What can I do to speed up 4K render?

ray.vermette wrote on 2/12/2025, 12:04 PM

Currently getting between 8 and 13 FPS on 4k render, depending on template & encoder chosen.

Build specs are in my signature. Just recently upgraded to Geforce GTX 4060 video card with little noticeable improvement in render speed. Only real noticeable change is now CPU appears underutilized. Changing to another encoder that is less or not GPU-accelerated results in the CPU being more fully utilized, but no improvement in render speed.

Experimented unsuccessfully with changing various GPU-processing-related preferences. Disabling all FXs speeds up the render a tiny bit. Experimented with Voukoder briefly, with little to no difference using NVENC versus using NVENC within Vegas.

Transcoded input video to ProRes. That sped up render maybe 1-2 frames per second. I can transcode the input files to a variety of formats, if it helps. Is there a different video container/codec that Vegas likes better than ProRes?

Is there anything I can do, short of making hardware changes, or is this as good as it gets?

Thanks! :)

Comments

j-v wrote on 2/12/2025, 2:43 PM

These are my average and current renderspeeds on laptop from signature with all default specifications for rendering HEVC to 3840x2160 AVC

ray.vermette wrote on 2/12/2025, 3:45 PM

I ran the @RogerS Vegas Pro 20 benchmark. Results:

Mainconcept: 03:35 render time, 6.69 fps average
NVENC: 02:41 render time, 8.95 fps average

ray.vermette wrote on 2/12/2025, 4:56 PM

@j-v I can get average frame rates approaching yours if I render just the raw HEVC Gopro files at "good" quality, as you did above, without any edits or FX.

After I set render quality to "best", add music, add multiple clips, remove the GoPro audio track, trim clip start and end points, add 3 FX to each clip (LUT filter, Color Fixer Pro, and Sharpen), add fade-in and fade-out at beginning and end of the project, the render frame rate drops to about 10-11.

The 3 FX appear to slow down the render the most; 10-15 fps slower.

Edit: It appears I can replace two of the FX (LUT filter and Color Fixer Pro) with one (Color Grading) and then use the color grading tools to get a small boost in rendering speed; maybe 1-3 fps faster. I need to get familiar with the Vegas color grading tools.

RogerS wrote on 2/12/2025, 11:24 PM

Those times aren't bad for this hardware.

At the moment the LUT filter is slower than the color grading panel. You can add the CGP at the media level and also track and event level so even multiple LUTs are possible (2 LUTs per panel as input and output/creative are supported).

I rarely use sharpen myself as modern footage is already quite sharp and it's easy to overdo it.

ray.vermette wrote on 2/13/2025, 10:36 AM

Thanks @RogerS.

Is there any rendering speed advantage by applying FX at the track level versus event level? I typically copy and paste the same LUT, minor color grading, and sharpening to all the clips in my track, then view each media event and adjust color grading from there if required.

I am only using the sharpening FX at half-strength, and I think even that may be too much. Sharpening on the source recorder (GoPro) was set to "low".

3POINT wrote on 2/13/2025, 1:59 PM

I am only using the sharpening FX at half-strength, and I think even that may be too much. Sharpening on the source recorder (GoPro) was set to "low".

Never had the need to sharpen in post a 4k recording.

Keep in mind that rendering is the final process of finishing your video editing project, which took probably many hours to accomplish, what is wrong with spending one more hour for rendering?

ray.vermette wrote on 2/13/2025, 4:06 PM

@RogerS: using the color grading panel versus adding LUT filter and Color Fixer Pro filter speeds up rendering significantly; like up to 10 fps faster. Thanks for that! :)

RogerS wrote on 2/13/2025, 5:34 PM

Personally I do general corrections at the media level and then customize at the event level. To answer your question I don't believe there's a track vs event advantage.

ray.vermette wrote on 2/14/2025, 10:09 AM

Made some tweaks in the BIOS that appear to have made a slight improvement in render time. For the NVENC benchmark:

BEFORE 02:41 render time, 8.95 fps average
AFTER: 02:25 render time, 9.95 fps average (most recent test run)

Tweaks were:

Convert legacy boot mode to UEFI
Enable XMP on RAM
Enable above 4G limit
Disabled some things (serial ports, legacy USB, etc)

I think # 2 and 3 may be responsible for the slight improvement; not sure.