On the other hand, I would be VERY inclined to let a local guy with experience build me a machine. Reputation will assure that it is a good and working one, or he would lose face in the local community.

The difference between the 2.5 and the 3GHz machine is only a 20% increase in clock speed. It would not be nearly as noticable as, say a jump from a 1.8GHz to a 3GHz machine. That would be about a 67% increase.

The Hyper hype shouldn't make much difference in Vegas, either. Unless you are running two instances of the program. Then, each instance will not slow down nearly as much as on a non-HT machine.

Thanks Rextillion,
>Are you sure you local guy knew what he was doing?<
They know more than I do, but that ain't saying much.

>...or improper IRQ setup (thats could explain the locking up). <
The video card is sharing IRQ 16 with the USB host controller...is that okay?

I just had a thought, I also started using a KVM (I think they're called) ; one of those devices you plug into both PCs and use one keyboard / mouse to control both. Could that have something to do with it?
Thanks again,
Randy

Thanks wcoxe1,
>On the other hand, I would be VERY inclined to let a local guy with experience build me a machine.<



>The Hyper hype shouldn't make much difference in Vegas, either. Unless you are running two instances of the program. <

In my own defense, I was also under the impression hyperthreading was different than the 2 processor multi-threading thing.
After reading around, I was thinking it would be at least a noticable difference in speed and since I have 2 machines now, I probably won't even need to run 2 instances of V4 on the new one...bummer, I wish you'd have been around prior to me spending $700 on the processor/MoBo.
Thanks for the reply though,
Randy

I don't know what a TV One converter is but I suspect its the cause of your pixelation problem. Is it a proper analogue to firewire converter?

Sorry you didn't realise about the HT and VV thing, you may even find it runs slightly faster with HT turned OFF!

Conversely (and obviously) some apps are able to use HT and will run a lot faster. I believe that TMPGEnc will and from memory Virtual Dub does too.

Its just a question of being able to split tasks up accross multiple threads, it seems for rendering its impossible, for encoding very possible.

Thanks farss,
> I don't know what a TV One converter is but I suspect its the cause of your pixelation problem. Is it a proper analogue to firewire converter?<

It's just a cheaper copy of the Canopus 1394 A/D converter. It doesn't pixelate when using my other machine.

>Conversely (and obviously) some apps are able to use HT and will run a lot faster<

Perhaps V5 will and it won't have been all for nothing (or perhaps I just blew several hundreds of dollars).

Oh well, thanks farss,
Randy

The following is a SIS software benchmark test ( I hope it was okay to paste it here, if not please let me know and I won't do it again). It looks like a couple of things could be out of whack but I'm not sure what to do about it; any suggestions would certainly be appreciated though.
Thanks again everyone,
Randy


***** Start of Report *****
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<<< General >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Program Name: SiSoftware Sandra Professional Unicode (32-bit x86)
Program Version: 2002.6.8.97
Registered User: Randy Brown
Registered Company: Home
Report Done By: Randy Brown
Host Name: GRB-XP-HOME
System ID: FFAA2FCB-845F-4f91-90F9-032B7A9FD4DE
Run ID: D542FEC1-EB16-4454-9CDF-5EA50389C4C7
Report Done On: Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Report Done At: 2:40:35 PM

<<< System Summary >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Mainboard Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice N224: SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.
Tip T2536: System has no SMBus/i2c/BMB bus support.

<<< CPU & BIOS Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice N224: System BIOS : SMBIOS/DMI information may be
inaccurate.
Tip T212: System BIOS : BIOS can be shadowed so check whether it
is.
Warning W214: System BIOS : BIOS is flash-able but surface-mounted.
An unsuccessful flash may be fatal.
Notice N224: Processor 1 : SMBIOS/DMI information may be
inaccurate.

<<< APM & ACPI Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice N224: SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.

