Nvidia Quadro vs ATI Radeon for Adobe CS4 and CS5

[Guest]

Hi,
I'm a graphic designer and planning to upgrade my Desktop PC starting from processor to intel i7 and need advice to choose the best VGA card for Adobe creative suite CS4 and CS5. What do u think about Nvidia Quadro compared to ATI radeon?

Thanks.

 

[Lmeow]

AFAIK, Adobe CS5 Premiere Pro will be greatly accelerated by nVidia CUDA, specifically its Mercury Playback Engine, and thus Quadro cards would be better if you're intending to use Premiere, but if you're only going to use graphic design programs (Premiere not included I suppose) then it wouldn't matter too much AFAIK. Also, ATi Radeon is the gamer series, while ATi FirePro is the professional graphics workstation series.

 

[Guest]

.... but if you're only going to use graphic design programs (Premiere not included I suppose) then it wouldn't matter too much AFAIK. Also, ATi Radeon is the gamer series, while ATi FirePro is the professional graphics workstation series.

I'm not using Premiere, but Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign and Dreamweaver CS5. Please check the following Urls:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe_photoshop.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros.html

Do u think that ATi FirePro is better than NVIDIA Quadro?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Depends on the model, but really there is no difference for those portions of CS5, only Premiere and After Effects benefit from the CDUA based GPU acceleration in CS5, and then it's only certain models, in which case unless you're a pro it's best to get a GTX285 instead.

But for all of the components you're using they use OpenGL acceleration and are available to both vendors.

The only consideration would be if you have a truely high bit depth monitor that support true 12bit per channel colour, that would be the only reason to get a workstation card (FireX/Quadro) as they support up to 16bit per colour channel, whereas the gaming models are 10 per channel usually and 12bit (with 10bit corrected output) for the best models via HDMI.

But if you're no using a specialized monitor then don't waste your money on a FireGL/FirePro or Quadro card, get a quality, low power consumption, large memory, cool 'n' quiet mid-range card (something like the HD5770 or lower or the GTS250). A nice card for a cool and quiet rig would be the new HD5550 with the passive heatsink, but it s a bit slower. I prefer the HD5K series because of the better sub-pixel support and the better colour depth support on DP and HDMI, but even then it's not as good as it could be (limited output on HDMI below the level of GPU support).

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The Quadro competes with the FireGL in the Workstation arena....whereas the ATI 5000 series competes with the nVidia 400 series. From the uses I have spoken to, the Quadro seems to perform best at the ends of the price spectrum (lowest and highest) whereas the FireGL gives it a good run for the money in the middle.

The 400 series is a nice multi purpose solution if you want to do movie editing as well as toss on the occassional game after hours.

http://www.vizworld.com/2010/04/maingears-quantum-shift-workstation-cs5/

In addition, the new GeForce GTX 480 brings an unprecedented amount of professional power to the table. If you’re looking for the ability to playback three layers of HD, and twice the performance of a GTX 285 in CS5, the SHIFT with GeForce GTX 480 is a powerhouse editing product.

“Adobe CS5 powered by GeForce GTX 480 hardware has enabled us to achieve same-day edits with our in-house video production,” said Chris Morley, CTO of MAINGEAR. “In seven years of designing and selling high definition post production workstations, I’ve never seen so much get done in so little time and for so little money. The ROI with SHIFT powered by NVIDIA running Adobe CS5 is amazing.”

So it all comes down to what yu wanna spend.....In the < $150 range I'd opt for the $89 EVGA model that comes with two free games you can save for XMas / B'day presents

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130539

For $15 ,more you can get a 1 GB model, with the games again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130538

Because I use my CAD machines for the infrequent game session after hours, the Nvidia cards have of late most often provided the best "all around" solution for me and mine with needs covering 2D CAD drafting, movie stuff and the occasional gaming session. As I also wind up building for friends, colleagues and other associates, I do see wider range of components than I otherwise would and always take the opportunity to "test them out". The last three cards I got to play with though were a 4870x2, 295 and 250 .... next build will likely be mid summer.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Jack, he specifically sated he's not using Premier (and thus likely not After Effects either since it's not in his list), the above links are not related to his question.

And considering that the GTX480 isn't even supported for MPE and thus still doesn't have the flag to enable acceleration, that's an interesting quote above.

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/performance/

And you'll notice your recommended GTS250 is a LONG way away from supporting the feature you're quoting which isn't even supported on the GTX 280, 275, 265, 260 let alone the GTS series based on the G200 GPU.

As I mentioned before, everything else is OpenGL based, and you can grab plug-ins for both platforms too, and in that case I wouldn't be using G200 hardware with its limited OpenGL support.