Nvidia Graphics card - recommendations please ?

Hi folks,

wondering what Nvidia graphics cards people are using successfully with X1 ?.

Currently I hve an ATI (and it wasn't cheap !) - not sure which chip as I'm not at my system right now, but it supports 3 monitors.

I am having a few big nuisance graphics issues when running X1, to the point I'd like to try a new Nvidia card to see if that fixes anything.

The most regular annoying issue is the mouse pointer just disappears when selecting things - for example drop down menus.
Click, menu list appears, but the mouse pointer is gone. I can still move the mouse and see the background highlight behind
the menu items as I move the mouse - so I've still been able to work, but it's a lot easier if you can actually see the mouse pointer.

I've done every update possible - all the graphics drivers etc, and this has been an ongoing issue that just has not improved.


I'm not interested in spending any more time trying to troubleshoot this with the ATI card - I've already put up with it
long enough and spent a huge amount of time on this already.

I would much rather spend money on an Nvidia card and see it this makes the difference - at least then I should know for sure whether
this is an ATI issue or not.

I've not been happy with the ATI card at all - right from the word go it's given me a lot of grief, after numerous driver updates, CCC updates
(Catalyst control center), uninstalls and upgrades, and creating a custom GPU profile to stop the video driver from crashing windows, I do
have a stable system, but it's still not much chop when the mouse pointer dissappears so frequently.


So - what Nvidia cards are working for people ?.
And  ... can it support 3 monitors ?.

Cheers
-Cliff

Nvidia FX4800. I haven't touched ATI for over 7 or 8 years either. 
It's better to go for bigger monitors than to try and support three. Currently I run a 2560x1600 as my main, with a 19" HD 1920 x 1080 above it. 

n0rd

Ummm... that's a Quadro card. It's meant for graphics workstations (3D Max, Maya etc).

 Yes, I use it for Premiere CS5 and Crysis 2. 
It is loud, but I keep the computer in its own air-conditioned soundproofed cupboard. 

Afaik, to run 3 monitors on Nvida cards when gaming you either need 2 in sli, or one made to run 3 displays specifically, like this :

http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-geforce-gtx-460-3dp-1gb-256-bit-710mhz-3600mhz-zt-40407-10p.html

If you're not going to be playing any games, and it's purely for desktop / application use, then I'm sure you still need 2 Nvidia cards, but they don't need to be running in sli.

No problems with a lowly 8800gts here

You may have already seen this, but if not you may find it helpful in making a decision. Nothing DAW or audio specific, but still good info.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

GT430 works EXCELLENTLY and very quietly. Also, there's actually a fanless version..

Quadro's cards (graphics workstation cards) are built specifically to push max triangles and nothing else. They might share cores and tech from other cards but have been specifically tweaked for use in 3D apps (AutoCAD, 3D Max, Maya etc).

General apps are more likely to use game specific tech (like DX) to accelerate graphics than they are to use vector graphics tech used in 3D modelling apps.

Quadro FX 4800 ~ $1400. Pass Mark Score = 1340

GeForce GTX 580 ~ $500. Pass Mark Score = 3857
GeForce GTX 480 ~ $300. Pass Mark Score = 3530
GeForce GTX 460 ~ $150. Pass Mark Score = 2350
GeForce GTX 280 ~ $250. Pass Mark Score = 1960

Buying a Quadro for a DAW is like buying an RME to hear the 'beeps' on a graphics workstation...

PS - Most latest (middle to high) GeForce cards (GTX4xx, 5xx) have three video outputs (typically: 2 DVI, 1 mini HDMI).

Seth Kellogg [Cakewalk
]

n0rd

Paul Russell

Nvidia FX4800.

Ummm... that's a Quadro card. It's meant for graphics workstations (3D Max, Maya etc).

You want to get a GeForce GTX 4xx or 5xx. If you plan on using three large resolution screens then I would suggest the GTX 570 since it has a 320 bit memory interface. (The GTX 560 has 256 bit). Be warned, these high end cards need big power to run (at least 550 / 600 Watt PSU with >38A on +12V rail). Plus they can be loud too.

Got 1000 watt - no problems there.

GeForce cards and Quadro's use the same graphics cores for the most part. There are some Nvidia users which use hacked Quadro drivers to open up the extra pipelines in the Geforce cards as well.

I've tested lots of workstations with Quadro's running SONAR. They work fantastic and the Quadro's seem to run cooler and quieter. They are also better for video editing and encoding. If you're into that sort of thing that is.

Great to know about the Quadro's, a couple of reasonable size vid projects in the pipeline.
I see what you mean about the premium :-)

If you can afford the premium of a Quadro...go ahead

Hey, thanks to everyone for your replies.


Checked my current card - it's a Sapphire 5850.
I did some testing last night, and the regular "mouse pointer" issues only seems to be happening in X1.

I've been literally burried in X1 for a number of weeks - big pressure on a big project, so no time to play with other stuff :-)

After getting a wee bit fed up with things, I decided to "Make Time" (ha - if only we could, fact is I had to steal it from elsewhere :-)
and play with some other software to see if any graphics glitches were apparent anywhere else.

I played with 8.5 producer 64-bit and Vegas Pro 9 64-bit - there were no problems apparent  in either of these packages.
I also had a very quick play with Photoshop and Illustrator - no problems there either.

It looks like I may be a couple of quick fixes behind, but reading those they don't list graphics issues like I'm seeing with X1.

My ATI drivers and software are all the latest, so only X1 quickfixes are either one or two behind.

I'll try installing the latest X1 quick fixes this coming Sunday and report back here as to whether these make any difference.


I am definitely looking to replace the ATI with an Nvidia card - so again, thanks so much for all the feedback.
It's great to see that plenty of people are happily working with various Nvidia cards, so there seems to be plenty to choose from.

I do quite a bit with video, so video rendering performance is quite important for me.

Thanks again to alll, I'll report back once the latest quickfixes are installed on Sunday.

Cheers
-Cliff

I use PNY NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 and have had no problems.  I'm using Windows 7 x64.

like a convo reverb over CUDA.

Like these guys: Liquid Sonics. They also have a linear phase eq that runs on a CUDA card.

That verb does look pretty powerful... convo with no added latency?

 
FWIW, The Cuda powered verb isn't True Stereo.
 
I think the idea of using Cuda is cool... I'm not sure it's really necessary (or worth the effort).
With a SandyBridge 2600k at 4.5GHz, you can run the ComicBook Hero's demo tune "Catch Me If You Can" (from the Sonar 8.5 DVDs) using a 64-sample ASIO buffer size... and the CPU is about 12%.  
That's a catchy tune...

I've got a 560Ti in my video editing machine...
I'm curious to see what it could do with Cuda (for processing EFX).
Does a nice job assisting the Mercury Engine in Premier  CS 5.5  
 
If a high quality group of plugins (like the original UAD offerings) was offered as a Cuda "bundle" (EQ, Dynamics, Reverb, etc)... that would get my attention.