New DIY PC For Sony Vegas 9.0
 

I purchased a used G-Technologies 8TB G-Speed ES Drive system on eBay, only to find out that I only have two PCI-E 1x slots available on my PC and the G-Speed has a PCI-E 4x card, so I think the only way I can use the hard drive system is to purchase an entirely new Motherboard, Processor, and RAM. I would appreciate your opinion on the following system (not enough, overkill, technical conflicts, etc.?). I will be editing video in VEGAS 9.0 from my Canon 5D MkII in HD. Here are the components with the NewEgg links:

Intel LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard (Newegg.com - Intel BOXDP55KG LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard)

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor (Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750)

16 GB TOTAL - Qty (2) Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory (Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BA1339) - 16 GB Total


THANKS!

Spiro,

That Intel-branded P55 motherboard is okay, but like all other LGA 1156/P55 platforms the DP55KG/i5-750 combo suffers from not having enough full-bandwidth PCIe 2.0 lanes for any serious editing work. With that motherboard, your G-RAID card will be forced to use either the PCIe x8 slot (which would drop the main PCIe x16 slot to x8 mode) or the half-bandwidth PCIe x4 slot (which would have only one-fourth of the total slot bandwidth of the PCIe x8 slot due to Intel artificially restricting the P55 PCH's PCIe hub to half of the full clock speed of the PCIe 2.0 bus). And newer PCIe RAID cards are now just beginning to out-transfer a PCIe 1.0 x4 slot. In addition, the DP55KG is somewhat pricey for a P55 motherboard which lacks both onboard SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 controllers (however, the DP55KG adds two internal SATA 3 Gbps ports controlled by a Marvell controller in addition to the six internal SATA 3 Gbps ports native to the P55 PCH).

Also, your choice of an i5-750 is less than ideal for a video editing system: It lacks HyperThreading, which adds four logical cores to the four physical cores (hence the four-core, eight-thread spec of the i7 processors). As such, the i5-7xx processors have four cores but only four threads.

For serious video editing you're better off with an X58 motherboard and an LGA 1366 processor like the i7-950. If you pick the 1366/X58 combo, make sure that you also purchase 12GB or more of RAM, especially if you are planning to purchase Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.

By the way, unless you're going to work directly with AVCHD footage Vegas 9 Pro does not take full advantage of even a three-year-old Core 2 Quad system, let anone an i5 or i7 system.

That’s really good information. Thank You. I didn’t know there were such differences between chipsets, but I suppose the differences do get exaggerated when you’re trying to push the limits of the systems. I did a little more research and did realize that the i7 processors were the preferred CPUs for video editing.

So, with regards to a X58 motherboard I found one Intel and one ASUS (see below). Will both of these motherboards accept an i7-870 processor and the Crucial RAM I’d listed in my first post without any problems? Looks like the ASUS has more room for RAM. Let me know if one motherboard is more preferred than the other. I also noticed that many are ditching the stock cooler that comes with the processor for the “Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus” unit. Does this really make a big difference?


Intel Board with 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 x PCI Express x4, 2 x PCI Express x1, and 1 x PCI Slot
Newegg.com - Intel Extreme Series BOXDX58SO LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard


ASUS Board with 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x8/x8 or x16/x16/x1 mode), 1 x PCI Express x1, and 2 x PCI Slots
Newegg.com - ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


Finally, you mentioned that Vegas 9.0 Pro would be unable to tap into the processing capabilities of an i7 processor. Is this due to limitations with Sony Vegas software? Or would updating to Vegas 10 help open up it’s processing capabilities? I will probably be getting Cineform Neoscene to convert the files from my Canon 5D MkII, to enable easier processing in post (i.e. Magic bullet’s Looks, etc.).

