Video Cards

[sedrosken]

I'm a little bit surprised you'd chose a 27" screen. I've had 32" monitors for 15 years at this point.

To be fair, I am trending upward. I went from a 19" screen, to a 21.5" screen, to a 23, to a 24, and now to a 27. But yeah, as Lunar said, if you start looking for anything bigger they want to sell you 4K, and I don't want to A. push that many pixels for no reason and B. have to resort to DPI scaling that doesn't always function correctly.

 

[ddrueding]

I do think that 42" is the correct size if it can physically and financially fit in your situation. This one by ASUS was announced after I'd ordered mine, but before I'd taken delivery (always the way). They call it a gaming monitor, but 98% of DCI-P3 is plenty for social media video production.

 

[jtr1962]

Be glad you are still at a point where glasses are somehow optional. My eyesight can't even be corrected to 20/20 with glasses, and I am physically incapable of putting in contacts. Not hyperbole. I had a very patient optometrist and his assistant conclude, after three hours of trying, that the only I'd ever get them in was a Ludavico Technique scenario.

I doubt contacts would go over that well with me, either. My uncorrected vision is in the area of 20/200 but I normally get by just fine without glasses. I only wear them when I need to see fine detail from a distance, like watching TV from the couch. I can ride my bike just fine without them. The upside of being nearsighted is my closeup vision is great. I don't need reading glasses, which is common for a lot of people by the time they hit my age. I can still assemble tiny components on circuits, and even read the numbers off stuff like 0603 size resistors.

Are OLED displays in actual computer monitor sizes being made? I see them in 15" and 48" and really pretty much nothing in between.

As you found out, yes, they're being made but they're not in "normal people" price range. OLED TVs are finally getting there. When the 42" in the living room goes, I'll get a 48" OLED. It'll fit in the cabinet due to the much narrower bezel. And that size is now under $1,000 finally. Might be under $500 by the time I need one.

 

[LunarMist]

I do think that 42" is the correct size if it can physically and financially fit in your situation. This one by ASUS was announced after I'd ordered mine, but before I'd taken delivery (always the way). They call it a gaming monitor, but 98% of DCI-P3 is plenty for social media video production.

Are you viewing it without glasses? It seems to me that the pixel level viewing distance would require a lot of neck/head movement and the difference between center and edges to eyes would vary a lot. I suspect that at about 0.75m the size would be just OK for full viewing, but would require a deep desk if the keyboard is on top of it, in front on the monitor.

DCI-P3 is more of a video standard, not so much for photography. Are any of those OLED monotors really stable and have hardware calibration with a 3D LUT? Can you turn off all that auto brightness and HDR crud and operate at 100 nits or close to that with a decent gamut for soft proofing?

 

[sedrosken]

I do think that 42" is the correct size if it can physically and financially fit in your situation. This one by ASUS was announced after I'd ordered mine, but before I'd taken delivery (always the way). They call it a gaming monitor, but 98% of DCI-P3 is plenty for social media video production.

My 4K TV is 43" and there's just absolutely no possible way I could fit that on a desk or make it comfortable to use as a monitor. I already think I'm maxed out in terms of useful screen area with how I use and sit at my desk.

 

[Handruin]

I'm running a Dell 43" 4K monitor on my desk for the past 3 years or so and it's been great. It took a little getting used to but once I did, I love it. I've been considering changing from this Dell 43" to an LG C2 42" since I do more gaming than anything else on this setup. Those went on sale a couple months back and I regret not picking one up at the time.

 

[LunarMist]

If I decide to get a 4070 Ti, and assuming it doesn't blow up the power, is it enough in the long haul for maximizing the 2560 displays and computing images? I don't forsee getting a 42-43" display during this AMD AM5 era (4th or 5th Geeration RYZEN). They don't seem to be made for 3D calibration and many don't seem to have any hardware LUT. By the time the Ryzen 6 is out I'll probably give up on computer building and have to buy a MAC.

 

[Handruin]

The 4070 ti should be able to handle four panels at 3840 x 2160 at 60hz so handling a single 2560 panel should be nothing for it.

 

[ddrueding]

Windows has this great feature where if you hold the windows key and use the arrows (left and right are the most useful), it automatically moves the active window to exactly half your screen and prompts you what you'd like (from the open applications) on the other half. This gives two 8:9 aspect ratio windows without a bezel in between. For normal web browsing and research work this is perfect. If you then use the windows+up or down keys you can quarter your screen and have 4x 20.25" 1080p screens.

