Will my new computer run Vegas 9 faster?

Paulito wrote on 2/13/2011, 9:39 PM
I'm going to order a new Windows XP computer tower online that has:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

6GB memory (however I'm tempted by 8gb of memory cause I keep thinking "MORE POWER.")

Intel Core I3 550 (3.2GHz/4MB cache)

HD 1000 GB

Video Card: Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator, although my friend told me that might be a minimal quality card, and I'd have to get like a $100 one.

Optical Drive 16X DVD+/-RW Drive

And I will buy a 500 watt Power Surge. And I have a HD monitor


My current old computer is an XP that is over 7 years old has had 1.5 memory; 75gb of Hard drive and an old video card. So having listed all the specs, would the new computer I plan to get allow my Sony Vegas 9 to: convert videos faster even if the videos are large HD vids that are an 1280 x 720 ? Will it make my DVD Architect 4.5 prepare and burn discs faster? I mean all in all will it make everything go much faster?

If I am leaving out any details please ask me.

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 2/13/2011, 10:26 PM
If your videos are h.264, then you should also upgrade to Platinum 10. For h.264 in particular (MP4, MOV, AVCHD), there are major optimizations on Platinum 10, that will help your PC (any PC) play them back faster. So if you're going for a new PC, put $50 aside and upgrade Vegas too.
Paulito wrote on 2/13/2011, 10:43 PM
Whoa, wouldn't have thought I'd need to upgrade Vegas also. But what of the DVD Archtect 4.5 I currently have, will that help "prepare" and burn faster?
Eugenia wrote on 2/13/2011, 11:37 PM
Not sure about DVDA, although a faster PC will help anyway. But as I said, for h.264 videos, you should not be using pre-10 versions of Vegas. They are crashy and very slow with that format. Vegas Platinum 10 fixes lots of problems with h.264, although because it hasn't been updated with a minor update since last April, Vegas Pro 10 has an edge in stability/speed still.
philRmonic wrote on 2/14/2011, 1:05 AM
Short answer - yes, it will. However, if you're likely to keep the computer for several years I'd think about upping the CPU spec. The i3 550 has only 2 physical cores and, with VMS up to a point, the more cores the better! That will really help rendering. If your budget allows, go for the latest i7-2600 which should future-proof your setup. At the very least go for an i5 quad core if the budget is tight.

I'd also consider using 2 discs as this can also help with renders.

As VMS natively only addresses 2Gb, then 6Gb memory is more than enough (unless you apply the tweaks outlined in other posts).

The video card is not critical with VMS but I'd avoid on-board graphics!

Hope this helps!
Markk655 wrote on 2/14/2011, 5:52 AM
In short, yes. Preview and render is driven by RAM and cpu processing. Consequently, I would expect a significant speed increase. However, if you are planning on getting a newer dSLR, camcorder, that records in mp4 or AVCHD, I agree with the above recommendations that your dollars might be better spent on an i5 or i7 based computer.
Paulito wrote on 2/14/2011, 12:42 PM
Heh, as I mentioned that I was tempted by the idea of 8gb ram instead of 6GB. Then I have a better question, since you say 2GB is required, is my need to go 6GB or 8GB excessive? Like 4 GB is good enough? I shall investigate my budget, will have to wait for one more paycheck. Now that I know the Core should be more of the focus than the ram, am I just money on too much of the ram?
MSmart wrote on 2/14/2011, 2:29 PM
Which version of Vegas do you have exactly? This is the Movie Studio forum but you never mention Studio, just Vegas and DVD Architect.

The Studio versions are 32bit apps so you won't be able to take full advantage of all that RAM. If you're going to be working with HD video, upgrading to Movie Sutdio 10 HD is recommended.
Paulito wrote on 2/14/2011, 10:26 PM
I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9.0
Chienworks wrote on 2/15/2011, 1:11 AM
One thing you neglected to mention is what processor you have in your old computer.

Vegas' performance is almost entirely proportional to CPU speed/power. Very little else matters at all. So, if your new PC has a processor 4 times faster than the old one, expect Vegas to run 4 times as fast. It's pretty much that simple.
philRmonic wrote on 2/15/2011, 1:26 AM
RAM is one of the easiest hardware upgrades to do, so I wouldn't worry too much about that for now - if you find you don't have enough you can always add more later! And I would agree that updating to VMS 10 is a good idea if you're doing HD.
TOG62 wrote on 2/15/2011, 3:53 AM
RAM is one of the easiest hardware upgrades to do, so I wouldn't worry too much about that for now - if you find you don't have enough you can always add more later!

Just make sure that you have some empty RAM slots, so that you don't have to take out RAM and replace with higher capacity cards.
Paulito wrote on 2/15/2011, 3:08 PM
In my current/old computer

Intel (R)
Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.4 GHz
2.39 GHz, 1.50 GB of RAM


Aww, so in that case, since Ram can easily be upgraded, the focus should be more on the Core?
Chienworks wrote on 2/15/2011, 4:41 PM
Absolutely. Faster processor always results in faster editing/rendering.

Memory, not so much. After a certain point it really doesn't make much difference. Once you've got enough for Vegas to work with anything more is a waste.* There's a lot of debate on how much that is, but personally i think it's on the low side of 4GB for most people's needs.

* OK, not the entire picture. If you have other memory hungry programs running then you want to make sure the major ones all get their share. But even still, Vegas won't use as much as a lot of people expect.