<<< PCI, AGP, CardBus Bus(es) Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Video System Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tip T316: Default Monitor : Use a Energy Star (DPMS) power
saving monitor.
Warning W332: Default Monitor : Use a Plug & Play/DDC compatible
monitor and video adapter.
Tip T319: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 : A refresh rate of at least
75Hz is recommended. Increase it if possible.
Tip T323: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 : Remove the desktop wallpaper
to save memory and improve performance. ( I just now noticed these tips and I'm going to go try to fix them...update: I got rid of the wallpaper and set the refresh rate to 85Hz)

<<< Windows Memory Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Drives Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning: 1.44MB 3.5" (A:) : Cannot obtain drive information;
check that a disk is in the drive and it is correctly
formatted.
Tip T1821: Hard Disk (C:) : Label (name) drive.
Tip T1821: Hard Disk (D:) : Label (name) drive.

<<< Ports Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Keyboard Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Mouse Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Sound Card Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Printer and Fax Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error: No printers installed : Update: Could not open
printer!

<<< MCI Devices Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CDAudio - Error: Unknown problem while loading the specified device
driver.

<<< Windows Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< WinSock Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Processes Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tip T1601: SiSoftware Sandra : Program consumes a large amount of
memory.

<<< Modules Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< OLE Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< DirectX Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error: IPX Connection For DirectPlay Ver 6.00 : Function
Unavailable

<<< Network Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< SCSI Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning W2600: Maxtor 3 3073U4 : SCSI version does not
adhere to ANSI. Probably ATA/ATAPI device.
Warning W2600: Maxtor 6 Y120L0 : SCSI version does not
adhere to ANSI. Probably ATA/ATAPI device.
Error: No devices on host : No device
Error: No devices on host : No device
Error: No devices on host : No device

<<< Font Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< CMOS Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< OpenGL Video Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Services Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tip T2130: Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS) : Service may be disabled on
Home/Professional OS version.
Tip T2130: Distributed Link Tracking Client : Service may be
disabled on Home/Professional OS version.
Tip T2130: Windows Management Instrumentation : Service may be
disabled on Home/Professional OS version.

<<< ATA/ATAPI Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning W3103: ATA device (fixed) : Acoustic Management enabled.
Peformance may be impaired.
Warning W3103: ATA device (fixed) : Acoustic Management enabled.
Peformance may be impaired.
Warning W3104: ATA device (fixed) : Current mode not optimal. Check
settings.

<<< Data Sources Information >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error: Connect to DSN failed/inactive : Connect to data
source failed.

<<< Hardware IRQ Settings >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< DMA Settings >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< I/O Settings >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Memory Resources >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<<< Plug & Play Enumerator >>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***** End of Report *****

Hi,

I noticed a couple things on your first post. You bought a motherboard with an 875 chip set. It is capable of running an 800 Mhz FSB, but the P4 3.06 runs at a 533Mhz FSB. Your local computer guy should have advised you to take advantage of the motherboard by using an 800Mhz FSB CPU and probably faster RAM. My bet is that you have PC2100 (266MHz) or PC2700 (333MHz) RAM, but the chipset can handle PC3200 (400Mhz) RAM.

I recently built a new dedicated machine for editing with the ABIT ICG-7 motherboard and took advantage of of all innovations that motherboard and chipset offer. It kills my other machine.

Galen

Actually I bought all of this with the intention of assembling it myself but then woosed out (I've never installed a MoBo).
Anyway, I guess I should have been more descriptive ; I think I got everything you described, right? - Intel D875PBZLK Pentium®4 478pin 533FSB /800 MHz DDR Motherboard 1
Pentium®4 3.0Ghz 512k 478Pin 800MHz Retail Box w/3 Yr Intel Warranty, Paste or Pad w/Intel Direct Heatsink & Fan 1
(2) 512MB PC3200 400MHz DDR Certified SPD
I also paid an extra $15 for them (BZBoys.com) to test everything but I have my doubts as the CPU fan changes RPM slightly every once in a while.
Thanks Galen,
Randy

I'm no whiz on mobo configs but I do know the CPU fan should change speed.
The bios controls it based on CPU temperature.

The pixalation problem must be significant. As far as I know no matter how slow the system VV will not do that, it'll drop frames if the CPU cannot keep up.

