Does the Nvidia Titan X / GTX 980 / GTX 970 support 10-bit color?

CaseyX · Apr 11, 2015

I am planning on doing color grading and am aiming for a Titan X. I want to use Davinci Resolve, Fusion 7, Premier Pro and After Effects to start off with.

If the Titan X doesn't have 10-bit support, do the other GPUs?

disturbed force · Apr 11, 2015

You will need a quadro or firepro card. Or maybe not give this a read, sounds like amd consumer grade cards do but i'm not 100% sure. http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/264296-do-any-current-amd-redeon-or-nvidia-gforce-graphics-cards-support-10-bit-colours-for-monitors/

My 290x's run my 4k monitor at 10 bit, not sure but from what I can find consumer grade nvidia cards don't, correct me if i'm wrong.

George Mulligan · Apr 11, 2015

Using the Nvidia Control Panel with my 980, I only see 16 and 32 bit options.

CaseyX · Apr 11, 2015

disturbed force :

Yeah, I've read that. from the original post and it's nearly 4 years old so I don't know how valid it is today still:
http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3011/~/10-bit-per-color-support-on-nvidia-geforce-gpus

No clear answer: it's either 'yes' or 'no' Nvidia, please :??:

Davinci Resolve recommends the Quadro series, but has the Titan series as Alternative GPUs A and the 780's as Alternative GPU's B, so possibly it does support 10-bit color output.

http://software.blackmagicdesign.com/DaVinciResolve/docs/DaVinci_Resolve_Windows_Config_Guide_June_2014.pdf

I don't know AMD/ATI GPU cards that well nor am I keen on going with them.

CaseyX · Apr 11, 2015

George Mulligan :

I don't like referencing Wikipedia but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth

What I mean by 10-bit color support is 2 to-the-power-of-10 shades per primary (RGB) color. Whereas your traditional 24-bit would be 2^8 shades per primary color, making it 24-bit and giving you only 16.7million colors. 10-bit gives you a total of 1.073 billion colors.

disturbed force · Apr 11, 2015

CaseyX :

Ya can't really find a yes or no answer on the nvidia side except for the quadro cards. But that thread I linked was from December 2014, because there is no real cut and dry ya or no I would lean towards no but I could be wrong.

From what I can see nvidia consumer grade cards supports 10bit in directx but not in opencl or gl.

Crossfire 290x's would do well for the price of one 980 or wait for the 390x, but if you don't like AMD I think a quadro card is your only choice for 10 bit opencl and gl environments.

basspig · Aug 12, 2015

The latest Titan X driver has an option for 6-bit, 8-bit and 10-bit color for the Display Port output, however the driver has other bugs that forced me to roll back.

Also, nVidia has documentation that says all Geforce from 200 series on up support 10-bit DirectX, but since many apps that use professional color use Open GL, which is not supported by these cards, this feature is probably irrelevant to users of Adobe applications, for example.

oneofmetwo · Nov 20, 2015

I'm a motion graphics artist, and the company I work at recently bought me a Dell P2415Q which is UHD and supports 10 bit-per-channel color. I have a GTX 980 and have been searching around to see about 'enabling' 10 bit color. Tom's Hardware is sweet, and this, among a few other threads, seemed to say that "we don't really know if 980s can do it, but they probably can't."

So, let me add to the confusion:

Nvidia Control Panel only gives me "16-bit" and "32-bit" color options. However, my Photoshop preferences panel (under "Advanced Graphics Processor Settings") allows me to check a box for "30 Bit Display". It also has a check box for "Use OpenCL", seemingly against what @basspig stated in August, and implying that OpenCL can actually do 10 bit color! I'm so confused, haha, but maybe one of you is more informed and can use this information to help the discussion.

Image of Photoshop's "Advanced Graphics Processor Settings": http://tinypic.com/r/34pmcm0/9

Joe_Schroecker · Nov 30, 2015

He,

although recently there is an option to activate 10bit on windows even with gtx and not only quadro drivers (NVIDIA Control Panel->Change Resolution->Output color depth->10bpc), the real problem is this:

>Windows 8, Win 8.1, and Windows 10 do not and all MAC OSes do not; I repeat do not support 30 bit output.
>
>Windows 7 is the only OS that did and Aero needed to be disabled to do so. I believe Linux also supports 30 bit color output.
from: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1295887?start=40&tstart=0

Sometimes when you look behind all the marketing and PR you sadly have to realise that even though spending $$$ (4K 10bit monitor on apple/win) you actually don't get what you got promised and you actually can't do anything because too many people blindly believe it without testing it themselves so companies won't fix it because people still buy anyhow...

tkv · Dec 18, 2015

Joe_Schroecker :

El Capitan on the Mac supports 10-bit color.

