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NVIDIA Video for DAW


Jack Stoner

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I've always been a "no NVIDIA" video for DAW's, dating back to my experiences, as far back as Vista.  

Now, I'm helping configure a new Win 11  DAW PC for a (ProTools) friend.  It has an NVIDIA RTX 3060 and Resplendence  Latency Mon does not report any problems!

Jim Roseberry, what has changed?

 

 

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Hi Jack,

There have been Nvidia driver versions that were problematic... but the vast majority have been fine.

If you do encounter a DPC Latency issue (specific to the Nvidia driver), there are both "Studio" and "Game Ready" drivers available... as well as being able to roll-back to a previous driver.  

I'm not a fan of current AMD RX video cards.  At ultra low audio latency settings, you'll encounter audio glitches sooner (vs using a Nivida card).

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Two things not to install with NVIDIA: the "experience" package and the "HD Audio." I always do a custom install and uncheck those (only need the graphics and Physx drivers). Performing a "clean installation" at the bottom of that window will also wipe prior installations if previously installed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The bakers actually recommend nVidia over AMD.

I've been on "Team Green" for over 25 years, going back to when I was doing desktop support for Windows systems. nVidia's drivers worked well with Win 95 and made things a lot quicker.

Many years later, a friend gave me his old Radeon 5770, a very nice card, which I installed in my main DAW system.

I was using Mixcraft at the time, while they were transitioning from 32-bit to 64-bit. I had them both installed on my Win 7 system and the 64-bit version was unusable.

Switched to an nVidia card and 64-bit Mixcraft ran great. The difference was astonishing.

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17 hours ago, Jim Roseberry said:

If you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency audio, a machine will glitch sooner with an AMD RX6xxx/7xxx vs. Nvidia RTX-3xxx/4xxx.

I am planning to add an RTX 3060 12GB to my next new DAW PC, does that mean I should avoid it?
Or it doesn't matter if I don't care about ultra-low latency?

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1 minute ago, HIBI said:

I am planning to add an RTX 3060 12GB to my next new DAW PC, does that mean I should avoid it?
Or it doesn't matter if I don't care about ultra-low latency?

I'm saying you want to avoid AMD's latest video cards... especially if you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency audio performance.

I use Nvidia RTX cards in many builds... including two of my own.  They work just fine.

ie: A 13900k based machine (with RTX video card) can run IK's ToneX (similar to Kemper but in a plugin) at sub 1ms total round-trip latency.

 

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2 hours ago, Jim Roseberry said:

I'm saying you want to avoid AMD's latest video cards... especially if you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency audio performance.

Sorry, it's my bad. I missed the "vs." so I was mistaken.
Thanks for your input!

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On 8/8/2023 at 9:09 AM, Jim Roseberry said:

I'm saying you want to avoid AMD's latest video cards... especially if you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency audio performance.

I use Nvidia RTX cards in many builds... including two of my own.  They work just fine.

ie: A 13900k based machine (with RTX video card) can run IK's ToneX (similar to Kemper but in a plugin) at sub 1ms total round-trip latency.

 

I'm revamping my setup and will be using (3) 4k TV's as monitors. Main monitor is Samsung 55" 4k UHD AU8000. Thinking about (2) Toshiba 50C350LU 50" TVs as side monitors (flanking the Samsung on left and right in Portrait mode).

What is the difference between the various "flavors" of the RTX cards? I'm looking at the RTX 3060 12GB GDRR6 card. Does it matter if it's branded MSI, EVGA, etc.? Is there a better option (RTX 3050, etc.)? I'm note well versed in the nuances of video cards. Not a gamer at all - this setup is strictly for Cakewalk.

Side note: Opinions on the quality of the Toshiba TV welcome - I've never owned one...

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26 minutes ago, Sal Sorice said:

What is the difference between the various "flavors" of the RTX cards? I'm looking at the RTX 3060 12GB GDRR6 card. Does it matter if it's branded MSI, EVGA, etc.? Is there a better option (RTX 3050, etc.)? I'm note well versed in the nuances of video cards. Not a gamer at all - this setup is strictly for Cakewalk.

I'd want to make sure the card has semi-passive cooling.

IOW, The fans won't run while you're working with DAW software (meaning it's completely silent).

Download drivers directly from Nvidia.

Brand itself isn't much of a concern.

 

Regarding using a TV as a monitor:

Make sure the TV doesn't suffer from excessive lag.

This will result in sluggish mouse movement/etc.

Whatever the display, make sure it can do 4k with at least a 60Hz refresh.  

Slower refresh (30Hz) can cause eye-strain headaches.  If you haven't suffered migraines, this is almost guaranteed to cause one.  ?

I tend to favor dedicated video monitors... as these issues are moot.  You can even get "Smart Monitors" that have built-in TV Streaming.

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25 minutes ago, Jim Roseberry said:

I'd want to make sure the card has semi-passive cooling.

IOW, The fans won't run while you're working with DAW software (meaning it's completely silent).

Download drivers directly from Nvidia.

Brand itself isn't much of a concern.

 

Regarding using a TV as a monitor:

Make sure the TV doesn't suffer from excessive lag.

This will result in sluggish mouse movement/etc.

Whatever the display, make sure it can do 4k with at least a 60Hz refresh.  

Slower refresh (30Hz) can cause eye-strain headaches.  If you haven't suffered migraines, this is almost guaranteed to cause one.  ?

I tend to favor dedicated video monitors... as these issues are moot.  You can even get "Smart Monitors" that have built-in TV Streaming.

Thanks Jim! I am looking specifically at MSI GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6.  It looks like the fans are pretty quiet and speed is adjustable. I've changed my mind on the 2 new TVs. My main Samsung AU8000 has good picture quality so I'm going with (2) 50" Samsung Q60A Series TVs (4k. 60Hz, 3840x2160) - same specs as the AU8000.

I was thinking of going up to 120Hz model, but I don't know if that would make any difference as far as Cakewalk display is concerned. Cakewalk seems to render fine on the 60Hz model. Any opinion on 60Hz versus 120Hz?

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24 minutes ago, Sal Sorice said:

Any opinion on 60Hz versus 120Hz?

Generally speaking, faster is "better"... but I've never had an issue with 60Hz refresh.

 

I'm not a fan of many MSI video cards... as the fans aren't semi-passive.

Yes, you can control the speed... but that's not the same as dead-silent (not running).

If the fans/cooling don't support shutting fully off, you won't be able to do that with Afterburner.

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2 hours ago, Jim Roseberry said:

I'm not a fan of many MSI video cards... as the fans aren't semi-passive.

Yes, you can control the speed... but that's not the same as dead-silent (not running).

If the fans/cooling don't support shutting fully off, you won't be able to do that with Afterburner.

As far as I know, the MSI RTX 3060 VENTUS 2X 12G OC has a function called "ZERO FROZR" that automatically stops the fans completely at relatively low temperatures.

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