More input would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, Spiro, get 1366 Chipset. Both will work, but the 1366 is better for your files.

a few months ago I spent a lot of time studying options before building my new computer. I, too, would recommend an X58 MB. Look around for an i7-9?? - some are really cheap. I found a new 940 on Amazon for $225, and built the entire rig for less than $1000. I now run it at around 3.8 mHz. See details at

Sony Creative Software - Forums - Vegas Pro - Video Messages

I'm sorry I got the ECO RAM. It works, but I can't overclock it. After investing so much time reading and building, I'm also sorry I didn't go ahead and spend another $700 or so to get a 980x, which would have given me more than 50% faster speed. But my rig is 100% quirk free, so it's ok.

The i7-870, like other i7-8xx processors, are strictly LGA 1156. 1156 and 1366 are not directly compatible with one another. Among the current Core i7 processors on the market the only ones that are compatible with 1366 and X58 are (from least-expensive to most-expensive) the i7-950, i7-960, i7-970 and i7-980X. Older, lower-numbered CPUs i7-920, i7-930, i7-940, i7-965X and i7-975X are no longer in current production.

Second, Vegas 9 Pro was developed when the i7 processors were still on the drawing board at Intel. The fastest consumer/enthusiast CPUs on the market at the time of Vegas 9's development was a Socket LGA 775 Core 2 Extreme QX9650 and QX9770.

Sorry about this post being so long, but it seems like there are so many little details that need to be right, or I'll end up buying stuff and then returning it because it doesn't integrate with it's software .

So, I'll need to upgrade to Vegas 10 Pro once I get the system up to speed in order to take advantage of the upgraded hardware. I'll also go ahead and upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 (64Bit). Newegg has this OEM verion for $95: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems. Is there any benefit to using Windows 7 Pro versus the Home version for video editing purposes?

It looks like the Processor/MoBo combo I will go with will be the i7-950 with the Asus 1366/X58 Motherboard (Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950) (Newegg.com - ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard). The motherboard has (3) 16x PCIe slots, (1) 1x PCIe slot, and (1) standard PCI slot.

I'll be plugging in an ATI Radeon HD2600 XT video card (512MB GDDR3) into one of the 16x PCIe slots, the 4xPCIe Controller Card for my G-technologies G-Speed ES raid hard drive system into the other 16x PCIe slot (you can do that right?), my M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 card into the standard PCI slot, and my UAD-2 Audio plug-in PCIe 1x card into the PCIe 1x slot. I'll just be left with one open PCIe 16x slot. Does anyone see any conflict with adding all of these cards onto this motherboard like this??

Also, the motherboard says that it has 6-240pin, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066, 24MB Max, Triple Channel Supported. Does this mean I have to buy triple channel RAM? Like this one:

Newegg.com - Crucial 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT3KIT25664BA1067

Or will this one work with the motherboard?: Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BA1339

I'd hate to buy all this stuff for close to $1,000 and not have it work when I install it. I appreciate everyone's response and advice.


Thanks.

buy vegas 10, but park it until bugs are gone - it's generally not faster; search for "Vegas 10" in

Sony Creative Software - Forums - Vegas Pro - Video Messages

For 100% quirk-free editing, I use only 8c. But I always render in 9c-64 - it never fails. I only render in 32-bit (with 9c-32) when I have to produce an intermediate (Cineform or PicVideo) from an interlaced file that I need to deinterlace with the Mike Crash Smart Deinterlace (I only produce 60fps progressive now). Then I put that deinterlaced clip on the 8c timeline for inclusion in my project.

Win7-64 pro has few advantages (WinXP mode, which I don't like as much as the free VMware virtual machine), etc. I have pro, but use few of its benefits above what I could have gotten with home.

triple-channel ram? Yes - but make sure it's compatible (check ASUS website, or RAM manufacturer's website).

ATI cards now are excellent, but some animation apps still prefer nVidia (in case you might want to create some animations). The one I chose is a fairly good performer, and draws little power, and cheap.