ByTheKOZ · Jan 19, 2016

any luck finding an answer? I'm looking into a GTX 970 / 10-bit monitor combo

HKSoft · Jun 20, 2016

Maybe too late for the answer? I using LG 27UD68 (IPS 4K 10bit support) and I just bought GTX970 day ago. There is 10bit output option in nVidia control panel. Hope this what you are looking for.

http://imgur.com/UDUu2u0

fla56 · Aug 10, 2016

HKSoft :

that doesn't work in windowed applications -ie Photoshop etc

and that's the point, nasty nVidia

John Wittenberg · Sep 21, 2016

Ha, my 980 Ti with a Samsung UN65EH6000 65-Inch 1080p TV shows 8 bit or 12 bit. Nvidia driver 372.70.

ledhead11 · Sep 28, 2016

fla56 :

HKSoft :

that doesn't work in windowed applications -ie Photoshop etc

Don't know about windowed apps. But on my LG I get the same thing and have since my 970's and 1080's too. You can visibly see a difference between the 8 and 10 as well. The 8 is blander with colors less vibrant. On 10 its almost like looking at a really amazing painting. I'm researching this since someone called me out on another thread about no gtx support and only quadros.

Bottom line is most info is out of date. I remember when this option showed up in CP. It was around 3-6 months after the 970's came out. Suddenly on some my 1080p displays I now even had a 12bit option. When I got this LG it was no problem switching to and holding 10bit. You can see the differences!

I tried the NEC demo some talk about. Its pdf specifically states its for multisync PA displays. Don't have one, didn't work. Not counting it as a valid check.

Nvidia really just needs to get its act together put out some credible current info. I know there's many different ways of displaying colors but to say there's no 10bit on the GTX's and only the Quadro's and no WIn10 support isn't completely accurate. Maybe one format on one and not the other but that doesn't mean none at all.

I also believe there could be a lot of missing driver support in programs to properly access what different cards offer. It's easy to believe they're targeting whatever is in the Quadro's and completely missing other options.

and that's the point, nasty nVidia

John Wittenberg · Sep 28, 2016

Recently sold my Samsung and picked up a Sony 65" X810C which is a 10 bit panel - 1080P or 4K I'm still only seeing 8 bit or 12 bit options (RGB or Chroma 4:4:4) with my 980 Ti and 372.70 drivers.

ledhead11 · Sep 28, 2016

John Wittenberg :

Interesting to know. I just started a new thread about this but I'm curious which cables and ports you were using.

For my 4k monitor I'm using the DP1.2. On my LG 4k TV & Onkyo 4k/3d receiver using HDMI 1.4b when I had my 970's and now the 2.0 with the 1080's. For 12bit/1080p or 4k/10bit I had to lower my sound over HDMI sampling to 24/96(usually keep it at 24/192). I was able to use 60hz/full color with those settings.

ledhead11 · Sep 28, 2016

Also using the same drivers as you but RGB color format.

John Wittenberg · Sep 28, 2016

HMDI 2.0 (2.0b I think, the latest standard) cable into HMDI port 1 on the TV, using HDMI out on the 980 Ti. I'm not using sound from my video card to the TV and have it disabled in my playback devices.

ledhead11 · Sep 28, 2016

When you update your NV drivers do you ever use the express and check clean install or have you ever done a NV unistall, used a driver cleaner and then reinstalled?

I do about once a year or two just to make sure no leftover bad stuff is hanging around. I'm sure you know that not all NV updates work out so well. That's why I'm still at 372.70, tried the new one last night and it dropped FPS on me.

I almost forgot. When I had my 970's and might be true for the 980ti the HDMI port is only 1.4b. Nvidia did a weird thing to allow 4k support on them using something like 4:2:2 for the color format. That might affect your options for your TV. Be careful if you try the different color formats, I can't remember if the timer kicks in to reset if you don't click yes on keep. I know I tried several till I found one that worked but can't remember if there were more steps involved.

John Wittenberg · Sep 28, 2016

I always use DDU in safe mode to completely nuke any remnants of Nvidia drivers when I set about installing a new driver.

ledhead11 · Sep 29, 2016

Yeah, sorry I just don't know. Hopefully on the new thread someone will chime in with something new and useful. Its like a snipe hunt for the moment.

Sorry I don't have more to give on this . . .

Does the Nvidia Titan X / GTX 980 / GTX 970 support 10-bit color?

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