How to get Vegas to utilize more of my VRAM?

andrew-barbato wrote on 4/18/2019, 2:52 AM

I have an AMD Radeon VII graphics card installed with 16GB of HBM2. The latest AMD drivers and software are installed, and my PC does recognize the card exactly as it should, including the amount of available VRAM for it.

In Vegas, when I add a clip and start to scrub through it, the VRAM usage starts climbing rapidly (presumably to create a buffer for smoother editing). The usage climbs until precisely 7.7GB and then stops. If I add more clips - or try the same thing with different clips - the usage still doesn't pass 7.7GB. It seems like the program is being stopped by some sort of software-based limit to 8GB of VRAM.

My dynamic RAM preview limit is set to 32,768 MB (I have 32GB of actual RAM)
I've changed all of the "internal" settings that I could find that pertain to buffer sizes/limits to exceed 16,384.
I've also added the command lines "-norestrictions -nomemrestrictions -availablevidmem 16384" to the Vegas shortcut target.

Any ideas?

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Full specs:

Intel i7-8700k (6C 12T) (not overclocked; cooled with Noctua NH-D15)
MSI Radeon VII (16GB HBM2)
32 GB (4x8GB) Kingston HyperX DDR4 @ 2666 MHz
MSI MEG ACE Z390 Motherboard
WD Black SN750 NVMe M.2 SSD (500GB)
Seasonic 750W Platinum PSU

Comments

j-v wrote on 4/18/2019, 3:29 AM

Which goal do you have to use more memory?

andrew-barbato wrote on 4/18/2019, 3:34 AM

Which goal do you have to use more memory?

I'm not sure I'm understanding your question, but I'll try to answer:

I want Vegas to use the full 16GB of VRAM if it can put it to use
I am looking to achieve smoother editing with this

j-v wrote on 4/18/2019, 4:36 AM

So you think smoother editing gets better with the use of more memory?
I think it depends on the used codec of the sourcefiles, which has to be unpacked by your processor.
DV and mpeg files edit very smooth and very fast, AVC becomes more difficult and the latest heavy HEVC (GOPRO 7) files with high bitrates editing is difficult.
If you want to edit smoother than you can now, you have to use proxies.
The codec used for a proxy is easier to read and to decode by your processor, because that one determines the restrictions or limitations.
If you already use proxies you have to wait for a stronger processor.

fr0sty wrote on 4/18/2019, 8:14 AM

It is possible that there is an 8gb render limit coded in somewhere, but it's also just as likely that the GPU doesn't need that much RAM to do its thing. The GPU is only processing certain effects, and only renders when you use 2 of the dozens of codecs Vegas supports. Just like with GPU core utilization, not seeing 100% at all times does not equal not getting 100% of your card's capability.