CUDA CORE when using TWO nVIDIA Quadro 400 cards?

[Tom Daigon]

To my knowledge. just one card. There are much better choices then the Quadro 4000 which I had on my Mac Pro,

When I switched to my Z820 I got the GTX 570 which blows the 4000 away in performance at a much cheaper price.

For example heres some data on raytracing in AE.

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/1019643

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Robert Sermeño] “Can anyone tell me if Premiere Pro can access the ALL Cuda cores on a system running TWO nVIDIA Quadro 4000 cards? Or can Premiere only access the CUDA Cores on one card?”

Tom is right that Premiere Pro can “see” only one GPU and that Quadro 4000 is old tech now that Quadro K5000 is out and GeForce GTX-700 series is soon to be released. It’s still the “sweet spot” among all Quadro cards though, at less than 50% of K5000’s price; when purchased from HP, it’s covered by the same on-site warranty as the rest of the system.

That said, AE does take advantage of multiple GPUs; GeForce GTX-690 is a fairly good choice as it take two adjacent slots while offering the power of dual GTX-680 cards (that normally take four slots).

On Z820 systems we offer, Quadro 4000 can substituted for GTX-680 4GB or GTX-690.

Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA

[Robert Sermeño]

HI Guys,

Thanks very much for responding to my questions about Premiere Pro’s inability to access all CUDA cores across two Quadro 4000’s. I didn’t have my heart set on the Quadro 4000 as a whole. I just wanted to invest in a mid-level CUDA card, and thought I might want want to use more than a dual-monitor setup down the road. If the technology on the Quadro 4000 is now considered old, I will surely look into the new Quadro K5000 and GeForce GTX-700.

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Robert Sermeño] “I might want want to use more than a dual-monitor setup down the road”

Just FYI: a single GTX-600 series card or K5000 supports up to four digital monitors; a single Quadro 4000 (and all other Quadro and GeForce cards of that family and generation) – a maximum of two.

In other words you only need one K5000 or GTX-670 to support more than two monitors.

[Robert Sermeño]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the info. It looks like the GeForce cards are more Power-Gamer/high-end consumer focussed, while the Quadro series are more Professional/Industry focussed. Is that right?

All I really want in this new system is a GPU card with lots of CUDA cores for working in Premiere Pro CS6 and the option to use MORE than 2 display down the road.

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Robert Sermeño] “Thanks for the info. It looks like the GeForce cards are more Power-Gamer/high-end consumer focussed, while the Quadro series are more Professional/Industry focussed. Is that right?”

That’s what NVidia wants you to believe. 🙂

It’s actually a little more complicated that that – Quadro cards do usually have a better warranty and support than GeForce cards; Quadro cards support 10-bit color with those apps, systems and monitors that support it as well (not a trivial thing); are supposed to be subject to a more stringent QA testing than GeForce cards; offer more hardware OpenGL acceleration than GeForce cards – although fewer and fewer apps need it.

Bottom line, in AE, Pr, Ps and even some 3D modeling apps GeForce cards offer a far better performance and are a far better value vs. Quadros.

Some scenarios where Quadro cards may make sense:
– Tier 1 Xeon systems – Quadro cards sold with them are covered by the system’s on-site warranty, important to some folks.
– NVidia Maximus configurations for those who need it (unlikely in Pr or AE)
– 10-bit color support
– allegedly a slight edge in build quality

Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA

[Tim Kolb]

I think the key to the “slight edge in build quality” is that -all- Quadro cards are built by NVIDIA, and NVIDIA supplies tech support for the drivers AND the hardware.

-No- GeForce cards are made by NVIDIA…there are a dozen or so licensee manufacturers that manufacture GeForce cards.

Is that a bad thing? Nope.

The reason why it’s easy to “qualify” NVIDIA Quadro cards is that there is one of each model…with GeForce cards, there are a dozen of each model (one from each manufacturer as they can be made compliant with the license and still have small variations as each manufacturer IS trying to make their version better to compete more successfully). Are slight variations a problem? I haven’t seen any among my colleagues personally…(I’ve typically used Quadro cards I should disclose).

Do a lot of users employ GeForce cards with no issues? Absolutely.

Does Adobe have some sinister plan beyond a limitation in manpower and time to certify all the GeForce variants? None that I’m aware of…

So…there’s the no-drama story about the differences…pick your best option and go for it.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Tim Kolb] ” -all- Quadro cards are built by NVIDIA”

Tim,

All retail Quadro cards are sold by PNY; integrated – by PNY and Tier 1 (Dell, HP, Lenovo).

Do they (Tier 1 OEMs and PNY) “build” them? I am not sure, but when I had a rare bad Quadro card from HP and contacted PNY for support, they kept asking me for board markings and when I said the card came from HP, they said they did not build it – HP did. Which would also mean Dell and Lenovo build their own versions, clearly following much stricter NVidia guidelines vs. GeForces.

It’s entirely possible NVidia supplies fully assembled Quadro cards to OEMs and they only slap tags on them, and maybe do firmware adjustments. Or maybe they do “build” them, using their own fans and other secondary components. Not sure. Yet based on what PNY said, the don’t all come from the same assembly line.

Do you know the level of OEM involvement with Quadro cards, exactly?

Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA