Seek Mid-Range Used or Discount New 4-8+ Gb Video Card

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/13/2023, 4:08 PM

(First, yes, I considered posting this in Off-Topic - but I've been posting here for many years and it's not really that off topic - so please don't delete it. Thanks.)While I'm open to an AMD/Radeon, I had a problem with one such card. Maybe a one-off. Explained further down.

I'm not a pro editor - though I've been using Vegas since v.6 -- and live on a fixed Social Security income only, so my budget for a good new discount or mint used card is around USD $100-150 + shipping and handling.

I use VP-19 with Boris Continuum 2021 and my OS is Windows 10 Home; general system specs* are included at end of this posting, as well as those of my very subpar, doesn't-meet-VP-19-minimum-requirements GPU - a EVGA nVidia GT 710.

(* My system just barely squeaks by such requirements - Ryzen 5 1600 +/- equivalent to 7th Gen i5 - i.e. 8400 or low end 7th Gen i7 - i.e. 4770.) I don't edit in 4K or higher. 4K maybe one day...

I have plenty of room for a double-slot video card, but the length limit is at 8.5 inches or so.

I live in the greater Los Angeles, California area.

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Due to my current GPU, I can't really use one part of Boris for which I bought it - Particle Illusion. I also have a small, what seems to be a form of emitter program called Amberlight 2.

Here is a video explaining how long it took to render from the latter, a 1080p 20 seconds, 1218 frames @ 30 Fps segment it leads into. The total 2000 frames would have taken... 9+ hours:

It took barely a minute to render out of Vegas at AVC 1080p 14 Mps.

I do religiously create proxies in Vegas for all clips used on my Timeline even though they are not 4K.

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Last but not least:

Due to the earlier incarnation of this kind of post, a fellow forum member David Knarr was kind enough to sell me a new Radeon for USD $100 - MSI Radeon Armor RX 570 8G OC.

BUT...

I kept getting random "black screen" daily whether I was using Vegas or not. So he was nice enough to take it back and refund me. The card wasn't defective, it just didn't jive with my system.

As I understand it from Nick Hope's albeit dated GPU FAQ postings, AMD's are supposed to be more Vegas friendly, but I'm a bit nervous trying another one. Hence why I'd prefer an nVidia. Opent to AMD but would have to be able to return if black screens happened.

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Anyway, going from my current to a better video card may not be a magic bullet to make things not take so long or improve in-program preview, but I do need to at least meet VP-19's minimum requirements. Boris's are even higher as I recall.

Thank you for any opportunities or referrals. Feel free to message me off-forum.

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GENERAL SYSTEM SPECS:

OS: Win 10 64 bit Home
Mobo: MSI Performance B450 Gaming Plus mobo
CPU: Ryzen 5 1600 32 GHz(6 core, no overclocking)
RAM: Crucial 3200 MHz DDR4 2 x 16 Gb - XMP
Drives: OS on 1 TB Samsung SSD 980 NVMe M.2
2x 1 TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD3 (Projects, Media, Etc.)
2x 2 TB 7200 Mechanical HDDs (SATA non-RAID) FOR Backups
GPU: EVGA GeForce GT 710 2 GB (Single Slot, Dual DVI)
PCIe 3.0
Monitors: dual Samsung 24" Monitors
Audio I/O: Behringer UMC 204HD 192K USB + MIDI
700W Thermaltake ATX 80 Plus Power Supply
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CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 5 1600

# of CPU Cores - 6
# of Threads - 12
Max. Boost Clock - Up to 3.6GHz
Base Clock - 3.2GHz
Total L1 Cache - 576KB
Total L2 Cache - 3MB
Total L3 Cache - 16MB
Default TDP - 65W
Processor Technology for CPU Cores - 14nm
Unlocked for Overclocking - Yes
CPU Socket - AM4
Max. Operating Temperature (Tjmax) - 95°C
Launch Date - 4/11/2017

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MOBO: MSI Gaming Plus B450

CPU (MAX SUPPORT) - RYZEN 9
SOCKET - AM4
CHIPSET - AMD® B450 Chipset
DDR4 MEMORY - 1866/ 2133/ 2400/ 2667Mhz (by JEDEC)
- 2667/ 2800/ 2933/ 3000/ 3066/ 3200/ 3466 MHz (by A-XMP OC MODE)
MEMORY CHANNEL - Dual
DIMM SLOTS - 4
MAX MEMORY (GB) - 128
PCI-E X16 - 2
PCI-E GEN - Gen3(16) (8), Gen2(4)
PCI-E X1 - 4
SATAIII - 6
M.2 SLOT - 1
RAID - 0/1/10

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GPU:

EVGA GeForce GT 710 2 GB (Single Slot, Dual DVI)

Specifications:

Base Clock: 954 MHZ
Memory Clock: 1800 MHz Effective
CUDA Cores: 192
Bus Type: PCIe 2.0
Memory Detail: 2048MB DDR3
Memory Bit Width: 64 Bit
Memory Speed: 1.1ns
Memory Bandwidth: 14.4 GB/s

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Comments

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/13/2023, 4:13 PM

I kept getting upload errors when trying to upload the following, so trying again:

(Awful but sufficient) photo of my mobo and space for GPU.

PCIe slots from mobo manual.

