Monitor for Photography

[nvsravank]

I am super excited by the hp z27q monitor. 5k resolution on a 27inch I think would be a huge upgrade from my Samsung 24in monitor which is just a bit short of 1080.

What I could not figure out is what video card can support it. I don't game. Strictly for photography work. Post processing on Lightroom and Photoshop is the primary use.
I would like to use wide gamut viewing and 10bit colors. While the monitor supports it I keep reading about the whole pipe needing to support 10bit etc.

I would also need to buy a calibration device. I have an old spider 2, but I think I need something better to do 10 bit calibration. If I can swing it I would like monitor and printer calibration combo.

My budget is 2k for the whole upgrade.
With monitor coming to $1.3k, I am left with $700 for the rest. Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[Puffnstuff]

A gtx980 and you have to use dual outputs to a monitor which has to support receiving dual signals. There are several articles around the web.

 

[nvsravank]

A gtx980 and you have to use dual outputs to a monitor which has to support receiving dual signals. There are several articles around the web.

Nothing cheaper?

 

[nvgpu]

GTX 960 4GB is another option, it also has 4K HEVC decoding if you start to do video stuff in the future.

Make sure to only buy cards with 3 DisplayPorts outputs since you need to connector 2 DP cables to drive 5K displays because of Displayport 1.2 limitations.

DisplayPort 1.3 will only need 1 cable in the future but no GPUs currently support it.

 

[Snafuh]

GeForce cards support 10bit colors only via DirectX. In Photoshop or any other OpenGL based application you will not get 10bit colors with a GeForce card. You either need a Quadro card or an AMD card. Even the consumer Radeons support 10bit colors.

 

[myocardia]

You either need a Quadro card or an AMD card. Even the consumer Radeons support 10bit colors.

AMD makes zero cards that can output 5k resolution. Even their most expensive, $3,100 professional card cannot output above 4k: http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Disp..._sbs_pc_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0C9P0NJF0ES07H1PD5QK

nVidia makes multiple cards that are less than $250, which can handle 5k resolution: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7128&cm_re=GTX_960_4GB-_-14-487-128-_-Product http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5778&cm_re=GTX_960_4GB-_-14-125-778-_-Product

 

[homebrew2ny]

AMD makes zero cards that can output 5k resolution. Even their most expensive, $3,100 professional card cannot output above 4k: http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Disp..._sbs_pc_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0C9P0NJF0ES07H1PD5QK

nVidia makes multiple cards that are less than $250, which can handle 5k resolution: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7128&cm_re=GTX_960_4GB-_-14-487-128-_-Product http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5778&cm_re=GTX_960_4GB-_-14-125-778-_-Product

Just curious, but what dose that have to do with 10bit color, as per the post you quoted? I see your additions have merit with regards to the op needs, but you present them as if to negate the quoted posters point....

Having said that, is it simply impossible to get 5k and 10bit then in photoshop?

 

[myocardia]

Just curious, but what dose that have to do with 10bit color, as per the post you quoted? I see your additions have merit with regards to the op needs, but you present them as if to negate the quoted posters point....

The post I quoted was very seriously implying that the OP could just grab any old AMD card of any type, and he would magically have 10-bit color with a 5k monitor. My post was to show that AMD makes zero cards that do any color depth, at 5k resolution.

Having said that, is it simply impossible to get 5k and 10bit then in photoshop?

No, a midrange Quadro card should do both easily.*

edit: *That is without doing any research. I could actually care less. The OP can do the research, if they care.

 

[Snafuh]

With the Omega driver AMD cards do support 5k output with 60hz.

The post I quoted was very seriously implying that the OP could just grab any old AMD card of any type, and he would magically have 10-bit color with a 5k monitor. My post was to show that AMD makes zero cards that do any color depth, at 5k resolution.

In my post I was only refering to 10 bit support. I've never said anything about 5K.

That is without doing any research. I could actually care less.

