Any quad core CPU (Core 2, Phenom, i7 or Phenom II) will offer a huge performance increase over a Pentium dual core CPU. Pentium dual core CPUs are the lowest performance multicore CPUs on the totem pole (even Athlon 64 X2s will significantly outperform them).

I wouldn't rule out AMD's Phenoms. The lower prices on Phenoms, along with availability of low cost motherboards, with on-board graphics that can be quite adequate for most HD editing purposes (a more expensive graphics card won't really give you any better performance running Vegas), makes for competitive alternatives on a tight budget.

What, another new processor?
 

Jeff you mentioned a new processor coming just one year after the I7? WHere did you read that? I just don't find anything about that?

"Sandy Bridge" is Intel's next generation CPU. We may see "Sandy Bridge" sometime in 2010. One thing you can count on, is there's always a newer, faster, better processor over the next hill.

And you can also guarantee that Intel's new chip will NOT be backwards compatible with previous motherboards. AMD has always been much more kind to system upgraders. Given that their current line of chips, from the M2, M2+, M3, etc are all the same pins, and can have the newer chips placed in older MoBos (with bios updates) and still give you a speed boost. Intel on the other hand, almost always releases a new chipset, socket, AND a new CPU in a single wave so that P4 cannot have a Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Duo cannot have i7, etc etc.

well, guess what!
 

I'm going to have to forget about the Q9550, it is NOT supported by my ASUS board which is a P5W DH deluxe. That board doesn't handle well 45 architecture. I've messed up with the new processor for three days, pulled out a lot of my hair messing up with BIOS etc. I've put the old one, new one is going back to NEWEGG and I'm going to update either I7 road of the other one.
The sad thing for me is I wouldn't really need to update if Vegas 7e would be able to render my 75 minute long time line. It just can't and I assume my Intel E 6600 ( duo core 2.4) is not up to it. Or is it?
Larry

Duo core is virtually the same chip as a P4, which is not an improvement.

The Intel chip lineage is as follows: P4HT, Duo Core, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7

You should be able to pop a Q6600 or Q6700 in that board. You can pick up either, used, for well under $200 nowadays (on America's largest auction site). That would give you a huge boost in CPU power (from your current CPU).

Yes, apparently the Q6600 should work. I'm just afraid to change processor and face huge problem. there is always something going on and I'm in the middle of a project right now, but as it is now VEGAS 7 doesn't seem to be able to render 8 minutes of NEO HDV right now, with no JPEG in the time line, not stills at all. It has to be my processor?

Won't render at all?...or do you mean it's simply way too slow?

Btw, if you get a used Kentsfield, you might as well go for a Q6700 (roughly 10% faster than a Q6600). They seem to be auctioning off for almost the same cost.

Not to sway too much away from the thread, but are there any hardware based rendering cards that speed up rendering that work w/ Vegas?

Its seems like most of them are for H264 and for CS4/Final Cut...

I'd like to stay w/ Vegas but its tempting to see all of the goodies for the other programs.

Nope. A faster processor is the only way to speed things up in Vegas.

Robert, it crashes at some point, everything freezes.
I'm doing tonight a test. I'm going to select the area to be rendered, just the video stream ready to go to architect and see how it goes. Right now it says it's going to take 13 hours. THAT IS CRAZY!
I'm going to try to get one of those Q6700

If you're getting lots of crashes, you've got more problems than just a really slow CPU. How much memory is in the machine?

Newegg has a combo deal for a 3GHz Phenom II and motherboard. At $209.99, it could be a better alternative than popping a Q6600 or Q6700 in your current motherboard (would only cost about $50 more). A Phenom II 940 will outperform a Q6700. Also, the motherboard (in the combo) has on-board ATI graphics that support HD codec acceleration for playback (quite adequate for most HD editing purposes). You could either use your old video card, or use the on-board graphics (which might outperform your current video card - depending on what it is). I assume your current memory is DDR2, and if so you wouldn't need new memory (although that's cheap as dirt anyway - less than $40 will get you 4 gigs of good quality DDR2 memory).

Newegg Phenom II 940 and Motherboard Combo

Cheap, good quality DDR2 memory, if needed:

Newegg.com - Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS24G6400LLKN - Desktop Memory