8GB vs 16GB RAM for gaming and Sony Vegas video editing?

[Aiiiii]

I'm not sure whether I need 16GB of RAM or 8 is enough? I do wanna play newer games like upcoming Watch Dogs on max settings. I also do some gaming videos on Youtube so I often render videos on HD in Sony Vegas. Now it takes ages but now I only got 2GB and very old system lol so that's not surprising. But when I go to Sony website it says 8 GB recommended RAM is for Sony Vegas and 4 GB is minimum. I'm just wondering would I make use of those 16GB when gaming or rendering cos if I wont then I don't need them, might as well save 100$. Would new games and rendering in HD would make use of it or is it unnecessary much?

 

[polke45]

There are games that utilize 8GB ram like Far Cry 3 on the pc, but I think it will take another 3-4 years before we see a jump in ram requirement for gaming.

It does help with 16GB especially when you are doing video editing, but if you think your computer won't last for another 3-4 years, then stay with 8GB

 

[Aiiiii]

I'm definitely not planning for it to last more than 4 years.

I looked up system requirements for games like Crysis 3, Metro: Last Light and Far Cry 3 which are famous for their graphics and yea they require max 8 GB. But do you think 8 GB is enough in total? I mean if far Cry can take up to 8 GB wouldn't I benefit from more cos I head that Win 7 alone can take up to 2 GB RAM? Plus I might run some programs in background while gaming like Fraps or something. So wouldn't you think I would benefit from more than 8 considering that? Or wouldn't increase of performance would not be significant enough to bother?

 

[polke45]

fraps doesn't look like a heavy software, but it does improve the performance slightly if you have 16gb over 8gb. I can't say if it will improvement significantly though. For games like Metro: Last Light, they recommend it for max quality. So, if you are all about graphic like draw distance, then get 16gb. Else, if you want a "working" game, 8gb is enough.

Also, if your ram is DDR3, then even if you get 16gb, you can salvage for your next computer. It will be a while before we see DDR4 for mainstream

 

[Aiiiii]

I don't care for draw distance, I just want my games to look good up close. If I'm gonna build another PC after this one I will use faster RAM than I'm gonna buy now so I'm not planning to salvage anything either. I guess you convienced me that I don't need more than 8 GB for gaming.

Ok but how about editing? I do edit and render video's in HD. I do render them in only 30 fps tho cos Youtube can't see more anyways, so the frame rate is not too crazy. And they are usually 20 min long, sometimes 40 min, and very, very rarely up to 1h. How significant increase in render speed there would be between 8 GB and 16 GB? Also, how long do you think rendering with 8 GB RAM would take for a 20 min long video in HD with 30 fps? I don't actually have the new system yet so I wanna know. It it's like 1h with 8 GB and 45 min with 16 GB then that increase is not really worth it imo. So how long?

 

[polke45]

More ram for video editing does help, but it comes down to how much you are editing the video. Sony Vegas tends to utilize all, if not most, of your ram. If you are capturing video game content and adding minor stuffs like text and etc, then 8gb is fine. However, if you are doing heavy effect like live capture with green screen effect and adding all sorts of content like Angry Joe youtube channel, then I recommend 16gb.

Even then, video editing comes down to your cpu power. Also, you may want to look up if your cpu supports that much of ram.

 

[Tradesman1]

If the budget permits, you'll be happier with 16GB, and would go in a 2x8GB set (less stress on the MC (memory controller))..what mobo and CPU?

 

[Aiiiii]

I'm not planning to do fancy graphics, just game footage and audio mostly. I mobo is Asrock H61M-VS and I'm not sure what CPU I will buy yet. I was thinking about i5 quad core above 3Ghz but not sure about model yet.

So anybody know how much time difference there is when rendering between 8 and 16 GB? And how much time it's necessary to render 40min HD game footage in 30 fps with 8 GB?

 

[Teemsan]

I notice this post wasn't closed so I'll weigh in with experience I've had ...

I've used Vegas Pro 9, 10 and currently 12, and tried 4, 6, 8 and now 16Gb ram. With my current system I'm using an FX 6300 OC'd to 4.2Ghz, adequate but by no means optimal, and am using Win 7 64 bit. My GPU is a GTX 650 Ti boost SC edition.

Up until a few weeks ago I was using 8 Gb ram. If I had a browser open with several tabs, maybe email open, and a single instance of Veg 12 open, and was editing and then rendering, it would sometimes hit 7Gb usage (monitored with Win 7 Task Mgr>Performance meter) If I had two or three instances of Veg 12 open under the same circumstances and rendered from one instance, then it would often max - as in like 7.9 Gb ram used. And I was experiencing Vegas crashes.

So I upped it to 16Gb a few weeks ago. I'm using GSkill Ripjaws 1600 cl8 4 x 4 sticks in dual channels
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

Now with 16Gb and under the circumstance where I have the browser, email and three instances of Vegas open - rendering from one while the other two have loaded timelines but are idle, I've seen my computer use up to 15.8Gb ram, and I haven't crashed yet.

