New Build AMD 9950X GTX 1080->Nvidia RTX 3080ti/AMD Radeon RX 9600 XT?

Bria wrote on 11/12/2025, 10:52 AM

Just putting a new system together with an AMD 9950X, up from an Intel i2600K.

I was going to reuse my Nvidia GTX 1080; however, I thought I might upgrade my graphics card as well.

First choice is an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti, but I also see AMD Radeon RX 9600 XT recommended as well. The AMD is only marginally cheaper, but only 300W vs 425/450W and 16GB vs 12 GB.

I lean towards the 3080Ti.

Any thoughts?

My projects are small, max 30 min 1080 so far.

I render to H264 HW and then x265 MKV to add the FLAC soundtrack with Handbrake using SW, not HW. For the finished product, I might render SW for H264 as I believe that gives the smallest files and best PQ, but it's so, so slow on my i2600K for the final product. but over the month of production, there are plenty of intermediate renders.

I'm not a great games player.

What exactly will a better graphics card do for me?

Thanks

Vegas 22

Comments

RogerS wrote on 11/12/2025, 1:32 PM

What media do you work with? I'd consider a newer generation NVIDIA for lower power consumption unless the 3080 is a great deal?

50XX is capable of decoding 10 bit 422 natively though this is still in the works to be implemented in VEGAS.

Reyfox wrote on 11/12/2025, 1:37 PM

Also depends if you plan on using 3rd party plugins and what they use for GPU acceleration.

One thing though, no matter what you decide, it will begin to feel slow the longer you edit with it. You'll notice a nice increase in performance, but as you get used to it, well, that upgrade itch starts to rear its head again.

Most of the work I do is also short, but usually in 4K. And while I will often shoot in 10bit 422, I'm not going to spend a ton of money on a GPU to be able to decode it. Sorry, I'd rather go on vacation with the extra money, even if I spend a little more time editing.

And you will surprised with how much VRAM can be consumed while editing.

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 11/12/2025, 2:18 PM

My projects are small, max 30 min 1080 so far.

I render to H264 HW and then x265 MKV to add the FLAC soundtrack with Handbrake using SW, not HW. For the finished product, I might render SW for H264 as I believe that gives the smallest files and best PQ, but it's so, so slow on my i2600K for the final product. but over the month of production, there are plenty of intermediate renders.

I'm not a great games player.

What exactly will a better graphics card do for me?

@Bria The higher end gpus will let you render h.265 quicker and with smaller files directly compared to multi-step h.264 to h.265 workflow you've been doing without the quality limit of the h.264 1st step. I've done that with a 5080 and and 4090 but I imagine a 3080 would also be a giant step up from a 1080.

In the scheme of things, video being so much more space-consuming than audio, using an mkv package to add flac audio might not be worth the trouble compared to just putting a 24bit pcm audio stream into a more widely recognized mov container... I've been using a powershell/ffmpeg script to do that to my YouTube uploads. It does a repackage of 10bit nvenc/h.265 mp4 renders from Vegas very, very quickly without a video transcode. Handbrake might be able to do the same.

See: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/audio-for-youtube-uploads--149798/#ca943222

Abdali wrote on 11/12/2025, 7:57 PM

Hello Bria,

For your specific use case, I would strongly recommend looking at the newer generation cards, specifically the NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti 16GB or above.

Here is why I lean toward the newer NVIDIA generation over the RTX 3080 Ti:

1. Future-Proofing and VRAM

Newer Architecture: The RTX 5060 Ti is built on a newer architecture than the 3080 Ti. While performance figures can vary, newer generations generally offer better efficiency and will have longer-term driver optimization and feature support from both NVIDIA and the VEGAS developers.

VRAM Utilization: VEGAS Pro 21 and above are becoming increasingly VRAM-hungry, especially as you add more complex video effects (FX) and use higher-resolution media. The 16GB of VRAM on the 5060 Ti gives you a significant future-proofing advantage over the 3080 Ti's 12GB.

2. Crucial Codec Support (Especially for Your AMD System)

This is the most critical reason for your specific build:

H.265 10-bit 4:2:2 Decoding: You are moving from an Intel system to an AMD 9950X. Intel 12th Gen CPUs and newer include an iGPU that supports hardware decoding for challenging codecs like H.265 10-bit 4:2:2. Previous NVIDIA cards (30XX/40XX) did not support this codec directly, relying on the Intel iGPU.

Since your new AMD 9950X igpu doesn't have this support for all major codecs as far as i know, getting a newer Nvidia 50xx GPU that can handle all major codecs is essential.

