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Graphics card for tethering only on older system

NNN636547799598668072
Hello,
I'm brand new to CO (Pro for Sony). I've searched the forum, but can't seem to locate an answer to my particular situation.
I'll be editing on a capable system, but would like to use an older desktop for tethering only.
64bit system
i7 920 2.67ghz
12gb DDR3
The graphics card (GeForce 9600 GT) is not capable of 4k resolution and I would like to use a 4k monitor as I'm shooting with Sony A7R3 and want the detail. If possible, I'd only like to upgrade the graphics card (although I could also bump the amount of RAM if required, but it would have to stay DDR3). This computer will be used for absolutely nothing else besides tethered shooting in a studio.
I'd like advice on how important bit rate and memory on the card are to the speed of tethered shooting and any other recommendations to make that experience as fast (preview speed and zooming) as possible. I won't be exporting any rendered images, but will apply light white balance and exposure adjustments while shooting for the subject's use only.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Walter
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Comments

3 comments

Date Votes
  • Permanently deleted user
    That's plenty of system RAM. Make sure you have an SSD though. Cheap or used should do.

    I don't think you mean bitrate, but bit-width of the GPU memory interface instead. It's not likely to matter however, since it's usually enough for the GPU in a specific card. If it has more than 128 bit it should be alright.

    GPU memory size, on the other hand, is paramount according to Phase One. The minimum supported is 2GB, but they claim it will use as many gigabytes as you give to it. Also Compute Units or SMX's are a general "more = better" case.

    Realistically I would recommend something cheap and even used to match the price/performance level of the machine.

    Maybe around a lower-end AMD R9 or an Nvidia GTX 670. $100 would go a long way.

    You could go even a bit lower, but stay at 2GB minimum VRAM.


    PS: I'm editing on a ThinkPad X230 with an ultrabook CPU and Intel HD 4000 graphics on a 2560x1440 screen, and can't really complain.
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  • NNN636547799598668072
    Thanks!
    Yes, I've got a couple of SSDs in that build already - both are still considered fast.
    You're right about bitrate - I was referring to bits in terms of bandwidth. So 128 is good, thanks for that.
    I'm not familiar with SMX's. Good to know - I'll look into that. I'm relatively competent in this space in terms of what works for me, but far from an expert.
    GPU memory is a big deal for tethering. Got it. My editing machine has an i7 6850k overclocked to just over 4 with 64GB of DDR4 and a GTX 1080 Ti. That has 11GB of RAM. I wish I could easily transport this machine to the studio and back, but it's attached to way too much to be mobile and it'd be too expensive (and probably foolish) to duplicate it for my needs in the studio.
    If my budget for a new card was around $300, would I be dumb to buy a card (used or not) at that price considering the limitations of the build (no bang for the buck)?
    Thanks again for the help.
    Walter
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  • Permanently deleted user
    You're welcome.

    Not an expert here either. AFAIK, SMX's are the stream processor clusters on the Nvidia chips; akin to the AMD Compute Units (OpenCL execution units).

    Not necessarily foolish. You can always get a better card and keep it for the next upgrade. At a certain point you will hit the CPU/PCH bottleneck, but it's hard to tell.

    I'm not sure how significant, but another thing to consider is that I remember Phase One Christian Gruner pointing out that Capture One 10/11 performs better on a CPU with the AVX instruction set (3rd gen intel core or newer). How much better I have no idea. If he drops by it would certainly be clearer advice, but you might want to write directly to support to make sure you won't be missing much.

    $300 (US) sounds to me like a reasonable budget for a 4GB Radeon R9 380 (28 CUs), or something newer perhaps. Someone here in the forum seemed to have good experience with that card. (Phase One recommends AMD cards with 20+ compute units, so that should be a good starting point).

    Hope it helps.

    Cheers.
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