Do I need a graphics card??

CVM wrote on 2/25/2008, 1:17 PM

Hey all... I know Vegas is processor-dependant... so, I'm not sure what to do... let me explain.

I am getting ready to edit videos on my 9-5 'work' computer (video is a weekend job for me). The computer is a dual-core Pentium running at 2.8 GHz. However, because it is an 'office' machine, it doesn't have a separate video card - it portions out a part of the 2 gig RAM for the built-in video.

Do I need to purchase a video card to get good editing/viewing results with Vegas and HDV/SD? I plan on showing people projects on a 40" 1080i LCD monitor running through my HDV camera in addition to viewing in the monitor window.

Thanks!

Comments

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/25/2008, 1:19 PM

you should be fine apart from the fact that it will consume some of your resources and that's always a bad thing. If, however, you were to buy the Vitascene or Magic Bullet Plug-ins for Vegas, then you would want to have a full on graphics card because they are GPU powered and it's nice to have a decent graphics card in there for something like that as it will give you better FPS.

Dave

Kennymusicman wrote on 2/25/2008, 1:28 PM

There is a double benefit to a GPU. Firstly, as mentioned, it won't take away from system ram, which is a good thing. Secondly, dependiing on your playback software, a GPU could provide hardware HD decoding - which is useful when playing back, if you're multitasking (likely on an office machine)