The new RTX 50XX series now includes enhanced decoder support that can encode and decode all major professional codecs, including the tricky H.265 10-bit 4:2:2. This ensures you have guaranteed hardware acceleration across all your common media files, a feature previously exclusive to Intel's iGPUs.

What a Newer Rtx 50xx Serries Card Will Do for You:

Significantly accelerate effects, transitions, and noise reduction (like OFX filters). This means your preview/timeline scrubbing will be much smoother, drastically improving the editing experience.

Your intermediate renders (to H.264 HW) will be much, much faster, saving you a huge amount of time.

As you consider upgrading to future versions of VEGAS Pro, the developers will undoubtedly prioritize optimization for the latest NVIDIA 50XX architecture.

Given your CPU choice and maximum codec support and longevity, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB or Above is the better investment for a professional VEGAS workflow.

RogerS wrote on 11/12/2025, 10:48 PM

Was this written by AI? It reads like it.

Reyfox wrote on 11/13/2025, 4:39 AM

Especially since right now, Vegas does not support the 50xx series yet. And from someone who has first hand knowledge of this, @Howard-Vigorita wrote HERE might also help.

Bria wrote on 11/13/2025, 10:22 AM

Been looking into it:

RTX 3080 Ti 12GB 350W £410 Secondhand 5 Year Warranty > 2 Slots 3 Fans or £380 eBay no Warranty Rel performance=124%

RTX 4070 12GB 200W £410 Secondhand 5 Year Warranty > 2 Slots 2 Fans Rel performance=115%

RTX 5060TI 16GB 180W New (Secondhand is more) 5 Year Warranty 2 Slots 2 Fans Rel performance=100%

Rel Performance scroll up for other cards. Don't really know how this is worked out or what it means;` may include games.

I don't think AMD hacks it.

<= 2 Slots does not block my MB PCIe 3.0*1 slot, though I can get around this with a riser cable

2 Fans = Shorter card, so maybe better case air flow?

5060Ti has more modern display outputs

Each new generation introduces some new stuff.

I don't think 10-bit is relevant to me, as if I want to include part of a vid in a project, I cut it out using VideoReDo 6, no recode, and put it in the project folder rather than the whole vid and edit the unwanted bit out using Vegas - Saves disk space. VideoRedo does not do 10-bit, and the author is now dead.

@RogerS 1080 50/60fps low-bit rate 2,500,000 (bps?) OBS video, video of various resolutions mostly <=1080 @ various FPS, pix, graphics, animated graphics, text with coloured background, FLAC 44.1/16 mostly, second audio track for occasional sound effects.

Track motion and motion track to slide stuff onto the screen and obscure stuff on the screen.

Target 1080 50/60 fps with lossless audio.

hevc 4:2:2 chroma sub-sampling vegas rtx 5060ti

So what do you think? I'm leaning towards the RTX 5060Ti, most up-to-date, least hassle. Would I notice much difference between them?

Thanks.

RogerS wrote on 11/13/2025, 11:00 AM

How much is a 5070? For me that was the sweet spot for VEGAS. See the benchmarks in my signature where I tested my 2080 Super vs 5070 and also vs other GPUs. Nothing wrong with the 5060ti and it has more VRAM. I thought the memory bandwidth may be more limited, can't recall.

Abdali wrote on 11/13/2025, 8:34 PM

Was this written by AI? It reads like it.

Yes your right i did use AI, But I only used it to expand upon and add detail to my answer. Because @Bria is going to be spending allot of money on this new system i wanted to make sure he received a properly researched answer. )

Abdali wrote on 11/13/2025, 8:43 PM

How much is a 5070? For me that was the sweet spot for VEGAS. See the benchmarks in my signature where I tested my 2080 Super vs 5070 and also vs other GPUs. Nothing wrong with the 5060ti and it has more VRAM. I thought the memory bandwidth may be more limited, can't recall.

@Roger is right, The RTX 5060ti 16gb is a very good option. But if you can find a good value for an RTX 5070 you should get that one it indeed is the sweet spot, in my opinion just make sure you get a RTX 50xx series card its good to future proof your self.

Bria wrote on 11/15/2025, 4:23 PM

Got RTX 1070, a good deal. A 16GB Ti would have been nice, but £700 ROFL

AI has been very useful for this build, great for fine detail, stopped me from getting too large a heatsink for my SSD, in my MSI Tomahawk 670E WiFi MB. Also, a downside to it my SSD has gone up 10% since I bought it!

Many thanks all, I've got a much better card for not a great deal more.

🍺

RogerS wrote on 11/15/2025, 10:56 PM

RTX 1070 doesn't exist, does it? It was GTX back then.

Bria wrote on 11/15/2025, 11:09 PM

Oops RTX 5070