Premiere Pro 2025: GPU Acceleration (CUDA) grayed out – works fine in 2024

[Britta Isabel279934333cr3]

I’m experiencing an issue with Premiere Pro 2025 where the GPU renderer option
Mercury Playback Engine – GPU Acceleration (CUDA)
is permanently grayed out – even in brand new projects with standard 1080p25 sequences and I-Frame MPEG preview settings.

My system:

• Windows 10 Pro

• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (driver 14.08.2024)

• 64 GB RAM

• Premiere Pro 2025 (latest version, German UI)

:white_heavy_check_mark: GPUSniffer confirms full CUDA support:
“Found CUDA device… No capability restrictions detected”

:white_heavy_check_mark: Hardware encoding (NVENC) is working fine (e.g. with YouTube export presets and VBR 1-pass / CBR).

:cross_mark: But in the Project Settings, the GPU renderer is always locked to "Software Only" – and the dropdown is disabled.

:heavy_check_mark: In Premiere Pro 2024 on the same system, CUDA works perfectly and is freely selectable.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_left: I’ve attached both compatibility reports for your reference.

Please investigate and fix this issue. I'm staying on 2024 for now, but I'd prefer to use 2025 long-term.
Thank you!

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

@Britta Isabel279934333cr3 

GPU acceleration grayed out is intentional

Read this doc.

Software rendering update

Make sure your preview codec is set to Prores LT

[Britta Isabel279934333cr3]

Thanks for your reply!

I'm using NVIDIA Studio Drivers (DCH). Here are the full details:

- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- Driver type: Studio Driver (DCH)
- Driver version: 560.94
- Driver date (NVIDIA panel): August 14, 2024
- Internal version number (Device Manager): 32.0.15.6094
- Premiere Pro version: 25.2.3 (Build 4)

The driver was installed automatically via Windows Update on January 10, 2025.
A related Windows log entry shows that the NVDisplay.Container service was added/updated at that time – nothing unusual there.

As requested, I've attached a screenshot showing the grayed-out CUDA option in the Project Settings window.

Side note: Premiere Pro 2024 works perfectly on the same system – CUDA is available there without any issue.

Would you recommend updating to Studio Driver 576.80, or rolling back to a known stable version like 576.52?
Thanks a lot for your help!

[Britta Isabel279934333cr3]

Wow, that came fast! 😉 Thanks for clarifying! That makes sense now. Since I only have one GPU (RTX 3060), the CUDA engine is active but the option is greyed out by design in version 25.2+. I wasn’t aware of that change, I thought it wasn't working - and the help article really explained it well. Much appreciated!

[Britta Isabel279934333cr3]

THANK YOU Ann Bens! 🙂

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Please read the doc!

The screenshot is showing your card is active.