The saga continues of upgrading from On-MoBo Intel graphics (HD 3000) to a card that would fit in my current workstation. I apologize in advance for the length of the results here but I was trying to provide all the info and not waste Forum members time having to ask to many more questions.
I was limited in the card I could use because of space. My first purchase was the ASUS R9 290X-DC2OC-4GD5 but it did not come close to fitting and got returned.
Thanks to OldSmoke and others I had some understanding of the options either to boost Preview speed or Render speed. I decided to go for better PREVIEW performance (OpenCL support with AMD) and to just stock up on beer for when Renders were being done.
The best I could do was an ASUS R9 270 OC (R9270-DC2OC-2GD5) which I now have installed.
My System Specs on the Forum are now updated. I'm running Vegas Pro 13 64-bit Bld 428 on Win 7 Pro 64-bit.
I ran FurMark and the performance seems to really scream for this generation of card. Got GPU up to 100% utilization and watched the temp go up and the fans dig in to maintain. I didn't think to run FurMark before the upgrade so have no benchmark there.
With the on-board graphics NewBlue Titler Pro 3 refused to run due to wimpy on-board GPU. NewBlue Titler Pro 3 now runs following install of this new ASUS R9 270 OC card.
I've now invested a couple days of research and testing after the card install trying to optimize performance on VP13 Pro 64 bit on a current project. I'm not satisfied with the results and think I'm doing something(s) wrong and/or have a setting wrong or my expectations that are too high. I'm thinking it likely there is just very simple thing I have missed here.
After the ASUS card install the On-board Intel graphics looks to be disabled. The Intel graphics no longer shows up in the Device Manager. One oddity is that Sony AVC still gives me an option for QuickSync, which the Intel had, but no mention of of OpenCL or anything else. I find no setting in the BIOS or MoBo jumpers/switches to disable on-board video. And the Device Manager now only shows the new ASUS card. The Intel is gone.
First off, I'm trying to figure how to make sure the ASUS card driver is current. After install of the GPU with the included CD the "Device Properties" showed I was running driver v 14.201.1001.0.
I went to ASUS and downloaded then installed the latest driver package and GPU Monitor and Tweak. Device properties showed I was STILL RUNNING driver v 14.201.1001.0 ! I went searching and the best info I found was that the latest driver is a higher number, 14.501.1003.0 . This I found on Toms Hardware.
I repeated the download and install process a second time (defies logic I know) and Device Manager still reports I am running what seems to be the original driver. I may try the Update Driver option from the Device Manager and see if it finds a newer driver in what was downloaded. GOOGLE searches haven't uncovered any solutions, but I know this issue is not unprecedented.
So I'm trying to figure out how to get the driver updated if the Tom's Hardware info is correct, but that might have much effect on the results below. UPDATE: I just ran the Live Update from the ASUS GPU Tweak tool and it says the VBIOS version I have IS the latest.
I have had only one crash with VP13-64 bit Bld 428 since installing the new ASUS card. None at all prior.
TESTS:
My Test project source video for all the tests is Canon XA20 1920x1080 59.94P. Full frame, Resample disabled, no FX or CROP/PAN. Throughout the 8 minute video simple text from "Sony ProType Titler" fades up then back out. (Before the new ASUS card NewBlue Titler Pro 3 wouldn't run.) The project properties are 1920x1080x8 59.940p. Pixel format is 8-bit, Full Resolution Rendering is GOOD, Motion blur is Gaussian, and Adjust source media. . . is UNchecked.
Prefs/Video has Dynamic RAM Preview @ 200, 16 threads, and GPU Acceleration is "Advanced Micro Devices, Pitcairn" which appeared after the new card was installed. I have tested with "Video Preview" settings for "Display at project size" and "Simulate device aspect ratio" ON and OFF.
Preview is 1920x1080x32, 59.940p and the display is at 900x506x32 from running the SCS benchmark. I've tried a variety of Preview Quality settings (Best vs Good, Auto vs Full vs Half) with no impact.
