Hello everyone,

i need to upgrade my graphics card due to a hardware failure of my current card and in order to work more efficiently with my Avid Media Composer software.

I`ve checked the specs for Media Composer and one of the suggested cards is nVidia Quadro M4000.

Also i keep reading several comparisons and the GTX 1080 is getting higher scores.

I dont know if Avid is suggesting the quadro solution because of the specialized drivers...

Does anyone has a suggestion about this issue?

My only concern is to install the card with which my Media Composer will perform better.

Thank you all

The GTX1080 certainly beats the m4000 for sheer muscle, but as you may know, MC doesn't really use the huge computing power available in modern GPUs. Some newer AVX plugins do a better job of harnessing GPU cores/speed, so you should see better rendering times/real time performance with these plugins. I don't think the GTX cards are on Avid's approved list, but that doesn't mean they won't work.

If you intend to run other software that loves GPU power (such as Davinci Resolve) the GTX1080 seems to be a good choice. I believe the main reason for choosing the M4000 over the GTX1080 would be in more specialised applications such as Maya, 3DMax and CAD software. The M4000 has hardware optimised for dual precision floating point, and rendering double sided polygons.

Bruno

Here's the practical reality.....

the GTX1080 (8-bit output) is beaucoup faster, but.....

the Quadro series is the only way to output 10-bit

so, there's the trade off.

cuervo:

Here's the practical reality.....

the GTX1080 (8-bit output) is beaucoup faster, but.....

the Quadro series is the only way to output 10-bit

 

so, there's the trade off.

No longer true.  I have my GTX 1080 running in 10 bpc mode as configured in the NVIDIA control panel.  This required using a display port connection (I believe HDMI works too).  The ability to change to 10 bpc is not availble if you are connecting your monitor via DVI or if your monitor does not support 10 bit color.  I'm running driver version 373.06.

In the NVIDIA Control Panel select Change resolution from the Display menu and in section 3 there will be a drop down for Output color depth.  I have options for 8 bpc and 10 bpc.  There's also one for Output dynamic range with options for 0-255 and 16-235. 

Enjoy!

Keith

Keith,

Wow! Thanks for the heads up....great!

i would't base my decision making on 8 vs 10 bit anyway.

afaik there's only a couple of programs that can output 10 bit (i.e. photoshop if you activate in preferences)

and my photographer friends tell my it's an overhyped feature.

upside of gtx: whole lot of power for BCC, baselight, sapphire, resolve

got a gtx 780 here, feels twice as powerful as M4000

upside of quadro: single slot, less heat, no compatability headache ever.

Thanks to everyone for answering!

So, as i can understand, the GTX 1080 card is better than the M4000 for overall performance.

Does the M4000 has dedicated drivers for media composer?

Is that the reson that is suggested from Avid?

Thank you

better performace: absolutely.

possible headaches: also yes.

Avid installer always comes with a suggested gpu driver.

(post install: C:\Program Files\Avid\Utilities\nVidia)

afaik gtx 1080 should work with MC 8.4 or higher.

Given that there is no longer a qualified board list (just an unqualified one), there's no real reason to go for a Quadro with MC anymore.

The functional difference between the GeForce and Quadro is in full hardware support for OpenGL on the Quadro where some OpenGL runs in software on the GTX, as well as optimizations in the driver for modeling.  If you go back some years, a Quadro really was required for MC as the hardware support for OpenGL was a necessity. That's no longer the case. Things like BCC and AvidFX/Red don't take advantage of a Quadro, and many of the effects use the GPU anyway.

Now, if you also runs something like SolidWorks, you need a Quadro. Even running the hack that lets you use a GTX with SolidWorks the performance is subpar in comparison. Most modeling applications benefit from being on a Quadro.

If you also use Resolve, you're better off with the GTX (actually a couple of them).

hmm,

you got me thinkin of getting myself a gtx1070 instead quadro p4000 (whenever it arrives)

you say it's all down to open gl compatability.

the main problems I've seen in the past with gtx boards were wrong colors in composer window and video playback only on the primary windows display. it's hard for my brain to correlate that with hardware open gl.

you have reason to assume that those problems are all a thing of the past now?

Lukas Boeck:

hmm,

you got me thinkin of getting myself a gtx1070 instead quadro p4000 (whenever it arrives)

 

you say it's all down to open gl compatability.

the main problems I've seen in the past with gtx boards were wrong colors in composer window and video playback only on the primary windows display. it's hard for my brain to correlate that with hardware open gl.

 

you have reason to assume that those problems are all a thing of the past now?

 

 

very usefull info about the p4000! i didnt know that they plan to release it shortly.

You think it will worth it as a choice intead of the gtx1080?

i'm expecting it b4 the year's end.

when p5000/6000 was announced nvidia said lower end versions would follow shortly.

needs to come at some point there's no 16nm quadro under two grand.

i wouldn't call it an alternative to gtx 1080 (performance king)

a p4000 would be a sibling of gtx 1060. 120 watts, half a 1080.

I'm not putting maximum power draw in my computer without being certain of the use-case.

i want reasonable performance and stability.