The pixalation sounds like your video has been through some mpeg kind of encoding process that cannot keep up.

Does it only happen with fast motion?

P4 chips run very hot and you should have a super 6000 rpm fan on it.
The stock fan is only 3500 rpm and will let the temp hit 167 F before it
cuts off. When I first rendered a short frame serve to CCE mine dumped
off on an over temp. I installed one of those super-duper fans and it
holds the temp to 127F during rendering. Use your fan monitor software
from your moboard during rendering to see how hot it gets.

JJK

>Does it only happen with fast motion? <
Inserting a velocity envelope (fast or slow) has no affect, only fades and dissolves and generated media (titles, credit rolls). The titles AND the video are (very) pixelated; enough so that I can barely read the titles, credit rolls.

>The pixalation sounds like your video has been through some mpeg kind of encoding process that cannot keep up.<
The video is from a TV station and the location shoot was done on a Canon XL1s, neither of which I've ever had a problem with before this system.
Thanks again farss,
Randy

Not trying to rub salt into any open wounds, but when I build my ASUS P4P800 and then overclocked it 20% just that alone make a big difference. Does your system have a Pentium 4c or an older Pentium 4? Aside from the hyper threading, the newer chips/boards allow you to go far beyond the already fast quad 200x4 800 FSB setting.

Right now my P4 2.8 is running at 3.36GHz at a FSB frequency of 960.3.

If someone build you a system to specs they should have tuned the BIOS and see if it is stable at higher than default setting.

Download a copy of CPU-Z, install (its just software) and see what it says about your system. You want to check the clock and bus speed plus the info on the memory.

Hey BB,
>Does your system have a Pentium 4c or an older Pentium 4? <

I couldn't tell but I saw a date somewhere in there (for the MoBo and P4) of April '03.

>Right now my P4 2.8 is running at 3.36GHz at a FSB frequency of 960.3<

That's amazing...must be nice to have that kind of knowledge (and balls). I was looking around in there (my BIOS) but couldn't even find where one would overclock it.

>If someone build you a system to specs they should have tuned the BIOS and see if it is stable at higher than default setting.<

I live in a little podunk town that has a guy that retired from the local fire department to open a computer repair shop. I took it to him after just staring at all my parts for about a half hour. I've installed just about everything but a MoBo before and of course that's the first thing to go in...it had all these tiny scary looking wires I'd never seen before so I turned it over to the fireman.

>Download a copy of CPU-Z, install (its just software) and see what it says about your system. You want to check the clock and bus speed plus the info on the memory.<

It states the P4 is set to 2.99 ghz, bus speed is 798 mhz, and both Nanya Technology sticks of 512 MB memory are DDR-SDRAM 3200 with the frequency being 199.5 mhz. The idle temperature according to the BIOS was about 125 degrees F.
BTW, should I disable the hyperthreading since V4 doesn't use it anyway?

Thanks BB,
Randy

125 degree is a bit hot, is that when the computer is idle ?
You could check www.zalman.com, they have awsome cpu coolers that are extremely silent.

Yes, I have one of the newer "c" versions...

"That's amazing...must be nice to have that kind of knowledge (and balls). I was looking around in there (my BIOS) but couldn't even find where one would overclock it."

It depends how easy it is, even if you can do it depending on the motherboard and BIOS. Can't really take any credit. One switch in the BIOS and that was it. While you can go further I didn't want to push my luck. I was kind of surprised mysefl how easy it was too. Done it the hard way in the past which is more involved.

Your numbers sound OK, except I agree with Nat the temp is a bit on the high side of normal, but not anything to get excited about. I would check it after it has been rendering something for a half hour or so. Bringing up CPU-Z while Vegas in running won't hurt anything. Under 130F no worry, 140-145 caution, much beyond that, you need to find out what's happening. That's for P4, AMD systems for anyone reading this do run hotter by design.

