Which tasks are the defining factors for putting strain/demand on a GPU ?

[Voixdelion]

After posting this on Yahoo answers, I realized that I had a much better pool of knowledge to drink from over here: 

I am trying to determine the expected price range for multiple monitor GPU for HD video viewing/editing (but non-gaming - the dedicated console is our goto for that) and don't know quite where to start in terms of how much card I need when I start building a new PC for myself These are the primary things I would be doing with it:

1 research on the net (think 50 tabs open at once on a regular basis),
2 HD Home Theater type video viewing
3 High quality music playback
4 Professional level audio mixing/recording
5 hobby level video editing
6 photoshop
7 dual monitor setup for all the above (e.g. have HD video playing on #1 - probably on the likes of our Samsung 55" 3D HDTV  while multitasking some combo of the above options on #2 - some dinky HD monitor or reversing the chores and replacing the monitor with a large CRT Trinitron TV)

I have to move out of the ancient 478 socket into new territory and that means new everything from the motherboard on up... The one piece of equipment that may make the transition is the LEPA G 850 PSU, but I will have to budget for a new cpu, new mobo, new ram and new GPU, and GPU's have always mystified me a bit since the terminology is mostly aimed at the gaming community and I don't use the PC for gaming (except for stupid flash games on the net... )

Given that I don't need the ultimate gaming performance, I am wondering how to select the best performance GPU for my needs, which may not be as demanding (I hope, since the top tier cards are running upwards of $400 easily). I WILL use at least a dual monitor setup, just for the added elbow room of desktop space while doing multiple chores at once, usually working on one screen while the other plays something entertaining as a distraction or company while I work. (This is important since I learned that NVIDIA was better at the dual monitor stuff than ATI as a rule when I built my last machine, but perhaps this is improved nowadays)

Do I need to look at top tier cards with all that crosslinking and SLI madness? I know that the newer generation of tech is exponentially more capable and faster than the P4 generation of stuff, so what price range cards would suit my needs for these things? Can I get away with a budget Pci-e since I don't really worry about high detail rendering of real time gaming type stuff, or would I still be better served with a mid-tier or higher end card for manipulating many layers in Photoshop or editing video? How high do I have to go in terms of specs to make sure I have enough headroom for the machine to last a while but not being completely out of my depth for what I will ever need?

I'd like to be minimally frustrated with waiting for the stupid little hourglass or spinning wheel icons to go away, but I suspect that will be less a GPU issue than a CPU issue, and if I have to spend the big bucks I think I would rather it be on solid ram, mobo with flexible configurations and the main brain of the thing, so I am guessing that the GPU is a good place to trim some of the fat considering that they are so expensive these days. I'd like to build with room to grow, though, as I don't want to build a bottom dollar budget machine that will only last a year because its soon going to be obsolete. 

I realized I had been playing that game with Mac for a while (buying cheap and then having to buy cheap again in a very short time) when I made the switch to PC and got a high end machine that was upgradeable. I used my Vaio for at least 8 or 9 years until it started to get on my nerves enough to force me to buy old high end tech that would improve things enough to hold on for a few more years rather than go cheap new tech that would leave me with computer envy.  (I'd never want to start out my new adventure on a weenie machine that real techies will scoff at.  At least the old tech I have is the very TOP OF THE LINE maxed out stuff of its generation - THAT,  I can appreciate as vintage art instead of a "budget build"   ) )

[IvanIvanovich]

Even something in the mid range like GTX750 or R7 260x should be fine for this with a bit of headroom to spare... the only exception is if you want to use GPU to use any openCL (or CUDA for nvidia) plug ins for audio/video processing.

[Badwrench]

You are going to want a build with multiple cores/threads, at least 8gb of memory and good hdd speed (ssd). 

Something along these lines will do you quite well:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($294.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard:  Biostar Hi-Fi Z87W ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($98.99 @ Newegg)
Memory:  G.Skill AEGIS 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($75.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($86.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card:  Asus GeForce GT 630 2GB Video Card  ($54.97 @ Newegg)
Case:  NZXT NZXT H230 Black ATX Mid Tower ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $806.40
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 21:42 EST-0500)

[Voixdelion]

Wow - Thanks so much for the recs, that really helps as a starting point and the cost isn't near as bad as I had feared.  I'd certainly rather build my own for that amount than buy something prefabbed, as I could pick and choose each bit and know what I am dealing with from the start. That is actually doable and would be a HUGE leap from where I am now.  (At least I have a dual core laptop for the stuff that the P4 can't swallow as well.  The BF got me that one on the cheap used from a pawn shop and made a gift of it but I am much more comfortable with a desktop.... just for the keyboard alone sometimes )

Even something in the mid range like GTX750 or R7 260x should be fine for this with a bit of headroom to spare... the only exception is if you want to use GPU to use any openCL (or CUDA for nvidia) plug ins for audio/video processing.

