Nvidia/AMD GPU for Video editing/rendering (Sony Vegas 13, Premiere Pro CC, After Eff

[tinpanalley]

I keep reading that nvidia cards are actually far better than AMD for video editing/rendering. Is that still true? I'm finding that nvidia is better in posts and articles and Youtube videos from the last 2 years from reputable places (not Yahoo Questions). I do also game though.

 

[Kippa]

I have the older version of Premiere Pro CS 5.5, on that version it is only optimised for CUDA which is Nvidia based. As for Premiere Pro CS 6 and Premiere Pro CC they might be more OpenCl based which would be good for AMD cards.

 

[Ketchup]

AFAIK Nvidia Quadro is still the best, if you have the $$$. But, since you want to game as well, I would get whatever Nvidia card is in your budget.

 

[tinpanalley]

AFAIK Nvidia Quadro is still the best, if you have the $$$. But, since you want to game as well, I would get whatever Nvidia card is in your budget.

Yeah, unfortunately, I've looked at those Quadros and there's no way I can afford them. Right now it's between the Sapphire AMD R9 280 (3GB) and the evga Geforce GTX 760 (2GB).

As I said, there have been contradicting reports all over the internet but generally the idea is that AMD is much better today at handling OpenCL in Sony Vegas (which is what I use), Premiere, and other programs which I use and that it's no longer nvidia that rules that market. Sony even talks about how they're GPU rendering now works on both cards. Also, focussing on PhysX for gaming seems silly when so few games really take advantage of it. But then just as I see that, I end up seeing some other things getting very technical about how both GPUs work and that nvidia has the edge in rendering and really, still, overall in gaming.

I feel like maybe there's a transition going on now as nvidia is trying to release a new generation of cards and AMD is trying to push what Mantle can do but that in my price range, the 200 or less range, there is nothing nvidia has that is as powerful as what's available in AMD for the same price. Sadly, what hardly anyone talks about is whether either one is better for editing/rendering except for AMD that says their cards are all better but they make the card so obviously they're gonna say they're the best. The thing is, few other filmmakers are as low budget as I am and they all have the money for those Quadros. I think spending money on rendering time is silly. I just want a card that can handle editing rendering better than a CPU and can also make games look great.

Consequently, some of these PhysX vs AMD game videos on Youtube are shocking though. Particles, clouds, physics on things like flags, etc that don't even show up in AMD rendering. It's almost like you're looking at a different game. But, anyway, this thread is about editing for the most part.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Unless you're using an old version that's cuda only you'll probably have better bang/buck at amd.

Though the new maxwell cards perform quite well in the video editing tests too. Use less power, so might be more silent.

 

[AtenRa]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7457/the-radeon-r9-290x-review/18

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/20

Also,
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/am...e-photoshop-cc-and-adobe-premiere-pro-cc.html

I would say that all those apps are faster with AMD hardware now.

 

[tinpanalley]

I would say that all those apps are faster with AMD hardware now.

Thank you! And not too bad for gaming either, right?

 

[stuff_me_good]

Thank you! And not too bad for gaming either, right?

R9 280 beat down the gtx 760 you were considering especially now when the driver support has been dropped from nvidia side. They only care their $$ and maxwell from now on, so you are better with amd card.

 

[Ketchup]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7457/the-radeon-r9-290x-review/18

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/20

Also,
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/am...e-photoshop-cc-and-adobe-premiere-pro-cc.html

I would say that all those apps are faster with AMD hardware now.

So as long as tinpanalley's software is using Open GL, he will do great with AMD.

Can you tell us what software you will be using tinpanalley?

 

[tinpanalley]

Can you tell us what software you will be using tinpanalley?

I mentioned it in post#4.

Primarily Sony Vegas 13. Some After Effects, only for colour timing, balance. Very little Premiere, very little Avid. Pro audio software as well but not gpu dependent.

 

[Ketchup]

I mentioned it in post#4.

Primarily Sony Vegas 13. Some After Effects, only for colour timing, balance. Very little Premiere, very little Avid. Pro audio software as well but not gpu dependent.

Sorry I missed it. Glad you got your answer.

