Question I am looking for the best possible graphic's cards (@) for a Basic video editing workstation.

[jayfontaine1]

I am using an HP XW8600 mobo, dual Xeon X5460's @ 3.8 Ghz (pin mods on cpu's), HP dual performance double tall cpu coolers, 64 GB DDR2 PC2-6400F 800Mhz ECC fbdimm's and a Corsair 1000W modular PS (pin mods on 6 pin power connector).

I like to re-cycle whenever possible plus at 74 cost is an issue!

Given PCIe 2.0 x16 restrictions what video card(s) will give me the biggest bang for my buck (MAX VRAM ?).

I am using Divinci Resolve free version for 1080P/4K as an editing suite.

I already have all of the above components so please advise!

 

[RememberThe5th]

Probably 1050/ti or RX 470/570

 

[jayfontaine1]

OOPS! Forgot to mention, NO UEFI, Legacy BIOS ONLY! (sorry 'bout that).

 

[dontlistentome]

I've successfully installed Pascal based cards(ie GTX 1050) on pre-built legacy bios computers, like a Dell Optiplex. I wouldn't necessarily rule them out.

You have a beefy enough power supply that would allow you to use an older generation card, those cards have some serious power requirements. I think the Nvidia GTX 7xx series was the last one where the UEFI thing wasn't a concern. For 4k you'll probably be better off looking for a 4gb vram card rather than a 2 or 3gb vram model. If you do pick a 7 series, start with a 770 or better.

The new cards have hardware HEVC support, don't know if that's a concern for you or not. You'll need to research what level of hardware acceleration Da Vinci Resolve can use.

 

[jayfontaine1]

Could I use a Sapphire R9 390 with 8GB VRAM? I understand they have a Legacy/UEFI switch and it would sure give me a lot of VRAM for 4K?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

You should be able to. You could also pick a 390x for better performance.