Is a 10-bit Quadro card necessary?

Report · Nov 28, 2018

I have two Dell U2415 monitors that are wide-gamut. I currently use a non-10bit card. I am building a PC and wondering if I should go with a MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB GAMING X Video Card or get something like a Quadro P2000. Any thoughts?

Report · Dec 03, 2018

Moving to Hardware Forum

Report · Dec 03, 2018

That's always a fun question.

For most things, the only thing you get out of a Quadro is helping support the bottom line of Nvidia. For most of us, that's well ... not really a huge wish-list thing, you know?

I've run this by a colorist who's a real tech/gear-head, and has his shop already certified for DolbyVision's HDR. His answer ... well, probably ... not. Unless you determine you really need to.

I included questions about how well the "10 bit (8-bit+FRC)" monitors did as far as real 10-bit, and fed by a 1000-series card versus a Quadro. From his experience, and as a teaching pro he sees a ton of different setups ... a "10-bit (8-bit + FRC" monitor fed from a 1000 series card ... works. If ... the monitor really has the depth for creating 10-bit equivalence or whatever, and some ... don't.

I told him that was so helpful and he laughed. Yea ... he knows ... but if you're not shelling out the dough for a Flanders FSI spendy monitor and a BlackMagic box to drive it ... you gotta buy & test.

I would say ... the data on those monitors from Dell shows the following"

"Color gamut of 99% sRGB with an average Delta E < 3."

Which is a good start but I wouldn't say exactly wide-gamut. At 300 Nits max brightness, it's got plenty of dynamic range though after calibrating that for sRGB/Rec.709 at around 100Nits ... wouldn't be using the extra brightness.

And I don't see anything showing this as a 10-bit monitor in the specs.

Neil