Of course, it is amazing for videos and games as it is.

I don't know of one with the full set of pro-level tools (hardware calibration, hardware LUT, etc), and all OLED-based technology will have some level of image shifting and other bits to fight burn-in, but I suspect it is plenty for 99% of people doing photo/video work.

 

[Mercutio]

Video work is a whole thing, man. It's deeply specialized and the recommendations change entirely based on your hardware and applications. My setup is extremely idiosyncratic because I choose to work in Resolve Studio instead of some other thing.

 

[LunarMist]

So do I need a strong video card for video or is it just for processing files (GPU accelerators) and playing games?
I'm really needing to decide what to buy.

 

[ddrueding]

If you're working in a video codec where a GPU has built-in encoders or decoders, you should have one of those cards. Almost doesn't matter where in their product lineup you are.

 

[LunarMist]

I'd like to see the difference in speed between the 4070 Ti and the 4070. The 4070 Ti will be a tight fit, but the 4070 may or may not be much smaller. It looks like there are only a few 4070 Ti that are less than 3+ slots wide and not in stock. It's also a bit strange that many of the same cards are sold in regular and OC versions, but the OC is a percent or two at most. I've checked the mainstream 4070 Ti cards.

MSI Ventuos - 52mm (and 1 similar OC version)
Asus - None <60mm
Gigabyte Gaming, Eagle, Aero - 58mm (and 2 similar OC versions)
PNY XLR8 Gaming Vertigo - width unclear (3-slot bracket), but looks like about 58mm
Zotac AMP AIRO, Trinity - 58.5mm (and 1 similar OC version)

Are there any other options I'm not aware of that would fit? For now I would feel better with the Ventuos. Thoughts?

 

[Mercutio]

If you're working in a video codec where a GPU has built-in encoders or decoders, you should have one of those cards. Almost doesn't matter where in their product lineup you are.

The RTX 4090 has dual encoding modules, which could be a big deal since nVidia typically has the best supported encoding hardware.
On the other hand, Intel has the best overall support for codecs in Quickpath, which can be enabled from either CPU or a GPU.
In either case, you get the same (single) hardware encoder when you buy whatever GPU of a given generation. A 3050 and a 3080 do the same things, for example. It just comes down to what software supports which hardware encoders better and which hardware encoders are fastest.

Many photo editing products barely use a GPU for anything, apparently, but plenty of add-ins like Topaz Denoise, make heavy use of them. In video editing, it depends if you've risen out of the slums of consumer stuff before hardware encoders do much of anything.

 

[LunarMist]

So there is a big difference between the 40 series and 30 series, but not so much in the different ones in each line. I will never be getting the dual encoder types. Which benchmarks are best representative of the DXO, Topaz, PTGUI for example?

 

[Mercutio]

Since we're probably talking about consumer graphics hardware, single-precision FP32 is probably a decent indicator of GPU computing performance. The actual specifics will depend on what a given application has decided to implement and support.

 

[LunarMist]

What sites show those numbers? I'm really hoping for some improvements over the 3060 Ti.

 

[Mercutio]

There are a bunch of sites that offer rankings. Many of them want to use specific cards rather than generic chips, but it's easy enough to navigate. cpu-compare.com is an easy one to remember.

 

[LunarMist]

Which ways do the cards blow from the three fans, in or out?

 

[ddrueding]

Generally if it is a 3 fan card the fans pull from the outside of the card and blow into the card. Of course they all dump that hot air right back into the case, and it is up to you to get that heat out. Yes some of the hot air leaves the backplate, but don't count on that to be the only exhaust.

 

[LunarMist]

Theoretically the video will only be at power for brief periods of time in bursters during file processing. It's not used continuously as in games or emulating proteins, preparing cryptobionic monies, etc. I have a 140mm rear case fan that is tied to CPU temperature. There is a slowish 200mm case fan on the side that blows on the whole mainboard. The two front fans are old and somewhat clogged, so don't do much. The top has a an open mesh, but I added some smaller one to reduce debris ingress.

 

[LunarMist]

I read that the cables to the GPU are a different kind from the factory, so a Y adapter is needed and some of those are problematic due to stiffness and/or overheating. Do you guys recommend the bundled adapter or maybe a direct power connector like this one?

 

[sedrosken]

If the direct cable is compatible with your power supply, 100% I'd go for that one. That's always going to be less sketchy than adapters.