The 950 does have some bandwidth benefits in additional to - perhaps - better speed than the 940; but speed is mainly a matter of luck/karma - some chips can be overclocked a lot without quirks, but others of the same designation can't. I'd recommend overclocking - I got 50% or so over stock speed and no quirks, and with acceptable temperatures with my good heatsink, but do it cautiously after reading a bit (the above link on my previous post covers the basics)

Could you elaborate ?

My experience with 8.0c and now 10 is that rendering speed scales rather nicely ( varies, depending on the codec ) with the number of cores, both real and virtual ..

Gregory, yes, you are right, the faster the processor, more cores, the faster Vegas will be, generally speaking.

I pulled up the acceptable RAM for the ASUS P6X58D motherboard and it has various manufacturers and types of RAM available. Is 1600 necessarily better or faster than 1333 RAM? Is there a manufacturer that is preferred?

Also, the board specs say that triple channel RAM is supported. I'm not sure what this is, but I'm assuming the board will support any kind of RAM including triple channel?

The motherboard has 6 RAM slots, so are there certain guidlines with regards to which slots need to be filled in a certain order or only filling an even instead of an odd number of slots casuing issues?

I was thinking of maxing the board out with RAM (24 MB), but from what I'm reading here it is overkill to do anything above 12MB (also, some people are saying they have 12MB but thier system is only reading 8MB, what's up with that?). I'm thinking 6 sticks of 1333 DDR3 2MB RAM would do the trick.

How does this look for the P6X58D board?: Newegg.com - Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT25664BA1339
Let me know if there are any other issues with regards to voltage, buffered/unbuffered/latency/etc that I should be concerned with.

Thanks.

I think this is the better Crucial RAM (I'm runing the DDR2 Ballistix in my current system).

Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BL25664BN1608

It is listed in the MoBo manual as being compatible. 6 Sticks for 12 MB total.

Or with this I can fill in only 3 of the 6 RAM slots and get 12MB RAM, while having the capability to add more at a later time. This specific Corsair model numberis not shown in the QVL for the ASUS P6X58D motherboard.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP12GX3M3A1600C9

I have just built one with that motherboard and an i7 950. It turned out my power supply was dead, so I will not be able to test it until the new power supply arrives. I did, however, put 24 gigabytes of 1333 DDR3 RAM into it because I downloaded the motherboard manual before I ordered all the parts and there it says the Intel spec prohibits using two 1600 memory sticks together (that is one in the blue slot and one in the adjacent black slot on the motherboard). So, at least in theory, you can only go with 1600 if you plan to fill only one half of the available memory slots, which would limit you to 12 Gig.

Twice as much memory is better than a slight increase in memory speed (1600 is only 1.2 times faster than 1333). That is because Windows always runs zillion processes in the background (mostly without your knowledge) and all of them consume memory. If you have less memory, Windows starts swapping processes from the memory to the hard drive and back all the time (again, mostly without your knowledge). And that takes more time than you gain by having faster memory but less of it.

Memory is relatively inexpensive in comparison with the cost of the rest of the things you need to build a computer. So it is always best to use as much memory as the motherboard allows. So, go with the 1333.

1. Yes, 1600 is better than lower speed. That was my main mistake when I built my rig. Rendering speed won't be enhanced, but preview playback without stutter is much enhanced, according to those who have done a lot more testing of RAM speed than I have.

2. Slots: yes, you need to populate according to your owner's manual - you can't expect good results if you have, say, three sticks and just put them wherever convenient.

3. More than 12 gb RAM surely is overkill - for now; but the future demands? who knows? I'd put in 3 sticks, as others have suggested, and leave the option open to add more at some future time (although when I built mine, I couldn't find 4-gb sticks for my MB, so had to populate all 6 slots).

Having said that, I once experimented with Win7-64bit and all worked, albeit slowly, with only 2 gb RAM!