My projects tend to have several clips comprising the timeline, rather than just a single or couple clips. My render times are generally just under double the amount of the timeline. ie: a 12 min timeline clip renders in approx 22 mins or so. But for renders, as polke45 pointed out, the actual time is more a function of the processor. If I was using an i5 3570k I would expect it would be faster based on benchmarks. (the FX 6300 has other advantages but I don't want to digress)

Vegas render times can also depend on the GPU. Vegas 12 can take advantage of GPU assisted or OpenCL rendering as opposed to processor only. This can cut the render time by up to about a third. In my case, Vegas can't use the GPU assist cause unfortunately Vegas doesn't have GPU assisted support for cards with the Kepler architecture (GTX 6xx and 7xx series cards) but it does for the older Fermi architecture (GTX 4xx and 5xx cards), for reasons that would be another post. And, Vegas offers GPU assist for all sorts of GPU's. The Kepler \ Fermi situation is an anomaly.

For games, I've only played Tom Raider, Bioshock Infinite, and Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2, all of which ran fine on high to ultra with 8Gb ram and my other mentioned system specs. My upgrade to 16Gb ram was solely a consideration of editing and rendering with effects. That's where the extra ram will make the biggest difference. With my projects open and editing, I can be using consistently 8 to 12Gb or higher. For your gaming footage, if you were adding an effect like twixtor, you will definitely see an advantage with 16Gb. If you are only opening one instance of Vegas, and editing and rendering to 720 or 1080p, with maybe only things like Vegas's transitions, and some audio, then 8 Gb should work just fine.

8Gb of 1600 ram, low latency, is about the sweet spot, and minimum I'd go. But as polke45 also mentioned, if you buy 16Gb of decent ram you can always swap it into your new build. Depends on what your budget allows. If it were me in your situation, I would start with 8 and save the money to invest in the CPU or GPU. Then if it's not working out for you, you can add 8 more in a few weeks or a month or two when the budget allows. Worst case scenario is you lower the graphics on a game, or slightly adjust your vid edits - you won't experience the crashes I was experiencing unless you start opening multiple instances of Vegas with a ton of effects.

So, in sum ....

- render times in Vegas are mainly a function of CPU - and GPU if supported.
- the extra ram will make the biggest difference for editing footage, especially if using effects, or if rendering with something like twixtor.
- my times would not equal your times because I would need to know system specs; the Vegas profile you are rendering to (Main concept AVC \ AAC? Sony AVC \ MVC? or other); type and quality of the footage; the quality, aspect and bitrate you are rendering to. Then I could match that and give you a better idea.

source: five years of working with Vegas in various configurations

 

[DavidBeier]

I am going to tell you what someone told me YEARS ago when I was building my first video editing rig:

When it comes to video editing; there's no such thing as too much RAM.

I was building a system in 2008 and all the high end PCs were topping out at 4 gigs of RAM. I was debating if it was worth the added expense to grab a motherboard that supported 8. A friend told me, "just get 8 gigs. You're always going to need more RAM. Just do it now rather than later." He was right. Even though Avid (the program I was using at the time) only was able to use 4 gigs, having another 4 gigs or the operating system, web browsing, and other graphics programs was essential.

ALWAYS GET MORE RAM!!!

I've recently been on a search for a new editing laptop and I've had to rule out a number of great options because they weren't upgradable to 16 gigs.

 

[Tradesman1]

I am going to tell you what someone told me YEARS ago when I was building my first video editing rig:

When it comes to video editing; there's no such thing as too much RAM.

I was building a system in 2008 and all the high end PCs were topping out at 4 gigs of RAM. I was debating if it was worth the added expense to grab a motherboard that supported 8. A friend told me, "just get 8 gigs. You're always going to need more RAM. Just do it now rather than later." He was right. Even though Avid (the program I was using at the time) only was able to use 4 gigs, having another 4 gigs or the operating system, web browsing, and other graphics programs was essential.

ALWAYS GET MORE RAM!!!

I've recently been on a search for a new editing laptop and I've had to rule out a number of great options because they weren't upgradable to 16 gigs.

___________________________________

+1
Every time there's a move in amount of DRAM, you'll see plent saying 2 is all you'll ever need, then it was 4GB is all you'll even need, and then 8GB....and this has just been in the last few years, one way to gauge is look at the prebuilts which always seem to be a bit skimpy with DRAM (hoping you will upgrade the DRAM (and of course through them at inflated prices), most prebuilts today now come with 6-8GB of DRAM, which tends to make 16GB more appealing for the the enthusiast crowd that really want higher/better performance and for their rig to last (and keep them happier longer) than what they would expect from a prebuilt

 

[rhapdog]

You won't need 16GB for editing gaming videos in Sony Vegas Pro. 8GB will suffice quite nicely.

8GB is also plenty for every game on the market, and will be for years to come, since they are first designed with consoles in mind. I personally don't expect to see 16GB requirements in games for a minimum of 4 or more years.

If you're editing 4 hours long of HD video with multiple camera angles of every scene and processing heavy with special effects, then 16GB may help to improve your performance. However, using Vegas Pro, your CPU and GPU will determine your speed of editing, as it is very CPU intensive. You'll find that many parts of version 12 has been optimized for OpenCL, and will take advantage of an OpenCL enabled GPU, so that's actually more important than getting 16GB over 8GB of RAM.