If you are also using your computer for 3D animation or gaming, you might also want to consider the newish Nvidia GTX 970 or 980 which support CUDA and PhysX in addition to opengl although the AMD cards seem to do better with open gl and rendering with Vegas in some instances. AMD cards don't support CUDA or PhysX. There are several good threads in this forum about this issue. The Gtx 970 uses less power and costs less than the previous iteration of the top gtx series. I plan to replace my own Radeon HD 5870 with the gtx 970 provided there isn't a bios incompatibility issue with my dell xps 9100 motherboard. I can reuse the card when I can put a few bucks aside for an entirely new self build.

Nvidia GTX 970 or 980 which support CUDA and PhysX

Actually NO, you don't want to consider that. Simply because newer Nvidia cards, anything later then GTX5xx are not supported in Vegas will only use OpenCL which on Nvidia cards is much slower then on AMD/ATI. I had 2x GTX580 in my system and thought that it was great until I changed them out for 2x R9 290; what a difference. Also most 3rd party plug-ins for Vegas rely on OpenCL rather then pure CUDA.

Note: be aware that Sony AVC & MC AVC encoding is broken for R9 290 will only work up to the 7xxx series.

Thanks.

Do you use a single HD 5870 or a pair?

Does the added power help ion the render stage? Previews? Text or title layers?

No gaming or 3D on my main media production workstation. I'm going thru looking at other threads now that I have better search terms. I didn't come up with much before.

My MoBo supports ATI CrossFireX and NVidia SLI, which means little to me at this time. I don't know if two high-performance cards will work twice as fast as one, or on which operations.

I've grown accustomed (tho' I don't like it) to thinking it is like baking a cake. Do my editing work, then go do something else 'til it's done baking.

My workstation runs Windows 7 Pro 64-bit and I plan to stay with that having had mediocre experiences with Windows 8.0 and 8.1 on a laptop. It's like Microsoft learned NOTHING from the Vista debacle.

Thanks.

Wayne

I dont use HD5870 is use 2x R9 290. Its not worth to use the HD5000 series, not powerful eonough. The absolute minimum is HD6970, better is a HD7950 but the R9 290 or 290X is way better.

While you can put two cards into your system, the P8Z68 doesnt have enoght PCIe lanes to support 2x PCIe x16 and switch back to 2x PCIx8. Anyways, I think a R9 290 or R9 290X will do nicely what you are lokking for. I use Titler Pro 3 and I can finally see smooth preview. Also BCC8 is now running smooth. The added power help dramatically during preview especially with FX and 3rd party plug ins that utelize OpenCL. As mentioned before, MC AVC and SONY AVC cant take advantage of the R9 290 but every MPEG-2 render is very fast.

Did some research since some acronyms escaped me. So if the R9 290 can't do either Sony or Main Concept encoding what is the fallback?

I see this card at $800 for 2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121840&cm_re=r9_290x-_-14-121-840-_-Product

If I went with a single unit would I have 1/2 the performance or would it have less/more benefit?

I am starting from the on-MoBo Intel 3000 graphics chipset which I imagine is relatively prehistoric.

My MoBo supports 2 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 slots and that card is PCI Express 3.0 so there is the issue of the cards being backward compatible? And at up to 600w for a pair going full tilt I AM looking at a new power supply. I didn't overbuild that much :-)

So suggestions appreciated as to a lower budget way (<$400) for more modest gains that would still let me use the NewBlue Titler? Anyone running NewBlue Titler on a single, modestly priced graphics adapter? Am I just dreaming :-)

Wayne

As I mentioned earlier, HD6970 or maybe 7950.

I was doing research and replying to other posts when this came in.

The note about the HD5870 was a Reply to "Jumping Rascal". I just changed my threading preference to see if that helps.

"MC AVC and SONY AVC cant take advantage of the R9 290 but every MPEG-2 render is very fast." I was thinking they were broken as in crash city, but I guess they just don't get the anticipated boost, right?

And thanks for the specific info about the P8Z68!

