GFX card query

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

I’ve seen many folks using a similar setup, so it does make sense. However, I would wait a bit for what next year has in store…

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Chris Brett]

Hi Ted …….

…. sounds like you have been beta testing something interesting ! ( ? )

Dont really have the luxury of waiting TBH — current set-up is too limited and am planning to get something which has a certain amout of up-gradeability anyway which I hope will serve me well…..

……. anyway — sounds like you are saying this sort of configuration is possible and that as far as you know this kind of thing works ok ( ? ) …………….

Chris

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[Tom Daigon]

he also may be referring to this, due out first quarter of next year.

https://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/09/how-tesla-k20-speeds-up-quicksort-a-familiar-comp-sci-code/

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
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[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Boxx lets you have the option to combine a Quadro with a Geforce GTX 670 or 680, so I think a 460 should work as well. However, for $200 more you get better performance from a 670.

Next year there should be more options though.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Chris Brett]

Thanks Chaps – very encouraging…

Chris

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[Walter Soyka]

[chris brett] “Looking to build a new workstation that will increase creative scope and wondering if it makes sense to use a Quadro 4000 ( say ) for the main card and a GTX 460 ( say ) for CUDA acceleration – assuming you can specify use of this in ‘prefs’ or suchlike ……”

What other software are you using, Chris?

After Effects processes mainly on the CPU for the Classic 3D renderer and most effects, so GPU will not have a big impact here.

Several third-party effects use CUDA (GenArts Sapphire and NeatVideo come to mind), but most of the big third-party effects that are GPU accelerated use OpenGL (Optical Flares, Element).

After Effects can use CUDA processing for the CS6 ray-tracing renderer. In this case, it will use CUDA on all attached NVIDIA cards, with the caveat that it will use the lowest common amount of VRAM on all cards. If you do a lot of ray-tracing with Ae CS6, you should check out Juan Salvo and Danny Princz’s AE/GPU benchmarks [link] for some guidance on GPU performance.

Personally, I agree with Tudor’s advice to wait if you can on a workstation-class card. The current Fermi-based Quadro cards will be outdated in a just a couple months when the Kepler-based Quadros arrive. You could probably do well with a GTX 670 or two in the mean time.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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[Chris Brett]

Thanks Walter for your excellent feedback —

— exactly what I wanted to know — its all a bit speculative ATM but will probably go ahead with something like this before the end of the year and review after the spring.

Best regards

Chris Brett /// U K