O.K. for the hobbyist who wants to know what can be done with the minimum here it is:
256M ram -32 for onboard video card=224M
I used about 80 scanned images, each one panned and cropped with a crossfade or transition in between each one.
3d animation intro from cool 3d, about 6 3d composites either avi with alpha or pan and crop, only a few seconds of each.
45 mins video
swf titles
full musical soundtrack.

Composed and edited and authored in dvda and burned to a dvd that plays without a hitch.
AMD 2400xp
80 GB WD HDD 7200rpm 8GB buffer.
256MB pc2700 ddr.

Hope this is informative to the new or wannabe users.

Thanks nickle. That means I'm almost up and running.

The only thing I find "foolish" ....is the excessive amount "Ramming" in certian posts......

...hahaha. i have to laugh at this thread at first glance.....classic!


but anyway:
I got 768 MB RAM. I really use vegas for audio recording more than video - and yes, audio DX and VST effects eat up memory pretty well. So my 768MB gets me by in most recording sessions. However, when I get rap artists who insist on 40+ tracks, I am glad that I (yesterday) ordered another stick of 512 (PC333/2700).

I've got a Dell Pentium 4 1.8GHz with 640MB of RAM (orig 128 + add'l 512) and a 64MB NVidia graphics card. I've been able to bang out a 1 hr 40 min DVD with over 1000 scanned stills (Ken Burns pan/zoom) combined with several video clips for a project last year. Most of the time I had Photoshop, Excel, Internet Explorer, Norton AntiVirus, and one or two other apps running, and didn't notice any performance problems (aside from the usual slow rendering which doesn't improve regardless of how ldle my machine is).

The "secret" is to try to break the project up into smaller segments of about 30 minutes or so, and to use reasonably sized still images (JPEGs under 500K, for example). I developed this style of workflow out of necessity from using a very buggy Pinnacle Studio 8. I never noticed any problems in terms of RAM with Studio either, but it was safer and easier to build a large project in smaller segments. Also, I could at least be sure that some of the finished stuff was safely "in the can". There's no need to open up the entire Encyclopedia Britannica as a single file to change a couple of sentences.

Television is a low resolution target, and people were amazed at how good some of the 60KB (yes, only 60KB, 750 X 1050 pixels) black and white stills held up even when zoomed in.

However, If someone handed me another 512MB, I wouldn't turn them down though, since I'm using good 200MB of RAM before I even start an app. Just wanted to point out that with 512MB, the "average" user should have no problems whatsoever.

Memory requirements are simple math calc. Not to continue the debate, less disk access from paging needs,(which generates heat), less wait time,.... etc. Older window systems did have a very low upper memory limit, physical memory easily exceeded the usable memory.

Since someone asked...

I have built counltless PC's, lost count how many, so I don't buy what I don't need. I have a fast CPU, 2.8 P4 overclocked to 3. 2 with rather bland 3200 DDR RAM. One Gig is pleny for ME. I use removable drives, not firewire, in removable drawers. These run of multiple IDE channels. I have two on the MB and added two more, all 133's including what's on the MB. I don't use RAID.

In a typical work session I have the following all up and running at once:

Vegas sometimes along with DVDA
Flash
Photoshop CS
Corel 10 (usually)
a spam blocker,
anti-virus
usually Notepad, sometimes Word and Microsoft's browser.
and a newsreader email client called Agent

Even when rendering my system is NEVER sluggish. I have got some of the fastest render times ever posted using the "test" file anyone has access to.

According to Windows Task Manager right now with a similar load I'm only using 408,920 of my physical RAM. Just for fun I stated to render a test project, I still have 362,980 RAM free or a little over a third.

Task Manager reports 13,290 handles, 388 threads and 46 processes running. The kicker which I know for sure some don't understand is right now doing all that my CPU usage is only 46%.

Now the kicker... Remember I said I had 362,980 RAM free? Well then ask the "experts" why Windows is also reporting that there is 597 MB of the paging file being used. I know... I bet they don't.

More RAM isn't always the answer. In fact beyond 1 GB it rarely is for the typical user. The point is Windows XP, I also think NT 200 if I remember correctly will use the paging file REGARDLESS how much memory. So unless you want to buy it for bragging rights, most of the time it will just sit there with Windows never touching it for many tasks.

No problem,
actually the system requirements for vegas are quite low.
Most of the guys in this forum are professionals that do things others will never dream of. I think they forget that some people just want to know what is required to get started and produce some quality dvds or cds that look good and play properly.
Have fun.