You don't care and you don't know much about the topic yet you post here.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Now I see what you mean by the HP monitor... http://www.anandtech.com/show/8829/hp-introduces-multiple-monitors-at-ces-including-5k-27-display

Holy wow, I didn't know Omega still made drivers.

I quickly scanned the article and didn't see 25 inch monitors. I hope HP keeps making 25 inch monitors because I think they're the bomb. I was watching Star Wars on my HP 25xi yesterday. Really cool. (EDIT: I just saw the HP 25xw on amazon. I guess that's the one replacing the 25xi except it's not 4K yet.)

 

[Arkadrel]

A guy cant even make a thread asking for advice without green team vs red team.
(notice how fast someone was to just say get a 980 )

Id listen to Snafuh, seems to be in the know about the topic at hand.

Id also like to point out that the OP made no mention of 5k.
He made one about wanting 10bit colour.


So basically:
"You either need a Quadro card or an AMD card. Even the consumer Radeons support 10bit colors." - Snafuh

 

[nvgpu]

I am super excited by the hp z27q monitor. 5k resolution on a 27inch I think would be a huge upgrade from my Samsung 24in monitor which is just a bit short of 1080.

Right there in the first OP post.

 

[Arkadrel]

O_O how did I miss that.

Still the quote from Snafuh still applies.
Either Quadro card from nvidia or consumer radeon or better.

 

[myocardia]

A guy cant even make a thread asking for advice without green team vs red team.
(notice how fast someone was to just say get a 980 )

It isn't our fault that only nVidia makes cards that can handle 5k resolution. Not one AMD card, besides the multi-thousand-dollar FirePro cards, can do more than 4k resolution, no matter what driver they have.

See, 5k resolution requires 2x DP from a single card. The best you can get from any monitor, including a 5k monitor, is 4k, when only feeding it 1x DP, like every single AMD card happens to have, besides the noted multi-thousand-dollar FirePro cards.

 

[nvgpu]

AMD cards only have 1 DP 1.2 port, there's no way for them to drive 5K displays.

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7457/AMDRad_R9_290X_Birdseye_RGB_24in_575px.jpg
290/290X, 1 DP

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/8460/DualXTop_575px.jpg
285, 1 DP

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7503/270XCar_678x452.jpg
270/270X 1 DP

Kepler cards can't do it also because only 1 DP. Maxwell is the only card that has 3 DP standard in reference designs.

http://www.geforce.com/sites/defaul...ublic/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-980-IO-ports-new.png

http://www.geforce.com/sites/default/files-world/styles/652_width/public/geforce-gtx-960-bracket.png

 

[Snafuh]

Maybe I am missing something but here are 200 cards with 2 or more (mini) Display Ports
http://geizhals.at/?cat=gra16_512&xf=5425_2~354_28#xf_top

 

[Osjur]

nvgpu:

Ofc you decided to leave the cards which actually has 2 dps out of the list...

Aka 280 series (up to 4 dp's), 7970, 7950 etc.

Here's a small list of GPU's with more than one DP:
AMD R9 295x2 8GB [4xDP,1xDL-DVI]
ASUS R9 280X DirectCU II V2 [4xDP,2xSL-DVI]
XFX AMD Radeon R9 280X, 3GB GDDR5, 2xDVI/2xM-DP/HDMI
MSI R9 280X Gaming, DVI/2xM-DP/HDMI
Sapphire Tri-X R9 280X OC 2xDVI/2xM-DP/HDMI

all ref. 7970, 7950 have 2xmdp.

afaik, all new consumer radeons supports 12bit LUT's with 14.6 or newer drivers while Geforce cards can only do 8bit. That's why you can and will get more banding with geforce cards after calibration if you have > 8bit monitor.

Though I would just buy cheap Quadro or FireGL with 2 DP's if I was just going to do photo editing and not gaming at all with 5K and 10bit monitor.

