Vegas+z170 mobos+Win 7

[Ken Plotin]

Hi All,
I'm finally building a new PC for video editing/GFX (Vegas).
Since I will also need legacy support for Firewire(1394a), I'll need to use Windows 7 since firewire support has been removed from win 10. I also don't like the lack of user control with 10, as reported on many forums.

So: Should I go with an older i7 4790k cpu and z97 motherboard or try the very uncomfortable procedure of getting Win 7 to work with the newer 6700k Skylake cpu and z170 mobos?

I'm not editing 4k, but do use 1080P files and sometimes integrate DVX dv footage.
The research I've done doesn't seem to show a significant difference in rendering a variety of video files
between the two processors, but I'd like to hear some real world experience with Vegas (10 and 11).

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ken

[George Dean]

Hi Ken,

Not much real world experience to offer on your specific comparison. Just wanted to add, Vegas likes cores and threads. I run Vegas 13 on an X99-IIa board and i7-6800K Broadwell-E, overclocked to about 4.00 GHz, 6 core/12 threads (budget build!).

If I'm not mistaken the Skylake is 4 core/8 threads. I think for single core processing the Broadwell offers no advantage to the Skylake. However, it is always recommended for Vegas to run on as many cores as you can afford. The 6800K runs about $80 more than the 6700K, which may provide a substantial advantage using Vegas, for just a few bucks more.

I'm running 64 Gb memory with a SSD C: drive for Vegas and several HDD for pulling the source and rendering. It will run 1080p source and FX at full 29.970 fps preview speed, and run Cineform 4K UHD intermediates at full 29.970. It's not enough to classify as a hefty 4K box as a few FX will pull it down, but I can get by with it. Just some thoughts, and sorry I can't be of more specific help.

BTW: When I purchased this build, my soul purpose at the time was to upgrade to something that would do a good job with Vegas and 1080p, nothing more, so I could to stick to a reasonable budget. Less than 3 months later I find myself processing 4K source media. If I had known then, that I would be upgrading cameras, I would have went with an 8 core/16 thread build. Funny how sometimes things change on us when we least expect it!!

[Ken Plotin]

Thanks George.

I looked at the x99/6800k combo early on, but found that it would add at least couple of hundred to my budget. :(

Like yourself, I'll be using an SSD drive for OS and programs. Also source, render and backup WD Black 7200rpm drives.
Whichever chipset I ultimately choose, I'll hopefully be using all 4 cores/8threads with Vegas...I'll upgrade to Pro 13 64 bit. The current prices for mobos, CPUs and RAM are nearly identical, so since I'll be going with Win 7 pro 64, the deciding factor is gonna be "which mobo will my often used legacy 32 bit programs run best on".

The choices were never this hard when I built my 13 year old Pentium 4 1.8gz system for plain old dv.

Thanks again for your input.
Ken

[George Dean]

I agree Ken, it seems 13 years ago things were a bit simpler, and I'm a bit confused on all the options and how they effect the programs I use. I am using Windows 7 and plan to remain with it as long as practical, but I run very few 32 bit programs. The ones I do run work as well as they did on XP.

Good luck with your decision. I would be interested in how it all works out.

[Jack Zhang]

Avoid Kaby Lake. MS is purposely not supporting Win 7 and Win 8.1 on Kaby Lake. It's their subtle way of forcing everyone onto Windows 10.

If you're concerned about the recent Windows 7 update stupidity, get an older processor and do not install the "rollup" updates cause they have the "optional" stuff for telemetry.

[Leslie Wand]

well we've some a long way since my spectrum zx and the salesman of my first pc assuring me that the 8008 was going to last me a lifetime....

i think we're now bombarded with so much info on every detail of every component that we simply suffer info overload that causes panic / fear / paralysis in our thinking / planning.

for many, many years i used a mac for editing, then started building my own pc boxes when decent nle software would run on it. back then i would be guided by perhaps videoguys builds and what i read on the various forums.

i've had enough of all that now - i simply buy hp workstations with the 2nd best nvidia card at the time, though i might move to amd now that cuda is fading away.

i used to upgrade every three years, now it's four, and have yet to be persuaded that any dslr rig is going to be as practical as a dedicated camcorder.

i still make a good living from video production but as i get older the less i care about technology and the more i treasure my leisure time.

finally, i've been doing this for so long i really don't care if i have to work with than less than real-time full resolution cause i know what it's going to look like, and i don't need to sit next to my pc while it renders...

as for os - i go with the flow. i hate change and always wait a year before upgrading to the newest os but I DO upgrade since i can't see ANY manufacturer designing / testing on an obsolete os.

[Dave Baker]

I also don't like the lack of user control with 10, as reported on many forums

Windows 10 Pro gives the option to turn off all the telemetry stuff including the keylogger in the corporate preferences section, it also allows users to delay updates until a more convenient time, but not stop them altogether.

[Paul Anderegg]

Windows 7 is a PITA to install on an M2 NVME SSD drive, just a heads up.

Paul