You can try the Vegas test file over a SPOT's site. Then search under DSE to find his files, I think its called rendertest. Its just a little 5 second VEG file that SoFo uses so it is deliberately wrote in such a way to really push Vegas so its render times are not typical and are much slower. Still its a good bench mark to compare to.

For reference,, on my system the render times are as follows for rendertest:

P4 2.8 overclocked to 3.361GHz 1 minute 24 seconds.

Hint: If anyone does the test REBOOT first! It can make a big difference.

Thanks guys,
Okay, I ran the rendertest.veg (.avi) and there seems to be no problems with my processor:
with HT disabled: 1:38...temperature in processor zone=125 degrees F, system zone 1=105 and system zone 2=104 (checked immediately afterwards).

with HT enabled: 1:36 (ran twice w/ same time)... temperature in processor zone=122 degrees F, system zone 1=104 and system zone 2=102 (checked immediately afterwards).

BB, something I don't understand in CPU-Z ;on the memory page/general, the channels # shows "single" and the "performance mode" shows disabled. Does that sound alright, or can I enable the performance mode somehow and go faster, faster, FASTER!!! I must beat your 1:24!!! No actually, I'd be quite content if I could just figure out this pixellation thing. I'm thinking it has something to do with the firewire card since my other PC does fine running through the A/DV converter
BTW, can someone please refresh my memory as to how to disable all of the Windows sounds?
Thanks again guys,
Randy

Randy, each BIOS uses slightly different language which CPU-Z picks up so without seeing the motherboard manual not sure what 'performance mode' means in this case or why its shown as disabled. If you have dual in-line memory the memory sticks should be in every other socket which are color coded on most mother boards. Most BIOS lets to fiddle with CAS setting and how much current it gets. The higher the FBS frequency the higher the current. As long as you system seems to be running good, I wouldn't mess unless you write down all the settings in your BIOS down first so in case you mess something up you can restore things to what they were. I would leave HT enabled. Even if Vegas doesn't take much/any advantage of it, it still helps the chip do its thing with regard to internal things.

Thanks very much BB!
Anyone have any thoughts on the pixelation problem? It may seem trivial but I can't even preview what I'm typing or audition different fonts due to it being so pixelated.
Thanks again,
Randy

Perhaps someone could suggest another forum (or any ideas on how I might be able to resolve the problem) I could take this issue to? I'm guessing it's definitely not a V4 thing.
Thanks for your patience,
Randy

Probably someone may know in one of the many DVDhelp forums. While I haven't seen that exact kind of pixelation problem my first thought would be it would be perhaps caused by your video card. However if I remember correctly Dennis from SoFo once said that eveything feed through the firewire port bypasses the video card, so if Vegas is introducting it sounds like the encoder would be at fault.

Maybe Dennis or some other SoFo tech with see this.

Does it only happen with some file types or all of them? And if it only happens on your new PC, and too suggests it may be local to your setup.

Thnaks BB, I was afraid this would just fade away and I can't think of anyone else that could help ( ie imagine trying to explain the specifics and terminology to a Microsoft forum) .
>Does it only happen with some file types or all of them?<
Okay, after reading this I went to see if it happened any time other than when dragging a fade, overlapping 2 clips to make a dissolve, or adding text media. I pulled up a rendered .avi, split it, and dragged a fade in and out on both, now separated clips; it played back with no pixelation! I then added another track and placed a .jpg on it and got pixelation not only on the .jpg but the fades I put on the newly split .avi.
I'm about to go load an mpeg 2 file to try to answer your question more specifically but thought this might be pertinent....okay I'm back...I put an mpeg2 on a new timeline and it's pixelated, but it seems it's always done that. What other kinds of files should I check BB?
Thanks again BB,
Randy

Something else I found interesting (but don't know if it's relevant):
On a pre-rendered project I'm working on, I placed a .jpg on a track above my master track; of course it was pixelated as usual and when I pulled the opacity down to zero it had pixelated that section of the pre-rendered master track below, but when I muted the track with the .jpg on it the master track became sharp again...FWIW
Randy