I've run a bunch of tests with the new ASUS card, watched previews at various settings and timed some renders. These are the issues I'm left with:
1. DISPLAY FRAME RATE IN PREVIEW: In the Preview window I see a Display frame rate of 59.940 until the Sony ProType Titler comes up, then it rapidly drops to as low as 3 FPS. When the title goes away it zips up to 59.940. This is the SAME PERFORMANCE I was seeing with the on MoBo Intel chipset! So no improvement in Preview and that's what I was banking on. I tried simplifying the already simple title and performance still took a nose dive. Then I put in a simple title using NewBlue Titler Pro 3. During preview the frame rate stayed close to 59, not taking the dive I see with Sony ProType Titler. I even further simplified the font Sony ProType Titler to plain Arial, but the preview frame rate still collapsed.
The second part: RENDER TESTS This is where I didn't bank on a necessarily big improvement, but I wasn't expecting renders to take even longer than with the Intel on-board video support! I thought the more powerful GPU would provide some sort of incremental gains. Note that I did NOT yet Over-Clock the GPU or Memory.
2. I ran a series of Render timing tests (see below) using both the Sony and the MC render engines on the full 8 minute video. Some tests were run using options I didn't expect to work . . . but since nothing seemed to be working I decided to try them all! Grasping at straws here.
2a: 37:15 (MM:ss) is my reference Render time for the test video with SONY AVC to Internet HD 1080P using the on-motherboard Intel chipset BEFORE INSTALLING THE NEW ASUS R9 270 card. So far this is the best time!!!! (I either missed something here or have something bollixed up.)
2b. 37:59 (MM:ss) RENDER time using SONY AVC: In setting up the Render options "QUICK SYNC" appears in the dropdown. (That was an option with the Intel on-board graphics chip. But the Intel chipset no longer appears in the Device Manager so I don't see how I can disable it any further without prying it off the board :-) I selected "Use GPU if available"
2c. 48:08 (MM:ss) RENDER time using MainConcept AVC: "Use OpenCL if available" rendering option was available and I chose it. (No option appeared related to the inactive Intel chipset.)
2e. 49:18 (MM:ss) RENDER time using MainConcept AVC: "Use CUDA if available" rendering option was available and I chose it. (No option appeared related to the inactive Intel chipset.)
Any thoughts on what I missed am doing wrong? I may not have remembered all the changes I made to settings on recommendations I saw in threads here. I gathered a lot of comments and tried to get this close to right from the beginning.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Wayne
I was limited in the card I could use because of space. My first purchase was the ASUS R9 290X-DC2OC-4GD5 but it did not come close to fitting and got returned.
Thanks to OldSmoke and others I had some understanding of the options either to boost Preview speed or Render speed. I decided to go for better PREVIEW performance (OpenCL support with AMD) and to just stock up on beer for when Renders were being done.
The best I could do was an ASUS R9 270 OC (R9270-DC2OC-2GD5) which I now have installed.
My System Specs on the Forum are now updated. I'm running Vegas Pro 13 64-bit Bld 428 on Win 7 Pro 64-bit.
I ran FurMark and the performance seems to really scream for this generation of card. Got GPU up to 100% utilization and watched the temp go up and the fans dig in to maintain. I didn't think to run FurMark before the upgrade so have no benchmark there.
With the on-board graphics NewBlue Titler Pro 3 refused to run due to wimpy on-board GPU. NewBlue Titler Pro 3 now runs following install of this new ASUS R9 270 OC card.
I've now invested a couple days of research and testing after the card install trying to optimize performance on VP13 Pro 64 bit on a current project. I'm not satisfied with the results and think I'm doing something(s) wrong and/or have a setting wrong or my expectations that are too high. I'm thinking it likely there is just very simple thing I have missed here.
After the ASUS card install the On-board Intel graphics looks to be disabled. The Intel graphics no longer shows up in the Device Manager. One oddity is that Sony AVC still gives me an option for QuickSync, which the Intel had, but no mention of of OpenCL or anything else. I find no setting in the BIOS or MoBo jumpers/switches to disable on-board video. And the Device Manager now only shows the new ASUS card. The Intel is gone.
First off, I'm trying to figure how to make sure the ASUS card driver is current. After install of the GPU with the included CD the "Device Properties" showed I was running driver v 14.201.1001.0.
I went to ASUS and downloaded then installed the latest driver package and GPU Monitor and Tweak. Device properties showed I was STILL RUNNING driver v 14.201.1001.0 ! I went searching and the best info I found was that the latest driver is a higher number, 14.501.1003.0 . This I found on Toms Hardware.
