GPU recommendations for PT stability

[zachxweeks]

Hi all,


I have a Windows 10 rig with an older (but fine) Z390 motherboard and an 9th gen Intel i9-9900K 3.6GHz 8-core (16 hyperthreading) CPU that I bought in 2021 and 32GB of RAM. All works good. Love it. Ultra fast.



However, I have a very old Geforce GTX 770 4GB GPU made in 2013 (I think it is an MSI TWIN FROZR), running 2560 x 1440 over Displayport. I've been running this for almost four years now and got it for free from a friend who had been using it for years in a video editing rig.



I've noticed this year that GPU-heavy tasks have been moving slower and a lot of my PC friends have scoffed at the fact that I'm still running this old GPU because it is probably getting tired.



I'm not doing any gaming and do some video work in PT but not a ton so I don't need anything crazy. My local Micro Center recommended something from the RTX 3000 series, (specifically a 3060) for "future proofing" and stability with my Intel i9, but its pretty pricey...



Micro Center rep suggested staying away from Radeon GPUs as they don't always play nice with Intel when stability is needed, but I don't know how true that is? I also know Pro Tools on Windows CAN be picky about GPUs. New ASUS RTX 2060 with 6GB are still available for fairly cheap. RTX 3050s are a little out of my price range but all GPUs are crazy right now. 3060s, as the Micro Center rep recommended, are even more out of the range I'm looking to spend.


TL;DR: looking for recommendations for a new GPU that will specifically play nice with Pro Tools on my i9-9900K since my nearly 10 year old GPU is likely getting tired.



I'm on PT 2021.10.0 right now because it has been stable but I can update to the newest version whenever I want.



Thanks!

[The Weed]

I run a GT640 video card with an i7 4th gen CPU and 32 GB of RAM. Computer is almost 9 years old. I haven't noticed any GPU issues, except when an Nvidia driver update causes issues. I always Trash Prefs and Databases with Trasher and Reboot and run LatencyMon for 15 to 20 minutes after a video card driver update to see if there are issues. If there are, I just roll the driver back and wait for the next driver update.

Are your drivers up-to-date? Have you run LatencyMon?

[albee1952]

Re drivers, you should always get your driver from the nVidia website and not from your card manufacturer's website(like PNY, eVGA, Asus, etc). I have no issues with a Quadro K2000 and that's pretty old, by computer standards. Pro Tools has always had very modest graphic needs until/unless you are doing video in your sessions.

[The Weed]

I run video sessions with the card I referenced. Last session the video was over 3 hours long. Slight lag to start recording, but nothing to worry about.

[junkgear]

Pro Tools isn’t very graphics intensive, but if you want to upgrade, you could stay in the GTX family of cards without issue. I’m running an older 10 series with a Z390 motherboard and it’s both fast and solid. My resolution is not as high as yours, so just check the specs on the new one.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Re drivers, you should always get your driver from the nVidia ...

+1. I'm using a Nvidia GeForce GT 710 for triple-monitors at 1080P. Works.

[zachxweeks]

Just for reference, I do think the card is definitely tired as even YouTube videos and such result in some weird lag or spikes here or there. I have the most stable Nvidia drivers at all times (it's not like a recent update broke anything) and the rest of the machine works flawlessly when I'm not dealing with anything that could potentially put any level of strain on the GPU.


As mentioned, I got this card for free almost four years ago because my friend had been using it heavily for video work and also for gaming. He specifically told me that it was probably pretty tired, which is he gave it to me for free.



Will try some further optimization but thanks for the recommendation on the 10 series. I know those were all the rage back in 2018, 2019

[ZerglingPhilosophy]

AMD GPU's are known as having lower DPC latency drivers which is good for audio. A lot of people run NVIDIA and don't have any problems but I'd still recommend an AMD Radeon.

[zachxweeks]

Originally Posted by ZerglingPhilosophy

AMD GPU's are known as having lower DPC latency drivers which is good for audio. A lot of people run NVIDIA and don't have any problems but I'd still recommend an AMD Radeon.

Have you had good luck with PT, an Intel CPU, and AMD GPU? Someone at Microcenter said that could cause instability but I'm not entirely sure why. I know AMD GPUs are generally a bit cheaper than NVIDIA and the cost of GPUs right now is nuts.

[sw rec]

Nvidia Quadro M2000 here. Works perfectly.