Adding Arc GPU with Nvidia, no QSV Intel system - Does PP really not allow 10bit 422 decode w/DGPUs?

Report · Aug 26, 2023

Adding Arc GPU with Nvidia GTX960, no QSV Intel CPU system - Does PP really not allow 10bit 422 decode w/DGPUs?

Read this today..

RjL190365 - "...And Adobe currently restricts hardware decoding support for all PCs with discrete GPUs to 4:2:0."

What is up with that?

Report · Aug 26, 2023

For Nvidia and AMD GPUs, that's a hardware restriction, not Adobe's. In fact, your GTX 960, as well as all other Nvidia GPUs, do not allow 4:2:2 hardware decoding at all no matter what.

And current non-beta versions of Premiere Pro do not properly support the discrete Intel Arc graphics. You'll have to wait until the next forthcoming major version release for that.

Report · Aug 28, 2023

But can I expect to get the full martrix of QSV decoding/encoding , Xe Media Engine benefits from an Arc GPU in future releases?

Report · Aug 28, 2023

Yes, but Intel's dGPU hardware decoding is different from QSV. Nevertheless, Adobe Premiere Pro will support 4:2:2 HEVC hardware decoding on Intel dGPUs beginning with the next major version release (24.x). Previously, you needed an 11th-Gen or newer Intel CPU that has integrated graphics both present and enabled in order to hardware-decode 4:2:2 HEVC.

As far as the rest of your system, you may need hardware upgrades in the near future: Given the age of your GPU, your system's CPU is likely obsolete (being of the 7th-Gen and older Intel CPU group, which has either completely ended all support including security updates, or soon will end support, and that all of Intel's HEDT CPUs outside of the 10th-Gen Cascade Lake lineup have either already gone obsolete or will go obsolete at the end of this year at Intel itself), while your GTX 960 is now on the brink of being depreciated to "legacy" support status.

Report · Aug 30, 2023

It's a i7 7920 & it will be new to me when I figure out the gpu situation. There's a gtx 960 with it, but it can host a 2nd. I was hoping To get CUDA from the 960 & up to date hardware encode/decode from an arc. I thoight arc might be better option than single Nvidia upgrade because of the wider codec matrix, & performance/$$.

Thanks for your replies

Report · Sep 11, 2023

Well, the 960 is in need of an upgrade anyway:

First off, it is much too weak for CUDA acceleration by current entry-level performance standards. In fact, it is almost as weak as present-day on-CPU integrated graphics on current-gen mainstream CPUs!

And being on the borderline of obsolescence means that you may only have months remaining in terms of mainstream support before it gets depreciated into "legacy" support status, with no new feature updates or compatibility fixes whatsoever and only critical security updates from that point onwards.

As such, if you're going to continue to use that i7-7920X CPU, keep in mind that it will actually be weaker in CPU performance than even today's entry-level i5-13400 CPU. However, you will be able to hold off on a major CPU platform upgrade/update for a couple of years by both upgrading your GPU to an RTX 4060 or better and getting that new Intel Arc GPU.

By the way, the forthcoming Version 24 release of Premiere Pro will no longer support the GeForce 700- or earlier series GPUs for CUDA acceleration (the program will still run, but CUDA acceleration will become permanently disabled for such old GPUs, locking all rendering to the software-only mode). It is likely that version 24 will be the last major version of Premiere Pro to support Maxwell GPUs at all for CUDA acceleration, and it is expected that Version 25 (which is due in Fall of next year) will require a Pascal (GeForce 10 series) or newer GPU architecture for CUDA acceleration.

What that all means is that if you just simply add the Intel Arc GPU to your existing hardware configuration, within a year or so you will be forced to use OpenCL for MPE GPU acceleration (and using only the Intel GPU, at that) because the GeForce 900 series will then be deemed "obsolete" by both Adobe and Nvidia, and that the Intel Arc graphics is already compliant with OpenCL 3.0 (the latest version of OpenCL in existence as of this posting).