April 8, 2024

A new Nvidia card for DaVinci

I just installed DaVinci Resolve on my linux machine. That machine has a GeForce GT 1030 card with 2G of Vram. It will so, but is barely adequate and performance won't be good.
So, what about upgrading that card.

Nvidia nomenclature

There is a bewildering array of cards with Nvidia hardware. I would like to sort it out (if possible) rather than just picking cards from what seem like a random set of numbers.

First the letters:

Next we have a 4 digit number. The first two digits are the series or architecture.
The sequence has been: 9, 10, 16, 20, and 30. The last 2 digits are in some ways the most important: A "Ti" suffix means the card is a tad faster than regular cards with the same number, but it isn't something to get overly excited about.

Note that a new series may not be faster than an older series. And it is a sure thing that an RTX 3090 is faster than a RTX 4060.

The devil is in the details, and you need to read reviews and study benchmarks.

This scheme seems to be out the window with recent cards with numbers like the "RTX 4500 ada".

The bottom line

There is no bottom line. Picking among the horde of GeForce cards is a complete hornets nest. The general scheme above exists, but every card is a unique special case. Lists exist ranking the cards given some benchmark, but the amount of Vram can be an issue all of its own.

Here are some comments I have found while searching:

Not only is the RTX 4060 Ti a pretty bad graphics card in its own right, but it is something of a microcosm for the entire RTX 40-series and all of its problems.

From the above: 
RTX 3080 -- unavailable and not enough memory
RTS 4060 Ti -- one of the worst ever
RTX 2080 -- why is this on the "worst" list?
GTX 480 -- ancient history
FX 5800 -- "leaf blower" (ancient)

The RTX 2080 Ti is a legend and still sells for $700 or so.

The RTX 3070 is available for $500, the RTX 3080 is around $800. Both would be good if you wanted to spend that much.

What about that RTX 3060

Oddly enough a RTX 3060 Ti has only 8G of vram, so I save a bit of money and get more Vram if I avoid the "Ti" card. The Ti card has 4864 cores, but they start asking for a 600W power supply It is not at all clear whether this is better of if the 12G of memory on the 3060 is the win. 
12G of video ram
192 bit memory bus
3584 cores
GA106 Ampere chip (by Samsung in 8nm)
base clock of 1.32 Ghz
Uses 170W, requires a 550W power supply
Power is an interesting question. My supply is 520W (a Seasonic S12II 520-GB), and various posts say it will work with the 3060 without problems. I see a pair of 6x2 augmented by a 1x2 connector for the GPU. They say the 3060 will work with a single 8 pin connection.

But they also say the S12ii is an old unit without protections I would get with more modern supplies.

My other (windows) machine has a Corsair CX500 power supply which would be even more marginal.

If I did want to upgrade the PSU, I could get a Seasonic "Focus Gold 650" for $93 on Amazon. (but for $16 more, see below for a better option). It is fully modular, so you unplug any cables you don't need. This sounds convenient, but is also another connector that could give trouble. You get a 10 year warranty and two 6/8-pin PCIe (sheathed) cables.

Corsair, EVGA, and Gigabyte are not recommended. Every time I turn around Gigabyte is sliding downhill.

Or spend $109 and get a 850 watt unit:

Honestly, the semimodular design seems smart to me. Why would you ever not want the motherboard power cable connected? Now you get three PCIe cables. And you get a 7 year warranty. I was guided to this by someone commenting that mid-power supplies are overpriced and you ought to just buy a 750 or 850.
Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

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