intel iGPU as Intel accelerates more formats than its rivals.

what specific new decode/render engine are you referring to, do you mean of VEGAS Pro

On the forum it's been hinted that in the long-run Vegas needs and will get a new engine as the existing one has limitations but recent fixes have been about stability so I wouldn't buy hardware for software that may not be anywhere near release and for which we have no idea what GPUs will work best!

Regarding the AMD RX 7900 XT I don't think anyone's tested it in Vegas. I wouldn't sign up to test it myself, esp. given the state of AMD drivers. We have quite a few RTX 4000 series NVIDIA in the benchmarks I listed (see my signature).

I know AMD’s drivers are a bit troublsome at the moment. My RX 580 (although I updated it to the latest driver recently) made my two displays blackout with just opening a web browser, I believe. I thought that was odd. It hadn’t done it again after that. But I did think it was rather strange for it to do that. So, they do need to fix their driver issues. I know NVIDIA their own share of driver issues so I aint pointing the finger at any one company. sometimes drivers do have some problems for whatever reason and they need to be fixed.

For CPU, I'd rather have the Intel iGPU as Intel accelerates more formats than its rivals.

Well, I have decided to keep with the i5-13600K. I do plan to go with that.

what specific new decode/render engine are you referring to, do you mean of VEGAS Pro

On the forum it's been hinted that in the long-run Vegas needs and will get a new engine as the existing one has limitations but recent fixes have been about stability so I wouldn't buy hardware for software that may not be anywhere near release and for which we have no idea what GPUs will work best!

So, would the recommendation be to not upgrade one’s computer until VEGAS Pro has this new engine? On the other hand, though, I am not just upgrading my PC for video editing. As I noted in another thread of mine, I’m also wanting upgrade so that I can play the new game that I got for my birthday, that being Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (AKA — Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition). So, with that in mind, what would the recommendation be?

We don't know Vegas is getting a new engine let alone what year it will come. I'd buy for today as GPUs are sellable and replaceable later.

Look at the Vegas benchmarks which shows RTX30XX and 40XX and RX6XXX (AMD) and also general benchmarks for your favorite games or other software.

AMD releases a lot of non-WHQL drivers, all of which I consider betas whereas NVIDIA at least tests them that much (though there is a current mobile issue with previews not updating in Vegas).

Something separately to this is that I have been really thinking about is the new AMD RX 7900 XT with its 20GB of vRAM, which would be more than enough vRAM for anything. What’s anyone’s non-bias opinion of it?

The technical specifications are great for sure. Your are aware about the driver situation, and you know that nobody has tested that in Vegas up to now, as far as we know here. But if you wish to test that, I would say feel free to do so! ;)

We don't know Vegas is getting a new engine let alone what year it will come. I'd buy for today as GPUs are sellable and replaceable later.

Ah okay. I believe I misunderstood. No worries. Alright, well I will be going with the i5-13600K and an NVIDIA GPU, whatever that ends up being. I haven’t had an Intel/NVIDIA-based system for 5.5+ years. So I’m sure I’ll appreciate the performance increase and the better compatibility with more software.

Look at the Vegas benchmarks which shows RTX30XX and 40XX and RX6XXX (AMD) and also general benchmarks for your favorite games or other software.

I may look at those again. And, yeah, I already have.

AMD releases a lot of non-WHQL drivers, all of which I consider betas whereas NVIDIA at least tests them that much (though there is a current mobile issue with previews not updating in Vegas).

Well, even with my own AMD RX 580 driver issues that I spoke about, the upgrade and better stability will be nice.

This is a video about the 7900xt using Premiere Pro. And it is not good. It could be drivers? Or bad card?

His channel is just concentrated on video creation. Sadly Vegas is not included in any of his videos.

Something separately to this is that I have been really thinking about is the new AMD RX 7900 XT with its 20GB of vRAM, which would be more than enough vRAM for anything. What’s anyone’s non-bias opinion of it?

The technical specifications are great for sure. Your are aware about the driver situation, and you know that nobody has tested that in Vegas up to now, as far as we know here. But if you wish to test that, I would say feel free to do so! ;)

Well, I was almost tempted, but given AMD’s driver issues, I think I’ll let someone else test it. 😁

This is a video about the 7900xt and Premiere.Pro.

That’s interesting that you post this. I actually watch that guys videos now and then and I have seen that specific video. Thanks for posting, though. 👍

I have no "dog" in this fight, but graphics drivers from both companies have had issues, where people have had to roll back to earlier drivers. I'm using older AMD drivers because of compatibility issues with plugins like BorisFX Title Studio (2023), NBFX Titler Pro 7 and Ignite Pro 5. The newest driver doesn't work with those specific plugins while the 22.5.1 driver just continues to work. What was changed between the old driver to the new driver is above my paygrade. And while the video posted above is nice, it's with Premiere Pro and their specific experience. It's like using Vegas and reading about someone with an issue with it that you aren't experiencing.

Well, I was almost tempted, but given AMD’s driver issues, I think I’ll let someone else test it. 😁

:)

And while the video posted above is nice, it's with Premiere Pro and their specific experience. It's like using Vegas and reading about someone with an issue with it that you aren't experiencing.