Thanks much!

If I render to MC AVC or Sony AVC it is just as fast as CPU only. The codecs for both just don't support the new GPU because they have not been updated since VP11.

I find the Radeon HD 5870 to be adequate for V13 suite, not super but everything still works ok including V13, Sound Forge, DVDA, Hiffilm 2 and the various New Blue Products. In fact, this link from this forum from earlier this year is interesting in that JohnnyRoy "concluded that the ATI Radeon HD 5870 is the sweet spot for GPU acceleration in Vegas Pro".

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=905668

The 5870 will crash NewBlue Titler very occasionally if I make several quick changes to a title and this was my incentive to start looking around for a new card. The 5870 is now also causing some extreme slowness with a couple of my 3D animation programs so a new card, or more likely a new self build PC, is in order for me. I liked the GTX 970 (no purchase yet) because in addition to being cutting edge and fast like the R9 290, it also has cuda/physx capability and a significantly lower TDP (148w versus 300 for the R9 card). If I used my PC heavy lifting capacity strictly for Vegas, I would upgrade my current power supply and buy the R9 290 as suggested by oldsmoke who has a lot of experience with this issue. However, I use it for gaming and 3D animation also so, for me, the Nvidia card likely would be the best compromise. Incidentally, I also checked out the R9 270x which at under $200 US on amazon is likely a pretty good value.

The rendering time comparison for Vegas is nicely described in this review of the GTX 980 in comparison to other cards.....the AMD still is top dog as oldsmoke says but the newest GTX card isn't far behind.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/14

Good luck in your quest and let us know how your new card works out!

If you are going to buy the GTX 970 card and use it on Vegas and expect it to work nice and fast on your system. Then you are mistaken my friend. Unless Sony is working on something new behind closed door that no one known about. Don't believe me?. Fine, go out and buy the gtx 970 and report back with your new findings.

I just picked up a SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X 100363VX-2SR Radeon R9 280X 3GB, installed in a cheapo Dell 8700, replaced the psu with 750 watts and it's running like a rock using Vegas 13, using tons of BCC 9 effects on some 6/7 minute short, but composite intensive projects. Just gave it a go with Titler 3 and seems to work fine,(though I haven't done much with Titler yet on this box.) All of my source video is 1080 AVCHD running on a i7 4790.

Not quite as fast at the R9 290, but the price point is good.

tom

I did some shopping and it seems about the only one available is the 290X, but with the info you've provided about not getting much from a pair on my MoBo, it seems a wise investment. My MoBo is an ASUS so I'm 'hoping' that an ASUS graphics card will be less likely to have issues.

Thanks!

Wayne

That is sure a good investment. I bought mine off eBay which is a good source for used video cards. Let us know how you like it. One caution, try earlier drivers or they one that comes with the card before you go for the latest. I had issues with later drivers. I not at my PC now but I will update this post with my current driver version once I can check it.
Edit: Driver is 14.4 according to my profile.

first and foremost i truly value old smokes opinions and his thorough testing, and if i wanted the best video card for VEGAS, then i would certainly heed his advice...

secondly i love vegas, wouldn't consider editing with anything else...

however, scs seems to have given up with gpu acceleration, just as i have. i work with numerous other software packages where nvidia's cuda is a MAJOR boost to productivity, and they also seem to be in step with nvidia's card releases.

with a potent i7 cpu i find that the gains i 'would' make just aren't worth the hasse of an overtly overly large, power hungry, heat generating r9 290. and whilst the 580 still probably remains the benchmark for nvidia cards, it's long gone...

from my pov i'm happily 'plodding' along with a 670ti and using cpu for rendering in vegas. i have a stable pc, reliable renders, and will wait (though not holding my breath) for scs to play catchup on the gpu front

@usher

Even your system with what you call potent i7 will greatly benefit from a R9 290. The difference on my 3930K OC to 4.3GHz is like day and night. However, it depends on what your usual project looks like. If you work with maybe a single monitor, straight cuts a bit of text and HDV footage at the most, then maybe you can live with just your CPU. But, like the OP stated, if you want plug ins like NB Titler to work properly then there is no way around GPU acceleration.

