Thanks for your reply. Actually my son will be using it, I am just going to have the system built for him. He plans on doing weddings and maybe start getting into local commercials etc..

He has worked in Radio for 4 years and is in his 3rd year at the local television station. He has anchored the news broadcast and now he just fills in. He has gone out and shot local things such as Sporting events, local government meatings etc. He has duties of editing and writing news stuff and he also directs at times. He is getting close to getting his degree in media journalism? Have not got the exact name for that as it changed this last year.

Anyway, that is what he is up to and I said I would work on the computer part of it because out of all of this he does not know what go's inside. I am not much smarter but I am a little.

Yes, I want compatible parts and that is the reason for this thread. Any input would be great.

Thanks again,

uno

I carefully read reviews over at Tom's Hardare, AnandTech, etc, before I upgraded my system. The conclusion - an RDRAM based system with an Intel Hyperthreading processor is still the fastest single processor system out there. Here's my current system;

Asus P4T533-c Motherboard
Intel 3.06 GHZ P4 processor
512k PC1066 RDRAM (1 Gig would be best)
Sony DRU500a DVD Writer (writes all formats DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Nvidia Geforce 2 GTS (this is an older card. I'll be upgrading to the new high end ATI board when it soon becomes available)
WD 120GB 7200rpm 8MB cache
Maxtor 40gb 7200rpm

You can get as fancy or as simple as you want. Some people are running Vegas on sub-1GHz processors and 10GB hard drives. In fact, a lot of people run it on laptops, which are not exactly on the leading-edge when it comes to raw horsepower.

Just keep in mind that every hour of raw video you want to store on the sytem eats up 13GB. Beyond that, the only thing extra horsepower in the PC box gets you is a reduction in rendering time. Unless you are doing a remake of Ben Hur, rendering time is no big deal. I suggest you first get your feet wet and then over time you will know whether you need more "oomph."

Riredale:
I concur with your advice. I think its great that the boy is already making inroads into the business of his choice - hands on experience in all facets - personal contacts in the business, etc.

That he has decided on Vegas to edit his video is another right move (I'm sure Dad has been instrumental in all of this as well).

Since one of Vegas' strengths is that it isn't tethered to cutting edge hardware requirements, if I were purchasing (or building) a machine for this purpose (especially, as the writer professes to know barely more than his boy about the inner workings of a computer), I'd either stick to one of the major brands, or follow the advice of a trusted local clone builder in selecting components.

Again, one can't develop a feel for how truly efficient Vegas is when it comes to hardware. I'm one of those running sub0-1mhz (I run a 900 mhz machine). My projects typically run 2 to 3 hours and involve four or more combined video/audio tracks.

I'm guessing a faster machine with more ram (I only have 128 MB/100 mhz frontside) might improve my "real time" preview or external monitor preview, but, though a bit jerky at times, they are more than adequate for me to evaluate the bulk of the effects I use (and, if this young man is getting into video-journalism, he will most likely not be concentrating on special effects that much - weddings might be another story).

In any event, Vegas can handle some real eye-opening editing tasks without requiring a fancy machine.

I would recommend a system with plenty of storage and, while nearly all drives these days are coming in at 7200 RPM or better, half my external drives run at 5400 rpm and Vegas works just as well witht them as it does with my 7200 RPM drives. Vegas doesn't make great demands on your video card, so, unless you have some other reason to want to upgrade in that area, I'd say buy a 'puter with decent buit-in graphics capability and spend the extra money on storage space or additional RAM.

I think it would be a shame to build some souped up custom box that might actually hinder the boy's progress if it is plagued with incompatible hardware or competing drivers, etc.

I'm no expert at the hardware side by any means, but I enjoy Vegas immensely, and it gets the job done for me regularly, and I haven't had to replace my system to get there.

Good luck, Dad, and also best wishes to your son. I hope you both enjoy this growing experience.

Caruso

Thanks again for the help. Yes, I will have a local guy put one together. When we had our Gig Rig for our dj stuff put together I kind of went through this same process. I found out in a message board such as this that certain motherboards and certain chip sets did not work well with the software we wanted to buy. We also had them put the DDRam instead of the regular. That might not be the letters for it but most of you probably know what I am talking about. We did what looked like worked together the best and we took the info from great people like you guy's and gals on here.

Anyway, we have never had a problem with our Gig Rig and I think that is part of the reason for it.


Thanks again,

uno

Reading through the posts here I see no one really answered your question.
In all of the posts that I have read I have not seen any issue with hardware/VV conflicts. VV is a good solid piece of work and very tolerant of hardware.
I would agree about the storage issue. Big hard drives are your friend. Other then that let your wallet be your guide. You DON'T have to buy the latest greatest.
Good luck, and welcome.

Not to be evasive about recommendations. I can only tell you what I use,, I have a amd 1.33 gighz machine with 512 mem and two hard drives the one dedicated to video is 89 gig. This system works fine for me, it does take some time to rended and I think the most important thing is to realize that during rendering you lose the use of the computer. I kept my old computer when I had this one built and it is perfect for letters, games, and internet browsing. It is a 600 hz machine with 391 memory. I get antsy if I am not on a computer so the two system set up is the best for me. I would also recommend you buy Sound forge 6 if you don't already have it. The layout of the programs is compariable and it is better to use like programs if you can. I came the other way I started with Sound Forge (have had it for several years in different upgrades) and it was much easier to move to VV4 for me. Believe it or not I spent two frustrating years and several versions of Pinnacle before I gave up and moved to VV.

Also not an expert, but recommend search this forum to dig out some of the important items. Render speed was tested and reported in here where guys listed their power units. I run a Dell 600 mhz and love Vegas. two 7200 rpm 80 gig drives, with ONE DEDICATED TO VEGAS SOFTWARE AND RENDERING ACTIVITY. I run XP home with FAT 32 file system, which I stayed with cause it meshes with my other software and I don't know enough about the other one. But FAT 32 has file size limitations which I work around. Firewire for captures and a 120 GB WD external storage drive. As stated, file size adds up fast as you work with the different files formats till the project is done. I use a Sony DRU500a DVD burner and made sure the player I used read the end product. Anyway, my pc is not very powerful and is about 2+years old, upgraded with these newer drives. Rendering for me to a mpeg2 (DVD) file is roughly 5 to 7 times as long as the play time. (1 hour play, 7 hours Render). Some day I will be doing what you are doing, so when you get a pat answer, send it back to the forum as to what you build.

I'm a total neophite (sp?) on hardware issues, but I would recommend you pop over to www.creativecow.net, go to the Vegas forum and post this same thread: one of the moderators there, Earl Foote, actually builds computers especially for optimum Vegas performance and he is always offering advice on what works best /worse...I believe he has something against some MoBos btw...and there is some issue about what audio cards/setup allow for 5.1 monitoring etc...

Anyway, just a suggestion.

All the best

Paul.