After 6 gb, I really couldn't tell any difference, although when rendering heavy projects with lots of effects, most of the 6 gb got used, according to monitoring apps. - but I still could carry on other business, such as browse the web with VMware (using a Linux appliance), etc., while doing heavy-duty rendering. It only got slow when the CPU usage approached 100%. So: 6 gb probably is OK, 12 gb leaves lots of headroom - for now. In any case, buy your sticks in sets of 3 in order to get the benefit of DDR3.

Adam,

What RAM do you use specifically? I found this Crucial kit [Three Channel] (12GB 1333 DDR3 RAM): Newegg.com - Crucial 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Server Memory Model CT3KIT51272BB1339


Two of these would max me out at 24GB, but again it is not on the QLV (Qualified Vendors List) for this motherboard. Do I risk it and go for it?

Man, $362 for 12GB seems high!

Thanks.

I got G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T-12GBRL. I ordered one set of three first to test they will fit next to each other (they seemed thick on the photo). When they came, they fit in nicely, so I ordered another set of three.

No, it is not in the motherboard manual, but it fits the specs (especially the part of needing less that 1.65 V, which the manual emphasized as very important), plus the manual says it can figure out how to work with just about any memory. I do not expect any trouble, but I will only be able to tell whether/how it works once I get my power supply. Newegg has yet to ship it, unfortunately, so I will not receive it until next week.

Personally, I try very hard to only buy Kingston RAM. Not only do I think that they're some of the best, but I have the greatest respect for John Tu and David Sun and the way they run their business and look after their employees. If more companies followed their example, not only do I think we'd have much better companies overall, but working for them would be far more rewarding.

However, sometimes those value RAM packs are hard to beat though.

I also use gskill. It's the best value I have found. I've used Corsair, Crucial and Kingston..fine stuff, but overkill for my purposes. I overclock 2.67 to 3.5 and the ram works perfectly. 2nd PC with gskill and I'm a happy camper.

There may be some advantages with the bigger names I'm missing out on, but I don't know what that is.

Well, I went ahead and placed the order for the following items:

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950

ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme Universal CPU Cooler 120mm Magnetic Fluid Dynamic LED Fan and Fan Controller/Heatsink Rev.1 with TX-3 & 1156 Brackets

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound – OEM

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP12GX3M3A1600C9

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders – OEM


I hope everything works out ok. Thanks to everyone for their great comments and input.

You also need a power supply, Spiro.

unstable power supply voltages are a major cause of system instability during render. Usually, the 80%+ (efficiency) power supplies probably are better built than the cheap ones - but efficiency is not necessarily related to voltage regulation.

Corsair power supples generally are considered good just now; I put one in my last computer and it has proved its extra cost. I previously had an off-brand with good specs, but it went bad in a year or so.

This time again I got an off-brand with good specs (and bargain price, with excellent case); works well, but for how long?

Spiro, I run two power supplies, one for the hard drives only and one for everything else. I'll never go back to running just one. It makes for a nice, stable setup.

I didn't think to check if my existing power supply would be enough. I believe it's a Zalman power supply (not sure of the KW), and I remember that I went with more than I needed at the time (2 years ago), so I'll have to check to see if it's enough. My current power supply was powering an Intel Dual Core Processor with 4GMB of RAM and three hard drives.

This time I'll have two internal drives, and will be running an externally powered G-Technologies G-Speed ES Hard Drive Raid Array system (via a PCIe card). Will also be runing the ATI Video Card, a UAD-2 Duo Card (for music mixing plug-ins), an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 sound card, an a DVD Burner. Do you guys know roughly what I'll need to run this system with regards to power?


Thanks!

750 should be more than sufficient. If you have an extra few $$ get 1000 or 1200 and you'll never have to worry about it again.

OK, here's what I currently have for a power supply. It's a 600W Rosewill, not Zalman. Let me know if you guys think this will run the system i just purchased:

Newegg.com - Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W ATX12V v2.01 SLI Ready Power Supply

Thanks!

