New Computer Suitable for Stable use of Vegas 12

Jeff Harper · March 1st, 2013, 12:00 PM

There is no guarantee any computer will work flawlessly with Vegas 12. If you purchase a computer, and if you have issues, you will have to work them out.

It is likely that a generic build such as outlined by videoguys will work fine. All you can do is pay your money and take your chances.

Vegas works fine with most PCs. For best performance the key is to purchase the fastest processor you can afford; for HD, it is especially important that the files your are editing reside on a separate, fast drive such as listed in your specs from Videoguys.

People have issues with Vegas and Premier on any variety of builds. Go ahead and purchase the best you can reasonably afford, you'll likely be just fine. Bottom line is there are NO guarantees in this life or any other.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Ken Plotin · March 1st, 2013, 12:26 PM

The Z77 motherboard and unlocked 17 3770k processor are better choices in the Videoguys build.
Just my .02

Ken

Ilkka Pouhakka · March 1st, 2013, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Chapman

no SSD drive?...is it needed/make a difference?

I have never tried to render onto SSD. I only render onto HDD. But I doubt that it will make a huge difference to your rendering times.

Most noticeable differences are with Windows and program boot/shut down times. If you can stand much longer booting times, then I'd say to go with HDD and/or RAID 0 configuration. But I can guarantee that if you test SSD, you will never go back to using Windows from HDD.

Jeff Harper · March 1st, 2013, 12:39 PM

Re: HD speed: Hard drive speed does not affect rendering speed, there is not connection there. Hard drive speed affects system responsiveness. When video is located on a fast drive, the HD files will tend to playback smoother, given the processor is not the weak link in the chain.

I was editing this morning, a 4 camera edit. Footage was located on a typical 7200 rpm drive. It was sluggish in Vegas, jerky playback.

I moved footage to my fast editing drive, and it smoothed right out. This is how HD speed affects video editing.

David Johns · March 2nd, 2013, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Chapman

Some advice please from those of you running stable (just odd crash!) iterations of Vegas Pro 12. I am looking to have a new PC built for me to run Vegas 12..maybe with After Effects as well. Could you give me your specs

Ian, I gave up with having GPU acceleration switched on in Vegas 12 after trying it with both an AMD card, an nVidia card and now (in a new PC) another AMD card. It either makes no apparent difference to render / preview, or simply makes it unstable.

So when, last November, my old PC died, I just bought the fastest chip I could get for my budget.

It's an off-the-shelf Advent PC with i3770 at 3.4GHz, Windows 7 64-bit, 16GB RAM, 1 x 1 TB hard drive for Windows / programs, 1 x 2 TB hard drive for video (both 7200 rpm Seagates I think)

It runs splendidly, the only issue I had was that the drives were configured as the 2 TB being the system drive, so I first had to make the system backup DVDs as normal, then immediately format the drives, swap them over and re-install everything so as to make the 1 TB drive the system drive - I only have Vegas and other video stuff on there so I'll never need more than that.

The only downside of this PC is that it has very little expansion space but there's just enough for me to have a PCI Firewire card and a Blackmagic Intensity Pro for monitoring.

I've taken the drives out of my defunct PC, popped them into external USB3 cases and now use them as a backup drive and a Vegas temp drive.

It came fitted with a multi-card reader so I can read the CF cards from my Z5 and SDHC from my Panasonic "holiday-cam".

Cost me £750 I think.

Regards
David

Larry Secrest · March 5th, 2013, 08:32 PM

Absolutely, I built a computer to edit with Vegas back in 2008, according to the videoguys specs of that time and the thing is still running beautifully!
Three hard drive.
One for the OS, XP PRO
two in RAID 0 for work and capture
and plenty of external storage.
I'm still using it to edit today.
I'm not a pro.
Yes, I do have a Intel Q6700 and 4 Gig or ram so rendering of an hour project is slow, but hey, that's what nights are for. When I wake up in the morning it's done?
Playback only possible in preview when playing Cineform codec or HDV though.

I'm building a new system soon and it will be whatever the videoguys will have on their site at that time.

March 1st, 2013, 12:00 PM	#16
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: New Computer Suitable for Stable use of Vegas 12 There is no guarantee any computer will work flawlessly with Vegas 12. If you purchase a computer, and if you have issues, you will have to work them out. It is likely that a generic build such as outlined by videoguys will work fine. All you can do is pay your money and take your chances. Vegas works fine with most PCs. For best performance the key is to purchase the fastest processor you can afford; for HD, it is especially important that the files your are editing reside on a separate, fast drive such as listed in your specs from Videoguys. People have issues with Vegas and Premier on any variety of builds. Go ahead and purchase the best you can reasonably afford, you'll likely be just fine. Bottom line is there are NO guarantees in this life or any other. Good luck, keep us posted.

March 1st, 2013, 12:26 PM	#17
Ken Plotin Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 254	Re: New Computer Suitable for Stable use of Vegas 12 The Z77 motherboard and unlocked 17 3770k processor are better choices in the Videoguys build. Just my .02 Ken

March 1st, 2013, 12:39 PM	#19
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Re: New Computer Suitable for Stable use of Vegas 12 Re: HD speed: Hard drive speed does not affect rendering speed, there is not connection there. Hard drive speed affects system responsiveness. When video is located on a fast drive, the HD files will tend to playback smoother, given the processor is not the weak link in the chain. I was editing this morning, a 4 camera edit. Footage was located on a typical 7200 rpm drive. It was sluggish in Vegas, jerky playback. I moved footage to my fast editing drive, and it smoothed right out. This is how HD speed affects video editing.

March 5th, 2013, 08:32 PM	#21
Larry Secrest Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bethesda, MD Posts: 404	Re: New Computer Suitable for Stable use of Vegas 12 Absolutely, I built a computer to edit with Vegas back in 2008, according to the videoguys specs of that time and the thing is still running beautifully! Three hard drive. One for the OS, XP PRO two in RAID 0 for work and capture and plenty of external storage. I'm still using it to edit today. I'm not a pro. Yes, I do have a Intel Q6700 and 4 Gig or ram so rendering of an hour project is slow, but hey, that's what nights are for. When I wake up in the morning it's done? Playback only possible in preview when playing Cineform codec or HDV though. I'm building a new system soon and it will be whatever the videoguys will have on their site at that time.