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Sony Vegas: What’s the most stable setup in terms of Hardware/codecs/drivers?
Hi all,
I am very new to this forum, and before posting for the first time I have tried to search for a similar question, and didn’t find any.
I bought a new PC earlier this year, with the next configuration:
Processor Vendor: AMD
Processor Type: ExtremeCPU
Processor Speed: 4.10 GHz
Processors Number: 4
RAM: 16GB
Memory Type: DDR3 SDRAM
HDD: 2000 GB
HDD Type: SATA3
HDD Interface: Serial ATA-600
GPU: ATI RADEON HD 8670D (onBoard ATI RADEON HD 8670D Graphics DVI – HDMI – VGA Adapter)
GPU Memory Type: VRAM (1024 MB)
2 Monitors
Windows 8 (updated)I thought it would be a nice setup to start playing around with Sony Vegas, but I’ve had a really bad experience with several versions. I had Vegas 11, then upgraded to 13. The reason to upgrade was that it was extremely unstable with my previous PC, and I just decided to go for the newest version + new hardware. It works fairly well now, I must say, but still I get random crashes too often. When it happens, I loose all my work, autosave barely rescues anything.
I was wondering if it’s my specific set up. All of my drivers are up to date. I keep my OS also updated all the time, and I haven’t installed spooky codec packs or anything. I don’t know what else to try, Sony doesn’t really help me, they keep asking for logs and telling me to upgrade to the next build, but honestly, I am sick of that.
So my question is: do you see anything in my configuration that you know it’s problematic? Maybe it’s Windows 8? Or the external monitor? Or is it the GPU or its software? (ATI Catalyst)?
If anyone has been able to figure out what could not work well with Vegas, please, I would love to hear about it. I love the software, much more than Final Cut X, but I can’t waste any more time and effort. Every time it freezes or crashes, I don’t just loose time, but also motivation to keep using it. It’s really frustrating…
Thank you all in advance,
Luis Serrano
https://www.luisnomad.com -
10 Replies
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ATI drivers are know for being “temperamental”, new is not always better. Plus, newer video cards do not work as expected in Sony Vegas:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/24/982578#983058
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Thank you Sorin.
So, I wonder if I could have one of those “old” cards in my PC, on top of the existing one, and then configure Vegas to ignore the newest, less stable GPU. Would that work?
Cheers,
Luis
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If you have any of those listed by MainConcept (see the above thread), it would work best.
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It’s an ATI Radeon HD3650… Maybe a little bit too old? I can try anyway!
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No, too old.
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I’m not sure, but I do not think the HD 3650 has OpenCL acceleration. I had an HD 4850 and I remember ATI/AMD not supporting the card and I believe lack of OpenCL was the reason.
Depending on your budget, I would recommend the following card if you are in the US:
This is an older card (actually same generation as your CPU), but it is the most powerful officially supported card. My R9 280x (unsupported) is working fine and accelerated both timeline and rendering however.
The 8670D is probably above the HD 3650 in performance, although you can try using it. Vegas used to crash a lot with my system before. Changing dynamic preview to 0MB solved the issue for me. You can try that out. I also believe your 8670D is prior to GCN meaning that Vegas should support it.
Hope some of this helps!
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Hi Heinrich,
Thank you so much for the tip. Unfortunately, I live in Spain, and this item can’t be shipped to my country. However, I should be able to find it somewhere else. The hard part is knowing which one, so thank you again for your help.
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Some eBay auctions ship in Spain.
You can get an Fermi-generation Quadro 2000, 4000, or GTX 400 series, or one of the ATI cards listed in my previous post. -
In my opinion, your AMD cpu is the main cause of your stability. I have never seen an AMD cpu perform well in any video editing-oriented tests.
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The Fermi cards are nice. I like the GTX 570/580 myself, but those are $300+ now and need a lot of power. Speaking of which, it is possible your power supply is not strong enough and causing components to fail. It is unlikely, but possible because Vegas will stress your entire system. I do not think a GPU upgrade is necessary. Vegas runs better on OpenCL and your 8670D should be good enough. If you upgrade, you would need a mid-high end GPU and that will cost a lot of money.
What is the actual CPU model? Download an run CPUz: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
I assumed you have an A10 7850, but I could be wrong. The A10 7850 is not AMD’s most powerful CPU. It is essentially a Dual Core with hyperthreading. I would put it equivalent to an i3. AMD FX CPUs are still their strongest and I have only worked with an FX 8320 (no issues with that CPU).
Have you tried the dynamic RAM setting? It is more likely related to a setting in Vegas rather than a component or driver.
Catalyst Control Center is not necessary to have installed, but should not cause a crash. Uninstall if you can, but don’t worry if you can’t.
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