Recommendation on graphics card (no gaming)

[Deleted member 2541844]

Hi there,
I have another question regarding the same build I previously posted about. Would a low profile graphics card, such as the MSI GT 1030 LP, improve video editing/video playback capabilities over the Intel UHD Graphics 630 I am currently using? It would be utilised in Sony PlayMemories (editing 4K videos from my camcorder) as well as basic tasks such as exporting a video from PowerPoint - no games whatsoever. Would a graphics card also come in handy if I change from a Full HD monitor over to a 4K monitor? There is not a whole lot of space in the PC case so I am wondering if cooling will be an issue. Bottlenecking is also of concern to me in relation to my current hardware. Not looking for anything overly powerful or expensive.

Specs:
Processor: i5-8600 (non-overclocked version)
RAM: 16GB DDR4
OS: Windows 10
HDD: 6TB Seagate Ironwolf
SSD (boot drive): 256GB Samsung 960 Evo M.2
Motherboard: MSI B360M Pro-VH (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B360M-PRO-VH/Specification)
Case: Chenbro PC711 (dimensions can be found here: http://www.chenbro.com/en-global/products/PC_Chassis/Slim_Micro_ATX_Desktop/PC711)
PSU: 300W FSP 80-Plus Gold

I'd be very thankful for any assistance.

 

[richiestang_78]

Video editing is almost entirely CPU bound, however adding a graphics card will help with the smoothness of editing videos. The issue is that you only have a 300 watt PSU, so realistically the biggest card I would put in your system is a 1050 3GB.

 

[Deleted member 2541844]

Video editing is almost entirely CPU bound, however adding a graphics card will help with the smoothness of editing videos. The issue is that you only have a 300 watt PSU, so realistically the biggest card I would put in your system is a 1050 3GB.

Ok, thanks for your suggestion - I noticed the integrated GPU's utilisation was reaching 100% when skipping through 4K video. Would a 1030 2GB do (for $85 USD), or would it bring the system down performance-wise? A GT 710 2GB would not be sufficient, right? I'd like to avoid the 1050 due to the price and seeing as it may draw too much power.

 

[Deleted member 2541844]

Would a GT 1030 be worth purchasing? I'm looking at UserBenchmark and it states a 101% speed improvement over Intel 630.
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GT-1030-vs-Intel-UHD-Graphics-630-Desktop-Coffee-Lake-i5-i7/m283726vsm356797
Thanks for your help.

 

[richiestang_78]

It would help but I think a 1050 might be better due to more VRAM.

 

[Deleted member 2541844]

It would help but I think a 1050 might be better due to more VRAM.

Thanks, although I only ever see my iGPU RAM use reaching around 0.9GB when playing back 4K content. So 3GB is the minimum VRAM I should be looking for? I think it would be safer to keep to a 30W card rather than 75W, so 2GB may be my only option.

Sorry for having so many questions, but do you think a 1050 would be better value for performance? I will not be using it for gaming. (There is a 1050 2GB low profile available)

And how about a silent card? Should I only be looking for cards with a fan seeing as it will be in a tight space? Thanks again.

 

[richiestang_78]

I think a 1030 would be fine but IMO the 1050 is a better value. But as you said the 1030 will no soubt work, since although the 1050 is only 75watts, many cheaper motherboards cant actually produce the needed voltage through the PCI e slot.

Another option to the 1030 is the RX550, which in certain cases can be a little faster then eh 1030 and only uses slight more power.

 

[BFG-9000]

What type of 4k videos are you trying to edit and play?

UHD 630 in Coffee Lake is quite advanced and its hardware accelerated decoding of videos is on par with the GTX950 and GTX960. That is, it can hardware decode H.265 Main and Main 10 at up to 4k. The GT1030 and GTX1050 add acceleration for Main 12 format H.265 up to 8k, which would run on the CPU in software with the UHD 630, GTX950 and GTX960.

Just about anything nowadays can play back 4k H.264, it's high framerate H.265 at 4k that's problematic. PlayMemories usually uses their AVCHD version of H.264 so if you are having problems with that, then it may be just a settings issue.

That's for playback--note for encoding and transcoding, Intel's Quick Sync is very fast but not perfectly precise (Nvidia's version is NVENC and AMD's is VCE). However very few editing software suites actually use more than the most rudimentary GPU acceleration for encoding so it's not likely PlayMemories does much, if any.

 

[dederedmi5plus]

try optane memory module, act as fast cache for slow iron wolf, upscaling to 4k be suffice with CPU, if you do get optane you must also add M.2 to PCIe adapter.

 

[Deleted member 2541844]

What type of 4k videos are you trying to edit and play?

UHD 630 in Coffee Lake is quite advanced and its hardware accelerated decoding of videos is on par with the GTX950 and GTX960. That is, it can hardware decode H.265 Main and Main 10 at up to 4k. The GT1030 and GTX1050 add acceleration for Main 12 format H.265 up to 8k, which would run on the CPU in software with the UHD 630, GTX950 and GTX960.

Just about anything nowadays can play back 4k H.264, it's high framerate H.265 at 4k that's problematic. PlayMemories usually uses their AVCHD version of H.264 so if you are having problems with that, then it may be just a settings issue.

That's for playback--note for encoding and transcoding, Intel's Quick Sync is very fast but not perfectly precise (Nvidia's version is NVENC and AMD's is VCE). However very few editing software suites actually use more than the most rudimentary GPU acceleration for encoding so it's not likely PlayMemories does much, if any.

Sorry for the late reply, I've decided not to go ahead with the purchase of a graphics card. I'll keep your suggestions in mind if I purchase one in the future, and might try Optane memory to accelerate performance.