I dunno,... Do I? 

Please excuse my ignorance here regarding CUDA or open CL (I thought it was open GL - is this something else new now?) Is there any particular reason I would want to do that?  This is the kind of stuff I don't have any clue about really.  Previously I had just assumed those were things that might or might not be used in certain software I might run, but I have no understanding of how I might use those things myself.  What are they for or how are they used that would be advantageous?   

[IvanIvanovich]

OpenCL and CUDA are things that allow for some tasks to be shifted entirely to the GPU which is much more efficient than the CPU at certain tasks, like for audio/video encoding work or effects processing with DSP modules. These kinds of things fall under the broad umbrella of GPGPU computing.

[tp4tissue]

It comes down to software...

which ones are you using...

[IvanIvanovich]

Right, it's all about what software you use for your audio/video work. Maybe I'm wrong, but when someone is using very old hardware I usually assume the software is similarly old. I would be asking what software would you like to be using, and if it does offer any openCL or CUDA performance enhancement or relevant add on plug ins and go from there. A platform upgrade like this may be a very good time to evaluate the software you use and your workflow and make improvements there as well.

[Larken]

Most modern systems would be able to run most of what you do pretty smoothly without much problems, even if they're not top of the line equipment, with a few exceptions. Going through them one by one.

1 research on the net (think 50 tabs open at once on a regular basis),
- more of a ram/cpu issue; though it really isn't one. I have 8gb and I open up to 100 tabs regularly. given memory is pretty cheap nowadays, anything north of 8gb here is a bonus.

2 HD Home Theater type video viewing
- Even onboard graphics would be sufficient for this nowadays.

3 High quality music playback
- qn, how high quality? This is pretty much another can of worms, as the quality of the playback is only as good as the weakest link in your audio chain; your audio files, the soundcard, dacs, speakers etc.

4 Professional level audio mixing/recording
- no comments, as I don't really have much experience in this area.

5 hobby level video editing
- basically, what you need here is a combination of a few things; a fast, dedicated scratch disk (meaning a disk where there is little/no activity other than your video files) while you're doing the edits, a fast, multicore processor when you're encoding your results. CPU encoding is rather fast nowadays imo for a hobbyist, but if you're planning to use CUDA (if your software does support it), a more powerful Nvidia card would serve you well.

Imo don't bother with AVIVO (ati cards) or intel quick sync as there is a noticeably degradation of image quality where these protocols are concerned. Memory plays a role depending on the resolution of videos you're editing. This is one area where you might want to consider getting up to 16gb.

6 photoshop
- if you're building a system that can handle video editing, it'll probably cover your needs on photoshop too.
 
7 dual monitor setup for all the above (e.g. have HD video playing on #1 - probably on the likes of our Samsung 55" 3D HDTV  while multitasking some combo of the above options on #2 - some dinky HD monitor or reversing the chores and replacing the monitor with a large CRT Trinitron TV)
- not an issue, even with most budget systems nowadays.

Generally, you wouldn't need to bother with crossfire or SLI at all.

For a basic summary of the differences between CUDA, CPU, IntelQuickSync and AVIVO, this post from http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/23135.page#124282 explains it pretty well.

[TheSoulhunter]

The only demanding tasks for GPUs these days are gaming and running computational extensive tasks on shaders (ie. video processing/filtering), but this needs specific software...
For photo and video editing get a good monitor, alot RAM, a fast CPU, two SSDs (for fast read/write and swap), and perhaps a large conventional HDD for final storage (video can be huge).

[tp4tissue]

The only demanding tasks for GPUs these days are gaming and running computational extensive tasks on shaders (ie. video processing/filtering), but this needs specific software...
For photo and video editing get a good monitor, alot RAM, a fast CPU, two SSDs (for fast read/write and swap), and perhaps a large conventional HDD for final storage (video can be huge).

ideal setup for a pro... as many cores as you can afford, since you won't be overclocking...

and if you can afford it, a nv quadro / titan or a ati fire which have specific speedups for certain programs.

ram.. use 8 gb 1600mhz sticks, as many as you can afford

2x 512gb samsung 840pros for video editing scratch disk..  for photo editing, 2x 256gb is enough.

and 2 Seagate 3TB enterprise drives for complete projects.. DO NOT raid.. USE backup..



if you use final cut pro... buy a mac... (no choice, hackintosh, way too many problems)