MisterGreen Posted Sunday at 01:53 PM Share Posted Sunday at 01:53 PM I haven’t seen any minimum requirements regarding graphics. Does Sonar require a dedicated GPU or would the integrated graphics on the CPU suffice? The i7-14700 has Intel UHD Graphics 770. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sal Sorice Posted Sunday at 03:57 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:57 PM There are many more knowledgeable people on the forum than me, but from what I know, the dedicated graphics should be OK for a single monitor setup. Dedicated graphics card would be better once you get into multiple monitors, 4k and higher resolutions, etc. Dedicated graphics will also take some strain off of your CPU. Now, let's let the experts chime in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Kelley Posted Sunday at 04:00 PM Share Posted Sunday at 04:00 PM (edited) I believe the general consensus is that the graphics load is minimal and a card won’t really help anything. I’m using the built in graphics of the i7 12700 with dual monitors. Works fine. Getting an external card won’t do much of anything for me. Edited Sunday at 04:01 PM by Terry Kelley 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henkejs Posted Sunday at 04:01 PM Share Posted Sunday at 04:01 PM No expert here, but the integrated graphics on my Intel CPU work fine for Sonar. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGreen Posted Sunday at 07:02 PM Author Share Posted Sunday at 07:02 PM Thanks for the confirmation, guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Kelley Posted Sunday at 08:34 PM Share Posted Sunday at 08:34 PM I know some GUIs on some VSTs might benefit if they are animation heavy but I’ve never seen anything that appeared to be messing up or delayed. So I don’t bother. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Promidi Posted Sunday at 08:46 PM Share Posted Sunday at 08:46 PM 6 hours ago, MisterGreen said: I haven’t seen any minimum requirements regarding graphics. Does Sonar require a dedicated GPU or would the integrated graphics on the CPU suffice? The i7-14700 has Intel UHD Graphics 770. It doesn't, but I would recommend it, especially for older CPUs. For the i7-14700, a dedicated GPU would be less important. However, you might still benefit from a dedicated GPU Remember, it's not only Cakewalk that would utilise a dedicated GPU, but you overall Windows GUI would as well. If you are worried about fan noise, you could always see about getting a fanless, or a card where the fan only starts up when the GPU load exeeds a given threshold. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGreen Posted Tuesday at 08:11 PM Author Share Posted Tuesday at 08:11 PM Thanks again for the additional replies. I'm going to proceed the build without a dedicated GPU for now and add one if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookiee Posted Tuesday at 09:48 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 09:48 PM Very few DAW's have a specific GPU requirements. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Kelley Posted Tuesday at 11:19 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 11:19 PM (edited) On 1/26/2025 at 12:46 PM, Promidi said: It doesn't, but I would recommend it, especially for older CPUs. For the i7-14700, a dedicated GPU would be less important. However, you might still benefit from a dedicated GPU Remember, it's not only Cakewalk that would utilise a dedicated GPU, but you overall Windows GUI would as well. If you are worried about fan noise, you could always see about getting a fanless, or a card where the fan only starts up when the GPU load exeeds a given threshold. It wouldn't surprise me if some slower i3 or i5 processors might benefit some. My earlier i7-4790 didn't need the card. The VSTs themselves did a fine job of grinding that processor into the ground. Arturia's Augmented anything was usually the cause. It wasn't the graphics load. Anywho, no harm with a card. Have at it. It's doesn't need to be an expensive card. Edited Tuesday at 11:20 PM by Terry Kelley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGreen Posted yesterday at 01:04 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 01:04 PM 13 hours ago, Terry Kelley said: It wouldn't surprise me if some slower i3 or i5 processors might benefit some. My earlier i7-4790 didn't need the card. The VSTs themselves did a fine job of grinding that processor into the ground. Arturia's Augmented anything was usually the cause. It wasn't the graphics load. Anywho, no harm with a card. Have at it. It's doesn't need to be an expensive card. The cheapest I could find was a PNY for $175. I guess that's cheap considering cards these days can go for over $1K. Regardless, it's bumping up my build price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaps Posted yesterday at 01:27 PM Share Posted yesterday at 01:27 PM 20 minutes ago, MisterGreen said: The cheapest I could find was a PNY for $175. I guess that's cheap considering cards these days can go for over $1K. Regardless, it's bumping up my build price. Video card prices are insane. The Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050 Ti I bought four years ago for $189.42 is now selling for $299.99. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGreen Posted yesterday at 02:11 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 02:11 PM 43 minutes ago, Chaps said: Video card prices are insane. The Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050 Ti I bought four years ago for $189.42 is now selling for $299.99. You're not kidding. Hence my question. I'd rather not add 200-300 dollars to my build unless absolutely necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted yesterday at 05:56 PM Share Posted yesterday at 05:56 PM It's worth noting that unlike CbB, Sonar is DPI aware. I'm running Sonar with my CPU's integrated graphics, however my two displays are 1080P @ 100%. If you've got a 4K display, Sonar will be drawing 4 x the amount of graphics. In this scenario, having a dedicated GPU may make sense - especially if you've got multiple 4K displays. Not to say that your integrated graphics won't be able to cope - it may be fine... but if you are running 4K displays, bear this in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sal Sorice Posted yesterday at 06:47 PM Share Posted yesterday at 06:47 PM 47 minutes ago, msmcleod said: It's worth noting that unlike CbB, Sonar is DPI aware. I'm running Sonar with my CPU's integrated graphics, however my two displays are 1080P @ 100%. If you've got a 4K display, Sonar will be drawing 4 x the amount of graphics. In this scenario, having a dedicated GPU may make sense - especially if you've got multiple 4K displays. Not to say that your integrated graphics won't be able to cope - it may be fine... but if you are running 4K displays, bear this in mind. I've got (3) 4k Monitors and I definitely noticed the difference with a dedicated GPU. This is the layout (from an older post). PS - I would still love to see the ability to have multiple Console Windows!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterGreen Posted yesterday at 06:47 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 06:47 PM 50 minutes ago, msmcleod said: It's worth noting that unlike CbB, Sonar is DPI aware. I'm running Sonar with my CPU's integrated graphics, however my two displays are 1080P @ 100%. If you've got a 4K display, Sonar will be drawing 4 x the amount of graphics. In this scenario, having a dedicated GPU may make sense - especially if you've got multiple 4K displays. Not to say that your integrated graphics won't be able to cope - it may be fine... but if you are running 4K displays, bear this in mind. Good to know. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Kelley Posted 3 hours ago Share Posted 3 hours ago Ah, good point. I don’t use Sonar and didn’t think about 4k. So my comments are wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now