Looking for the best graphics card for use in my studio PC. I want silent/fan less. Does the graphics card make any real difference to DAW performance? (Remember we are not talking gaming here). I am looking for best DAW performance and lowest noise so any suggestions? PCIe PC btw. Current PC is x99 system and i7 cpu.

 

Graphics card wont do much, if anything at all to improve performance. The difference would be completely negligible. I have a gtx 970 in my setup because I use graphics editing programs every once in a great while.

As long as an onboard gpu can give you 1080p without lag, there is nothing too strenuous a daw would do that would require a dedicated one. Keep in mind that dedicated GPU's are primarily for gaming and graphics rendering. For a music studio set up, you only need to worry about a solid processor (for reverb effects especially, but also for some more intensive synth programs) and at 6-16 GB of RAM (you want more than 4 just to ensure you're good if you use some large sample libraries now or in the future), perhaps a small solid state drive to run your OS off of for loading and unloading some stuff.

On the noise issue, adding a graphics card would only make your system louder. Rather than investing in a GPU (which would do nothing for these purposes), maybe invest in noise-free fans?

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2015

I had this question in mind too, i wonder if a dedicated GPU will help the CPU do less work
Also i think ssd drives are one thing to look for for studio use

 

Take a look at the Nvidia GT730 SL 2GD3 BRK
It frees up some of you System RAM

 

edit: NVM

 

it is good! first of all, for plug-ins with hi-quality analyzers and hi-definition, like iZotope Insight, Ozone, DMG Audio Dualism, Voxengo SPAN, MeldaProduction analyzers, iZotope RX4 standalone sonograms and other advanced analyzer applications.
As well as your RAM won't be used, only by graphic interface (video card).

 

You already have a good VGA for DAW in your i7. Fast GPU really makes no difference for DAW.

Cheers!

 

any recent card with a passive cooler will do the job for a DAW

 

A lot of recent plugins and daws are using OpenGL for graphics, so having a dedicated graphics card will help.

For example Studio One would cause occasional cpu spikes on my old system, so when I built my new one I put a GTX 960 in it. which took care of that.

Speaking of SSDs, I put 3 in my system, OS/programs, Omnisphere/Kontakt, and Projects.

 

another thing to consider really cheap video cards use system ram, so what ever you do make sure its got at least 1 gb ram onboard so there is no ram sharing

 

I have a Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti KalmX fanless, thus completely silent, running in a machine at the moment. It was previously in my studio machine and its a great card.

 

Hack'semite' + EVGA GTX 960 4GB here and nVidia WEB drivers. Work very well. Used for graphic editing, also Nebula CUDA server(exp: one instance of Nebula program - no CUDA - CPU 9,8% consumption and with Nebula CUDA 2,8%).
http://www.evga.com/articles/00914/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-960-4GB/

 

Last edited: Aug 16, 2015

evga gtx 980 ti sc 6GB edition in my system, i edit video and game as well.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/[email protected]/saved/#view=fxzdnQ

 

Exactly, there's a lot of devs lately who adds GPU support to their plugins GUI, including the ones you mentioned.

@joem, he asked for a silent/fanless one.

@OP, the best performance/silence ratio graphic card you can get for your studio is the fanless ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Silent 2GB DDR5 128-bit.


It's exactly what you need.

 

Fabfilter GUI is all taken care of by the GPU too. It's pretty beneficial when it comes to their plug ins because there is a lot of fancy (and useful) analysis going on!

 

Fabfilter uses OpenGL, a lot of companies since have started using it as well such as Waves H-Verb and Butch Vig

 

The i7 has onboard graphics that deliver enough oompf to run any DAW out there, even with OpenGL.

 

Just curious. Can I ask why you have 8 hard drives?? ...

 

excuse me while i drool over the possibilities ..