Which GPU for CUDA editing in CS6

[qzyxya]

Going by your workflow, you can buy whatever card you think is a good value and your experience in CS6 will be about the same.

Ok then now I guess i'll think about gaming. Will a 650 ti provide decent fps on most games?

 

[qzyxya]

I found a used gtx 580. Would that be good?
It has some mods, but idk if they are really bad. It says

1. The card has unlocked bios. 1.212V max on the Vbios (is this really low or something? does it matter?)
2. The heatspreader on the card has been removed, but still on the card because of the stock heatsink. Aka, Removing the nvidia heat spreader guide. (i assume this isnt very bad, right?)
3. The card has a little cut out of the top of the cover for the Antec 620 mod. (this one i dont care about much)

 

[Eureka]

I found a used gtx 580. Would that be good?
It has some mods, but idk if they are really bad. It says

1. The card has unlocked bios. 1.212V max on the Vbios (is this really low or something? does it matter?)
2. The heatspreader on the card has been removed, but still on the card because of the stock heatsink. Aka, Removing the nvidia heat spreader guide. (i assume this isnt very bad, right?)
3. The card has a little cut out of the top of the cover for the Antec 620 mod. (this one i dont care about much)

1. That's high. You can restore it back to normal, assuming nothing is wrong with the card.
2. Makes no sense to me. How is it removed but still on there?
3. Cover is plastic.. makes no difference.

If the price is good enough, the GTX580 is faster the GTX660. Could be a good buy.

 

[qzyxya]

1. That's high. You can restore it back to normal, assuming nothing is wrong with the card.
2. Makes no sense to me. How is it removed but still on there?
3. Cover is plastic.. makes no difference.

If the price is good enough, the GTX580 is faster the GTX660. Could be a good buy.

Maybe he means he has removed it before but put it back? idk. But if its going to be better than a gtx 660, then I think i'll get it. Will my system (power supply) be able to run it? It'd also be pretty cool to say I have the top of the line gpu, the 580 (because that matters so much, i know), lol.

 

[qzyxya]

Oh he wrote some more info

Card overclocks:
Under water I could get these clocks:
1.050V - 830MHz core - 2200Memory
1.100V - 920MHz core - 2200Memory
1.150V - 940Mhz core - 2200Memory
1.175V - 950Mhz core - 2200Memory

Card on stock cooler has Arctic silver Ceramique paste between the IHS and die, and IHS and heatsink. New non-spring screws are on the card but I will include the stock spring tension screws.
I'd highly recommend aftermarket cooling. card still gets upto 82C on stock clocks. But, if you can deal with 82C on load, then go for it on stock cooling.

Is 82c a lot?

 

[Eureka]

Maybe he means he has removed it before but put it back? idk. But if its going to be better than a gtx 660, then I think i'll get it. Will my system (power supply) be able to run it? It'd also be pretty cool to say I have the top of the line gpu, the 580 (because that matters so much, i know), lol.

As long as you restore that voltage to normal and don't overclock it much... you should be good. The 580 is very power hungry (244W TDP compared to GTX 660's 140W TDP), but even combined with the CPU's TDP you're still under the max limit of the PSU. I wouldn't go for anything more power hungry than a GTX 580 though.

82C is hot but still fine, but you're at the edge. You'll want to clean out your case to make sure you get good airflow, maybe add a few fans if you can. Also at that temperature, the GPU fan will be spinning like crazy so expect it to get noisy.

For the same price, I'd go with the Zotac GTX 660 still. Less performance, but newer, you get warranty, and it's whisper quiet. My roommate has one... it's dead silent. And it draws very little power.

 

[qzyxya]

As long as you restore that voltage to normal and don't overclock it much... you should be good. The 580 is very power hungry (244W TDP compared to GTX 660's 140W TDP), but even combined with the CPU's TDP you're still under the max limit of the PSU. I wouldn't go for anything more power hungry than a GTX 580 though.

82C is hot but still fine, but you're at the edge. You'll want to clean out your case to make sure you get good airflow, maybe add a few fans if you can.

Ok, I'll definitely clean out my case and all. But the 580 will fit into it, and be under the max wattage? Great.

 

[Eureka]

Yes, but once again... I would advise against it. The Zotac GTX 660, which is $195 right now after rebates, will be quieter, newer, less power hungry and will have a warranty. The last part itself is worth tons... if there is something wrong with the card, you get a new one. It's only a bit slower (within maybe 10%) than the GTX580 and you get more benefits.

 

[qzyxya]

You know what, I might just get a used 560 or 560 ti. I found a 560 for $100 flat, a 560 ti for $125. Any other opinions? You really think I should go with the 660?

 

[qzyxya]

Yes, but once again... I would advise against it. The Zotac GTX 660, which is $195 right now after rebates, will be quieter, newer, less power hungry and will have a warranty. The last part itself is worth tons... if there is something wrong with the card, you get a new one. It's only a bit slower (within maybe 10%) than the GTX580 and you get more benefits.

Oh its only 10% slower? Wow I thought it was like 50%. Hmm

 

[Eureka]

You know what, I might just get a used 560 or 560 ti. I found a 560 for $100 flat, a 560 ti for $125. Any other opinions? You really think I should go with the 660?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/372

Use that to judge value of the card if you're going by gaming performance... since we've found that CUDA performance isn't that important.

The 560Ti is actually pretty attractive, but I'd still wouldn't get at that price. If I could get it at $100 then I would jump on it.

The 660 is a very impressive card for the price. And once again, warranties are very worthwhile.

 

[3DVagabond]

Maybe he means he has removed it before but put it back? idk. But if its going to be better than a gtx 660, then I think i'll get it. Will my system (power supply) be able to run it? It'd also be pretty cool to say I have the top of the line gpu, the 580 (because that matters so much, i know), lol.

I wouldn't feel comfortable about using that PSU with a 580. I would stick with a card that had a single 6pin connector.

 

[qzyxya]

I found this site caled ppbm5 and it has benchmarks for the different video cards in premiere with the mercury playback engine. The 660 or 680 or other more powerful ones do make it faster, but even a 550 ti or something really slow is still going to be far faster than software only (gt240 was still 9x faster than software only lol).

One more question, would another power supply even fit in my case? I remember hearing that its a non standard size (Dell does this to all its computers apparantly?) so only 'dell' power supplies fit in? I could try taking mine out and seeing if another one fits (or, I could just put another power supply in in another place or something, if it didnt fit in that one place.