Which path? AMD or Nvidia this time around.

[l0nemonk]

I am in the middle of my new build and trying to figure out the direction that suits my needs.

Build

i7 2700k
32gb DDR3 1600
Samsung 830 128gb SSD
20TB WD Black HD (10x2tb)
Adaptec RAID 6805E
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4
Cosmos II case
Going water cooling

I am going to be doing gaming/movies on a 60" LED-LCD and video editing and encoding. I am trying to decide on video card for my needs. Should I go 2 x GTX 580 or one GTX 590 if Nvidia or AMD 2 x 6970 or one 6990 or just one 7970.


Thanks

 

[BallaTheFeared]

What program do you use for video editing?

Use Quick Sync for the encodes if h.264 is acceptable quality.

 

[l0nemonk]

Adobe Premiere for work but I am encoding all of my DVD Collection (1300 movies or more not including serials and anime). All video collection in mkv.format.

 

[Genx87]

I am not sure if programs that will use the GPU for encoding or transcoding will utilize a second GPU.

Otherwise if you are willing to wait. Wait until the spring after Nvidia releases their newest GPU and Intel releases Ivy Bridge. That will give you a better picture of performance.

 

[l0nemonk]

Genx87, I am already committed to the build (everything is purchased already). Good point on the 2nd GPU encoding factor. Got to check on that as that would make the choice easier.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

The Mercury engine that Adobe uses only supports cpu and CUDA so a AMD card wouldn't help you at all there as far as editing. Both Nvidia and AMD should be supported in the encoding portion though, but I don't believe quick sync is.

 

[l0nemonk]

Okay so I am looking for either 2 GTX580's or one GTX590.
Which is a better choice?

 

[BallaTheFeared]

2 580s, but I wouldn't pay more than $400 for each. You should try to grab some used serial based (ASUS/MSI) 580s off users selling theirs for the 7970, you'd get a much better value that way.

I saw some deals on Newegg for about $430 yesterday.

Also SLI doesn't improve performance in Adobe, it will only use a single card for both adding effects/changes while editing and encoding as well.

 

[l0nemonk]

Thank you for the help.

 

[NumericalMethods]

What about purchasing a better value card like a GTX 560 Ti or GTX 570 to 'tied you over' until nVidia launch their new range over the coming months? You are about to shell out a lot of money on cards that will drop in price over the spring. With a 570 you will get a lot of the performance (80% +) for a lot less cash.

 

[AdamK47]

You can score great deals on GTX 580s in the FS/T forum with some people upgrading to 7970s.

 

[FalseChristian]

I'd go with 2 GTX 560's (non-Ti). These cards are a higher clocked version of my GTX 460 1GB (v1). They are very inexpensive and all you need. You can skip the GTX 6xx generation and wait for the GTX 7xx generation. This is what I'm doing.

 

[mosox]

Do not use your video card for transcoding, here's why:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/9

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...d-app-nvidia-cuda-intel-quicksync,2839-9.html

Get a single HD 7970.

 

[MrK6]

Do not use your video card for transcoding, here's why:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/9

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...d-app-nvidia-cuda-intel-quicksync,2839-9.html

Get a single HD 7970.

Wow, excellent info. :thumbsup: I skimmed through the Sandy Bridge review when it came out a year ago and missed this, glad you brought this up.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

x86

Quick Sync

Plugin: http://software.intel.com/en-us/art...ia-sdk-and-intel-quick-sync-video-technology/

The point of CUDA in Premier and it's other programs like After Effects is it is capable of adding the effects to videos and editing them in real time, whereas with x86 alone it's very slow and clunky. It also helps in play back of those video's with the aforementioned effects.

You don't buy $600+ software for it's gpu encoding.

As mentioned I'd use CUDA for your editing, then switch over to Quick Sync for transcoding.

 

[gramboh]

is Quicksync widely supported yet? As in x264 so you can have actual comparable quality to a Blu-ray?

 

[Obsoleet]

Do not use your video card for transcoding, here's why:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/9

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...d-app-nvidia-cuda-intel-quicksync,2839-9.html

Get a single HD 7970.

Yeah the 7970 is definitely the best card out today. But I was not aware of the links you provided.. the OP should definitely use the CPU for everything else and use a 7970 for its low power consumption and amazing speed without SLI/Crossfire required.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

And it's total lack of ability to do anything with it in CS5.

Sounds like a winner guys, nice job. 1080p gaming, video editing, get's a nod to the 7970 in my book too. /sarcasm