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Bob at IndigoHealth
Bob at IndigoHealth
Inspiring
October 3, 2020
Answered

"Recommended" Quadro hardware?

  • October 3, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 2718 views

So, I've searched the entire Internet (really... I'm sure I didn't miss a thing 😉 and I'm still confused. I've read that NVIDIA Quadro is the preferred line of GPUs for Premiere. But I've also read that the more expensive Quadro M and P series don't actually perform better than their equivelent (cheaper) K version because Premiere doesn't use the additional features in the M and P versions. Or not. Adobe tech support was no help. All they could give me was the generic list of "supported" GPUs (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/premiere-pro/system-requirements.html).

 

I want to spend around $500 and buy a newer, better GPU to replace my Quadro K2000 in my Dell Precision T3600 running Windows 10.

 

I had actually bought a K5200, which worked great when it worked. But it often died a horrible death - apparently a very longstanding driver bug - and I finally gave up and sent it back for a refund.

 

Does anyone have any words of wisdom about a good GPU for around $500? And does anyone have any real information about the actual performance of the different flavors of Quadro GPUs?

 

Does anyone have a

 

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer RjL190365

The problem is that Adobe has failed to update its list of recommended GPUs. In fact, the lists for both integrated graphics processors and OpenCL is exactly the same as it has been since 2017 even though newer versions of Premiere Pro now get tripped up with incompatibility earnings with all of the available drivers for some GPUs.

 

As for the discontinuation of CUDA support for the K-series Quadros, it is Nvidia's decision. Not Adobe's. With all driver versions since 45x.xx, the display drivers will install for the K5200, but CUDA will be "permanently" disabled.

3 replies

R Neil Haugen
R Neil Haugen
Legend
October 3, 2020

Richard Knight's suggestion to check the info on Puget System's site is spot on. Check with Safeharbor Computing for a further set of data points. Both shops custom build machines for video post work of all sorts. I just had Puget build me a system with a 24-core Ryzen, 128GB RAM, and a 2080Ti that I'm eager to start working with.

 

I'm a contributing author over at MixingLight.com, a pro colorist's subscription website. A LOT of "heavy iron" there, my new beast would only be middling! And they haven't talked of Quadro cards for a couple years now. Since the 1000 series Ti's came out and then the 2000 series, not a Quadro mentioned at all.

 

RJL has all the technical detials of it of course. This is just the practical result.

 

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Bob at IndigoHealth
Bob at IndigoHealthAuthor
Inspiring
October 3, 2020

Thank you both! My Dell T3600 gets the job done... mostly... but it has numerous issues. The cheap option is to spend $100 on a new disk controller to replace the worthless one that came with the Dell, and another some-number-of-dollars to upgrade the GPU. But I've gotten my use out of this dinosaur, and I'm ok with spending money to get something newer and better. I do video as a hobby, but it's turning into a serious commitment with real deadlines, and I'm fed up with fighting with Adobe's and NVIDIA's bugs with older hardware. I can only hope that getting newer, better stuff will improve my workflow experience. And, I assume that if I configure a new computer for video editing, it will be overkill for anything else I want to do on that computer.

 

I scheduled a chat with the good folks at Puget Systems to explore my options for a new desktop computer.

R
Community Expert
Richard M KnightCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 3, 2020

The computer supplier Puget Systems have some very good advice on their web site. 

R
RjL190365
Legend
October 3, 2020

The information that you received is seriously outdated. Newer Quadro drivers now no longer support most of the K-series Quadros at all for CUDA. And the two newest versions of Premiere Pro now require a driver that is much newer than the last driver that fully supported the old K-series Quadros just to be supported.

 

You see, the K-series Quadros are based on a GPU architecture that is now outdated, if not obsolete. The newest version of CUDA, CUDA 11, now no longer supports any of the first-generation Kepler GPUs at all (those GPUs that are based on the GK10x chip, such as your GK107GL-based K2000). Moreover, there are currently no Quadros that are worthwhile (performance-wise) until you get to the $800 price point, as the P2200 that sells within your price point is still based on the now-outdated Pascal architecture that aged poorly with the advent of Turing (there are currently no Turing-based desktop Quadros outside of the pricey RTX line, and the only lower-end Turing-based Quadros currently in circulation are all mobile-only parts).

 

Furthermore, GeForce GTX and RTX GPUs of the 10-series (Pascal) and newer now support 10-bit output via the OpenGL API, and thus can use the new Studio Drivers (not just the Game Ready Drivers).

 

And all this is done by Nvidia itself. Once all of the bugs are worked out of the drivers for the new Ampere architecture, support for all GPUs older than the second-generation Maxwell (GM2xx) parts will be EOL'd (or Legacy'd).

Bob at IndigoHealth
Bob at IndigoHealthAuthor
Inspiring
October 3, 2020

Ok, so everything I've read is (as I suspected, which is why I asked this question) obsolete. Your answer tells me what I DON'T want. What does the technology crystal ball tell us that I DO want (ignoring the $500 price tag, which you claim eliminates all possible candidates). If I wanted to buy a desktop GPU today, for the lowest price, with an architecture that is likely to remain viable for a while, what should I be looking at?

 

Where can I find reliable information on this subject?

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