Minimum GPU to run 4k 60Hz for WORK

[Geral]

Hello there!

I would like to update my Work PC with a 4k monitor, what would be the minimum gpu required for a 4k 60hz display?

I mainly use AutoCad, Illustrator, Lightroom and Photoshop

 

[Snipergod87]

Any GPU with display port 1.2+ or HDMI 2.0+.
Now when it comes to those applications and GPU acceleration I don't know how much the GPU will benefit.
What is your current GPU

 

[dnl.sharouf]

If you're not intending to use the PC for gaming, then get a professional GPU. I will recommend the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 or the Nvidia Quadro M2000.
For gaming, you'll need the GTX1080 or GTX1080Ti if you have the budget for it.

 

[delaro]

Autocad you will need to do some twiddling to get the DPI scaling to work right because texts and the menu bars get all jagged and pixilated. A 1070,1070 TI, 1080, 1080 TI are excellent for all of those programs but Quattro and FirePro cards are recommended. I'm running a 980 TI on a 4K monitor with Autocad 2019, Solidworks 2018 and Mastercam 2019, for the most part, I have no issues but there are the occasional crashes due to drivers so make sure to set your auto backup.

 

[Geral]

Any GPU with display port 1.4 or HDMI 2.0.
Now when it comes to those applications and GPU acceleration I don't know how much the GPU will benefit.
What is your current GPU

My current gpu at work is a AMD Radeon HD 5450, would you say a gtx 1050 would work well? how about a gtx 950?

If you're not intending to use the PC for gaming, then get a professional GPU. I will recommend the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 or the Nvidia Quadro M2000.
For gaming, you'll need the GTX1080 or GTX1080Ti if you have the budget for it.

No intention to game in this PC, while i see the appeal to buy a quadro, i dont really think i need it. I dont use AutoCad to do 3d stuff and i dont do video. I must admit i have never used a "professional" GPU and those are hard to come by here at my country, whereas gtx are more common. Would you still recommend a Quadro over a say a gtx 950 for my usage?

 

[chemmajorp53]

IMO it depends on how big and important your projects are; if you can afford to lose a little bit of your work to a crash every once in a while, then the GTX cards are fine. If it has to be stable all of the time or you lose a significant amount of time and money, then you should probably be looking at professional grade hardware. If you have light projects like it sounds, I might just get something like a GTX 1050 or so.

 

[Snipergod87]

If your current GPU is a 5450 you dont need much in terms of power.
A GTX 950 has the following:
HDMI 2.0 (make sure your monitor is HDMI 2.0 capable)
DisplayPort 1.2 (Also 4k capable)
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-950/specifications.
A GT 1030 would be a cheaper option and has DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.0b
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-1030/specifications
The GDDR5 version is faster but either of those is a big step up from a 5450

If your applications can benefit from CUDA acceleration that stepping up to a 1050 will yield a big performance increase in productivity.

 

[chemmajorp53]

AFAIK autocad benefits from CUDA acceleration but it's really built for floating point and not integer so the quadro cards work better for it, but you still get benefits with consumer cards. Could be wrong though.

 

[delaro]

Any Directx 11 GPU with Shader Model 5 should work that goes all the way down to the 500 series cards. Revit doesn't test non-workstation cards so "Quirky" issues can come into play like crashes and odd visual annoyances you have to work around. Autocad 2018 and 2019 seem to be less finicky with problems over older versions. We had Autocad 2015 and I had to Auto Backup every 10 minutes or risk the program crashing, but that was only in 3D as 2D worked fine.

So basically the lowest you would want to go is a GeForce GT 650 which is where 4K support should have started. A 950/1030 GT shouldn't have issues with 2d or smaller projects on any of those other programs.

 

[Geral]

IMO it depends on how big and important your projects are; if you can afford to lose a little bit of your work to a crash every once in a while, then the GTX cards are fine. If it has to be stable all of the time or you lose a significant amount of time and money, then you should probably be looking at professional grade hardware. If you have light projects like it sounds, I might just get something like a GTX 1050 or so.

If your current GPU is a 5450 you dont need much in terms of power.
A GTX 950 has the following:
HDMI 2.0 (make sure your monitor is HDMI 2.0 capable)
DisplayPort 1.2 (Also 4k capable)
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-950/specifications.
A GT 1030 would be a cheaper option and has DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.0b
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-1030/specifications
The GDDR5 version is faster but either of those is a big step up from a 5450

If your applications can benefit from CUDA acceleration that stepping up to a 1050 will yield a big performance increase in productivity.

In terms of work i usually do vector design in illustrator (50% of my work), edit photos/images in Photoshop/Lightroom (40% of my work) and 2D map design in AutoCAD (10% of my work). Ofc i also work with Big Spreadsheats and databases. With this kind of work, will the 1050 will be enough? What would you consider "Good" for this kind of work with a 4k display at 60 Hz?

The actual monitor im looking to buy is the Dell Ultrasharp U2718q (Link)

Any Directx 11 GPU with Shader Model 5 should work that goes all the way down to the 500 series cards. Revit doesn't test non-workstation cards so "Quirky" issues can come into play like crashes and odd visual annoyances you have to work around. Autocad 2018 and 2019 seem to be less finicky with problems over older versions. We had Autocad 2015 and I had to Auto Backup every 10 minutes or risk the program crashing, but that was only in 3D as 2D worked fine.

So basically the lowest you would want to go is a GeForce GT 650 which is where 4K support should have started. A 950/1030 GT shouldn't have issues with 2d or smaller projects on any of those other programs.

I heard AutoCad has some DPI scaling issues, is that right?, my work with AutoCAD is estrictly 2D btw, so would you recommend a 1050 for my needs?

 

[delaro]

Yeah, Autocad can be squirrelly with the Scaling to 4. It took me a few hours of poking and prodding to get it to work right but that is to be expected when your running hardware and drivers not tested by Revit. When it comes to Photoshop your not going to notice much of a difference between a $150 1050 and a $600 1080ti.


https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2017-NVIDIA-GeForce-GPU-Performance-899/

 

[Geral]

Yeah, Autocad can be squirrelly with the Scaling to 4. It took me a few hours of poking and prodding to get it to work right but that is to be expected when your running hardware and drivers not tested by Revit. When it comes to Photoshop your not going to notice much of a difference between a $150 1050 and a $600 1080ti.


https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2017-NVIDIA-GeForce-GPU-Performance-899/

Thank you very much, that link really helped me. Im good to asume that Illustrator needs less hardware compared to Photoshop?.

About AutoCAD and my needs, the 1050 would be enough? or would it be better to go with a 1060 3gb?

 

[delaro]

A 1050 3gb GTX has the hardware to do what you want, drivers are normally the problem but that can always be resolved fairly easy. Yes, Illustrator is easier to run and has lower requirements.

One of my laptops at work has an i7 7700HQ and a 960m and it handles Autocad 2015 through 2019 fairly easy, I only see problems in 3d with large assemblies when both the VRAM and system RAM get maxed out. In 2d there are never any issues, A 960m is weaker than a 1050 GTX by a decent amount regardless of what you're doing. You're not going to need much VRAM for 2d only so a 2gb-4gb card should do.

 

[Geral]

Thanks a lot guys, a 1050 would be the way to go for me then, although i can use a GT 1030 for a 4k display for light work. You have solved my problems.