If you have not tried a system with proper GPU acceleration, you will never understand what it means.

For some of us here, we don't care about device power hungry; I want speed and POWA. Having the ability to push the computer power/speed to the max, then why not? This statement may not be good for some people because they wants to keep their i7 for ages. Me, on the other hands, I plan to upgrade my CPU every few yrs. Funny, when I hear people said, I got an i7 machine bla bla. A i7 does not means very much because they are over 20 different i7. Any one still remember the i7 860 and the current i7. It is like any day and night different. Just a thought.

PS, @usher

If you ever use my system for video editing, you will change your attitude about GPU Acceleration. It is that good.

Thank all for the advice. My "ASUS R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5" just arrived. Don't think I'll invest a lot of time selecting the color scheme stickers :-) Last time I really got into stickers was on my hotrod V8 '57 Chevy!

I will be installing this in a two-monitor (LG IPS, I 23" one 27") system and one where I'm currently using the ASUS MoBo's on board Intel Graphics (3000) chip-set to drive both. Haven't found any info as to whether I need to disable the on-board chip-set to make sure they don't muck-up performance. A bit nervous about the install as, of course, the monitors are the only 'eyeballs' as to what is happening as I switch over

If anyone has been thru this deal (I'm also Googling for experiences) I would appreciate insights and any good or bad experiences.

I didn't know this year old card is still kinda hot with gamers. Prices were all over the board! I had to wait and watch for over a week to get it reasonable.

Wayne

Just received the ASUS R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5 and when I get it working I let the Forum know. As you may have seen in my other note, the migration from on-board graphics (disabling, etc. something that cannot be unplugged) isn't dealt with in info I've yet found. But still looking.

Typically you disable the onboard graphics via the BIOS.

". . .will wait (though not holding my breath) for scs to play catchup on the gpu front . . ."

I'm glad you won't hold your breath where anything Sony is involved. . .same feeling here. Along the same line it seems SCS barely has a heartbeat.

Now, if President Obama would get on Sony for foot-dragging on Vegas ??? :-)

. . .or maybe the Democratic People's Republic of Korea could adopt Vegas as the official video editing tool and let their displeasure be known on that matter?

Sorry, just long-term frustration talking here after Sonic Foundry lost control.

@Wayne

You have to setup the GPU properly in your BIOS. Look at page 3-17 under 3.5.2 system Agent Configuration.

"Initiate Graphic Adapter":
Set it to iGPU if your main monitor is connected to the onboard GPU or PCIE/PCI if it is connected to your R9 290X. I personally would not use the iGPU anymore because the R9 290x can drive 4 monitors without a problem.

iGPU Memory: If you decide, like proposed above, not to use the iGPU anymore then this has no impact but set it as low as possible anyway.

"iGPU Multi-Monitor": set to Enable

Make sure you don't have the "LucidLogix Virtu" drivers and software installed; worst thing ever.

That should be it! Let us know how it goes!

My workstation is a large server case. The ASUS MoBo is set up to support a pair of Crossfire or other GPUs.

Even with all that room the ASUS R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5 cannot fit in any of the available spaces. The board is just too long. Actually the board and cooling fins would fit, but the heavy metal housing around the dual fans curves out and extends so far as to conflict with the disk cage.

I might be possible to modify the metal housing, but I'm not about to monkey with what the manufacturer has designed to keep the GPU running within specs.

If anyone is considering this board (mine is going back to Amazon) I do have pictures of the board showing the actual measurements.

What a bummer.

So I still need a decent performance GPU for Vegas Pro 13, but is does not have to be the penultimate GPU. I'm currently running with the Intel on-board chipset and getting along and I'm not worried about 4k. . .not until my next workstation. The reason behind this upgrade was that the NewBlue Titler software won't run because my GPU is too weak/lame.

Any suggestions on a more modest GPU board?

Thanks in advance

Wayne