What's the best Nvidia Graphics Card for Premiere Pro CC 2017?

[smm4774]

I am considering a switch from Mac to PC and researching graphics cards.  Here are the different combos I'm considering and I'm curious to know what the best performing card/cards would be.  I am a full time editor cutting half hour and hour format documentaries and reality tv.  I use a fair amount of transition effects and 4k video.

Geforce 1080 Ti x 2

OR

Geforce 1080 TI PLUS Tesla K40

OR

Quadro GP 5000

Any insight or recommendations are greatly appreciated!

[RjL190365]

Those may be overkill, depending on the performance of your future PC's other hardware components (chiefly CPU, RAM and disks/storage). For example, if your new PC has a weakling CPU and minimalist-performing storage, then any of these combinations would be a colossal waste of money as far as performance in CUDA applications is concerned.

In addition, the middle option should not be considered since Tesla cards will not work with any gaming cards at all (or put it this way, the system will run but the Tesla card will be semi-permanently disabled). Tesla cards require Quadro cards of the exact same same GPU generation in order to work properly (for example, the Tesla K40 will work properly only with a Quadro K#### series GPU. and not a Quadro M#### or P#### series GPU).

[smm4774]

Thanks for the reply.  I was planning going with a Gigbyte x99 and Intel i7 extreme 6950x with 128gb of Ram.  I think a single 1080 TI may be the best bet.

[JEShort01]

A single GTX 1080 Ti should work fine for your workflow and planned CPU.

Regarding RAM, if your transitions are all in Premiere, 64GB would be plenty. If your "fair amount of transition effects" are however in After Effects, 128GB is probably a better fit.

Regards,

Jim

[RjL190365]

In addition to those, have you considered any disks (storage) for your planned setup? (Examples: SATA or m.2 NVMe SSDs, 7200 RPM HDDs, whatever.) And how many disks in total?

[smm4774]

I have a 32 TB 8 disk RAID 5 controlled by an Areca Card that I'll migrate over.  I'm sure I'll have to buy a new RAID controller card.

[RjL190365]

You may want to rethink this:

Unless you want or need that much internal storage, you're better off getting a couple of SSDs - one 2.5" SATA III SSD for your system and programs drive, and a second, likely larger, m.2 NVMe SSD for everything else. This is because no single 7200 RPM HDD can sustain more than about 200 MB/second sequentially. Save those HDDs as individual, and separate, backup/storage disks, each possibly housed in a USAB 3.0 enclosure - and use those disks only as needed.

[smm4774]

Thanks for the advice, but no.  The Raid is specifically for media and yes, I need that much space.  Have plenty of back up and the RAID is a RAID 5 to provide some redundancy.    I'm currently running 3 SSDs, 1 for the os and programs, 1 for cache and peak files and 1 for projects. 

Also, the RAID is EXTERNAL and hardware controlled.  The RAID is also much faster than a single SSD.

[RjL190365]

That may be true. But even so, that RAID is still limited by the performance of those eight HDDs combined. And given that no current 4TB HDD can sustain more than about 200 MB/second sequentially, you're going to see only about 1350 MB/second tops out of that particular eight-disk RAID setup while one of the newest m.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs (the Samsung 960 Pro, in particular) can sustain well over 2000 MB/second apiece.

[smm4774]

AT least in my older 2009 mac pro, my internal ssds are getting about 300 mbs per second.  I have an OWC Accelsior SSD for my OS that gets about 600mbs.  The RAID gets around 1300 as you've stated.  For my current setup, it seems to be the fastest.  Plus, given my space requirements, the most cost effective.

I do appreciate the insight though.  I'm new to Premiere and it's been a while since I've had to build out a machine and there's a lot to learn.

I am assuming that the m.2pcie drives you mention require a slot that my old Mac would not have.

I started this post with the idea that I would build a new PC but I've come to the conclusion that I need to stretch out the lifespan of my current machine for another year if I can hold out.  In the short term, maxing out my Mac is a lot cheaper and will hopefully buy me some time.