R9 290x or GTX580 or HD6970/HD7870? Here' my needs

Julius_ wrote on 9/16/2014, 12:00 PM

Gosh, all this video card research is overwhelming. I've spent the last few days just reading all the posts out there.
I'm ordering a new desktop pc to replace my current system of:
-i7 2.67GHz (990)
-12 GB ram
-GTX560ti (2GB)

I edit only mov files (1080p@30/60fps). Timeline preview is what is most important to me. I render out to mostly bluray (mainconcept), MOV using DHxHD, and uncompressed AVI (and mainconcept MP4 sometimes). I'm not attached to mainconcept mp4, as long as I get my mp4 output (5 minutes clips)

I usually set my renders overnight (long wedding videos). As long as my preview window plays without stuttering, I'm happy. My current system works well..I just need another pc to keep up with the work.

I don't use CUDA/OPenCL that much, but if the card is equipped and can handle 2 hours of footage, then all the better.

Here's the cards I need help to choice from:

R9 290x or GTX580 or HD6970/HD7870

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Also, if you can comment on my new pc build as well (ignore the card)
The system quote (these are canadian prices):

$140 MSI Z97-G55 SLI Socket 1150 Intel Z97 Express Chipset
- Dual Channel DDR3 3300 (O.C.) MHz, 3x PCI-Express 3.0 x16
- GLAN, 6x SATA 6.0Gb/s, 10x USB 3.0, 8x USB 2.0
$380 Intel i7 4790K Unlocked 4Ghz Processor LGA1150
$75 Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid CPU Cooler
$65 LG WH16NS40 16x Blu-ray Writer
$180 Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz Memory
$180 Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz Memory
$230 Crucial MX100 512GB 6Gb/s SSD R-550MB/s W-500MB/s
$260 Western Digital Black 4TB SATA 6GB/S 7200RPM
$46 Cooler Master K280 Mid Tower Case USB3.0
$130 Corsair RM Series 850W 80PLUS PSU
$27 Rosewill RDCR-11003 USB3 3.5" Internal Card Reader
$180 ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5
$60 System setup fee

Thank you!!

Comments

OldSmoke wrote on 9/16/2014, 12:25 PM

If you don't care about CUDA then get a R9 290/290x. What I am missing from your spec is a RAID (RAID 1) setup for storage or if fast enough (RAID 10) you could use it for editing and just have a separate render drive.

videoITguy wrote on 9/16/2014, 12:31 PM

The OP's opening in this thread does not indicate any need for concern of any particular video card. When a person is asked to evaluate what the other needs - there are a lot of details that need to be addressed. So far the OP does not have need of any particular video card spec and card choice will make no difference.

Some questions arise about details - why render to an uncompressed .avi? what do you do with that?

Rendering drive configuration again is not a big concern as long as use the 3 drive form - one program drive, one source drive, one destination drive...all at SATA 3 - no indicated need of raid configs..

Julius_ wrote on 9/16/2014, 12:33 PM

Oldsmoke....I read so many of your posts these past few days...thanks for your input on this forum.

The main drive is an SSD that will be used only for OS and apps such as vegas. There is a 2nd drive: Western Digital Black 4TB SATA 6GB/S 7200RPM
That will be used to render out the clips (the footage will be on this 2nd drive).

Julius_ wrote on 9/16/2014, 12:36 PM

videoITguy: Thanks, I just want to make sure I don't buy the wrong card.

I use uncompress avi at times when the client demands it (in order to feed into another process), at most they are 40 second clips.

OldSmoke wrote on 9/16/2014, 1:33 PM

There is a 2nd drive: Western Digital Black 4TB SATA 6GB/S 7200RPM

So your source footage and render target are the same drive? Don't do it. If you don't want a raid get an additional drive big enough to hold your rendered file(s); 1 or 2TB maybe? If you read and write from the same drive it will not only be slower but also degrade faster, especially mechanical drives.

videoITguy
The OP asked for a card that will help with timeline preview performance and Vegas uses OpenCL/GL for it which is better supported by ATI/AMD cards. Also Sony's AVC can make use of it.

videoITguy wrote on 9/16/2014, 2:22 PM

Don't think the OP said one thing about using Sony AVC codec, and if he asked I would not recommend it.
Julius, thanks for answering the uncompressed .avi question - which again poses no problem for your basic setup - but you need the 3 drive form as we are suggesting.
I don't think Oldsmoke can say that preview performance will be base solely on the video card - it has far more to do with your edit style and workflow. I would be surprised if you can do anything with your raw source video as .mov container - in the card department - also consider whether external preview is desirable and what resources are needed in your system if your timeline is made up of compositing from large multiple streams. Honing in on a card is just not the key.

astar wrote on 9/16/2014, 2:27 PM

The config looks good. I would make the following changes:

128GB SSD for the OS - os and applications only on this.

512GB SSD for active project files - SSD cuts latency in the render operation, you want lowest latency storage and the highest IO per second.

4TB black drive or blue in raid 1. Hardware or OS RAID, I prefer OS, blue drives are cheaper and they are in a redundant configuration. Use this for project storage and not active work files.

I would do the 290x, and make sure devices like the onboard USB3 are not stealing PCI lanes from your GPU. You can determine this with GPU-z. Stick with sony AVC mp4, use sony effects not 3rd party, and keep the layer count low. I find photoshop layers unstable with GPU renders when compared to PNG. From experience I would consider standardizing on a Sony intermediate Codec over DnxHD, and output other formats on an as needed basis.