So I got a Radeon RX 480, no difference in preview

Rich Parry wrote on 8/19/2017, 8:00 PM

For a long time (years) I've read on this forum that the Sapphire Radeon RX 480 8GB was the preferred video card for helping to speedup timeline previews.So when my video card (HD 7950) died a few weeks ago I looked forward to the upgrade.

Alas, I was disappointed with the results, perhaps my expectations were too high. I realize I could use digital intermediaries and NLE friendly codecs, nevertheless, I was expecting some timeline preview improvements. I admit I have not done controlled comparisons so there may be an improvement, but I just don't see it.

My media covers the gamut from HD to 4K, from 30fps to 60fps. I done limited testing with filters and real-time scopes turned off and selecting Draft or Preview display at half resolution but still find in many cases preview frame rates can be as low as 3 to 5 fps.

In case it matters, I've tried a few drivers versions, currently 17.1.1.

I'm not looking for advice so much as to just tell a story of what I found. I've lived with slow previews for years, I can continue to do so, but don't see the improvement I was hoping for. I know there are folks here that swear by the RX 480, I'm just sharing my story.

thanks,

Rich in San DIego

Comments

NormanPCN wrote on 8/19/2017, 9:15 PM

A good GPU helps with timeline renders of effects. If you have playback performance issues without effect(s) then that boils down the the CPU. Video decode. A solution here is to transcode to a lower overhead video format.

So the bottom line is the GPU can help when performance is fine until you add effect(s) and then that additon causes it to slow.

Mindmatter wrote on 8/20/2017, 4:40 AM

I hear ya Rich...the prehistoric and at times absolutely unusable prview has been my biggest, if not only serious issue with Vegas ever since I started on V8. And I really don't get how others like Edius 8 get a lightning fast preview, which you can throw quite a bit of stuff at before it even starts to show any weakness, and Vegas' starts to drop frames at the first slightly more complex calculations. IMHO the ability to dedicate separate card to preview only would be a possible solution, or rewriting its functionalities. I really hope it will get better in future versions.

D7K wrote on 8/20/2017, 12:04 PM

I too hope that 15 brings the mentioned increase in speed. As a still and videographer I need to balance both stills and video with my meager budget, I see lots of speed increase in Photoshop (including video editing) and using the i7700/32 fast memor/RX480 makes my life ok, and I just use proxies if I have to do a lot to the video. But would I love to see 100% GPU and 100% CPU when working with Vegas.