# Best GPU for Real Time Audio - Rethinking Nvidia



## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

good day,

lots of rethinking lately.

i built my monster tower last year.

specified a EVGA GeForce GTX 1080Ti - 11gb.

i didn't heed the Nvidia driver issues with latency.

i am at a point with some upcoming projects where i need to squeeze as much performance as possible out of this PC.

what are the best GPUs these days for lowest and least interrupted real time audio?

I am using an ASRock Tai Chi x299 motherboard.

See sig for specs.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 26, 2019)

I've heard AMD Radeon are better for audio work. (and all my computers are Nvidia) I don't know if it is too late, but if you put your build into this site and save it, you can go back at any time and edit parts. It will tell you if they are compatible or not. I build my PC using this and upgraded the RAM at one point. Have not had a compatibility issue.

https://pcpartpicker.com/


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> I've heard AMD Radeon are better for audio work. (and all my computers are Nvidia) I don't know if it is too late,



i've heard the same about Radeon.

this is to replace the Nvidia in a PC i built last year.


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## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2019)

I'm using iGPU of my i7-6700K. No issues.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> I'm using iGPU of my i7-6700K. No issues.



i don't have integrated graphics.

wait, your i7 chip has integrated graphics?


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

https://audiosex.pro/threads/graphics-cards-do-matter-for-music-production-a-lot.32237/

from the article:

Hi folks!

Every time I've researched this topic I get the same results: "Graphics card don't matter", "go with integrated graphics", etc. So, I decided to do my homeworkd and do my own testing. There are two versions of this thread, the short one for you lazy bastards and the long one for the curious minds.

Short post:
NVIDIA cards sucks donkey ass for music production.

Long post:
I wasn't happy with the performance of my Audient iD22. Sounded lovely, but the latency was kinda crappy. So I began another of my "Audio PC optimization" journeys...

Take a look at any thread on the internet with people complaining about crackling noises. When running LatencyMon, 99.99% of the cases show the Nvidia driver as the top offender in the drivers list (usually followed by networking drivers). It was even adviced in the Audient optimization video that disabling the GPU card may help with ASIO performance. So I did that. Result? Being able to go from "low latency" setting and 128 buffer (lowest stable setting for tracking) to "minimum latency" with 64 buffer. That's exactly HALF the latency with my interface.

But mixing with a disabled GPU is not really fun, is it? You need to see things properly, and stuff. So I decided to replace my trusty NVIDIA GTX 770 for a newer GTX 970 that a friend offered to me. Same exact results. Same shitty driver fucking everything up.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

continued:

Then decided to get my hands on an AMD card, based on the recommendation of a system builder that claimed they had much better latency figures, and overall better suited for professional work. Got myself a used AMD RX 470, which is a tad weaker than the GTX 970 but also less power hungry. Everybody bashes AMD day in, day out, but didn't hurt to try one.

Oh my...

Not only the driver doesn't cause the insane latency that the NVIDIA driver does, but it also doesn't fuck up with the dxkernel.dll and hal.dll driver the way NVIDIA does. This results in much less interrupts and a much more stable latency. I was able to run my system at minimum latency settings with no issues. I can even track with Mercuriall Spark at x8 oversampling in real time at 48Khz/64 buffer (or 96Khz/128).


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

concluding:











Now. I can see you guys thinking: "My NVIDIA card works flawlessly, I don't have any issues". Well, that's because your audio interface probably has a decent driver to compensate the disaster. Lackluster ASIO drivers will definetely benefit a lot from not having to fight against a crappy video driver. Plus, why would you have high latency in your system when you could have much lower figures just choosing another card? Losing a few fps in games is a trivial tradeoff for a huge gain in ASIO performance. I'm sure that even if you can go as low as possible with your card, it won't hurt when you have to raise the buffers for heavy projects...

So there you have it. If you have noises and crap in your audio, take a look at your video card. I've never been happier tracking guitars!!


so...

EXACTLY my issue with my Nvidia.

Radeon, here i cums.


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## MartinH. (Jun 26, 2019)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> Now. I can see you guys thinking: "My NVIDIA card works flawlessly, I don't have any issues". Well, that's because your audio interface probably has a decent driver to compensate the disaster. Lackluster ASIO drivers will definetely benefit a lot from not having to fight against a crappy video driver. Plus, why would you have high latency in your system when you could have much lower figures just choosing another card? Losing a few fps in games is a trivial tradeoff for a huge gain in ASIO performance. I'm sure that even if you can go as low as possible with your card, it won't hurt when you have to raise the buffers for heavy projects...



For a long time the kind of GPU accellerated rendering I did on my NVidia cards in Blender wasn't even _possible _with any AMD card. Overall with bleeding edge GPU accelerated usecases I feel like NVidia cards will more likely be supported than AMD cards. I'm not gonna switch, because these things are more important to me than latency. However I very much like that I now know about this aspect to keep in mind for future builds or possible advice I might give to others, so thanks a lot for sharing!


