Best Graphics card for Adobe CS5.5 & Mac Pro (Under $1,000)

[Michael Totten]

Forgive me if there's already a discussion about this... I did a quick search and found only PC related discussions.
I'm currently working on a MacPro and am looking for better performance in Adobe Premiere CS5.5 UPDATE as of 7-10-12 (Now Adobe Premiere CS6)

- MacPro 2 X 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
- 16GB RAM
- OSX 10.7.3
- ATI Radeon HD 5770
- Red Rocket

I'm working mostly with ProRes using sapphire effects in Premiere... the rendering is killing me.
I'd like to be able to apply an effect and see the results right away in real time. What's the latest and greatest graphics card for under 1000 bucks (if it exists) AND what kinds of performance enhancements will I see over my current card (ATI 5770).
Thank you !

[Michael Totten]

Bump -
According to Adobe I have three choices that will take advantage of the MPE.
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/tech-specs.html

1. GTX 285 (discontinued)
2. Nvidia Quadro FX 4800
3 Nvidia Quadro 4000

Seems like lots of folks are going with the Quadro 4000

[Uli Plank]

Yeah, go for it if you can't find a second hand GTX 285.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

These days the Quadro 4000 beats the GTX285 and it only takes a single slot width and one PCIe power connector. Unlike the GTX285 they're still in production and can be bought almost anywhere. The down side is they're expensive. Speed wise the Quadro 4000 is on par with the GTX285, a wee bit faster now that the drivers are better optimized.

The Quadro FX4800 is a bad idea -- also out of production, slower than the GTX285 and way more expensive when you find one. Avoid unless you can pick one up for really cheap.

I would pause just a bit and see what cards are listed as certified with the official CS6 launch. Although in Mac land, we're pretty limited. You can install off the shelf nVidia cards and make the work, but there's a few gotcha's and caveats there. With no long term guaranties.

[Michael Totten]

These days the Quadro 4000 beats the GTX285 and it only takes a single slot width and one PCIe power connector. Unlike the GTX285 they're still in production and can be bought almost anywhere. The down side is they're expensive. Speed wise the Quadro 4000 is on par with the GTX285, a wee bit faster now that the drivers are better optimized.

The Quadro FX4800 is a bad idea -- also out of production, slower than the GTX285 and way more expensive when you find one. Avoid unless you can pick one up for really cheap.

I would pause just a bit and see what cards are listed as certified with the official CS6 launch. Although in Mac land, we're pretty limited. You can install off the shelf nVidia cards and make the work, but there's a few gotcha's and caveats there. With no long term guaranties.

Thanks for the info Jeff.
Have things changed in the last couple months?
I'm going to be doing a some work on my reel in Adobe CS6 Premiere.

Currently my system is:
- MacPro 2 X 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
- 16GB RAM
- OSX 10.7.3
- ATI Radeon HD 5770
- Red Rocket

I'm just trying to figure out if the Quadro 4000 will be a significant bump in speed over the ATI 5770. I will be working with R3D files.
It's not clear to me just how much the Red Rocket is doing in CS6 premiere... with the rocket installed is the 4000 necessary ?
The main thing I'd like to avoid is rendering before I can preview a shot (I will probably be using some Sapphire filters, Twixtor and sometimes two or three video layers.

[Bryan Moore]

Not to Hi jack. But what about for Pc? Other than rocket? Put price out of eqasion. How do other cards compare to rocket?

[Joseph Coleman]

They don't compare at all. The Red Rocket only decodes RED RAW files...thats it. It does not replace a GPU.

[Bryan Moore]

So if I wanted something that is comparble to rocket what direction would I go? All around performace. Not just Red.

[Brad Allen]

I think you might have misunderstood what Joseph meant.

There is no GPU comparable to a Red Rocket since Premiere doesn't use a Red Rocket as a GPU. A red rocket performs an entirely different function than a GPU in Premiere. The Red Rocket handles the debayering of the R3D's. A GPU on the other hand helps with pushing through some effects in realtime and also helps when doing downscaling amongst other things.

Because of this, there is no GPU that is optimised for a specific format of footage since it isn't dealing with the decompression of various codecs.