Mark Kerr

I really don't know much about graphic cards and such since I've only been doing video work on laptops so far.

I'm about to get a custom mac built to use as a video work station and I'm trying to understand what graphic card would make sense to get.

There are several here one can choose from but I really don't know where to start evaluating them:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-december-2014.html#Alternate_Graphics_Cards

The kind of work I'd be doing would mostly be recording Isadora and Jitter output in realtime and then edit it in Final Cut.

I know it's a bit of a generic question but any advice would be helpful to start understanding what would make sense to buy.

Hi,
I really don't know much about graphic cards and such since I've only been doing video work on laptops so far.
I'm about to get a custom mac built to use as a video work station and I'm trying to understand what graphic card would make sense to get. 

There are several here one can choose from but I really don't know where to start evaluating them:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-december-2014.html#Alternate_Graphics_Cards

The kind of work I'd be doing would mostly be recording Isadora and Jitter output in realtime  and then edit it in Final Cut. 

graphic-card-for-custom-mac

Here's a Jitter openGL benchmarking thread: 

https://cycling74.com/forums/v2-benchmarking-jitters-cpugpu-performance-on-your-computer-v2/

This is only of concern if you do 3D OpenGL rendering in Jitter.

Here you can find that Final Cut makes use of OpenCL (not to be confused with openGL): 

I'd say you should look for a card with good OpenCL support and hackintosh compatibility. Compatibility being most important. Your card is useless if it doesn't run on your OSX hack. When I built my 2 systems Nvidia was easiest to get running. This might have changed in the meanwhile. I seem to recall AMD is better at OpenCL but don't take my word for it.

Here's a Jitter openGL benchmarking thread: https://cycling74.com/forums/v2-benchmarking-jitters-cpugpu-performance-on-your-computer-v2/
This is only of concern if you do 3D OpenGL rendering in Jitter.

Here you can find that Final Cut makes use of OpenCL (not to be confused with openGL): http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202239

I'd say you should look for a card with good OpenCL support and hackintosh compatibility. Compatibility being most important. Your card is useless if it doesn't run on your OSX hack. When I built my 2 systems Nvidia was easiest to get running. This might have changed in the meanwhile. I seem to recall AMD is better at OpenCL but don't take my word for it.


Thanks DTR, I was recommended to choose it from one of these to be sure about compatibility:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-december-2014.html#Graphics_Cards

I guess I'll have to look for which one of those has OpenCL support but it doesn't seem that obvious.

Thanks DTR, I was recommended to choose it from one of these to be sure about compatibility:  

I guess I'll have to look for which one of those has OpenCL support but it doesn't seem that obvious.


Luxmark is an openCL benchmark. Compare results here: 

I think both Nvidia and AMD have openCL support but one might be better at it than the other.

Luxmark is an openCL benchmark. Compare results here: http://www.luxrender.net/luxmark/

I think both Nvidia and AMD have openCL support but one might be better at it than the other.


Graphic Card for custom Mac