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## sostenuto (Jun 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> I'm using iGPU of my i7-6700K. No issues.



Oldheimers' confusion __ sorry ! Desktops are older i5 quads and (1) i7. All have nVidia graphics cards, driving dual 1920 x 1200 24" Monitors. i7 PC /nVidia GeForce 760, drives 55" 4K.
Audio is (2) Focusrite Pro 14(s) to powered studio monitors or integrated stereo amp system.
How are nVidia video cards having any impact on audio latency ?  

(edit) Oops ! *@ Zoot_Rollo* was posting as I was asking. Still can use some clarification tho.


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## Pictus (Jun 26, 2019)

For audio workloads, AMD is the way...
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mus...tter-amd-graphic-cards-3-card-comparison.html


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

i can get a RX570/80 cheap as a test.

my recent digging into Reaper may yield some performance improvement as well.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 26, 2019)

sostenuto said:


> Oldheimers' confusion __ sorry ! Desktops are older i5 quads and (1) i7. All have nVidia graphics cards, driving dual 1920 x 1200 24" Monitors. i7 PC /nVidia GeForce 760, drives 55" K.
> Audio is (2) Focusrite Pro 14(s) to powered studio monitors or integrated stereo amp system.
> How are nVidia video cards having any impact on audio latency ?
> 
> (edit) Oops ! *@ Zoot_Rollo* was posting as I was asking. Still can use some clarification tho.


Mostly comes down to driver conflicts. And probably more noticeable with something like ASIO4ALL than a Focusrite driver.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> For a long time the kind of GPU accellerated rendering I did on my NVidia cards in Blender wasn't even _possible _with any AMD card. Overall with bleeding edge GPU accelerated usecases I feel like NVidia cards will more likely be supported than AMD cards. I'm not gonna switch, because these things are more important to me than latency. However I very much like that I now know about this aspect to keep in mind for future builds or possible advice I might give to others, so thanks a lot for sharing!




i do 3D Graphics/CAD/Animation and video.

so, i may do the same and live with the nVidia, just exploring options.

and as i mentioned, it's a cheap test - and i can build another PC for 3D.


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## sostenuto (Jun 26, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> Mostly comes down to driver conflicts. And probably more noticeable with something like ASIO4ALL than a Focusrite driver.



THX !!  
Not that I don't get pops /clicks frequently, but resetting Saffire Mix Control usually fixes things. (_Win10 Pro /Reaper btw_)


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## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2019)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> i don't have integrated graphics.
> 
> wait, your i7 chip has integrated graphics?



Yes. i7-6700K has it. Also the i9-9900K beast has it too.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Yes. i7-6700K has it. Also the i9-9900K beast has it too.



had no idea.

thanks!


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

thinking this:

https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-r...on=rx 580&cm_re=rx_580-_-14-137-290-_-Product

thoughts?


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## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2019)

Yeah you should be fine with most any newer AMD card, as far as DPC latency is concerned. They just simply have cleaner drivers.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Yeah you should be fine with most any newer AMD card, as far as DPC latency is concerned. They just simply have cleaner drivers.



AMD AND Reaper - double my latency pleasure?


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## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2019)

Hehe.


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## Mornats (Jun 26, 2019)

I never understand why composers spend hundreds on gaming graphics cards for audio workstations to be honest. So long as you can drive your monitors you don't need a GTX 1070 or 1080, it's just a waste.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

Mornats said:


> I never understand why composers spend hundreds on gaming graphics cards for audio workstations to be honest. So long as you can drive your monitors you don't need a GTX 1070 or 1080, it's just a waste.



as i mentioned, i do multiple duty with 3D Graphics and CAD.

hardly a waste.

BUT i have some music/audio projects coming up that will take priority over the graphics...

for now.

when i was creating my PC BOM, i was working for Microsoft and I used their Maya Rendering Lab's specifications for my build.

the 1080ti was part of that BOM.


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## Mornats (Jun 26, 2019)

Whups, sorry I completely missed that bit. I was talking generically rather than addressing you to be fair as I see some really nice gaming cards being mentioned in builds on here.


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## dasbin (Jun 26, 2019)

For CPU's that have integrated graphics, I would love to figure out a way to easily/quickly switch between the computer using integrated graphics and a graphics card, as I switch between audio production and other tasks on the same system.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jun 26, 2019)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> concluding:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The only issue here (btw I have a RX580 myself) is that I have read you are meant to leave Latency Mon running for a good hour or so, so even though your results show low timings I would run it for the proper time to get the honest readings over a consistent period.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> The only issue here (btw I have a RX580 myself) is that I have read you are meant to leave Latency Mon running for a good hour or so, so even though your results show low timings I would run it for the proper time to get the honest readings over a consistent period.




ahhh yes, i missed that with his pic.

i typically run LMon for over an hour.


