CUDA vs OPENCL ... do I understand this correctly?

[el88nemo]

OK... SO... here is a little info, but I just need to know if I understand this completely.

 

I am building my first rig.  I've been a console gamer and Mac user, UNTIL NOW!  

I am having the hardest time deciding on a GPU.  I am a big gamer, so that will be a priority, but I work as a video and photo editor, so that will ALSO be a big priority. I can't afford 2 cards, and I want a gaming card that does both instead of a Quadro or editing card.  I can only spend about $1000-$2000.  Here is how I would break down my estimated use, according to time and importance:

 

-40% Gaming

-30% Photo Editing

-20% Video Editing

-10% Other

 

NOW... do I understand this correctly?

 

FOR GAMING:

AMD or NVIDIA, it doesn't matter.  It really just depend on what kind of fanboy you are.  AMD is a better value, price to performance, but runs hotter and louder (I don't plan on using triple monitors), while NVIDIA will usually win high end performance, and runs quieter and cooler for a higher price tag.  I am more of an AMD fanboy so I'm leaning toward an R9 290, but G-SYNC looks cool, so maybe a GTX 780.  Either way, not too hard to decide in this realm.

 

FOR LIGHTROOM:

It's to my understanding that Lightroom and most photo editing software really only leverages CPU not GPU, sooooo doesn't matter. (right?)

 

FOR PHOTOSHOP:

For photoshop, I think it supports OPEN GL, which is built into most, if not all GPUs,  so either way, I'll be ok.  I think? RIGHT? (I currently run an old version, but will probably need to get a newer version soon.  Photoshop not as critical as Lightroom for me, so I don't mind running an outdated version.)

 

FOR VIDEO EDITING:

Here is where it gets tricky, and I get confused and anxious.   Cuda vs OpenCL really only matters for Video Editing.  So up until just recently, it's always been better to go with NVIDIA because the programs leverage CUDA to render like 6x's faster.  NOW Adobe CS6 has the new mercury engine which supports OPENCL which is on all AMD cards and only the NVIDIA QUADRO cards, so if I plan on running CS6 then AMD will be faster than NVIDIA, but if i'm going to use anything else, then CUDA is king.

 

Is that right?  Also...

 

Is OPENCL or CUDA the safer more future-proof/compatible option.  Will OPENCL be the supported option from here on out and CUDA is now obsolete, or is CUDA still more widely accepted for editing and still works good for gaming, so I should choose NVIDIA.  Is there any GTX card that supports OpenCL?  (I am looking mostly at the GTX780)  Do they have any support for CUDA in the new CS6 or is it ONLY OPENCL, so a GTX 780 will go to complete waste if I use CS6? ... and if I don't use CS6 then will my AMD card go to complete waste.. do absolutely nothing?  I am a bit confused.

 

I guess that's it.  SO... Do I understand this all correctly?

 

I'm currently leaning toward a 780 unless an R9 290 will work for editing too.

 

Let me know what's up.

 

Thanks LTT.

 

[FernandoTeixeira]

yep you understood it all.

 

and in my experience if it's not math/physics stuff... cuda is not really worth it.  

Just get a nice CPU if you are into video-editing

 

For now if you'll not going to put the 290 under water, 780 is better.

[MrSuperb]

Is OPENCL or CUDA the safer more future-proof/compatible option.  Will OPENCL be the supported option from here on out and CUDA is now obsolete, or is CUDA still more widely accepted for editing and still works good for gaming, so I should choose NVIDIA.  Is there any GTX card that supports OpenCL?  (I am looking mostly at the GTX780)  Do they have any support for CUDA in the new CS6 or is it ONLY OPENCL, so a GTX 780 will go to complete waste if I use CS6? ... and if I don't use CS6 then will my AMD card go to complete waste.. do absolutely nothing?  I am a bit confused.

 

The mercury engines afaik support both opencl and cuda. Also all nvidia gtx cards support opencl.

 

edit: photoshop support OpenCL as well

For Lightroom get the fastest Intel processor you can afford (with highest single threaded performance i.e. i7 4770k or i5 4670k)

[Deep]

The mercury engines afaik support both opencl and cuda. Also all nvidia gtx cards support opencl.

Right, all modern GPUs can be used by the OpenCL API. The only difference is that AMD cards seem to perform a lot better when it comes to pure OpenCL compute.

[Madspec]

For video editing, depends on what software you use to compress but some programs do use Cuda and man it's fast.