Upgrade Time and Confused!
 

I am ready to upgrade my PC and I have read so many comments on the best way to go, I am thoroughly confused.

I presently run Vegas8.0C 8 bit on a 32 bit XP machine. I edit mostly standard DV, but have started editing HDV and AVCHD(use Neoscene to convert). I am planning on upgrading to an i7, but that is where the questions begin:

1. Do I need to upgrade to i7 860 or 920?
2. Do I want to stay on XP? 32 bit or 64 bit?
3. Do I move up to Windows7, 32 bit or 64 bit?
4. Should the system have more than the 2 Gig memory as suggested by Sony?
5. Are there any improvements in the later versions of Vegas that suggest I upgrade to 9?

I plan on building the system, so I don't fear hardware He!!.

I have read that the 860 is more economical, but at what expense of performance?
What is the real benefit of converting to Vegas 64 bit?
If I convert to Vegas 64 bit, will I be able to review my old files?

Sure could use some expert guidance.

Chris

As long as any plug-ins you use also have a 64-bit version, yes you will.

Personally, I'd move to Win7-64 bit at this time. Your VEG files are sharable between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. I like the 64-bit version - just be aware that not all plugins work in the 64-bit version. I don't know if you have any plugins that fit that category.

I didn't like Vegas Pro 8.1 as it had many issues for me. However the 64-bit version of Vegas Pro 9 resolved the specific issues I had (i.e. 8.1 would not print to tape to my DV deck and 9 does)

I would also get more that 2Gig of ram - especially if running Win7-64. Even the 32-bit version of Vegas can access up to 2Gig so you'd have additional memory for any other applications that are running.

More Memory
 

Edward,

If I chose the i7 920 with triple channel memory, does that mean to use 6Gigs of ram?

I'm not a chip person but I would say the two would not correlate that way.