Hi Everyone,

We hope to be switching to vMix for our next production, however I just have a few concerns over our hardware. We have been (unhappily) using Wirecast for a few years and finally looking at purchasing vMix as it seems better suited for our needs and so far has been more reliable.

Here are our specifications:

CPU: Intel i7-5820K
Motherboard: Gigabyte x99-UD5H WIFI (v1.0)
VIDEO: Nvidia Geforce GTX 750 Ti
RAM: 16GB
BOOT/OS: 1 x 256GB Micron SSD (mSata on motherboard)
STORAGE: 1 x 1TB Western Digital Black (storage/record)
REPLAY STORAGE: 1 x 240GB Kingston SSD

INPUT: 1 x Magewell XI-400DE (First Generation) 4xSDI
INPUT: 1 x Magewell XI-200DE (First Generation) 2xHDMI
OUTPUT: 1 x Blackmagic Decklink Mini Monitor 4k (HDMI/SDI output)

This is what we need during a production:
- At least 4 cameras (1920x1080x30p)
- Record program output (mp4 at 5Mbps)
- 1 channel instant replay
- play commercials/video clips (mp4 playlists)
- display program output to Decklink Monitor 4K (for program monitors and external recorders)
- stream to 2 different locations (1280x720x30p - 2.5Mbps and 1Mbps)
- graphics
- external control (midi device and web interface)
- (multi-corder sounds nice but not required)
- maybe NDI at a later time.

Seeing that the reference systems on vmix.com are much higher than our specs, we are a bit concerned, however in testing, we have maxed out at 40% system resources and consistently been hovering in the low-mid 30s (with 4 static cameras). With less features, we were hovering around 60-80%+ with Wirecast. Also, we could not use the Decklink since it would constantly cause dropped frames with each transition.

Would our production requirements be too taxing on this kind of system, or should we be ok? Maxing out at 40%, albeit with static cameras, is much lower than what we are use to seeing, but I do not know how this system compares to the newer reference system specifications listed.

Thanks for any help or recommendations.

I'd agree with spencerm24, and look to upgrade your GPU.

In regards to the CPU, check out the benchmarks of your i7-5820K (13,002) versus the i7-6700K (11,108) and the i7-7700K (12,083). As you can see, your CPU is right up there.

As a former WireCast user myself, switching to vMix has been all good.

@ Argo82

Although there is always room for improvement moving forward (as others have posted), I think you are not too badly placed to get started, vMix is very efficient with its use of resources, whether the latest top-of-the-line, or even older middle of the road systems. Yours is by no means "middle of the road", just a little older.
The only concern I might have is with the x99 Motherboard chipset, as discussed in this thread:
https://forums.vmix.com/....aspx?g=posts&t=8456
However, if it's working relatively well for you with vMix and/or Wirecast, you are probably one of the lucky ones and can still get some more life out of your system for the time being.
There are many vMix users that are still on first and second generation Intel i7 CPU's as well as earlier generations of GPUs (I know cuz I'm one of them). Higher clocked CPUs and higher end NVidia gaming GPUs will go a long way at keeping vMix relevant and reliable.
When Render Times get above 20 ms and Total CPU usage gets above 70%, that's when you'll know you are underpowered to do what you want to do with your system and vMix.
Resolutions and Framerates undoubtedly have an impact, as do recording formats and how many camera, NDI and video Inputs you have, hardware encoding can help a lot with easing the load on the CPU for streaming and/or recording and fortunately for you, that option is available with the GTX 750 and up.
I would encourage you to push your system to the limit in testing to know where you may need to make immediate improvements or at least know where to draw the line for actual productions, you'll never regret testing and retesting and then testing again.
Just my thoughts.


Ice

Try it. You'll like it. The 60-day trial will give you plenty of time to learn the system.

Your PC setup will do just fine. You can always tweak it with a video card or larger replay SSD later.

Please report back and let us know how it goes. Also, ask tons of questions! We're here to help.

- Tom

Hi Again,

On this latest test, I simulated a load of what we would do in our productions. Other than the cameras not moving, this is as much as we would like to do for now.

CPU goes no higher than 40%
I've attached the benchmark numbers for our GTX 750Ti under a load . We have a GTX1050 (not TI) that we could use instead, if it would be a noticeable benefit to us.


Thanks

Thanks Tom,

I'll pull the 1050 from one of the other machines and give it a go. We had planned to purchase vMix by now, but the events we were supposed to stream got cancelled due to weather, so our trial timed out before we could use it on an actual production. As good as the tests are going, we're still a little hesitant to put the money down until we've been through an actual show. We're going to install another trial on our other similar spec machine but we need to swap some hardware from our older encoders, so a great time to try the 1050 out.

- Mark

Mark, I'm curious, do you recall if you had swapped out the 750-TI graphics card for the 1050 when you ran this production, or did you stick with the 750-TI? I ask because I have a 750-TI graphics card with an i7-6700 CPU. It's an apples to oranges comparison in terms of use case (I'm doing talk shows bringing in remote guests via vMix Call and Zoom and streaming to Facebook, using 3 monitors, bringing in graphics and social media comments and probably phone calls via Skype), but I'm trying to get a sense of how far you were able to push the 750-TI before it didn't serve your needs. Thanks.