Do video cards matter for video editing?

[pennylane]

My brother does video editing with Adobe After Effects and Sony Vegas, but his video card is dying on him and he needs a new one.

He does absolutely no gaming, though he may use it for watching DVD's in a quasi-HTPC set-up.

It's my understanding that video editing right now doesn't use the video card for much. Apparently After Effects uses it for some Open GL rendering/previewing or something.

Would spending a lot of money on a video card ($100 or more) matter? Would a nicer vid card do that open gl rendering faster (I have no idea how either program works). Could he get by with something cheap like a Radeon X1650 pro or something? Budget is a bit tight right now.

 

[Concillian]

The only benefit video cards have for video editing is playback of h.264. I actually don't know about video RAM amounts, but highly doubt it matters.

8xxx and 9xxx series nVidia cards and HD3xxx and HD4xxx series ATi cards have h.264 acceleration.

HD4350 should provide all the benefit he needs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127391

But even h.264 acceleration shouldn't be a huge benefit for editing. But for $25 AR, why not buy a new card so you can bitch to the manufacturer if something goes wrong.

 

[jademaster221]

i was at frys last week when i notice this fellow looking at a huge case ..i thought he was a gamer so i ask about his build and he said he was going to run 3 9800 gtx's...i asked him why...he said he need the power for video editing.so i would say yes you would be better off with a higher end card and a matching cpu

 

[Concillian]

Just a few comments on the web about the software your looking at:

Sony Vegas

As of the latest release - version 7 which just started shipping, Sony Vegas does not utilize GPU performance in any way. So there is no reason to spend more on a graphics card unless you need it for other applications or plug-ins.

The only advantages that a really good video card will give you in AE is OpenGL acceleration for previews and OpenGL based renders. I almost never even have OpenGL enabled, so, don't base your purchase decisions on the video card. Spend more money on RAM and fast processors. That being said, here's a link to the page on this site that contains a list of approved video cards:

So I guess it depends what exactly your friend is doing in After-effects. If it's a hobby thinkg he can probably get by with almost nothing. If he's really into OpenGL effects he can use some GPU power. Still I think the other components (CPU & RAM) are going to be more important to overall performance.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: jademaster221
i was at frys last week when i notice this fellow looking at a huge case ..i thought he was a gamer so i ask about his build and he said he was going to run 3 9800 gtx's...i asked him why...he said he need the power for video editing.so i would say yes you would be better off with a higher end card and a matching cpu

Text

Well it depends on the application being used. In the link above the software takes advantage of Nvidia's CUDA and by using powerful Nvidia gpus... there is quite a performance jump. But the software has to be written to take advantage of it, it does not just happen.

 

[jademaster221]

thanks guys for clearing that up for me ...that explains alot ..i do a little video editing with adobe premiere elements...most of my time is on photo editing with adobe photoshop cs

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: jademaster221
thanks guys for clearing that up for me ...that explains alot ..i do a little video editing with adobe premiere elements...most of my time is on photo editing with adobe photoshop cs

If you do use a Photoshop CS most of the time, get an Nvidia 9xxx card.
Photoshop CS4 has a special plugin that uses Nvidia's CUDA and forces the GPU to do some useful work in CS4

Expensive solution

but works in Premiere Pro

or

Standard GPU acceleration

that works in CS4 only...

 

[jademaster221]

I'VE GOT
Evga 9800 gtx+
amd phenom 9950 140 watt be
4 gigs mem
antecp182 se case
creative xfi plat
850 watt psu
that evga 9800 is a sweet little card for 150 bucks ..very affordable as is the 9950 139 on sale at frys.com

 

[pennylane]

Originally posted by: adlep

Originally posted by: jademaster221
thanks guys for clearing that up for me ...that explains alot ..i do a little video editing with adobe premiere elements...most of my time is on photo editing with adobe photoshop cs

If you do use a Photoshop CS most of the time, get an Nvidia 9xxx card.
Photoshop CS4 has a special plugin that uses Nvidia's CUDA and forces the GPU to do some useful work in CS4

Expensive solution

but works in Premiere Pro

or

Standard GPU acceleration

that works in CS4 only...

Does any Nvidia 9xxx card have the CUDA thing? Even the low end ones like this?

I guess if the Nvidia has the CUDA, in the future it might be of some benefit to him, even if it isn't quite useful right now. He does not use Photoshop.

 

[ViRGE]

All 9-series parts support CUDA, however a 9400GT would be just as bad at CUDA as it would be at gaming.

 

[pennylane]

So does CS4 only take advantage of Nvidia cards? Not Radeons?

Derek Wilson in an AT review calls the 9500 GT an epic fail. Is a 9400 GT the same story? What would you recommend in this situation? A 9600GT seems to be $100 or so.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: fanerman91
So does CS4 only take advantage of Nvidia cards? Not Radeons?

Derek Wilson in an AT review calls the 9500 GT an epic fail. Is a 9400 GT the same story? What would you recommend in this situation? A 9600GT seems to be $100 or so.

Regarding CS4, it is just a couple of plug-ins written by third parties that are CUDA enabled. CS4 itself does not favor Nvidia or Radeon.

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: fanerman91
So does CS4 only take advantage of Nvidia cards? Not Radeons?

Derek Wilson in an AT review calls the 9500 GT an epic fail. Is a 9400 GT the same story? What would you recommend in this situation? A 9600GT seems to be $100 or so.

In general you want to stay away from any Nv card below the 9600/8800 line.
If you are cash strapped you could get a used 8800 card (ebay, FS/FT section, my sig) OR be on the lookout for a Newegg price break on 9600GT/9600GSO...

The cheapest new 9600GT that I have seen is

$69.00 after MiR

 

[California Roll]

I do a lot of video editing and CPU > GPU for this purpose.

 

[pennylane]

Thanks, I ended up getting a 9600 GSO f or $50 AR: link

 

[themisfit610]

Don't be fooled by nVidia's Premiere CS4 video encoding demo. The GPU accelerated version looks like crap, even if it does encode at lightning speeds

~MiSfit