I repeated the download and install process a second time (defies logic I know) and Device Manager still reports I am running what seems to be the original driver. I may try the Update Driver option from the Device Manager and see if it finds a newer driver in what was downloaded. GOOGLE searches haven't uncovered any solutions, but I know this issue is not unprecedented.
So I'm trying to figure out how to get the driver updated if the Tom's Hardware info is correct, but that might have much effect on the results below. UPDATE: I just ran the Live Update from the ASUS GPU Tweak tool and it says the VBIOS version I have IS the latest.
I have had only one crash with VP13-64 bit Bld 428 since installing the new ASUS card. None at all prior.
TESTS:
My Test project source video for all the tests is Canon XA20 1920x1080 59.94P. Full frame, Resample disabled, no FX or CROP/PAN. Throughout the 8 minute video simple text from "Sony ProType Titler" fades up then back out. (Before the new ASUS card NewBlue Titler Pro 3 wouldn't run.) The project properties are 1920x1080x8 59.940p. Pixel format is 8-bit, Full Resolution Rendering is GOOD, Motion blur is Gaussian, and Adjust source media. . . is UNchecked.
Prefs/Video has Dynamic RAM Preview @ 200, 16 threads, and GPU Acceleration is "Advanced Micro Devices, Pitcairn" which appeared after the new card was installed. I have tested with "Video Preview" settings for "Display at project size" and "Simulate device aspect ratio" ON and OFF.
Preview is 1920x1080x32, 59.940p and the display is at 900x506x32 from running the SCS benchmark. I've tried a variety of Preview Quality settings (Best vs Good, Auto vs Full vs Half) with no impact.
I've run a bunch of tests with the new ASUS card, watched previews at various settings and timed some renders. These are the issues I'm left with:
1. DISPLAY FRAME RATE IN PREVIEW: In the Preview window I see a Display frame rate of 59.940 until the Sony ProType Titler comes up, then it rapidly drops to as low as 3 FPS. When the title goes away it zips up to 59.940. This is the SAME PERFORMANCE I was seeing with the on MoBo Intel chipset! So no improvement in Preview and that's what I was banking on. I tried simplifying the already simple title and performance still took a nose dive. Then I put in a simple title using NewBlue Titler Pro 3. During preview the frame rate stayed close to 59, not taking the dive I see with Sony ProType Titler. I even further simplified the font Sony ProType Titler to plain Arial, but the preview frame rate still collapsed.
The second part: RENDER TESTS This is where I didn't bank on a necessarily big improvement, but I wasn't expecting renders to take even longer than with the Intel on-board video support! I thought the more powerful GPU would provide some sort of incremental gains. Note that I did NOT yet Over-Clock the GPU or Memory.
2. I ran a series of Render timing tests (see below) using both the Sony and the MC render engines on the full 8 minute video. Some tests were run using options I didn't expect to work . . . but since nothing seemed to be working I decided to try them all! Grasping at straws here.
2a: 37:15 (MM:ss) is my reference Render time for the test video with SONY AVC to Internet HD 1080P using the on-motherboard Intel chipset BEFORE INSTALLING THE NEW ASUS R9 270 card. So far this is the best time!!!! (I either missed something here or have something bollixed up.)
2b. 37:59 (MM:ss) RENDER time using SONY AVC: In setting up the Render options "QUICK SYNC" appears in the dropdown. (That was an option with the Intel on-board graphics chip. But the Intel chipset no longer appears in the Device Manager so I don't see how I can disable it any further without prying it off the board :-) I selected "Use GPU if available"
2c. 48:08 (MM:ss) RENDER time using MainConcept AVC: "Use OpenCL if available" rendering option was available and I chose it. (No option appeared related to the inactive Intel chipset.)
2e. 49:18 (MM:ss) RENDER time using MainConcept AVC: "Use CUDA if available" rendering option was available and I chose it. (No option appeared related to the inactive Intel chipset.)
Any thoughts on what I missed am doing wrong? I may not have remembered all the changes I made to settings on recommendations I saw in threads here. I gathered a lot of comments and tried to get this close to right from the beginning.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Wayne