Quadro and GeForce in same workstation

Guitarshredder1

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Nov 11, 2014
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Hey all, I'm looking to build a video post production beast (dual Xeon 2620 v4s, 32gb ecc ram because the mobo can't handle non-ecc, ASUS z10pe-d16) and have it specced so far at ~$3200. I plan to use it for 3D VFX work and general editing of 4K work, using Octane for 3D rendering, Avid MC for editing, and Davinci Resolve for color correction of both 8-bit a7S/DSLR footage and whatever RED footage I am lucky enough to have come my way. I would love the ability to have 10-bit color output to use when grading on a 10-bit capable monitor (I know ASUS doesn't make broadcast-reference monitors, but it would be nice to have the option), but don't want to spend $5000 on a GPU with 10 bit support and enough CUDA cores to be fast when working with CUDA/Octane (P6000 coming to mind here). I plan to use a P600 as my display adapter card and use a 1080ti as my CUDA card. I know the Quadro/GeForce thing is possible as people have done it before with a P2000 and a 1080ti and that it works in both Resolve 12 free version and Octane, but I want to know if you all think a P600 is too underpowered to drive a 4K, 10-bit display and whether or not I should spend the extra $300 on a Quadro P2000. Thanks so much in advance!
 
10 bit color is only on Quadro cards, you can't mix them for that.
There's no rush in that area anyway, you could just go with two 1080 Ti cards for raw CUDA rendering, 10 bit is a long ways off till it's mainstream, kind of a waste of cash at this stage. Even LTT is only just starting to do HDR/10 bit later this year, and they've got tens of thousands to spend.
 

iamacow

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You cannot run a Quadro and a Geforce in the same computer using Quadro Drivers since 2010. This is because NVIDIA wants to sell Telsa Compute cards and not havnig people buy a gaming card that cost 1/6th the price. The last time I checked the Geforce card will not run at all. You can however run a Quadro on Geforce drivers when a Geforce card is also installed. But than you lose all the driver support that Quadros are used for like 10bit OpenGL support and Wireframe acceleration for CAD and 3D programs. Kinda makes it just a video card for extra monitors since everything is stripped away.

Geforce cards support 10Bit color space only in DirectX which is so far only Autodesk 3Ds max that I know of. The rest use OpenGL like Adobe and all the other Autodesk programs.

If you are not doing CAD work and don't care that much about Wire-Frame acceleration in 3D programs the 1080Ti is going save you a chunk of money. This is fine for video editing, but kinda bad idea for CAD or heavy 3D modeling because a P600 will crush a 1080Ti in these apps. I'm pretty sure the P2000 is the same as a GTX 1060 (using the same core).

I've been doing 10Bit Photo editing for years now, but really RED and other companies have just started to use it. Its nice to make adjustments, but in the end you are still outputting 8-bit so editing the same way has little impact to the consumer. Only if you were outputting True 10bit HDR than I would say editing in that color space would make sense. Besides a few OLED TVs, 99% of "HDR" TVs are fake and not really 10Bit color space, they are just riding the marketing wave. Because if you could buy a 4k 10Bit HDR Display at wallmart, than why pay $4,000 for a computer monitor? Its because those TVs arent really HDR.
 


If I guess correctly, the GTX 1080 Ti will be render and Quadro P600 will do preview and general monitor push. I don't think that'll be fast enough for 4K video edit previewing; you may have to turn down settings.

Otherwise, the setup works for 3D modeling to rendering as long as the 1080 Ti is going to be render GPU.
 


10-bit content isn't "long ways off from mainstream". It's meant for professionals to see EXACTLY what they need to see, so that they know how the content will be pushed out.
 
This is for video production primarily, all you had to say was that, lol, there was nothing inherently wrong with the statement, 10 bit's just extremely expensive to run, and the cost effective solutions just aren't really there for the average consumer in terms of production equipment yet.
 

iamacow

Admirable
Whats up with these downvotes lol. Oh well, can't help everyone.... Just trying to help save some money because I have been around this a few times. Like I said, if you are combining the Quadro and Geforce you might as well just get another Geforce and skip the extra cost of a workstation card that will not be doing anything besides drive a monitor.

Either go Quadro and Telsa or just straight Geforce cards.
 


Um... No. I don't think a Tesla card can handle SSE instructions that any programs now use (If I remember correctly, Ae and Pr sends SSE instructions as part of render). And a straight Quadro card would be great; cough up $4k for OP! Using P600 as preview and 1080 Ti as render is a really good choice if OP isn't Pixar or similar.
 

Guitarshredder1

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Nov 11, 2014
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I saw in your earlier post you suggested a beefier display-out card, would a P2000 do the trick for 4K? I planned to have Resolve use the 1080ti for CUDA accelerated preview and have the Quadro handling the GUI, but don't know if the software routes the preview through whichever card I'm currently using as a display-out. I don't intend to have GPU acceleration on Avid, and Octane will use any and all CUDA cores available on the device, so the extra card is to have a 10-bit display-out for color grading. Again, Resolve might route the preview through the display-out card, I'm not sure. Thank you so much for your answers so far, they've helped clear up some of the confusion around this.
 


If you don't mind turning down the preview settings down, then P600 will be fine. Otherwise, going with the P2000 will be a wise investment.



You suggested this:
Either go Quadro and Telsa or just straight Geforce cards.
Tesla cores doesn't have SSE so it can't handle rendering.
 

iamacow

Admirable


I'm guessing you don't have a Telsa card than or actually use them for video rendering... CUDA is used not SSE.

 


Yeah... No. There's a good reason why Teslas aren't used for video rendering. 1) They're slower than pure Quadro or evne GeForce. 2) They need to be used in conjunction with a Quadro card because a straight Tesla doesn't have the instructions needed to render videos even with CUDA.