Graphic Card for custom Mac

brandy

Hi,

I really don't know much about graphic cards and such since I've only been doing video work on laptops so far. I'm about to get a custom mac built to use as a video work station and I'm trying to understand what graphic card would make sense to get.

There are several here one can choose from but I really don't know where to start evaluating them:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-december-2014.html#Alternate_Graphics_Cards

The kind of work I'd be doing would mostly be recording Isadora and Jitter output in realtime and then edit it in Final Cut.

I know it's a bit of a generic question but any advice would be helpful to start understanding what would make sense to buy.

Thanks in advance

Fred

If you can afford it go the GTX 970. Cuda and opencl are becoming targets for a lot of processing tasks. As such the new final cut pro and compressor use it to convert and process video. The new max is much more opengl based as is the new Isadora, hence a better gfx card is worth it. The more power you have the better.

brandy

Thanks Fred, there is a couple of compatible GTX 970 on that list, is any in particular the one you are thinking of?

Seems like either the EVGA GTX 970 (4GB DDR5) or the Gigabyte GTX 970 (4GB DDR5) would work. I would have to get something else on top for capturing though so it might end up being quite expensive (I would like to record my laptop output in real time). Not sure if there's any graphic card with integrated capturing features?

brandy

Probably just gonna have to get an Intensity Shuttle to do the capturing... but then I'll need a slightly cheaper graphic card.

brandy

Would something like this do the job?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJGYS4Y/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

Fred

In general if I was getting a new GFX card I would go for at least 4g ram or higher. The price difference will not be so much but the performance with a good gfx card will be worth it. The brands do not matter so much, the chips are the same. there is a delay between a new chip and 3rd party products so the 3rd party stuff will be a little older but good (with cheaper components like connectors and cooling- this can be taken care of in the case.

Unfenswinger

Glo if your capture PC is doing nothing more than capturing through the Intensity you'll probably be able to get away with an integrated GPU on the motherboard to keep things really cheap, just check your chosen MB does have an integrated GPU. Then add another GPU down the line if need arises.

brandy

Thanks guys, my idea for now was to run all my patches on my laptop (the stuff I do seems to run fine on my 4 years old macbook pro) and then use this new pc to do mostly capturing and assembling in Final Cut / After Effect. I'm not sure if a GFX card is really important for this or if I could just spend my money on the Intensity and then get a GFX card if I start doing real time video on this new PC. If FC and AE don't rely much on the Graphic Card but mostly have to do with RAM and CPU then it might be a good idea to hold on until I really need one.