Best video card to get for rendering video in Final Cut Pro?

[Dartamis]

I am thinking of picking up a mac pro but I want to get the best video card for rendering in FCP. When I go to ATI or NVIDIA's website all they talk about is 3D rendering performance. I know Apple has a slew of cards recomended on their site but which is the best (for FCP) of the ones that they have listed (or some not listed?).

ATI Radeon X850 XT,
ATI Radeon X800 XT,
ATI Radeon X1600,
NVIDIA GeForce Quadro FX 4500,
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT,
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL or 6800 GT DDL

 

[tipdrill407]

Why are people so oblivious to the fact that FCP is not reliant on the GPU, all the rendering is done on the CPU.

 

[Dartamis]

Why are people so oblivious to the fact that FCP is not reliant on the GPU, all the rendering is done on the CPU.

If that were the case then why would apple recomend certain cards for Final Cut Pro? If Adobe's video software uses power from the Quadro why can't Final Cut Pro? If it really doesn't, then why not? Also why would the guy at the Apple store tell me that Final cut pro uses the gpu to help render video when I asked him if it did?

 

[Dunebug38]

Why are people so oblivious to the fact that FCP is not reliant on the GPU, all the rendering is done on the CPU.

Ok, first of all. There was a time when even YOU did not know much on this topic.

Second of all, this is a forum for buying tips and ADVICE. Not, your question sounds too ignorant to me so I'm gonna be a jerk and rant about how you are wasting my time.

This person is asking a legitimate question and deserves to not get harassed.

Unfortunately, I do not have a great answer for you but I would say if you really want to do a lot with FCP get one of the top 2 cards offered.

 

[Dartamis]

"April 17, 2005—Apple® today unveiled Final Cut® Studio, the ultimate HD video production suite that features Final Cut Pro® 5, a major upgrade to the Emmy award-winning editing software for DV, SD, HD and film. Final Cut Studio also includes state-of-the-art tools that complement Final Cut Pro 5 such as Soundtrack® Pro, a revolutionary new audio editing and sound design application that makes video projects sound as good as they look; Motion 2, the world’s first real-time motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float rendering; and DVD Studio Pro® 4, the first commercially available DVD authoring software that burns high definition DVDs to the latest HD DVD specification"

This was taken from Apple's site here: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/apr/17fcstudio.html

 

[Laslo Panaflex]

If that were the case then why would apple recomend certain cards for Final Cut Pro? If Adobe's video software uses power from the Quadro why can't Final Cut Pro? If it really doesn't, then why not? Also why would the guy at the Apple store tell me that Final cut pro uses the gpu to help render video when I asked him if it did?

The guy is incorrect, Motion is the only studio app that uses GPU to render, in fact it uses it almost exclusively. All the other apps will see little to no benefit with high power GPU. That doesn't mean FCP and the other apps won't take advantage in the future, but for now Motion is the only one.

 

[DeSnousa]

The guy is incorrect, Motion is the only studio app that uses GPU to render, in fact it uses it almost exclusively. All the other apps will see little to no benefit with high power GPU. That doesn't mean FCP and the other apps won't take advantage in the future, but for now Motion is the only one.

Yeah I heard this some where, motion uses the GPU to render in real time to the screen so you don't have to wait for the effect to load and display on the screen

Correct me if I'm wrong though

 

[PowerMike G5]

"April 17, 2005—Apple® today unveiled Final Cut® Studio, the ultimate HD video production suite that features Final Cut Pro® 5, a major upgrade to the Emmy award-winning editing software for DV, SD, HD and film. Final Cut Studio also includes state-of-the-art tools that complement Final Cut Pro 5 such as Soundtrack® Pro, a revolutionary new audio editing and sound design application that makes video projects sound as good as they look; Motion 2, the world’s first real-time motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float rendering; and DVD Studio Pro® 4, the first commercially available DVD authoring software that burns high definition DVDs to the latest HD DVD specification"

This was taken from Apple's site here: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/apr/17fcstudio.html

The quote you pointed out is exactly true. Motion uses the GPU for accelerated rendering, but Final Cut Pro does not. FCP's rendering is mostly based on the CPU ... you will see no appreciable difference between a lower end GPU and a higher end GPU in this regard.

But this is not to say that Final Cut Pro won't take more advantage of the GPU in the future, perhaps taking more advantage of Core Video. But as of now, if you want to maximize your render speeds in FCP, maximize the speed of your CPU.