You know, you paint that very well, and I agree. But I do wonder why his whole computer shut off, even just with Windows. Although he does not say, I do wonder if part of his issue might have been some conflict with other drivers since he did have an NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti, IIRC, installed in his system beforehand and that might’ve caused some problems with having GPU drivers for both NVIDIA and AMD. Unless drivers for both cards and from both companies can coexist and have no issues. But I don’t know because I’ve never had the chance to experience if that is an issue.

Shut off could be transitory power spikes? Maybe drivers or bios can mitigate that.

Shut off could be transitory power spikes? Maybe drivers or bios can mitigate that.

Hmm…that’s interesting. Has NVIDIA had an issue like this with their cards?

These new, power hungry GPU's can cause problems for less than stellar power supplies from reputable venders. I'm not in the market for spending $900+ for a GPU myself, which would mean spending a lot on a power supply also. I'm not on a demanding editing schedule, and my middling PC gets the job done.

Also wondering about what voltage is coming from the wall outlet too and is it filtered/clean. Or the GPU could be defective.

Shut off could be transitory power spikes? Maybe drivers or bios can mitigate that.

Hmm…that’s interesting. Has NVIDIA had an issue like this with their cards?

Yes, 30XX led to recommendations to size the power supply much higher to deal with this. See Gamers Nexus on YouTube for tests. 40XX should be more under control.

These new, power hungry GPU's can cause problems for less than stellar power supplies from reputable venders. I'm not in the market for spending $900+ for a GPU myself, which would mean spending a lot on a power supply also. I'm not on a demanding editing schedule, and my middling PC gets the job done.

Hmm…it makes me wonder, if and when it’s released, if the successor to the RX 6700 XT, the RX 7700 XT, will have any of these problems. I wonder if AMD released the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX a tad too early because of compentition. And, as a result, they didn’t give themselves enough time to iron out these problems, so to speak.

Also wondering about what voltage is coming from the wall outlet too and is it filtered/clean. Or the GPU could be defective.

Hmm…I know it wouldn’t be impossible to get lemon, so to speak. AMD do really need to fix these issues.

To be absolutely honest, I was so increbly tempted to upgrade my AMD Ryzen 7 1700 and RX 580 to the Ryzen 9 7900 (65W) and RX 7900 XT because they sounded like a pretty decent upgrade. However, after see the problems with the RX 7900 XTX, I then decided against it.

On SSDs, I now own quite a few. Stick with Samsung, Western Digital, Sabrent or SK Hynix M.2 NVMe's and you won't have any regrets. Typical going price on M.2 SSDs are $100/TB. Currently the Samsung options are the best deals out there on price. I just purchased a Gen4 M.2 NVMe 2TB 980 Pro for $140, where not too long ago it was in the $230 price range. I've been able to pick up 2TB Samsung 970 Evo plus through Amazon warehouse deals for $100 most recently. The 970 Evo plus is very popular and is a Gen 3 SSD but is said to have an unannounced Gen 4 controller on it due to chip shortages. I'll be testing that out and comparing the speeds of the 980 Pro vs the 970 Evo plus once I get my new laptop which has dual Gen4 interface slots on it. My current laptop has a single Gen 3 slot on it. You have to keep your eye out for deals on the SK Hynix P41 Platinum which is their Gen 4 SSD offering and is said to have the current fastest read/write speeds while still running cool, where their typical price seems to be on the higher side, as is the case with Sabrent. Just to give you an idea, the current price for a 2TB P41 on Amazon is $245, I purchased one last November on sale for $170 to show you how much their price can fluctuate during a sale offering.

My e5 Xeon is getting a little long in the tooth and I'm thinking of replacing it with another Xeon... something Sapphire Rapids. Like my old one, there's no igpu but the motherboards seem to have loads of pcie slots, just like in the olden days. And all x16 serviced by 112 pcie5 lanes. Compared to 3-slot maxes serviced by 20 lanes typical for 13900k. Other interesting advantages are up to 8-channels for memory and Avx512 with a new Deep Learning accelerator extension. I'm guessing ai-fx running on the cpu might out-perform most gpus. And it looks like a natural for a multi-gpu setup with a bunch of Arcs doing qsv hyper rendering and decoding. Which Resolve Studio and ffmpeg already support. Without gotchas adding m.2, sata, or 10gig Ethernet. Downside is it tops out 4.8 ghz and no e-cores. But it supposedly implements a new turbo-boost mode that throttles boost to cores on an individual basis based on individual core temps as a p-core approximation of an e-core. Kind of expensive, but I'm lusting for the w7-3345.

On SSDs, I now own quite a few. Stick with Samsung, Western Digital, Sabrent or SK Hynix M.2 NVMe's and you won't have any regrets. Typical going price on M.2 SSDs are $100/TB. Currently the Samsung options are the best deals out there on price. I just purchased a Gen4 M.2 NVMe 2TB 980 Pro for $140, where not too long ago it was in the $230 price range.

@Rednroll The Samsung 980's are failing prematurely which caused the firesales. It is hoped if you have an affected drive and flash the new firmware immediately before it's used, there won't be any damage. Any damage done already will remain.

https://nascompares.com/2023/02/15/failing-samsung-980-and-990-ssds-latest-update-offical-response-more/