Hi
I have recently purchased Vegas Pro 17 and found that my computer is not powerful enough.
Could anyone advise on a suitable computer that I can use the software on and render efficiently?
I dont want to be spending too much if possible.
It's all going to be shots in the dark without knowing your budget.
How much do you *want* to spend and how much are you *willing* to spend?
After that, we'll need to know what kind of work you're going to be doing with VP. That'll determine just how much power you actually need.
Looking between £500 to £900 really.
And I will be using vegas pro to create 20-40 minute you tube videos.
My son is using a Gaming Laptop to create his own YouTube videos & IMO it's hard to beat the bang/buck even if you build your own DIY desktop from parts... If the source & target are both MP4, the GPUs on these laptops help to provide excellent render speeds in Vegas...
Last January, for $1000 US dollars ( £750), I got a Walmart Evoo 17 Laptop with I7-9750H 6-core CPU, RTX 2060, (2) M.2 bays & (1) SSD bay, 16gb RAM, 3 external display ports, 3 USB 3.0 ports, etc. It's faster than my old 6-core Xeons. Although not as fast as my 9900K desktop with VEGA 64, it's GREAT for the quick MP4 videos I do at work... There is a seller on eBay who refurbishes Walmart returns & sells them with a 30 day warranty. I don't know if he ships international, but that's a good laptop for the price...
I got my son a HP Omen laptop for $900 US dollars, with the same I7-9750H CPU & RTX 1660ti GPU. He is using it to make YouTube videos with an El Gato capture device. Room for an internal SSD & lots of connectors including Thunderbolt 3...
Currently, Dell has their G5 15 Laptop for $1100 US Dollars after coupon:
Intel Core i7-10750H, 15.6" 1080p 144Hz IPS, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD, RTX 2060, Thunderbolt 3
The other route is to build your own Intel I7-10700 or AMD 3900X system for approx. £900 but you have to factor-in the cost of a good case, CPU cooler, etc. and the PCIe versions of the same RTX 2060 included in the $1000 laptops cost $300 alone... Or get used parts... I got a $200 USED AMD VEGA 56 GPU for one of my desktop builds which is a good GPU for Vegas... I got an open box VEGA 64 liquid-cooled GPU for $350... But it's a risk getting used stuff without a warranty...
Most important of all is to take into account the minimum specs for using Vegas Pro. These are the current minimum specs for VP18 but I think that they are fairly much the same as for VP17.
SPECIFICATIONS
For optimal performance, we recommend the following minimum system requirements.
System requirements
Operating system: Microsoft® Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor: 6th Generation Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) or better. 2.5 Ghz and 4 Core minimum. For 4K, 7th Generation Intel Core i7 (or AMD equivalent) or better. 3.0 Ghz and 8 Core minimum.
RAM: 8 GB RAM minimum (16 GB recommended; 32 GB recommended for 4K)
Hard drive space: Hard drive space: 1.5 GB hard-disk space for program installation; Solid-state disk (SSD) or high-speed multi-disk RAID for 4K media
Desktops are usually better $$$ value than laptops and provide much better options for future expansion.
Note also the "Supported GPU"
Desktops are usually better $$$ value than laptops and provide much better options for future expansion.
The Evoo 17 mentioned in my previous post is only 27% slower in Vegas benchmarks vs. my pricier 9900K / VEGA 64 desktop which scores near the top of the chart (for now...). As an educator, I've been editing MP4 videos all-week for my classes & I've been using my laptop outdoors, in the living room, etc. My students & own kids who create tons of YouTube content prefer using a laptop vs. desktop because they often want to edit footage onsite, while the idea is fresh in their minds, vs. later when they get back to the desktop. Drone footage, video game captures at friends' houses, etc. are all easier with a laptop.. A family member who is a realtor can edit walkthrough videos why they are stuck at a sparsely attended open house.
As long as you stay in 1080p and/or MP4 land, this is a powerful all-in-one tool you can take anywhere. Also, since I got mine at Walmart, I added their $88 THREE YEAR protection plan so if I drop it, they repair or replace it... Pretty sweet! Do a search for Evoo 17 & you will find out a lot more info about an amazing laptop for the price...
I also edit 4K intermediates for professional clients in which case I use the 9900K workstation with fast RAID0 arrays, 10g network, Blackmagic capture card, etc. However, I've got $1350 just in the CPU, motherboard, memory, GPU & CPU cooler, another $1000 in M.2 drives, $2000 in 8TB SATA drives, $1000 in PCIe cards, for a grand total of over $5000... That doesn't include the (4) 4K screens attached to the beast... But if I only had $1000 to spend, I would get the laptop & call it a day. Still has lots of expandability & features to last many years...
I'd wait for the Nvidia RTX 3070, it's only $500, and it is signigicantly more powerful than AMD's Big Navi. Spend an extra $200, and you're getting the 3080 that is nearly 2x as powerful as Big Navi.
I'd wait for the Nvidia RTX 3070, it's only $500, and it is signigicantly more powerful than AMD's Big Navi. Spend an extra $200, and you're getting the 3080 that is nearly 2x as powerful as Big Navi.
The OP was looking for something to edit YouTube videos for around $1000 USD... That said, I am excited about the new GPUs & will see how they affect Vegas 4K previews & renders before upgrading... You never know with Vegas... My $350 VEGA 64 performs almost as good as a $1000+ 2080ti... However, I just got Flight Simulator 2020 & it eats GPUs for breakfast, lunch & dinner... Even a 2080ti can struggle on certain settings... So the 3080 may be a good "business" decision regardless the price! (I can play it on both my laptop with 2060 & desktop with VEGA 64 LQ but not at max resolution, max detail, etc...)
The $500 3070 is 45% more powerful than a 2080ti. So, even for a $1000 build, it's worth putting half of it on that alone, even if you gotta go cheaper on the CPU. You can get a mean Ryzen chip with a motherboard and some RAM for that range.