Only using 5 out of 16gb RAM during intense video editing

is there a chance your video editing software has an option that determines the amount of physical ram used!?

It might not be all memory related, it could be your hard drive is simply too slow. What kind of drive are you using?

I would double check to see what the amount of dynamic-ram preview memory you have set as Vegas will start to use that while going through its playback process.

is this still an option?

also you can use a gpu to accelerate the process for vids

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/Forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=4&MessageID=784534

Are you using the 64 bit version of Sony Vegas Pro 11 ? Does it show up with a "*32" in the task manager, if so then it is only 32 bit software.

I was just about to ask the same thing, kanewolf. I have a feeling a 64 bit version should fix your problem. If not, that would be interesting.

I'm out of ideas. All the ones I can think of have been already mentioned. I'm guessing it's working like this because that's the way it was designed; although, I could be wrong.

I haven't been using it for too long, so I'm sure there's something I've overlooked.

Interesting... Come to think of it, I've had this similar issue with other applications; I don't use Vegas on my personal computer right now, as it's below par for hardware. I'm starting to wonder if there is some flaw in Win7 that can either be fixed, or if it's a Windows thing that some of us face.

I'll definitely keep an eye on this, and keep looking. I haven't found too much helpful info yet, but hoping there's some other tricks that can be recommended.

i know this is for the newer version of the software but the recommended usage is only 8 gigs and only 16 gigs if you are recording in 4k

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegasprosuite/techspec

couldn't just be that the content that you are creating is just not dense enough to need 16 gigs of ram. how large are the files you are working with.

try rendering in 4k and see if your usage goes up.

fkr, this is what he's really having a problem with.



I do have a question, Luxio: if you go back to 8 GB, does the amount of RAM consumption change? I doubt that it will do anything different, but I just figured I should ask.

Mostly-useless-tinkering aside, I'm starting to think it's hardware bottlenecking. Since the GPU is mainly used for effects/extras that are added onto the video, and the CPU is programmed to handle everything else, I think you're seeing your computer bottleneck at the CPU. While your CPU isn't a poor performer, it could be what's preventing your performance from peaking by utilising more RAM. The reason your RAM isn't maxing out could be due to the CPU being unable to handle any more operations; therefore, the extra RAM doesn't do you any good. Basically, your CPU could be the weak link. I could be going out on a limb here, but I have nowhere else to go for ideas. If your CPU is loaded to ~99% during these operations, then I'm guessing your CPU is the core cause of your problems. Since you can push RAM usage up to 7 GB during multiple previews, I have a feeling that CPU bottlenecking is the really the culprit.

If this is the case, I'd recommend stepping up to the i7 series, or OC'ing if you haven't already done so. Since video editing is a fairly resource intensive process, this could be the real problem at hand. Adding more RAM doesn't always make things faster, contrary to popular belief. I've seen some people throw hundreds into RAM because they thought it would help; but, in reality, their processor just can't handle what's going on. For example, my dad's computer has a P4 in it, and he's thrown a couple extra gigs of RAM at it, but it's just as slow as it used to be... it's a matter of processing. RAM doesn't really speed anything up, it just helps the CPU do its work; hence, you can see the law of diminishing returns with slower processors much more quickly.

Hopefully that helps, and/or explains things. I don't know how much you know about computers, so I figured I'd try to go as basic as I could. It could also have all been in vain... but it's worth a shot!

i would believe that your assumption is correct in that there is another bottleneck (or the software is only capable of doing so much)

i do not think no matter what you were processing that you could get to 16 gigs of usage (except 4k since the files are so large). the files you are working with just do not need to buffer 16 gigs of info.

when you are running your software and you open task manager are you using 100% of your CPU? if so then of course that is your bottleneck. In this case I would get an i7 CPU since while it is still a quad core it does have hyper threading, which makes sure that all cores are fully utilized at all times. this is an expensive upgrade and just overclocking your i5 to 4.5- 4.8 should be very realistic (stock boost clock is 3.7). my i5 2500k will hit 5.0 but my hyper 212 just will not cool it so i settle for 4.8

the upgrade cost for overclocking is less than $40 and very much worth it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

with this cooler you are more or less guaranteed to hit at least 4.4 core clock with little effort at all as long as you have a z68 motherboard or some form of a z class motherboard.

i would need to know your motherboard to see if you can get an i7 2700k or an i7 3770k

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001157%2040000343%20600095610&IsNodeId=1&Manufactory=1157&bop=And&Order=PRICED&PageSize=100

not cheap but a used one can be had for less

you have already eliminated the hdd as being the culprit

the only other choice i know is to use a GPU to do the work for you. I bet even an old AMD card could push better results than just the CPU. you would have to do some research on the sony forums since they have a bunch of benchmarks there to tell rendering times for different cards.

From what I can see, Vegas will let you switch the rendering to either CPU/GPU or both; however, depending on what is actually causing the computer to bottleneck, forcing the rendering through the GPU may not solve your problem. Since my current computer is having issues with Vegas (Comodo doesn't like my copy) I can only recommend searching YouTube for tips on switching over to GPU rendering. The only real problem with this is I have only read about/seen settings that switch the final rendering process to the GPU; so all work before the final rendering doesn't appear to be transferable to the GPU. If anyone can find a setting for that, I'm sure a lot of people will thank you. CPU bottlenecking/inability to utilise the GPU outside of rendering seems to be a common problem for all Vegas users, from my research.

In all honesty, the more I research the program, the less I want to return to it.

if you look at your CPU usage are you using all four cores completely or is just one or two of them maxed out.

Sounds like good and bad news. If you can deal with this, then all the power to you. If not, it looks like a CPU upgrade is your best option.