System upgrade What can I expect?

vmcdee wrote on 3/19/2004, 5:46 PM
Ok,
I have been running Vegas 4.0e and DVD on a 690Mh 334mb ystem for the last two years.

I've done an MTV the grind promo, as well as a mtriad of other promotional videos and presentations with the current system.

I actually do quite a bit of compositing in Vegas. I often use up to 5 or six video tracks at a time in some sections.

Render time is usually around the 14 hour mark for a 3-4 min piece heavy in graphics and composites.

I am moving up to a system with a 3.0 Gig processor and 1gig of ram, which I willproptly add another gig or two.

Am I playing with fire now, or are my hope to high?

I love Vegas and everything I have read points to having a kick as platform to pull the most out of Vegas.

I'll keep you posted!

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 3/19/2004, 6:10 PM
Based on the ratio of your processor speeds (3000/690 =~ 4) you should expect at least a 4x improvement in render speed. The RAM will help some, but probably not a lot. All the other stuff (hyper-threading, various processor optimizations) typically don't make a huge difference.

Are you currently using one disk or two? You can get close to a 2x improvement in some renders (especially when there is not much processing involved) by putting all your video on one disk, and then rendering to a second hard disk. It is even better if the two disks are on different IDE channels.
GlennChan wrote on 3/19/2004, 8:01 PM
Vegas doesn't actually use all that much RAM except for RAM previews. You might actually just be able to RAM preview your entire project if it's short enough (might boost performance, but I'm not sure).

A new computer will knock your socks off. If you can build your own computer (have the skills to do so), you might want to look at a barebones/minimalist Dell. They can be cheaper than the parts alone when you buy when Dell has a hot deal going. check hot deals sites like xpbargains.com, gotapex.com, etc. for deals on the Dimension 8300 model.

2X speed improvement from 2 hard drives? For compositing (highly complicated renders, short length), you'll be lucky to see a 1% speed bump from doing that. For copying files then you will see a ~2X speed bump... but that's copying files.
johnmeyer wrote on 3/20/2004, 8:09 PM
For compositing (highly complicated renders, short length), you'll be lucky to see a 1% speed bump from doing that. For copying files then you will see a ~2X speed bump... but that's copying files.

That's exactly what I said (I think):

johnmeyer said:

"You can get close to a 2x improvement in some renders (especially when there is not much processing involved)."
vmcdee wrote on 3/21/2004, 2:08 PM
Ok right on, I actually built the current sustem I am on. I was just way to lazy to build another system So I dropped about $3000 on a new one from the Guys at 123dv.com. It should be here by Wednesday. I've used Final Cut and the Avid, and I must say, at 690 megs and only 333 mb ram, Vegas still did a stellar job. I look forward to the upgrades, especially the dynamic ram preveiws. Clients like to see changes as they sit here. the increase in speed of the preveiws as well as longer preveiws will go a long way in client relations. We all know how nerve racking it can be when a client insist on sitting in on an editing system. I like to satisfy them and kick them the hell out! Light up and get creative~! ....Ooooops...did I say that out loud? Oh well, I'll fix it in post!
Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/21/2004, 4:37 PM
"We all know how nerve racking it can be when a client insist on sitting in on an editing system."

I saw a price listing once (I think it was for editing), this was a few years ago, that stated something like, "$100 per hour, $200 per hour if you must watch."

Seemed like a good idea. It certainly got the message across!

J--