Does GPU Matter?
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 80 posts since 8 Mar, 2018
I'm looking to buy a new computer for making music and possibly video, and I'm wondering if GPU would be beneficial for these uses. I know a lot of software can use the GPU for more heavy processing, but I'm not sure if DAWs/VSTs would be able to do so.
Would having a decent GPU benefit me, or should I just put all my money into having a more powerful CPU? Thanks.
Would having a decent GPU benefit me, or should I just put all my money into having a more powerful CPU? Thanks.
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- KVRist
- 126 posts since 13 Aug, 2017 from Gothenburg
An integrated GPU will steal some or your RAM, so make sure you take that in consideration. Probably only 2-4gb unless you run multiple 4k screens.
Some VSTs and DAWs do benefit from a GPU when drawing the UI and it will free up your CPU for more audio processing.
You don't need a beefy gamer GPU, but a nice medium price/performance one is worth it in my opinion.
Some VSTs and DAWs do benefit from a GPU when drawing the UI and it will free up your CPU for more audio processing.
You don't need a beefy gamer GPU, but a nice medium price/performance one is worth it in my opinion.
Last edited by PeterP_swe on Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
- KVRAF
- 15277 posts since 8 Mar, 2005 from Utrecht, Holland
In my experience no DAW and not a lot of plugins use the GPU for audio processing. So any decent simple GPU (even integrated in the CPU) will fit the bill.
Try to select one that has passive cooling, the PC will be more silent with a fan less spinning,.
Try to select one that has passive cooling, the PC will be more silent with a fan less spinning,.
We are the KVR collective. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
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- KVRian
- 1286 posts since 7 Dec, 2013 from Earth
On my old DAW PC I used the onboard graphics (Intel 2500) for a long time and often had problems with FabFilter Pro. I could only use the smallest window size or the audio would start to stutter.
I then bought a cheap nVidia GT710 card and the problems were gone.
Bottom line: GPU does matter a bit but you definitely don't need an expensive gaming card.
I then bought a cheap nVidia GT710 card and the problems were gone.
Bottom line: GPU does matter a bit but you definitely don't need an expensive gaming card.
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- KVRAF
- 1929 posts since 4 Nov, 2004 from Manchester
Old onboard GPU's were pretty poor, but the current generation is fine for a couple of screens running up to about 6K between them. Yes, it'll eat some memory, although adding in more memory these days is probably still cheaper than picking up a basic GPU.
- KVRian
- 710 posts since 26 Oct, 2018
Think a lot of plugins use direct draw, so it gets handeled by the processor. For some it definitely makes a difference using Open GL or DirectX. Direct draw is sloow if you let it.
- KVRAF
- 11001 posts since 15 Apr, 2019 from Nowhere
That's only true for Windows though, as OpenGL has been deprecated for newer Macs in favor of Metal.
- KVRAF
- 11093 posts since 16 Mar, 2003 from Porto - Portugal
The fact that OpenGL has been deprecated, doesn't mean it isn't being used yet. AFAIK, the vast majority of developers still use OpenGL, because it is cross-platform.
Anyway, this discussion only makes sens for Windows, since most of the time you don't really have a choice about which graphics card should you use in Mac computers.
Fernando (FMR)
- KVRAF
- 11001 posts since 15 Apr, 2019 from Nowhere
Right, but I think after Mojave it's not supported. Not sure if Vulkan is supported on Macs though to be honest.fmr wrote:The fact that OpenGL has been deprecated, doesn't mean it isn't being used yet. AFAIK, the vast majority of developers still use OpenGL, because it is cross-platform.
Anyway, this discussion only makes sens for Windows, since most of the time you don't really have a choice about which graphics card should you use in Mac computers.
You can upgrade the GPU on Macs, but most people opt for an external GPU if they upgrade.
- KVRian
- 710 posts since 26 Oct, 2018
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- KVRAF
- 4751 posts since 22 Nov, 2012
in today's world almost all software dumps some processing off to the gpu. for 2 reasons. 1: they are making the cpus quicker, but less and less powerful 2: gpu's handle these floating point (powerful) processes better. gpu matters, it's not everything and you have to way the ram costs, but usually 8 gigs is enough for everything. a lot of gpu has onboard memory to.
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- KVRAF
- 4007 posts since 8 Jan, 2005 from Hamilton, New Zealand
The most an integrated GPU tends to steal is about 32mb, but they do ram sharing up to 256MB when needed.PeterP_swe wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:20 am An integrated GPU will steal some or your RAM, so make sure you take that in consideration. Probably only 2-4gb unless you run multiple 4k screens.
There is no integrated GPU on the planet that uses GBs of ram.
A single 4k 32-bit frame uses 32mb of ram, so at most your setup would use 96MB if you were playing videos and triple-buffering was enabled somehow.
But your DAW won't use that.
Integrated GPUs used to be shite, but they're actually far beyond the needs of the average consumer nowadays, and certainly good enough for any DAW or non-game product. I wouldn't bother.
Dasheesh wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:37 am in today's world almost all software dumps some processing off to the gpu. for 2 reasons. 1: they are making the cpus quicker, but less and less powerful 2: gpu's handle these floating point (powerful) processes better. gpu matters, it's not everything and you have to way the ram costs, but usually 8 gigs is enough for everything. a lot of gpu has onboard memory to.
Virtually no software offloads processing to GPUs for the simple fact that they're not that good for processing most types of data due to the latency of transferring data from memory to VRAM and back again. A lot of software will use the hardware acceleration of the graphics card for blitting the buffers to screen, but that's standard, and nothing to do with GPUs.
Last edited by metamorphosis on Sun Jun 16, 2019 1:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
I make music: progressive-acoustic | electronica/game-soundtrack work | progressive alt-metal
Win 10/11 Simplifier | Also, Specialized C++ containers
Win 10/11 Simplifier | Also, Specialized C++ containers
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- KVRAF
- 4007 posts since 8 Jan, 2005 from Hamilton, New Zealand
Also not true. It requires OpenGL 2 capability, which almost all integrated GPUs support nowadays. You have to go back about 10 years to find one which doesn't - or to a very obscure one.
I make music: progressive-acoustic | electronica/game-soundtrack work | progressive alt-metal
Win 10/11 Simplifier | Also, Specialized C++ containers
Win 10/11 Simplifier | Also, Specialized C++ containers