Ready to Buy a powerful computer - help me decide.

[VegasProGaming]

Hi Everyone, so here is my situation. This is regarding SONY VEGAS PRO and Hardware. I'm finally ready to buy a serious computer system. Currently using a Dell Laptop with 12Gb RAM and it seems to render in a reasonable amount of time but obviously no graphics support / CUDA, etc.

So the questions are:

1. Do I buy a beefy MAC? If so, where? How to get a mac with lots of CPU, RAM and minimum 1Gb graphics card (CUDA, etc). Apple Store doesn't cut it.

2. If Mac, do I go the Boot Camp / Windows 10 approach? Does it counterfeit itself, in other words does it hog all the resources?

3. If I go strickly PC, what do you recommend for CPU, RAM, Graphics?

I essentially want to Render videos and have them zip across the screen and complete fast.

Thanks!

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I would recommend straight PC.

and how beefy depends on your budget.

do you want the expense of a a workstation graphics card - which will run vegas pro much faster than a gaming card, but its also a lot more expensive

 

[VegasProGaming]

Thanks!

 

[ScrewySqrl]

whats your budget?

 

[VegasProGaming]

$1500 or so?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

ok

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($304.99 @ Jet)
Motherboard: ASRock B150M Pro4V Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($72.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 1.1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($249.99 @ Jet)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($597.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-03 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1475.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-14 17:46 EST-0500

I went with the 1080 because the Quatro M4000 was not listed as available.

 

[VegasProGaming]

ok

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

So how do I buy all that?

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($304.99 @ Jet)
Motherboard: ASRock B150M Pro4V Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($72.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 1.1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($249.99 @ Jet)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($597.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-03 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1475.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-14 17:46 EST-0500

I went with the 1080 because the Quatro M4000 was not listed as available.

 

[g-unit1111]

$1500 or so?

You're not going to get a "Beefy Mac" for that much. If you want a Mac for that purpose you'd be paying twice minimum, 3 times that budget for any decent configuration. The minimum price for a Mac Pro is $2999, and that's not including taxes which would push it well over $3200. Any decent configuration of a Mac Pro would run you well over $4,000. I would do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($314.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H170-PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($106.59 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($97.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.05 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PNY Quadro K4200 4GB Video Card ($764.51 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1616.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-15 19:31 EST-0500

That's a bit over budget but it has everything you need.