I have had this Rosewill PSU in one of my PC's for a couple of years now.

Newegg.com - Rosewill Libertas Series LIB-650 650W Continuous @40°C,80 PLUS Certified, Full Modular, ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.92,SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active PFC, Compatible with Core i7, i5 Power Supply

$20 more, but you might find the modular style well worth it...

If not, I believe your choice is fine.

600 should work. The funny thing about power supply is when you have issues with being underpowered it shows up a strange ways that you cannot alway pinpoint. Happened to me with a 550 long ago.

600 should work fine. I wouldn't go that low, but that I'm a fanatic on having headroom.

Newegg and corsair have PSU calculators. Use them both and figure it out that way. Alway go higher rather than lower and you'll be fine.

You're also missing a Video Card. A GTX 460 1GB should be decent enough for games and editing.

A Corsair HX650 is what I use, and it hasn't failed me yet, even after accidentally shorting it and it's internal protection kicked in.

750w should only be for if you're planning a higher overclock.

Hey Jack,

This is the video card I'll be using (Carrying it over from the PC I'm upgrading):

ATI Radeon? HD 2600 Series Overview

I think that should be enough to run HD video via Vegas Pro.

Thanks!

I have a 750 W and even that went bad in less than a year. But the replacement I ordered is also a 750 W (Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply). The one thing that tends to consume a lot of power is a gamer's video card. That is why I bought a low-power video card (Newegg.com - ZOTAC ZT-40602-10L GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card). It is an nVidia card, which is important because Vegas 10 supports CUDA, i.e., it will use the GPU for parallel processing, which speeds everything up by a factor of anywhere between 6-100 times (that is why I am surprised you opted for the 1600 memory which is only 1.20 times faster than 1333 and sacrificed the amount of memory, while you are talking about an ATI video card, which offers no speedup as opposed to an nVidia card which would make Vegas fly regardless of what memory speed you use).

The nVidia GPU (CUDA) offers parallel processing. That means that instead of doing the math on one pixel at a time, Vegas can work on a large number of pixels simultaneously (how large depends on which nVidia chip the video card has). So the difference in speed should be considerable. I am saying "should" because, as mentioned, I am still waiting for a new power supply, so I can only speak in theory when it comes to CUDA. But I have been computing since 1965, long before the personal computer made computing an everyday thing, so I do have some experience when it comes to computers. ;)

I repeat, it is better to have more memory than to have slightly faster memory. I would go with at least 750 W in the power supply. If you plan on having two video cards in the future, I would get a 1000 W power supply. And I would forget the ATI video card and get an nVidia card with CUDA. It does not have to be an expensive card (unless you are a gamer), just an inexpensive nVidia card with CUDA.

Also note that there are now two types of CUDA cards, version 1.xx (Tesla) and the new 2.xx (Fermi). Fermi can do 64-bit processing, while Tesla is a 32-bit family of chips. That is not the only difference, as Fermi can do other things that the old Tesla cards cannot. I do not know if Vegas is taking advantage of Fermi right now, but I certainly expect them to in the future. Of course, Fermi can also do everything Tesla can. ATI cards can do neither.

Spiro should select his power supply based on the amount required to run what will be in his case (plus external HDs of course) .........I have 1500 watts, I'm not going to tell him that is what he needs.

I agree 750 is better but I suspect he can get by with 600. He should use a PSU calculator to be sure. It is better to have too much than too little. I recommend Spiro should use a PSU calculator and base his decision on those results, and then get an extra 50-100 watts over that.

If this is a carry-over card, then it should be fine. If you were buying new though, I wouldn't look at an ATI lower than the 5XXX series (Evergreen chipset or better, not the RV710). The Evergreen chipset supports things like sub-32bit memory access, that really are needed

Or, if you want CUDA now, you can look at the nVidia cards. It has reasonable support right now, but it is specific to that one hardware vendor. However, Vegas support is minimal at best, only encoded AVCHD.

