bwcolor
Veteran
I've not moved beyond buying a case, power supply and Windows 8 Pro, but have been researching what is needed to actually take advantage of higher end graphics monitors.
After reading much information and a LOT of mis-information I have concluded that fast gaming cards with lots of CUDA cores are great for GPU acceleration on CS5, but do not provide the 10 bit output required in order to get close to Adobe RGB on a quality monitor. The story changes as you upgrade to CS6
In order to get 10 bit color out of the video card you need a workstation video card. Currently, the Quadro series seems to be the main one listed for Premier Pro. It has CUDA cores ..not many for the price.. where other workstation cards, such as the AMD Firepro haven't CUDA cores and rely on the newer OpenGL technology for GPU acceleration. Consumer cards such as the GTX 690 provide mind numbing CUDA and are hardware capable of 10 bit output, but the drivers don't support 10 bit. In other words, all video manufacturers can force 10 bit people to buy their workstation cards and if you also want a high CUDA count, you need a REALLY expensive workstation card (high end Quadra, or Tesla cards).
So, a GTX 690 will provide powerful GPU support to your Photoshop work, but won't support 10 bit output. A workstation card such as the Quadro 4000 will do a good job with 10 bit, but relies on the newer OpenGL GPU for GPU acceleration, which Photoshop does not use.. it uses CUDA. That said, the Quadra is the only inexpensive/expensive workstation card with CUDA cores... kind of a retro fit and thus it is the only "cheap" 10 bit card with some CUDA GPU acceleration.
So, don't get confused when you see that, for example, Displayport supports 10bit.. you also need a card/drivers and an operating system that supports 10 bit.
Also, supposedly Lightroom does not use GPU, or at least isn't GPU intensive when editing photos, but it does use OpenGL for video.
Starting with CS6 Adobe started to use OpenGL within it's Mercury Graphics Engine, thus other workstation cards, such as the AMD Firepro can be used with great results, BUT NOT IN A WINDOWS ENVIRONMENT...MAC ONLY. This means that MacPro users longer need Cuda Cores to do GPU acceleration. Unfortunately, many of the plugins still use the old Cuda technology. Adobe needs to update their list of GPU accelerated cards to include OpenGL only cards. This makes a workstation only card look much more appealing, but Windows users best buy a Quadro card.
After reading much information and a LOT of mis-information I have concluded that fast gaming cards with lots of CUDA cores are great for GPU acceleration on CS5, but do not provide the 10 bit output required in order to get close to Adobe RGB on a quality monitor. The story changes as you upgrade to CS6
In order to get 10 bit color out of the video card you need a workstation video card. Currently, the Quadro series seems to be the main one listed for Premier Pro. It has CUDA cores ..not many for the price.. where other workstation cards, such as the AMD Firepro haven't CUDA cores and rely on the newer OpenGL technology for GPU acceleration. Consumer cards such as the GTX 690 provide mind numbing CUDA and are hardware capable of 10 bit output, but the drivers don't support 10 bit. In other words, all video manufacturers can force 10 bit people to buy their workstation cards and if you also want a high CUDA count, you need a REALLY expensive workstation card (high end Quadra, or Tesla cards).
So, a GTX 690 will provide powerful GPU support to your Photoshop work, but won't support 10 bit output. A workstation card such as the Quadro 4000 will do a good job with 10 bit, but relies on the newer OpenGL GPU for GPU acceleration, which Photoshop does not use.. it uses CUDA. That said, the Quadra is the only inexpensive/expensive workstation card with CUDA cores... kind of a retro fit and thus it is the only "cheap" 10 bit card with some CUDA GPU acceleration.
So, don't get confused when you see that, for example, Displayport supports 10bit.. you also need a card/drivers and an operating system that supports 10 bit.
Also, supposedly Lightroom does not use GPU, or at least isn't GPU intensive when editing photos, but it does use OpenGL for video.
Starting with CS6 Adobe started to use OpenGL within it's Mercury Graphics Engine, thus other workstation cards, such as the AMD Firepro can be used with great results, BUT NOT IN A WINDOWS ENVIRONMENT...MAC ONLY. This means that MacPro users longer need Cuda Cores to do GPU acceleration. Unfortunately, many of the plugins still use the old Cuda technology. Adobe needs to update their list of GPU accelerated cards to include OpenGL only cards. This makes a workstation only card look much more appealing, but Windows users best buy a Quadro card.
Last edited:
