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-   -   Do I need to go dual monitor? (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/adobe-creative-suite/502861-do-i-need-go-dual-monitor.html)

Mark Goodsell November 19th, 2011 11:53 PM

Do I need to go dual monitor?
 
I'm building a PC for NLE, CS5.0. I don't to a ton of video work, wondering if I REALLY should go with a dual output car, or just a regular single output card? I guess I like the idea of going dual, but the prices are up there. I was looking at a Gigabyte GTX570 (single), and comparing it to a Quadro 4000.

Your thoughts? Also, can you recommend maybe a more budget-friendly way to go dual monitor?

Thanks in advance.

Harm Millaard November 20th, 2011 01:34 AM

Re: Do I need to go dual monitor?
 
All current video cards can steer two monitors, whether it is the latest generation GeForce 5xx, the pervious generation GeForce 4xx or the Quadro line.
For many a GTX 560 Ti is an affordable and perfectly good card and the Quadro 4000 just a waste of money. If you are building a new system with an i7-3930K or an i7-3960X, then I would opt for the GTX 580.

Jay West November 20th, 2011 02:21 AM

Re: Do I need to go dual monitor?
 
Harm posted while I was composing a response, and I will echo what he said.

But, I am not sure we understand your question. By that, I mean that you seem to be laboring under a misimpression but I'm not sure what it is, and I'm not clear what kind of a system you are going to build.

Maybe you are thinking that you "must" get an Adobe "certified" card and that PPro won't work with anything else? If so, I would guess that you have not heard about the so-called "hack?" It is not a hack. You only need to be able to type the name of your nVidia card into the text list that CS5/5.5 use when enabling MPE. There are free programs that will do this for you if you find it challenging or scary to type words and save a file. (A search here on nVidia + hack + CS 5 will turn up numbers of threads.)

Or maybe you are thinking that only the GTX570 and Quadro cards have dual video heads? If so, you are misinformed, which is Harm's point. Obviously, for CS 5 (and the current CS 5.5), you will want hardware-MPE which means you want a CUDA card with at least 1 gb of on-board RAM. Having DDR5 memory is a plus. Look for the terms "CUDA" and "Fermi." Every such card (at least every one that I know of) has dual outputs. Most have dual DVI (for monitors), and a few have DVI and Display Ports. If you wanted to run a tv as your second display, many of them have hdmi ports, as well. (Though, you can only run two of the three outputs at a time). You could look at, say, cards based on the GT 440 chips which cost less than $80 ($US). There were a number of posting here last summer from folks who were outfitting new systems with a GTS440-based card.

Will that give your new system the same capabilities as one with a GTX570 or 560? Of course not. But it might be "good enough" for what you want to do. You might not need all the capability that a GTX 570 or Quadro offer. It depends on how complex your videos are. Are you doing a lot of muilti-cam editing? Are you working with six or ten layers of video? Do you work heavily with multiple complex effects? The more of those things you do, the more help you get from cards in the GTX5xx class. I think Harm's suggestion of a GTX560TI is a good one, but maybe $200 is more than you want to spend? Budget does have an important role. That you say you are building a machine for CS 5.0, and you apparently want to do somewhat limited amounts of video editing, I suspect you may want to consider less expensive cards. But, if you are building a new system around an I7/39xx CPU, I'd say it would be false economy (penny wise & pound foolish, as they say) to scrimp on the video card.

Does this help clarify things?

Mark Goodsell November 20th, 2011 06:36 PM

Re: Do I need to go dual monitor?
 
Jay,

Thank you for the detailed response. I am just starting w/CS5 (guess you can tell). Will install w/new PC. I admit it's been several years since I built my last PC for Pinnacle studio and Vegas (for a time) editing DV mostly. I am currently brushing up on the latest PC specs. I've read up on the GoodGuys site and a couple others. I WAS confused about the video card and the dual monitor outputs. Actually, I wasn't sure what DVI stood for. Thanks for setting me straight.

Jay West November 21st, 2011 12:23 AM

Re: Do I need to go dual monitor?
 
In addition to the "Good Guys" site, you might want to check out the DIY advice pages at Videoguys.com 800 323-2325 we are the video editing and production experts. Apart from being a DVinfo sponsor, Videoguys does not sell systems. They do sell some of the components (and maybe oversell the Quadro cards --- a point where I very much agree with Harm), but overall can give pretty good advice.

More importantly, Harm has posted many very useful --- often invaluable --- threads here, and on the Adobe site, about selecting components for working with CS5 and CS 5.5. Also, search on Russell Leong's name, as well.

Here are a couple of threads you might find helpful in exploring mutli-screen editing rigs with PPro CS 5 & 5.5:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/non-line...-question.html

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/adobe-cr...d-monitor.html

Mark Goodsell November 21st, 2011 08:36 PM

Re: Do I need to go dual monitor?
 
Thanks very much for the info and links.


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