KVR Audio

theEmbark · Post by **theEmbark** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:08 pm

Hey guys,

I'm trying to get a good handle on the relationship between my daw, logic X, and how it handles graphics.

I'm trying to decide what kind of GPU to purchase but don't quite understand how a daw and multiple instances of various vsts effect GPU performance.

Any help would be appreciated!

Keep in mind I'm not only looking for GPU reccomendations but also and understanding on at what point the GPU starts helping and at what point you've just got extra power for the sake of it.

Thanks,
Kevin

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:45 pm

The GPU dosnt help VSTs. Only the CPU can do that.

theEmbark · Post by **theEmbark** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:55 pm

UltraJv wrote:The GPU dosnt help VSTs. Only the CPU can do that.

I understand that GPU doesn't have a direct performance boost on vsts but these days the gui are pretty graphic intensive.

So the thought is onboard graphics pull direct from the CPU so if a vst is has a heavy gui and you're using on board graphics then you are pulling from the CPU resources that could be used for the actual processing.

So a dedicated GPU will increase performance indirectly but my question is to what degree.

cron · Post by **cron** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:01 pm

The only (mature) plug-in I'm aware of that can use GPU to accelerate the actual DSP is Nebula (CUDA only IIRC, so you'll need an Nvidia card for that, again IIRC). Other than that I've only seen one or two experimental freeware plugs using CUDA/Open CL, but I've never been able to get any of them working here.

Other than those few outliers, hardware acceleration for drawing the screen is the only benefit you'll get, but even built-in GPUs are powerful enough to do that flawlessly these days IIRC. I remember using Energy XT 1.x around 10 years ago which drew everything on the CPU and it was *slow*... like making music with a slideshow.

theEmbark · Post by **theEmbark** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:05 pm

Sounds good so really then I just need a GPU to power my displays.

I have a couple old cuda cards but looking to upgrade my GPU for displays and design just wanted to make sure there wasn't an aspect of the mixing process I should be considering

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:34 pm

Nebula's CUDA acceleration doesn't work anymore on OS X so don't worry about that. Also, I don't think their standalone Acqua plugins use it either.

I'm using a 1GB GT210 here and haven't had any issues with plugin GUIs (even ones that caused some people trouble like Replika). And that's an old card. My only requirement for a DAW card is passive cooling.

The only plugin issue I have is Arturia plugin GUIs disappearing for a split second within a minute of being launched. And that's only in Live. It's an odd bug and while I thought it may be somehow related to Live's auto-hide GUI option, it persists even when I turn that off. It doesn't happen in Logic 9, so I don't think it's card related.

Kaine · Post by **Kaine** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:23 am

We've seen going a bit below bare basic can help smooth out some UI glitches if the codes leveraging Open Gl. Don't have to go crazy, but something around the £$50 price point, rather than the entry level £$30 can have some benefits. Above that however you won't notice any gains in your DAW software.

Relationship between GPU and DAW/VSTi