One thing for sure... all of us have more RAM than Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, and those guys did okay.

Or Shakespear Einstein, Thomas Edison or Henry Ford.<wink>

HE he ......ok I'm settled.

Thanks again.

That Einstein guy used some kind of special, high performance oil on his slide rule, though!

Systems lowdown/specs:
"A Room"
Supermicro X5d MOBO
3.2 Xeon
8 gigs RAM (Holds 12)
2-ADS Pyro cards
3-Delta 1010 hardware audio cards
1-60 gig boot drive
Adaptec dual channel SCSI 160
Gigabit ethernet.
Vegas, Forge, ACID, Noise Redux, Bias Soap Pro, Sonar, RED, AE, Combustion, Commotion Pro, Procoder 2 Adobe Vid Suite, TONS of soft synths, DVD Arch 2, Real DVD, Logic, Composer, Finale, Scorist.

"B Room"
Gigabyte something or other MOBO
3.06HT
4 gig RAM
60 gig boot
1-ADS Firewire
1-Canopus ADVC 1394
1-Echo Mona
Dual channel Adaptec 160
Vegas, Forge, ACID, Noise Redux, Bias Soap Pro, Sonar, RED, AE, Combustion, Commotion Pro, Imaginate, ProCoder2,Adobe Vid Suite, DVD Arch 2, Real DVD, ProTempo.

"C Room"
Gigabyte Something or other MOBO
3.06HT
2 gig RAM
40 gig boot
2-ADS Pyro cards
1-Layla
Rex RT/MPEG card
Vegas, Forge, ACID, Noise Redux, Bias Soap Pro, Sonar, RED, AE, Combustion, Commotion Pro, Adobe Vid Suite, TONS of soft synths, DVD Arch 2, Edius, Procoder 2, Imaginate.

Beta machines
Supermicro system w/PIII 2gig proc, 1 gig RAM Win 2K
Asus SK8 w/AMD FX51 proc, 2 gig RAM WinXP
Supermicro 170PE with dual PIII800, 1 gig RAM Win98Se

Doesn't include the office systems nor many laptops we use, nor the Mac's, nor the training systems. I think 4 systems have less than a gig of RAM.
So, lots of systems. All either put together by me, or by Earl Foote of PC Nirvana. (Yes BB, I've built a few in my day too)
I'm sure I'm forgetting some software on some of these, and can't remember all the MOBO model #s
[remainder edited, I tried to be nice but got my butt bitten again] I give up. Billyboy, you are superior to me in every way. I humbly accede to your words, I'm just an idiot who should just stay on the rez.
I did learn how to spell in the white man's school though.]
I hope that's all I have to say on the subject. :-)

billyboy, I actually do understand paging, tasking pr, task time alottment, ...... I spent over 10 years designing high-end, computing hardware for big brother, another 5 years writing microcode for cpu's. Let's talk, but not of this forum, there are a few EE forums, choose one.

AJP

[Edited by moderator]

Spot, "as being superior, I apologize". Put the gun down, Spot. For all your energy you put into the forums helping people, you do not need to apologize for anything that I have observe. One thing that I really like about you, is that you seem to always choose the high road. Vegas is a business for you, as well as other professional interest in the music and film, thats great! You and John offer help all the time without trying to sell something in every sentence. That makes you and John good for this forum and professional community. This does not mean that I agree with everything you guys may say, but I respect your views.

Spot, your equipment is nice, but my kids' gaming network is bigger and faster, though you do have more memory!

AJP

[Edited by moderator]

What we're waiting for... Please do not EVER include me in the same "we" as you.

The majority of us who participate in this forum are secure enough with our own self to be able to recognize our strengths/weaknesses and do not feel a need to "compete" with Spot. Instead, we choose to learn from one another, help one another, and yes, admire and be proud of the acomplishments of fellow forum members.

Billyboy, you can be very helpful and provide great advice/tutorials - this is your strength - please stick with it. I don't want to use the "Ignore This User" option so please stop trying to deliberately start a fight everytime Spot, John type a message - this is your biggest weakness and an area where you are neither winning nor learning just how unproductive this all is.

Dear John (and Spot)
Please, please, please don't let the actions of one individual who does NOT speak for the rest of us drive you away.

SONY
Please address this issue before we all suffer a tremendous loss

Julie,

Spot and I both hang out in another Vegas forum which is quite civilized [edited by moderator]. Click on my name above and e-mail me and I'll tell you which forum it is.

John

[Edited by moderator]

[Edited by moderator]