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## Rob Elliott (Jun 26, 2019)

Great thread. I haven't noticed any issues with drivers on my NVidia 3 headed card (2x 32" monitors and 70" Tv HDMI). Running RME drivers on audio - maybe that's why. BUT would always like to improve my 256 latency if possible (Main plus 3 slaves over VEPRO 6). I am having my Main PC replaced in the next month - suggestions on a mobo that has a 3 headed vid card built into it (2 x digital inputs and one HDMI input)?


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> The only issue here (btw I have a RX580 myself) is that I have read you are meant to leave Latency Mon running for a good hour or so, so even though your results show low timings I would run it for the proper time to get the honest readings over a consistent period.




care to post your Latency Mon images?

i'll post mine in the next day or so.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

here's mine.

network connected.


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## rhizomusicosmos (Jun 26, 2019)

My experience on my home PC which is an AMD FX-6300 with Win7, Reaper and an ancient M-Audio Firewire 410, originally with an NVIDIA GTX 950 for graphics:

LatencyMon was showing dxgkrnl.sys and the NVIDIA kernel mode driver were causing spikes which coincided with clicks in the audio. So I tried a variety of settings in software and bios to try and alleviate it but with little improvement. In the end I bought a cheap Radeon R9 270 second-hand, installed it and immediately had an improvement without extra tweaks.

Now this result may be specific to my setup. It may be that I didn't troubleshoot the problem exhaustively enough and some other element was not playing happily with the graphics driver and delaying procedure calls. Perhaps the ancient M-Audio driver was the real culprit. But in the end, changing to the Radeon card alleviated the problem for the majority of instruments I run. I do still have problems with iZotope Iris2 at lower ASIO buffer settings, however.

Contrary to this, I have used an NVIDIA card in my Win7 audio workstation at work without noticeable issues. It is an i7-4790 and the interface is an RME UFX with a firewire connection. I'm not generally trying to do low-latency realtime audio on this setup, though.


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## benatural (Jun 26, 2019)

Just chiming in to say that I have also experienced reduced DPC latency with AMD cards vs NVIDIA cards


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## chimuelo (Jun 26, 2019)

dasbin said:


> For CPU's that have integrated graphics, I would love to figure out a way to easily/quickly switch between the computer using integrated graphics and a graphics card, as I switch between audio production and other tasks on the same system.



It’s quite fast actually on a Xeon or i3/5/7 or 9.
Go into your BIOS and choose iGPU or Card.

I actually can switch off my iGPU and use the very best GFX for audio which is the motherboards ASpeed AT2500 Chip usually found on workstation rack optimized Supermicro, Asus or ASRock boards.

Most audio apps use simple 2D GFX, so no need for anything except 128-256MB’s of RAM which is on the chip, instead of requiring system resources.
My main DSP App is pseudo 3D which uses more than any DAW I’ve encountered.
So if my applications can all be viewed and function perfectly Reaper, Cubase and other DAWs would work just as easy.

I don’t want anything in my PCI- e lanes except Connector Cards for audio.
Got plenty of Gaming PCs and HTPCs in house.


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## InLight-Tone (Jun 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> I'm using iGPU of my i7-6700K. No issues.


That's great, but you're not producing music so...


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## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2019)

That's awesome that you know more about what I do on my computer than me myself!

You don't need a dedicated graphics card to produce music.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

chimuelo said:


> I don’t want anything in my PCI- e lanes except Connector Cards for audio.
> Got plenty of Gaming PCs and HTPCs in house.



i think that's the key here.

build a separate box for my 3D CAD/Rendering/Animation.


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## dzilizzi (Jun 26, 2019)

Hmm. If I take out the video card, that leaves room for a SATA card. Yay! More hard drives!


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jun 26, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> Hmm. If I take out the video card, that leaves room for a SATA card. Yay! More hard drives!



"room" for more reverbs!


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## dzilizzi (Jun 26, 2019)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> "room" for more reverbs!


And Kontakt libraries.


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## chimuelo (Jun 27, 2019)

Zoot_Rollo said:


> i think that's the key here.
> 
> build a separate box for my 3D CAD/Rendering/Animation.




Yep, and there’s plenty of on board audio chips that are perfect companions for intense GFX and CG. Pro Audio can easily be accessed on a separate machine.

My son has an RME Machine with FL Studio, he has 3 gaming boxes and 2 gaming PCs. A mining 5U rack, and a video streaming PC with those expensive 140hz Monitors.
He claims he needs all of them because they’re dedicated for certain games, and tasks.

Crowds me out of my own Crib.


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