 

[Cerb]

Adobe's likes Maxwell, in particular, but your CPU, RAM, and SSD(s)/HDD(s) will all have a greater effect. But, even Intel's IGP helps out, today, where the GPGPU work can be done, so it's akin to asking about what CPU is better for virtualization: well, whatever fits your budget and needs, because they all do it as well as each other, as far as quality is concerned. OpenCL isn't perfect, but as a standard, it has succeeded reasonably well.

If you want high quality video results, you'll get very little help from any GPU during encoding, if any. Probably just a little before-hand, with effects or blending, the improvement form which will be highly dependent on the content (any large gains seen in benchmarks are using a project with a lot of what the GPU may help with, to give the GPU work, where what you are doing may or may not give it too much).

IoW, go crazy with the core i7, maybe even LGA2011-3, but don't fret much on the GPU. Since you also do gaming, you'll end up wanting a GPU that could be as much as an order of magnitude higher performing than your content creation programs may have use for.

 

[tinpanalley]

Ok, just picked up the Sapphire R9 280. I'll be installing it later today. Thanks for all the help and input, everyone. Really made choosing this card much easier and less daunting. And I learned more along the way.

 

[Makaveli]

I use sony Vegas Pro 13 the Radeon's are faster for sure.

Right now Tahiti still rules as it has more compute than Hawaii for DP.

"DP performance on 290X being 1/8 FP32 as opposed to ¼ on 280X"

For Premiere Pro CC and After effects I believe Cuda is faster.

 

[tinpanalley]

Is there any way to stop the GPU's fans from spinning when you're not doing anything that requires cooling? Or is that normal?

 

[Makaveli]

Is there any way to stop the GPU's fans from spinning when you're not doing anything that requires cooling? Or is that normal?

That is normal and will depend on the cooling setup and the brand.

You can try using software to lower the fan speed.

If you want something more permanent you will want to look at after market cooling.

 

[tinpanalley]

This is the weirdest thing... I know I've installed the AMD program from the disc but I don't see the card in my device manager??

 

[Ketchup]

If you fan is constantly spinning at full speed, and your video card is not listed under Display Adapters in device manager, it sounds like the AMD software did not install correctly.

Do you have devices listed as unknown in device manager?

 

[Makaveli]

This is the weirdest thing... I know I've installed the AMD program from the disc but I don't see the card in my device manager??

What GPU is this?

And I would download and install the newest drivers from the site.

 

[Cerb]

Is there any way to stop the GPU's fans from spinning when you're not doing anything that requires cooling? Or is that normal?

You will generally need to mod the BIOS to do that, if the card doesn't support it out of the box (very few do, mostly new Geforces). If all is working well, it should run at 20-30%, depending on card, at idle, however. Try uninstalling whatever was on the CD, and getting the latest from AMD.

 

[tinpanalley]

And I would download and install the newest drivers from the site.

This may sound ridiculous, but being a nvidia person my whole life, I have no clue where the update driver feature is for this card.

 

[RussianSensation]

Never install any drivers from a disk. Download the latest drivers from the website and install those after uninstalling the old ones. If you want a quieter profile, set up a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner. That way you can have the fans spin at 20-25% up to 50C and only start ramping up more in games. This will make your card a lot quieter in idle.

 

[tinpanalley]

Never install any drivers from a disk. Download the latest drivers from the website and install those after uninstalling the old ones. If you want a quieter profile, set up a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner. That way you can have the fans spin at 20-25% up to 50C and only start ramping up more in games. This will make your card a lot quieter in idle.

How about disabling the onboard VGA. Is that necessary? I've read that before.

 

[Ketchup]

This may sound ridiculous, but being a nvidia person my whole life, I have no clue where the update driver feature is for this card.

Actually, Sapphire has them right on their site:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&pid=2194&lid=1#

How about disabling the onboard VGA. Is that necessary? I've read that before.

User discretion. I have it disabled currently, but I have enabled it on older chips/boards. No issue either way.

 

[tinpanalley]

Actually, Sapphire has them right on their site:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&pid=2194&lid=1#
User discretion. I have it disabled currently, but I have enabled it on older chips/boards. No issue either way.

Thanks!
Rather bizarrely getting some tearing when I scroll up or down in Firefox quickly... never seen that before.