I'm on the Vegas Pro forums. Doesn't that describe what I'm using? As for my own search, in addition to yours, none of them talk about which specs influence rendering times. If I knew which ones mattered, I could tell you the relevant specs I'm using. The best I found was an article talking about benchmarks of various graphics cards, but it didn't go into detail as to why some were better than others.

What computer components and specs would reduce rendering times the most?

I've been thinking of building a new PC.......When rendering a video, the CPU is being used at 100%......I've also heard it suggested that my RAM my be bottlenecking the rendering time, since it's DDR3, not DDR4.......I also render my videos to a regular hard drive, not an SSD, if that matters.

magicmagicianman, it appears you have answered a few of your own questions. If your CPU is running at 100% and you want to get faster render times, you know that is something you need to improve (but what do you have now). And, DDR4 is going to run faster than DDR3 (but what kind do you have now and how much), and an SSD is going to run faster (but how does your motherboard handle the drives you have now). If the architecture of your mother board will support and not bottleneck the components you seek, improving your CPU, GPU, RAM and disc will all make an improvement in reducing your render times. However, I think what Chief24 and others would like to know is a few details of where you are at now, where you want to get, and of course how much money you have to throw at a new PC? Also, what model GPU are you using and how much RAM? This may or may not make a big difference depending on the delivery format you are rendering to.

Listing your PC specs, the version and build of Vegas Pro you are using, and either the delivery format you are using or how the delivered video will be used, all will help others help you. I too, would like to have a magic build spec sheet specifically for Vegas Pro 16 (build 261), with ProRes 4K 10 bit 60p source media to render high quality AVC videos which render in the shortest time possible (say half real time) and which preview at best quality smoothly at normal speeds regardless of the FX applied, and I only want to spend 3K USD! I doubt there is such a box, but someone slicker than I am with hardware might have some thoughts (this is just an example, I'm pleased with the PC I now have, just throwing this out as an example wish list).

Also, if there are any other programs you use which may effect the performance of your PC, that are not NLE related, you may want to mention those as well. For example a really great gaming box does not necessarily make for a good box to get the best performance from Vegas Pro.

Here's the specs I'm using.

OS: Windows 7, 64-bit
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (6-core @ 3.3GHz)
RAM: 8GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz
GPU: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030
Vegas Pro: Version 14.0 (Build 271)

Currently, I render videos at 720p, 60fps in .mp4 format. While the OS is on an SSD, I render videos to a regular hard drive for storage, since I have little need for accessing them after uploading them. This results in my videos being rendered at double the length of the video itself, with no other programs running at the same time. Ideally, I would like to get this down to 1:1 or better. In the future, I may want to do 1080p, 60fps, and would be willing to invest some serious money into this.

Of course, the specs are all very old and need to be upgraded. However, since I don't know what specs would make the most impact, I don't know what is worthwhile. Any upgrade would probably make a difference. Part of the problem is that all of my parts use DDR3 RAM. Sure, I could do some minor upgrades, but I'm going to be very limited by that. I'd have to get a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, and GPU, at which point, I might as well just build a new computer from scratch. I just want to have an idea of what would make the most difference, so that I don't dump thousands of dollars into this, only to find out later that I'm being bottlenecked by something else.

Thanks for your help.

While you are waiting to hear from another member who knows a whole more than I what would be your most cost effective immediate and future upgrades, have you ever tried FrameServer out of Vegas Pro 14 to Handbrake. Handbrake should provide an equal or better quality h.264/mp4 video and renders faster than other options available in VP14 (if I'm not mistaken). However FrameServing does involve a bit of overhead time, so if you videos are short, say 3 minutes or less, there would not be any time savings. If your video are longer than 3 minutes, you should see faster render times using this method. It takes about a half hour to setup, including downloading of the free programs and files required, but in the past I have found it to be beneficial. If I remember correctly, a 10 minute video took about 6.5 minutes to render on my box. Your mileage will obviously be different but it may be worth your time to try it. Here is a link to an excellent tutorial, which is both in a video tutorial and scroll down for the written version (I like it better). If you follow Derek's direction precisely, don't skip anything, it should work flawlessly. https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-vegas-pro/590-render-video-from-vegas-pro-to-handbrake

Ok, I'll stick my neck out. I think you'd be happy at a sweet spot with an i7 8700 CPU (no need for a GPU card), an MSI Z370-A Pro MB and any reasonably fast 16 GB DDR4 RAM. Decision point on whether to build a new computer entirely could be your power supply, 500W being the tipping point, and that would open a whole new can of worms.

Here is my experience. I have an older PC that I built.

i7 960 3.2 GHz

24 Gigs RAM

X58 ASUS Sabertooth motherboard

VP 16 latest build.

I upgraded my Graphics card, now that prices have come down, from an ATI HD6870 with 1GB and an AMD processor to a Sapphire RX580 8 GB with an AMD processor. I can now render using the Magix AVC/AAC MP4 format at Internet HD 1080p 29.97 fps, the format I always use, using something called VCE that the new card supports.

I did a test rendering a 10 minute video. The old graphics card took 30 minutes, 48 seconds. The new card took 7 minutes, 42 seconds. That is a huge improvement for $250. My CPU now stays around 50 to 60% and the RX580 GPU fluctuates from 1% to 100%

Yeah, in order to upgrade my RAM (besides raw capcity), I'd have to get a new motherboard and CPU, since my current one use DDR3 RAM.

I wouldn't put any money into that computer. For under $1000 you can get a reasonably modern laptop or desktop which should give you far faster rending times.

I went from a 2011 era HP Envy laptop with i7 processor and AMD HD 6560 graphics card to a Dell XPS 15 with Nvidia 1050 graphics card and went from 2:1 or 3:1 renders to 1:1 with the CPU or 1:2 with the GPU (well, when it works, anyway. Vegas Pro 15 has a lot of issues with GPU support). Ram is 8GB on both and I actually moved SSDs from the old to new. You should be able to get a desktop that can beat my specs for cheaper than I did and get similar performance.