 

[LunarMist]

The video card is really long and the wiring doesn't fit, nor does the slot.
Width is not as bad as I thought.

 

[LunarMist]

Now it won't initialize my OpenCL in PTG, so there is no accreleration at all (obviously slower than the 3060 Ti). This video card cluster since the pandemoneic reminds me of waiting two years to upgrade RAM and then realizing it wouldn't work. That was 20 years ago, but Windows is still screwing with me. Whatever...

 

[LunarMist]

I got the cable and it works great. There is definitely less stress than that stiff adapter and one cable is better than two cables plus adapter. It is still longer than needed at 650mm.

 

[Mercutio]

Apparently, nVidia has improved its hardware encoder to the point that anything Maxwell or newer (and not an -MX) can now encode five inputs simultaneously with NVenc. Before, the encoder could only handle three streams at once.

No support any of the stuff I care about, but it's probably really cool for someone recording game + desktop + realtime face and secondary camera in OBS or whatever.

 

[Mercutio]

4070 is released. It's a little faster than a 3080 and it's the closest thing to a reasonably priced Ada card but it's STILL $600. nVidia is dreaming if it thinks people are clamoring for a 4060 that's still hanging around the $500 price point, but that looks to be the case.

 

[Handruin]

I guess they're really testing the waters with pricing. I paid more than $600 for my 3080FE with a friend's employee discount back in 2021 so if the 4070 is faster maybe it's still on par with their price/performance envelope. Not that I'm at all excited for $600+ GPUs

 

[Mercutio]

I know a lot of people sitting on Ryzen 3 systems with GTX1660s and waiting for SOME kind of reasonable replacement to come about. I'm telling them to look at the A750 or A770, but most of them are saying that it's not enough of an upgrade vs what they have They want something from AMD or nVidia, and neither one of them is really offering anything in that ranges that's an actual 100% improvement, while the A770 or for that matter a 1080Ti are both about 60% faster at that $300 price point, and the 1080s don't even have ray tracing or the new AI-sampling thing nVidia does now. The market is still screwy. Used parts are still inflated for everything made in the last four years, and even with those it's probable that the card came out of a mining rig.

Gaming definitely isn't my thing but I feel for the people still waiting to upgrade their five year old rigs.

 

[LunarMist]

There were plenty of video cards when I was at the store in March.

 

[Mercutio]

There were plenty of video cards when I was at the store in March.

How many of them were under $400?

 

[sedrosken]

My bet's on either zero or maybe a crappy 3050 or two. Haven't brick and mortar stores still been massively overpricing these things? I heard somewhere that was happening.

 

[Mercutio]

It's at least possible to get most cards at MSRP, but for last gen cards at this point in their life cycle should be substantially discounted, not hovering within 10% of their launch price.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm pretty sure nVidia is picking up their pricing model from Porsche. Price your entire current catalog for the few that can afford it, and that keeps the pricing of the last gen cards up. This allows you to sell the old stock, and might convince people to buy the new one for more than they otherwise would with the idea that they can flip it later and recoup some of the premium.

 

[LunarMist]

How many of them were under $400?

I have no idea. Aren't good videos always expensive? IIRC the 2nd lowest Quattro was nearly $500 well before the pandeminics and it was slow.

 

[Mercutio]

There's a video card sweet spot at somewhere around $250 - $350, which is in line with the cost of a console system. Based on current expectations, that's probably where the 4060 SHOULD be, but based on nVidia's pricing trend, it's seeming like it'll be $500, which is the point where the value proposition of a single component of a gaming PC starts to fall apart. We can't REALLY do a $1000, highly capable gaming PC right now and it's largely because video cards aren't cooperating. We have the dubious value of used hardware or the leavings of still-new last gen stuff, but it's also correct to say that anyone floating in the range of hardware that's between GTX 1660 and GTX1080Ti (also RTX 2070, RTX 3060) performance isn't going to get much out of anything newer. MAYBE they can bump up a resolution on a newer card,

 

[LunarMist]

So what does Joe Blow buy from the BestBuy or Dell or HP?

 

[Mercutio]

Gaming systems are shipping with everything right now. nVidia actually restarted production on 1660s last year because they're cheap and don't have to be made by TSMC.

 

[Mercutio]

The 780M integrated graphics in new Ryzen mobile CPUs apparently takes the GTX1650 mobile to the shed.
For hardware that's "free" with a Ryzen 7 or 9 mobile CPU that is really, really respectable.