PERSONALLY - I avoid AMD Radeon because of a history of driver issues in my shop. Find one with the most CUDA cores that you can afford.

I just upgraded my computer but a month ago, I was running a Core 2 Duo and when I put in a GTX570, I got 3 to 5 times speed improvements in rendering. Now that I have an I7-3930K system, the improvements are about 7 fold over the Core 2 Duo with the GTX 570.

@squandal: when deciding for a new graphic card do not forget to check how power-hungry it is.
An inadequate power supply is a total showstopper.

Everybody has had problems with all GPU's on Vegas 11. There's no "best" card.

Thank you. But... How did you get an I7-3930K system? I could not find any reputable vendors with this system in an already built PC./ Did you build it yourself??

Thanks. This was helpful in mny ongoing search for the best system with the least expense! :)

Sure! You are right; indeed, even the customer service at HP recommended first installing a 600 Watts power suppply if I intended to upgrade to a GTX570.

"Everybody has had problems with all GPU's on Vegas 11. There's no "best" card."

Speak for yourself. I have been very pleased with Version 11.

RE: "How did you get an I7-3930K system?"

A good number of power Vegas users build their own systems. The advantage of learning how to do this is that it allows you to overcome future hardware/software problems without waiting around (and paying) for someone else to do it. (Can you survive without your editing computer for a week? What if the repair service erases customer files? What if they demand $300 to replace a $100 part in a timely manner?)

A DIY system also allows you to upgrade to the latest & greatest without replacing the entire system at once, and therefore upgrade costs are spread-out a little more. For instance, it's been over 6 years since we built a system with 100% new parts.

As for graphic cards I plan to wait until Nvidia releases the 600 series in a few weeks before we make any choices. For our main editing/rendering workstation we have an overclocked 6-core i7 980X (socket 1366) which renders as fast as a stock 6-core i7-3930K (socket 2011). No need to make any changes to that system.

However, our other workstations are 4-core I7-920's. I would like at least one of them to render HD work faster without having to replace the motherboard, memory & re-installing the OS... I either need to bump it up to a 6-core i7-970 or swap-in a faster GPU. I want to wait & see if the Nvidia 600 GPUs will render faster than a 6-core i7-970 for the type of renders we do.

They key to everything will be how well Vegas 11 holds-up with the type of editing we do. Although 11 may be working OK for some, it has not passed my intial tests. Not all Vegas folks use all of the same features, so some can avoid problems until they go to reach for them. From past experience, I have learned which elements typically trip-up Vegas, so I reach for those first when testing-out a new release...

Speak for yourself. I have been very pleased with Version 11.

Can't, don't have Windows Vista/7 or Vegas 11. I'm basing what I'm saying on all the posts & threads about issues with Vegas 11 and issues with the GPU's.

I don't see very many, if any, positive things about Vegas 11 with (or w/o) GPU acceleration.

Don't know about best, but I got a laptop with GTX560M and have had no problems at all. Sony even lists that one as approved ( or whatever they call it ).

Right now I think that is nVidia's second best ( 580 would be top of the line ), unless you pay through the nose for one of the quadros.

>>>I'm basing what I'm saying on all the posts & threads about issues with Vegas 11 and issues with the GPU's.<<<

For every person posting something negative about Vegas 11 there are probably 100 who have no problems and no reason to post anything ( if they are even aware that this forum exists ). That applies to anything on any forum. People don't post: "Just installed XYZ application and it's working". They flock to forums when they want to vent and the rest are guys paid by Apple or Adobe to spam forums with negative nonsense. You can buy dozens of respected forum members on just about any semi-significant hardware/software forum and they'll post whatever it is you tell them to post. It's been going on since at least the mid 90s. There are companies which do nothing but that, so don't believe everything you read. Download the trial and try it yourself, and for hardware check what Sony recommends and use some common sense.

If you are looking for a computer with an Intel i7-3930K or i7-3960X and do not want to build it yourself then check out this place.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/category/intel_pc/

I had two computers build by them for editing in the past 4 years and I'm very happy.

Jerry K

I've got a GTX 560 and I'm overall pleased with the performance boost it gives both rendering and playback. I bought it two weeks before v11 came out, or I would have waited for the price of the 570 to drop just a bit.

If I were doing it now, I'd go with a 570 (economy) or a 580 (more power) unless you can wait for the next gen cards to become affordable.

Rv6tc: what are your other system specs - I mean CPU etc beside the GTX 560?

"Thank you. But... How did you get an I7-3930K system? I could not find any reputable vendors with this system in an already built PC./ Did you build it yourself??"

Yes I did. I only ever bought one already built PC. I was extremely disappointed with the quality of the parts. So I started building my own and have never looked back since.

"I don't see very many, if any, positive things about Vegas 11 with (or w/o) GPU acceleration."

I am too busy editing on Vegas 11, making money, to get on the forums to not complain.

EVERY new version of Vegas shakes out a handful of people who can't get it to work on their PC. Because of the massive rewrite to add GPU support (I warned over a year ago to be careful what you wish for), the release of Version 11 has shaken out a few more than usual. But certainly not everyone.

Steve,

This really is great to hear as there really has been substantial disquiet, amongst many of our experienced colleagues. I've been fortunate, a few issues with NBT, but to be honest probably more to do with using it on a Vaio F series laptop (i7 Quad core, 6 Gig RAM). I've also successfully used Vegas 11 (425 build) on a few paid jobs and I have really appreciated OFX, using Sapphire Edge, good results (even if I say so myself). I'm getting some crashes, but attribute it more to my system and accept that I need to get more serious re CPU & graphics card. Looking at upgrading computer to a dedicated desktop and perhaps a new cam if the work continues to flow, hoping that Sony might bring out a new build that gets a better report, as I'm nervous about 511 in light of discussions. Again, thanks for sharing your positive experiences and view re Vegas 11.

Quote from Ritsmer: Rv6tc: what are your other system specs - I mean CPU etc beside the GTX 560?


It's an i7-2600K and an Asus P8-Z68 VPro motherboard. I can't say enough about the MB, but I'm an Asus fanboy. I have the CPU overclocked to 4.4, and it's running at 55* using an Antec Kuhler 620. Also have an SSD (my first) and I was blown away with it. I can't wait to get another one to put my Vegas working files on.

As much ass I love the P8-Z68, I just heard the new MB (Z-69?) is coming out with native USB 3.o support and other goodies.

Keith

The new 1155 chipset is a Z77, it supports yet-to-be-released Ivy Bridge CPUs and it has support for (4) USB 3.0 built-in. Ivy Bridge CPUs are based on 22nm and have better built-in sound & video capability including the ability to support (3) displays.

IMO the Z77 would make a killer mini ITX or micro ATX media center platform. Lower heat & plenty of built-in video power.