Which graphics card to go with

[boathouse]

Im undecided which graphics card to go with, Radeon 6850 or GTX 550

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=4902415&SID=

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125353

I do not plan to do any gaming, just video editing.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

 

[loginfailed]

I have the Gigabyte 6850 and my experience with it has been perfect.

I have not tried to run multiple monitors because my desk is too small, but it runs my single 27" Asus monitor nicely through the DVI port.

I don't do any graphics intensive work, mainly editing some video from my GoPro camera using Final Cut. Also it runs Starcraft 2 on the highest settings with no problems.

 

[ReallyFantastic]

Well, the Gigabyte 6850 would work out of the box, which is always nice.

 

[djblastyfone]

What programs do you use to edit? If you're going to be running anything CUDA-enabled (e.g. After Effects, Premiere, Resolve, etc.) you're going to want a NVIDIA card. Yes, the latest versions of most of these apps have rudimentary support for OpenCL acceleration (GPU computing for both ATI and NVIDIA cards), but performance is still weak compared to CUDA.

If you're going to be using FCPX and/or Motion 5, either card would work fine as they use OpenCL exclusively for GPU acceleration. If this is the case you might get a bit more bang for the buck with the ATI card but you'll have poor performance if you ever work with a CUDA accelerated app. If you'll be editing with FCP7 or another NLE that doesn't support GPU acceleration, either card should work equally well.

If you're doing any work with 1080p or more at high bit rates (AVCHD or larger) you may want to consider a GTX 560 or a GTX 480 instead of a 550. Both Premiere and FCPX leverage the GPU to it's fullest for editing and a more powerful card makes a world of difference.

Best of luck!

 

[boathouse]

Im actually not 100 % sure what I will use, I like Adobe Premiere and Ive used FCPX a few times.

I just want a pretty good card for video editing, works with OSX, and If I ever wanted could say run BF 3 with good FPS at High (not MAX)

 

[Solidww]

If your going to use CS5 or 5.5 Premiere Pro then the GTX card is your best bet.

You will need an nVidia card with 1GB or more to activate the GPU Mercury Playback Engine. All I will say is that with Mercury Playback Software mode you will be rendering constantly : . But, with a CUDA GPU you won't have to hence faster editing and rendering times .

Good luck.

 

[Mate94]

If your going to use CS5 or 5.5 Premiere Pro then the GTX card is your best bet.

You will need an nVidia card with 1GB or more to activate the GPU Mercury Playback Engine. All I will say is that with Mercury Playback Software mode you will be rendering constantly : . But, with a CUDA GPU you won't have to hence faster editing and rendering times .

Good luck.

On the AMD cards you have to just delete a file to get working the Mercury P. Engine.

So I would go with the HD6850 too.

 

[djblastyfone]

If your going to use CS5 or 5.5 Premiere Pro then the GTX card is your best bet.

You will need an nVidia card with 1GB or more to activate the GPU Mercury Playback Engine. All I will say is that with Mercury Playback Software mode you will be rendering constantly : . But, with a CUDA GPU you won't have to hence faster editing and rendering times .

Good luck.

On the AMD cards you have to just delete a file to get working the Mercury P. Engine.

This is only if you're using CS6, and even then OpenCL support is weak compared to the CUDA support. As someone who edits video professionally and has had nothing but good experiences with NVidia cards in hackintoshes, I'd recommend the 550 or 560.

 

[Solidww]

Mate94 - That is a great point. I don't know if boathouse has CS6 though.

djblastyfone - Thanks for clarifying that even OpenCL isn't as good as CUDA. I was planning to go with another 5770 or similar card and upgrade to CS6. I like the AMD cards better as they run Cooler then comparable nVidia cards.

To boathouse - Just like djblastyfone, we also have a computer with a Core2Quad and a GTX285. We do almost all our editing on that machine and have no issues(I would like more RAM ). The Mercury playback GPU is amazing on this "OLD" machine.

Just an FYI; the studio has a 8 core Mac Pro and I never use that machine. In fact boss man is very upset that he paid over 5 grand for that machine and hardly anyone uses it. Plus, we built the Core2Quad machine for under 500.

If your working on Avatar then get the fastest most powerful machine you can afford. To fully utilize a Sandy Bridge "K" processor your going to need more then the 1300 wish list you sent me. As always your needs are different then mine and your welcome to spend as you wish. Just make sure your spending logically and not emotionally like so many of us (ME) have in the past.

TTYS

 

[boathouse]

Mate94 - That is a great point. I don't know if boathouse has CS6 though.

djblastyfone - Thanks for clarifying that even OpenCL isn't as good as CUDA. I was planning to go with another 5770 or similar card and upgrade to CS6. I like the AMD cards better as they run Cooler then comparable nVidia cards.

To boathouse - Just like djblastyfone, we also have a computer with a Core2Quad and a GTX285. We do almost all our editing on that machine and have no issues(I would like more RAM ). The Mercury playback GPU is amazing on this "OLD" machine.

Just an FYI; the studio has a 8 core Mac Pro and I never use that machine. In fact boss man is very upset that he paid over 5 grand for that machine and hardly anyone uses it. Plus, we built the Core2Quad machine for under 500.

If your working on Avatar then get the fastest most powerful machine you can afford. To fully utilize a Sandy Bridge "K" processor your going to need more then the 1300 wish list you sent me. As always your needs are different then mine and your welcome to spend as you wish. Just make sure your spending logically and not emotionally like so many of us (ME) have in the past.

TTYS

I really like CS6. I want to try Final Cut X though. Also I want the card to be able to run a modern game, if needed.