slow to render

Cateroide wrote on 7/8/2025, 12:40 PM

Hello, everyone. I’d like to ask for the opinions of my fellow video producers.
I've been noticing a significant drop in rendering performance in VEGAS PRO, and I’m trying to understand what might be going wrong.

Here are the specs of my machine:

  • Ryzen 9 7950X
  • RTX 4090
  • 128 GB RAM
  • 2TB NVMe SSD (7000 MB/s read/write)

I use two rendering configurations in VEGAS:

  1. MAGIX AVC/AAC MP4, with:

1a) Encode mode: MainConcept AVC

1b) Encode mode: NV Encoder

Using MainConcept AVC, I used to get much better performance, although it was CPU-based. I switched to NV Encoder assuming it would leverage the GPU, but render times have actually become much slower.

I’m now at the point where, despite having a decent understanding of these things, I feel like I’ve lost my way after tweaking so many settings.

Could anyone share some insights, suggestions, or maybe point out mistakes I might be making?

File details:
I record my footage using OBS in 1080p MP4 format. I used to encode using H.264 (NVENC), but recently switched to H.265 (HEVC).

Thanks in advance!

Comments

RogerS wrote on 7/8/2025, 11:32 PM

Could you create a baseline for reference by doing the benchmark in my signature?

For your OBS recording settings it would be good to see details.

Cateroide wrote on 7/9/2025, 11:37 AM

Could you create a baseline for reference by doing the benchmark in my signature?

For your OBS recording settings it would be good to see details.

Sure, my friend. Let me share more details about my OBS settings:

Recording Format: Mastraska Video (.mkv)
Video Encoder: AMD HW H.265 (HEVC)
Audio Encoder: FFmpeg AAC

Bitrate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 20,000 Kbps
Keyframe Interval (0=auto): 0 s
Preset: Quality

I'd like to point out that the only change I made was to the video encoder, switching from NVIDIA NVENC H.264 to AMD HW H.265 (HEVC).

As for the part where it says "Could you create a baseline for reference by doing the benchmark in my signature?", I didn’t quite understand.
Could you explain what that means?

Steve_Rhoden wrote on 7/9/2025, 12:06 PM

@Cateroide Also, make sure when rendering, don't have any browser or web page opened.

Cateroide wrote on 7/9/2025, 3:00 PM

@Cateroide Also, make sure when rendering, don't have any browser or web page opened.

Sure, of course. Before coming here to ask for help, I ran all the tests, and I can confidently say that the browser was definitely not overlooked. When I say I noticed a difference in rendering, I really mean it's concerning even with the browser open, it shouldn't interfere with the process this much.

But I’m genuinely interested in knowing what the best render settings are for the hardware I have on my computer.

VEGASDerek wrote on 7/9/2025, 3:55 PM

@Cateroide What version of Vegas Pro are you using?

Gid wrote on 7/9/2025, 4:04 PM

@Cateroide Try resetting Vegas to it's default settings, I've hardly changed anything in Preferences & what I have changed doesn't affect the render.

--------------

I use two rendering configurations in VEGAS:

MAGIX AVC/AAC MP4, with:

Sure, my friend. Let me share more details about my OBS settings:

Recording Format: Mastraska Video (.mkv)
Video Encoder: AMD HW H.265 (HEVC)

If you are recording H265 HEVC, render at Magix HEVC (H265) not Magix AVC (H264)....

-------------

When I render with 'Magix' I use the NVENC option, in the Customize Template option that shows as NV Encoder

(I use Voukoder most of the time)

Vegas Pro 18 - 22
Vegas Pro/Post 19
Boris Continuum & Sapphire, 
Silhouette Standalone + Plugin, 
Mocha Pro Standalone + Plugin, 
Boris Optics,
NewBlue TotalFX
Desktop PC Microsoft Windows 10 Pro - 64-Bit
ASUS PRO WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI AMD Motherboard
AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX 3.5GHz 32 Core
Corsair iCUE H150i RGB PRO XT 360mm All-in-One Liquid CPU Cooler
RAM 256GB ( 8x Micron 32GB (1x 32GB) 2666MHz DDR4 RAM )
2x Western Digital Black SN850 2TB M.2-2280 SSD, 7000MB/s Read, 5100MB/s Write
(programs on one, project files on the other)
Graphics MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X 24GB OC GPU
ASUS ROG Thor 1200W Semi-Modular 80+ Platinum PSU 
Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark TG Case with 3 Fans
Dell SE3223Q 31.5 Inch 4K UHD (3840x2160) Monitor, 60Hz, & an Acer 24" monitor.

At the moment my filming is done with a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G & a GoPro Hero11 Black

I've been a Joiner/Carpenter for 40yrs, apprentice trained time served, I don't have an apprentice of my own so to share my knowledge I put videos on YouTube.

YouTube videos - https://www.youtube.com/c/Gidjoiner

 

RogerS wrote on 7/9/2025, 8:17 PM

Could you create a baseline for reference by doing the benchmark in my signature?

For your OBS recording settings it would be good to see details.

Sure, my friend. Let me share more details about my OBS settings:

Recording Format: Mastraska Video (.mkv)
Video Encoder: AMD HW H.265 (HEVC)
Audio Encoder: FFmpeg AAC

Bitrate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 20,000 Kbps
Keyframe Interval (0=auto): 0 s
Preset: Quality

I'd like to point out that the only change I made was to the video encoder, switching from NVIDIA NVENC H.264 to AMD HW H.265 (HEVC).

MKV is very hit or miss in VEGAS. Use the function of OBS to rewrap to MP4.
HEVC should work... however keyframe interval should be on 1 not 0.
CBR makes more sense if you are streaming with limited bandwidth, if you are recording for editing try a different strategy that's more bitrate efficient.

As for the part where it says "Could you create a baseline for reference by doing the benchmark in my signature?", I didn’t quite understand.
Could you explain what that means?

Just download and do one or both benchmarks to see if your system is generally performing as expected compared to similar hardware. If not there are bigger problems than this media/project.