ATI, Intel and nVidia all have a decent level of OpenCL support now, and it's getting wider and tuned all the time. It offers many advantages over CUDA (support for SSE/SSE2/SSE3 and Multi-Procs), as well as a few disadvantages. Eventually though, OpenCL will surpass CUDA as a GPGPU standard.

Adam,

I'll definitely take a look at the Nvidia cards. I'll also look into getting an extra 12GB of RAM to max out the system. I thought I read somewhere that 12GB was more than enough to run video editing on Vegas, so I went ahead and picked up 12GB of the 1600 RAM. More is always better, so I'll see about getting that extra 12GB.

Jeff,

I definitely use the watt calculator to see what power supply I'll need and overshoot it by a couple hundred watts.

Thanks!

My current video card has two DVI ports, so will I need two of the ZOTAC ZT-40602-10L GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) cards to get dual monitor capability? I only have one monitor now (HP W2408 24" ), and I never really got into using Vegas at all with my first system, so I'm not sure how important it will be to have two monitors for basic editing. I've heard those who have used it cannot go back to a single monitor. I also don't have anymore room on my workstation for another monitor. Should I do whatever needs to be done to get a second monitor?

Thanks.

You do not need a second monitor. I've been editing full time for years now with a single monitor. Keep it simple. Your 24 inch is more than sufficient. I've had a 30" and used it with a second monitor...it was too much. I downsized to a single 24 and it is perfect.

I've got a 22 and a 24. The 22 is normally the full screen srgb external monitor.
I really cant go back to one now, especially when color correcting and pushing levels, if its a small preview (like on my laptop or imac) I miss things, then after rendering you see it and end up going backwards.
but thats just me, if your eyes are good enough to use a small preview, you're lucky, but i cant.
cheers guys.

I don't know Gerald. A small preview window is only necessary if you don't know how to resize your preview window, which I'm sure Spiro does. Two monitors is nice, but please let's remember Sprio has specifically said he is doing basic editing. I don't see the need to push bigger and better when he clearly doesn't need it. He also says he doesn't have room for a second monitor.

I edit full time 5 days a week with a single monitor with no issues. I personally like to keep the focus on what is in front of me, rather than having to turn my head all day long, but that is just me.

Two monitors are nice if you have room and the extra money, but certainly not necessary.

Below is a screen shot of my entire desktop, and I always keep my preview window at that size, even with a four camera edit.

No! The GT 430 supports two monitors at the same time (according to the specs). One is DVI, the other HDMI. Most DVI monitors also accept HDMI, or you could get a simple HDMI to DVI cable or adapter (e.g., http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/572493-REG/Iogear_GHDMIFDVIMW6_HDMI_Female_to_DVI.html).

If you have a good CPU (such as the 950), most folks find little benefit by using the GPU option in Vegas 10, as noted it this thread which appeared yesterday:

Sony Creative Software - Forums - Vegas Pro - Video Messages

Also please note that Vegas 10 is slower than V9. However, preview is better for certain types of .MP4 clips - a moot point for me, as I always use Cineform intermediates.

Regarding 2 monitors: I used 2 for several years in my editing office where I stood up all day to do my work. A couple of years ago, I got tired of standing up all day and set up 2 terminals so that I could sit down some of the time. Doing so meant giving up one of my monitors - and I miss it.

For the final pass on a project, I still watch it full screen - I simply catch more flaws that way than I can with using less than full 1920x1080, especially such things as deinterlace artifacts . . .

Which video card? Even my cheap, low-power consumption GT-240 provides dual output. It's plenty fast for video editing, and for rendering, the GPU feature in V10 offers no advantage as I'm almost always rendering to Cineform, including the final. From there I can degrade the 60p down to DVD with TMPGenc, or to 24p .MP4 in Vegas (still pretty fast just with the nearly 4-ghz CPU and no FX at all)