Idea AMD Graphics Cards, GPU Accelerated Video FX and Vegas Pro

Hi everyone

I stumbled upon a great tip on the BorisFX website, in regards to GPU Accelerated Video FX and Vegas Pro.
I haven't used an AMD Radeon graphics card for many, many years, so can't test this myself.

The problem reported is this:

Issue: basically Vega 56 Vega 64 (RX 580 etc) was switching between Boris FX GPU accelerate tasks and Vegas Pro 15/16 GPU accelerated tasks…when doing so the GPU would spin up and down… when given a certain task as it should…this was visible via software monitoring tools AND physically looking at the GPU LEDs on the card itself. the issue was it would lock up at next spin up out of GPU idle… causing the APP to hang, the render to pause etc.

The solution has been posted here:
forum.borisfx.com/t/amd-vega-and-rx-series-tips/5072

Thanks Doc!

That was a great "little tidbit" of information you found. I'm looking at possibly purchasing the "new Radeon VII" "Vega 2", or whatever they want to call it, once it is available for purchase. Though, naturally, waiting to find out how all the "Reviewers" review it, especially Techgage. Since I got a ThreadRipper 1950x system, which besides a recent AIO cooler leak (replaced - and system working - yeah! -though I think long term issue with SoundBlaster ZX card - damn:evil: ), I keep a close eye on the similar system BruceUSA at the Vegas Creative Forum site with his Radeon Frontier card. That thing seems to take in most anything he throws at it, chews it up, and spits out everything in one nice package! Then I can finally get around to taking the current Gigabyte GTX 1080 in my current rig, and moving it over to a desktop to replace my 7 year old laptop.

Also, thanks for the note concerning the website. Was trying most of the day yesterday, and figured that was the problem, which you have experienced before. Just glad you're back up.

Mike

Hi Chief

Before I went to bed last night, I was troubleshooting a problem with my Soundblaster Zx card.
You know how it goes, you find a little spot in the corner of the kitchen that needs cleaning and before you know it, you've discovered a secret Chinese tunnel under the house and thinking how the fire truck did that get here!

When I read your message, I started tripping out because it seems we are telepathically connected at the moment :arrow: :idea: :woohoo:

1. I actually woke up at 4AM last week to watch AMDs Lisa Su keynote address at CES and learnt about the new Radeon VII from that presentation.
As you know, I am planning to build a new Threadripper system this year, but can't decide on whether to get an overpriced Nvidia GPU or a competitively priced AMD GPU. The Radeon VII has a BIG jump in Open CL performance, which means it should work extremely well in Vegas. Unless something else comes out, I think this is the GPU I'm going to get now.

2. My Corsair H100i cooler was not leaking, but it started to do something very strange. One of the 2 fans on the radiator block kept tripping out and going to MAX fan speed. I think I have discovered that the problem is with the latest Drivers. Rolling back to an older driver seems to have fixed the problem.

3. I was experimenting with the new Sound Forge Audio Studio 13 last night and discovered a problem with my Soundblaster Zx card, my Headphones and Playback/Pause using the Spacebar or J, K & L. I couldn't believe the cascade of events that happened!

My Soundblaster Zx output is connected to a "Maverick Audio" Digital Analogue converter headphone Amp via Optic cable - this is what I connect my Beyerdynamic 250 Ohm headphones to. Every time I used the Spacebar or K key to pause/stop Audio playback in Sound Forge or Vegas Pro, there was a terrible crackling noise coming from the right side headphone speaker. I did have this problem once before, but couldn't remember how I fixed it. I had spent hours and hours before this happened, experimenting with different Audio Driver settings in Magix Music Maker, Vegas Pro and Sound Forge. So my guess at this stage, was that it was a driver problem.

That's when I opened the Soundblaster control panel and discovered that for 2 years my Audioengine Left and Right desktop speakers were the wrong way around!
I was so disturbed by this revelation, I thought the SB software must have been broken LOL :silly: :woohoo:
I am dyslexic or lysdexic as I like to say - I can't navigate for people in a car by saying the words Left/Right - I have to use my hands instead, which are not dyslexic.
When I originally set up my Soundblaster software, I must have used my headphones instead of desktop speakers to configure the Stereo correctly.

Back to the crackling sound....
There was no crackling coming through the desktop speakers - only through the headphones running via optic digital cable out into DA Converter headphone amp.
The Internet said I could have a bad optic cable or connection, so I did check that.
Long story short, I did a full clean install of the Creative Soundblaster 7x Drivers and re-installed version 1.01.10
After a re-boot of the computer, all crackling noises have disappeared - touch wood.
So I am thinking that some weird Driver conflict occurred, that caused the noise.

In the Soundblaster control panel, I do make sure to turn OFF SBX Pro and Crystal Voice.
I only apply a small amount of Equalizer when playing music, but always turn the EQ off when I am editing in Vegas, so that the sound is a neutral profile.

Off Topic - Close to Home
Maybe it's just the 2nd extreme heatwave of this Summer here, that is creating some weird effects.
Tomorrow it is predicted to reach 47° C (116.6° F), which will become a new high temp record for my town. 46° C was the previous high since records were kept.
UV Index is 14+ today - the Sun feels like being in a nuclear reactor.
Normally the extreme heat doesn't hit until February in Oz, so everyone is very concerned about what is happening.
The whole country is being effected. There has also been mass fish kills in some rivers and dams, due to algae blooms, Chinese owned cotton farms stealing water, government mismanagement, the drought and extreme temps. It's really sad to see how much the environment is suffering and continued heatwaves are tipping everything over the edge.

I have seen on the news there are huge snow falls in the Northern Hemisphere as well - so the Earth's weather is going to extremes on both ends right now.

Cheers
Derek

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