 

[Laslo Panaflex]

Yeah I heard this some where, motion uses the GPU to render in real time to the screen so you don't have to wait for the effect to load and display on the screen

Correct me if I'm wrong though

Actually Motion uses the GPU to render the final video too, so the better the video card the faster the render. Motion is VERY GPU intensive, whereas FCP benefits mostly from faster IO and CPU. The reason Apple recomends a fast GPU for Final Cut Studio is becuase the FCP studio includes Motion.

Here are the requirements for just FCP

* Macintosh computer with 867MHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, or Intel Core Duo processor
* HD features require 1GHz or faster single or dual processors (authoring HD DVDs requires a PowerPC G5 or Intel Core Duo processor)
* 512MB of RAM; 1GB of RAM for HD features (2GB recommended)
* Display with 1024-by-768 (or higher) resolution
* AGP Quartz Extreme or PCI Express graphics card (Final Cut Studio is not supported on systems using the Intel Extreme Graphics 950 GMA)
* Motion requires the standard graphics card found in any MacBook Pro, iMac Intel Core Duo, Power Mac G5, iMac G5, a 1.25 GHz or faster PowerBook G4, or a 1.25 GHz or faster flat-panel iMac.
* Mac OS X 10.4.4 or later
* QuickTime 7.0.4 or later
* 4GB of disk space to install all applications
* Additional 42GB to install all optional templates, loops, content, and tutorials (may be installed on separate discs)

 

[Dartamis]

OK so I won't waste any money on a crazy card then. Apple should really get it together though and start using that extra power. Hopefully that will happen soon.

 

[Sun Baked]

On the Mac Pro, you only have 2 upgrade choices right now the Quadro FX4500 and the Radeon X1900.

However, the Radeon X1900 is sold as a OEM kit, so you can buy it later for $499 if you don't want to pay $350 upfront when you BTO.

The Quadro FX4500, isn't a Apple kit yet -- so you will have to wait for a flashed card or spend the $1650 upfront.

---

Because the Radeon X1900 is sold as a OEM kit, don't expect to see it on the ATI website. For some strange and logical reason, the OEM cards generally don't get sold by ATI as a retail kit.

So buy the ATI card BTO, or wait to see how flashed x1900 cards fare.

 

[Abstract]

The reason Apple recomends a fast GPU for Final Cut Studio is becuase the FCP studio includes Motion.

Yeah I was going to say.

Stick with the basic video card that comes with your Mac Pro for now, and if you ever intend to use programs that really tax the GPU, then buy a card then. Don't buy one before you even know why you need it.

 

[LethalWolfe]

OK so I won't waste any money on a crazy card then. Apple should really get it together though and start using that extra power. Hopefully that will happen soon.

Yeah, those lazy bastards. It's only gonna take pretty much a ground up rewrite of how FCP handles rending, that should just take a couple of days, right?


Lethal

 

[Sun Baked]

Yeah, those lazy bastards. It's only gonna take pretty much a ground up rewrite of how FCP handles rending, that should just take a couple of days, right?


Lethal

At most 3 or 4 for the update, but all the new icons they will include in the app will take 18 months.

Oh wait, that was MS and Office.

 

[quruli]

Totally off topic. But I went and looked at the Mac Pro and the sales guy showed me how FCP can handle 16 videos streams at once!!! It was amazing!

Anyhow. Some of the cards you listed don't have a Mac Pro Version.

ATI Radeon X850 XT,
ATI Radeon X800 XT,
ATI Radeon X1600,
NVIDIA GeForce Quadro FX 4500,
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT,
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL or 6800 GT DDL

The ones in bold can be put in the Mac Pro. That card would be overkill for FCP usage, if you were into 3D rendering like Maya, it would be great. Not so much for FCP. The stock card would be fine. FCP needs more graphics capability mainly for its own interface I would guess.

 

[tipdrill407]

Ok, first of all. There was a time when even YOU did not know much on this topic.

Second of all, this is a forum for buying tips and ADVICE. Not, your question sounds too ignorant to me so I'm gonna be a jerk and rant about how you are wasting my time.

This person is asking a legitimate question and deserves to not get harassed.

I did not intend to harrass anyone. There have been many threads related to this issue and i think the OP would've easily found the answer to his/her question by searching.

As for FCP it does not use the GPU to render video it uses the CPU. Motion is the only app in FCS that uses the GPU. The reason i said that the GPU has no impact in performance in this case is because the OP asked about FCP not FCS.