Reyfox wrote on 1/14/2023, 1:50 PM

I had a generation older AMD card, the RX480 8GB that worked marvelously with Vegas Pro up to VP19, where I upgraded to a RX 6700XT. I retired the card after almost 6 years of extremely heavy usage. I didn't want it to die on me and be without a card in my computer until I could replace it.

With the RX 570, what drivers did you use? Only WHQL drivers should be used. Everything else it "beta".

Although I took care of the RX480, including taking it apart and replacing the thermal compound on the GPU die with Thermal Grizzly, I wouldn't sell it. Way too many hours/years of hard use on it.

If you buy a card, make sure of the drivers that you are using. My wife has the RX570 4GB in her computer with at 1700X and 16GB DDR4 3200 RAM and never any black screens.

Also, when is the last time you checked your BIOS on the motherboard to see if it needs to be updated?

Former user wrote on 1/14/2023, 7:56 PM

I"m not recommending this card to you, but for others that find this thread via a search. A couple of weeks ago I remember reading about the Gtx 1070 being one of the best value per performance cards selling 2nd hand at a price around US$50. It is an 8GB card, it's performance is rx580 level, but has the more reliable Nvidia drivers, better hardware encoding and decoding. Personally I'd favor a GTX1080 but it's demand may be much better and not a good price 2nd hand (haven't checked)

Gpu prices fluctuate widely and are affected by regional differences. Consider also cards of this age bought 2nd had may require new thermal pads or paste for optimum performance

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/14/2023, 9:04 PM

@Reyfox and @Former user - Thanks for responses. I too have read that while older, the GTX 106x can actually work smoother than some of the more recent in the same range.

As to buying used - the reason I'm shooting at the moon here in being willing to buy a used one is that I feel I could trust a member for there is a certain amount of transparency and familiarity here - and professionalism. A card sold on eBay could be on it's last legs.

The two more or less not-ancient cards I have looked at that are under USD $200 with 4 Gb are the MSI Radeon RX 6500 XT Mech 2X 4G OC and Nvidia Asus Dual GeForce GTX 1650 OC. The Radeon is a bit more powerful overall than the nVidia, but they are pretty comparable.

I've seen a PNY version of the nVidia, but have read that while cheaper, they are not as well made (cheaper parts). So I prefer other "better" brands, but then it could also be a wee bit of snobbery, I dunno.

But here is the thing: aside from steeper price and considering my a bit lower then mid-level system - Ryzen 5 1600, 32 Gb DDR5....

----- What is the real-world difference in terms of in-NLE behavior and rendering between a 4 Gb and 8 Gb card (GDDR5 or 6)?

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/15/2023, 7:06 PM

Here is a side-by-side basic specs comparison of my card (on left) and one I'm considering getting.

Same general question as my query on 4 Gb vs. 8 Gb, what real world improvement in-Vegas and for rendering would the one on the right provide?

Again, I'm not expecting much of a difference, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to ascertain that.

Thank you.

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/15/2023, 7:11 PM

And here is an online comparison of the two cards I mentioned earlier that are somewhat similar,
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. Help "decoding" what is stated as the Radeon being better appreciated...

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/15/2023, 7:21 PM

Oh, and for anyone interested -- if one wants to see where one's current card or one you are thinking of getting -- here are Graphics Cards List in Order of Performance (Nov. 2022) for both AMD and nVidia. Prices list column is subject to a lot of factors so that has to be searched for in real time.

Actually, bench tests criteria can also vary, so results should be taken with with some "flexibility" perspective. :)

AMD
nVIDIA

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/18/2023, 2:07 PM

After some bank balance and such checking and reshuffling my priorities, I decided to take a plunge and invest in GeForce RTX™ 3060 GAMING OC 12G (rev. 2.0) at USD $399 plus doubling my 32 Gb of 3200 Mhz DDR4 to 64.

Then next month, I'll use some accrued birthday money from a generous cousin to build a new system around a Ryzen 9 5900X (12 cores). Some major money in all of this for me, but I have to be able to use ParticleIllusion and render at times FX laden stuff, maybe even get into some ray tracing.

Anyway, this thread has become a monologue and now it has become redundant.
So if mods want to nuke it, go for it.

Reyfox wrote on 1/18/2023, 3:13 PM

Sounds like a good build!

Soniclight-2.0 wrote on 1/18/2023, 3:18 PM

@Reyfox - Thanks. I was about to comment on how humble my first Windows XP was back in the early 2000s - or even when I got my first legit copy of Vegas (v.6) as DVD at B&H for USD $99, but then read this at your member profile:

"Been involved in video since 1989, started my video business in 1990 with Amiga computers."

That's impressive and my comparison is not worth mentioning - lol.

Reyfox wrote on 1/18/2023, 3:22 PM

We all travel slightly different roads in video editing, yet we've arrived here!

fr0sty wrote on 1/19/2023, 12:44 AM

Glad you opted for more VRAM, 4-8GB is on the lower end of the spectrum of what you want these days for video. Certain effects, like noise reduction, can get pretty VRAM hungry, the more you feed them, the better they (and in turn, VEGAS) perform. VEGAS itself benefits from having at least 8GB VRAM for 4K (as mentioned in the recommended specs). Toss in effects taking their own little chunk, and performance can drop fast if you don't have plenty of room. 12GB is a nice mid-range place to be.