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Additional DRAM
Awhile back I read that adding additional DRAM above 16GB would not help Vegas Pro run faster or smoother. Has this changed now that we are on V16? Here is my PC setup:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Intel Core i7 3820 @ 3.60GHz, Sandy Bridge-E 32nm Technology CPU
MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) (MS-7760) (SOCKET 0) Motherboard
1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series (ATI)Video Card
DRAM: Amount 16GB (4–4GB Modules) Type DDR3, DRAM Frequency 666.5 MHzWould adding 16GB more DRAM provide any more speed or smoother video during editing? With Black Friday on the horizon, I’ll be on the lookout if it will help.
Thank you in advance.
Rich Kutnick
VIDEO IMPRESSIONS -
6 Replies
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This probably depends on how well configured your current config is running?
Memory tips are:
Run the max freq your system can run with in a stable fashion. (i7-3820 – DDR3 1066/1333/1600 – some boards support higher overclocking=instability Test Test Test)
Single Rank memory is better
Most desktop boards will not operate in dual-channel mode with all slots filled. Especially if any DIMMs are different types. Run WinSAT mem and verify your memory bandwidth is operating at dual channel mode.
Windows will use extra memory as cache. You can read info from disk at couple hundred MB/s, or pull from memory at 50GB/s with a lot lower latency.
Memory bandwidth is the most noticeable stat, with system stability being king. You should be able to run MemTest through 3-10 complete passes with ZERO errors.
I think if you follow the first two suggestions, you will quickly see the limits of your current architecture.
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Thanks for the thorough explanation, Aaron. Unfortunately, it is a bit above my head and I am not sure EXACTLY what you are suggesting that I do. I would say that I am not a computer expert such as yourself, but rather a somewhat advanced and informed user. That being said, can you offer me a bit of a dumbed-down version of a response that will answer my question better along the lines of layman’s terms? I only want to know if adding an additional 16GB RAM will help smooth out my Vegas Pro usage a bit and in general terms make my PC run a bit smoother/faster. I think that my computer IS running at its peak, given what’s under the hood, but if adding the RAM will enhance its usage I definitely will consider doing so. So is there a somewhat simple answer here, or do I need to dig deeper? If the latter, I need to know how and where to look. Thank you in advance.
Rich Kutnick
VIDEO IMPRESSIONS -
Rich,
For starters, you can look at system usage while your worst case Vegas activity is running (I assume render?).The way to do this is start task manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) and look for the “Performance” display (In Windows 7 it is a tab). The performance display will show CPU usage and memory usage. If CPU is up near 80 to 90% or above, then that is your bottleneck. If CPU is lower, then the two possibilities are disk throughput or RAM. RAM is less likely since you have a fair amount.
Task manager will show you a graph of RAM usage and also a text display of “Available” physical memory. If available RAM is well above 0 (say a gig or more), then more RAM won’t help. If you use W10, the task manager is reformatted, but you should be able to find CPU and RAM somewhere.
Bill
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Hey, Bill, I’m now testing playback of HD 60p footage on my timeline. I have it on BEST FULL, which usually has smooth audio but jerky video. Funny, now that I am testing it the video is as smooth as silk–go figure!! Anyway , my CPU utilization fluctuates between 40-60% (no problem, apparently), but my Memory In Use (compressed) is 13GB of 16 GB. So it appears that my memory is being taxed, correct? If so, then, will more memory (16GB more, to be precise) help me (that is, when the playback once again becomes jerky)?
This really is unusual, now, for I normally need to playback in Preview FULL for smooth playback (and Vegas Pro the only program running), but today I am experiencing smooth playback when I also am logged into Chrome and have two email accounts open as well as polling for new email. So how is this explained??
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Rich Kutnick
VIDEO IMPRESSIONS -
Normally, 13G physical used of 16G seems to leave a lot unused (unneeded). But I’m wondering how much of that memory is “compressed” and what the complexity is as Windows moves memory to and from the compressed area.
If your CPU never goes above 60% and your memory never goes above 13G, then it sounds like disk I/O, i.e. reading the source files and writing the output file (when rendering), could be a bottleneck when your preview doesn’t work well. Of course it sounds like it is working well in your present scenario. Your browser may use a little CPU, RAM, and network bandwidth, but probably not much disk I/O in your latest scenario. If some of your video source is on a networked drive, that could slow things down.
Bottom line, although RAM is probably the cheapest and easiest upgrade, it isn’t often helpful above 16G with just video.
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Questions:
What is “media info”(its an app) for the media on the timeline, and what is the source that is generating it?
Can you post a snap shot of your project settings?
Is the 5800 GPU a 5850 or 5870? if you do not know something like GPU-Z or Speccy can help with this.
Are there any other additional cards installed in the PC?
Is your dynamic ram setting under preferences set to default?
You should really do some research on how changing the Preview selector is impacting your playback. You should do most editing in Preview Auto or preview Half. The difference between good and Best applies different scalers, and requires the pc to be more ridged on doing all the math for every frame (even if the preview window is scaled below HD.) Stable playback is more desirable than pristine footage when editing. Rest assured that once rendered that the quality will be there. You can switch to Best FULL to get a full representation when judging focus or graphics.
- Preview Auto will adjust to the preview window size and render what is needed.
- Best Full asks that all frames be rendered to full res no matter what the preview window size is, while using the most complex scaler that is more mathematically challenging.
60P HD will be 2x as hard to playback as 30p, seems people do not really understand this. The project media and settings all need to be in alignment, and the monitor refreshing faster than 60HZ. If not Vegas will attempting to compensate which generally means dropped frames (poor playback.)
Memory: most people only look at used vs free memory. Windows 8-10 have more modern memory architecture and can use excess RAM as caching. Caching speeds up access to files most utilized. What files in your Vegas project/timeline are most utilized and how big are they?
Here are some other things to try but they are complex:
1- Disable window 10 memory compression if you have 16GB or more. This will eliminate overhead.
https://superuser.com/questions/1000485/how-to-disable-windows-10-memory-compression2- Verify your GPU is operating at 16X interface speeds, and not sharing bandwidth with another addon board.
3 – Verify your memory bandwidth is operating at optimal speed by executing “WinSAT mem” from and admin command prompt.
Beyond this, you may need a bigger horse to carry your workload.
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