Can someone help me pick a GPU? I'm so lost right now...

[Midnight Robot]

Hi everyone,

I came here hoping all you smart lads and lasses could help me because I'm seriously stuck. I'm trying to figure out which GPU would be best for a silent workstation and light gaming machine I'm going to build in the next few weeks. My main focus with this machine is content creation using Adobe CS6 (maybe CC2014 soon), Sony Vegas, and 3D modelers. I don't plan to render 2D/3D animations, but because of school I might need to so being able to do it at home would be a massive bonus as long as it doesn't increase my budget too much. I just don't know what kid of GPU would be best for that. When it comes to gaming I don't plan to play anything very intense, just stuff like Sims, Civilization, League, Minecraft, and similar games.

I don't have a spec list to give because I'm currently deciding on other parts I want, but I will be using two Dell U2414H monitors (display port or HDMI, running 1080p), and maybe a Cintiq eventually but just an Intuos tablet for now. Cintiq tablets have screens and run via HDMI or DVI-I, Intuos is just a USB device. I get stuck mostly on Nvidia vs Radeon because of Cuda vs OpenCL, but I've heard more in favour of Nvidia when it comes to Adobe products. I was considering the GTX 770 or 760 2GB if it can handle three displays, but I don't know if it's the best bang for buck for what I will be doing. Could anyone help me out here?

PS: Forgot to mention it but the videos are just 1080p quality meant for YouTube, and the digital art videos would be made with screen capture software while using Photoshop. The traditional art videos would just be made using a HD cam and then video editing software.

PPS: The CPU I'm currently set on is the Xeon e3-1230v3 because of the near i5 price with near i7 specs + hyper threading. 

[Freaky_spider]

the xeon cant overclock tho, 

[julekule]

opencl is alot fast but it is only suported in cc not cs6

[Katsu-K1L]

if you use Vegas a lot Get a R9 280x, it will make Vegas suuuuuuper fast since it uses OPENCL and it should handle most games but if you want to use Cuda acceleration in after effects go with the 770

[AlwaysFSX]

Go with a 770.

the xeon cant overclock tho,

So?

[aricleather]

I would choose Nvidia for what you're doing. They're quieter (in some cases) than AMD cards, and that's what you're after. You'll lose out on OpenCL for Vegas, but you'll have CUDA acceleration in CS6. The 770 should be able to drive dual 1080p monitors.

[Freaky_spider]

Go with a 770.

So?

just saying because he is comparing it to an I5... 

[AlwaysFSX]

just saying because he is comparing it to an I5...

Same-ish performance for cheaps, no need to overclock everything.

[Legion]

How much are you willing to spend.

[simtransporter]

opencl is alot fast but it is only suported in cc not cs6

I believe CS6 does support opencl.

[Midnight Robot]

This will be my first custom PC ever, I've been a bit anti desktop thanks to a horrible breakup with my Acer a while back. Never again Acer...

Anyway, I don't wish to OC since I know nothing about it and water cooling sounds expensive and unnecessary for my needs. I'm okay with $400 give or take a little, but the GTX 780/Titan are out of my budget. I just don't think it's worth it because of the diminishing returns with super premium hardware. 

As for silence of the cards, I don't know how loud they can get but I'm considering buying a silence optimized case like the Fractal Design Define R4. 

Also now I'm wondering, is OpenCL or Cuda better? I'm very new to video editing but I went with Vegas because of the amount of people who I've seen use it and praise it. If Premier isn't a pain I could try it out, but I thought Vegas could also use Cuda?

[Lima123]

If the program you mainly use is OPENCL , i would say get the r9 270x       If it uses CUDA , Get the GTX 760 , 760 is a solid card, more meant for gaming , but if you are using a cude program a lot it will do the trick

 

r9 270x Great GPU, Great "Bang For Buck" Preforms great in games, OPENCL based programs will love this card too.

 

Hope this help

Thanks

~Liam 

[julekule]

I believe CS6 does support opencl.

only on firepro cards

[DaMagicalManiac]

only on firepro cards

Well that sucks, opencl is so much faster

[KappaKing]

For CS6 collection I would go with GTX 770, 780 or 780 ti since CS6 prefers cuda over the AMD equivalent.