 

[myocardia]

Maybe I am missing something but here are 200 cards with 2 or more (mini) Display Ports
http://geizhals.at/?cat=gra16_512&xf=5425_2~354_28#xf_top

I don't speak German, so I have no idea what you just linked, but there are zero 290x or 285 (Tonga) cards available in the United States with more than one Display Port, whether full-sized, or miniature, except for the FirePro versions of Tonga, already alluded to in previous posts.

edit: I did not see Osjur's post about the 280-series having 2x mDP ports. Weird that the older series would have it, but not the new, but I stand corrected!

 

[Snafuh]

You don't have to speak German. I filtered 28nm GPUs with at least 2 DP ports. There are 200 cards matching these requirements listed in Europe. I am sure you can find some of them in the US.
For example this one http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Turbo-DLDVI-I-Graphics-H270XQMT2G2M/dp/B00FNHVVP8

Again for OP:
To drive your 5K display you need a card with at least 2 (mini) Display Ports. You can find AMD and NVidia GPUs with these ports.
For 10bit colors in every software you need either a Nvidia Quadro card or any AMD card.
Search for a card matching these 2 requirements. A non GeForce card with 2 DP ports.
GPU acceleration is barely used in Photoshop so a small card will do the job.

Regarding the Omega driver: It's a regular driver by AMD. They decided to call it Omega which leads to some confusion.

 

[soccerballtux]

if you're $2000 serious you need to be consulting more professional forums. What this means is that you don't need to be $2000 serious. Any IPS will do.

listen to what NCX on wecravegamestoo.com forums tells you. He knows whats up.

 

[soccerballtux]

AMD cards only have 1 DP 1.2 port, there's no way for them to drive 5K displays.

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7457/AMDRad_R9_290X_Birdseye_RGB_24in_575px.jpg
290/290X, 1 DP

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/8460/DualXTop_575px.jpg
285, 1 DP

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7503/270XCar_678x452.jpg
270/270X 1 DP

Kepler cards can't do it also because only 1 DP. Maxwell is the only card that has 3 DP standard in reference designs.

http://www.geforce.com/sites/defaul...ublic/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-980-IO-ports-new.png

http://www.geforce.com/sites/default/files-world/styles/652_width/public/geforce-gtx-960-bracket.png

well, my $110 7850 has 2 DP 1.4a's...

 

[JDG1980]

I am super excited by the hp z27q monitor. 5k resolution on a 27inch I think would be a huge upgrade from my Samsung 24in monitor which is just a bit short of 1080.

What I could not figure out is what video card can support it. I don't game. Strictly for photography work. Post processing on Lightroom and Photoshop is the primary use.
I would like to use wide gamut viewing and 10bit colors. While the monitor supports it I keep reading about the whole pipe needing to support 10bit etc.

I would also need to buy a calibration device. I have an old spider 2, but I think I need something better to do 10 bit calibration. If I can swing it I would like monitor and printer calibration combo.

My budget is 2k for the whole upgrade.
With monitor coming to $1.3k, I am left with $700 for the rest. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Nvidia's consumer grade cards do not support 10-bit color output. If you want that from Nvidia, you'll have to go with a Quadro. I would recommend the Quadro K2200, which is a very efficient Maxwell-based card (basically the professional version of the GTX 750 Ti). If you look at the manual for the Dell UP2715K, which is the only stand-alone 5K monitor currently on the market, the recommended list of cards (page 24) contains only Quadro cards, of which the K2200 is one of the cheapest as well as the most energy-efficient. I suspect the HP 5K monitor is going to use very similar components to the Dell, and have a similar compatibility list. You can purchase a Quadro K2200 from Newegg for $429, so it should fit your budget as outlined above.

AMD cards support 10-bit color output whether they're assigned the Radeon or FirePro brands. And as of the Catalyst Omega driver, 5K output is also supported, as long as you've got the necessary two DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. You can find an AMD card with these outputs for much cheaper (under $250), though I would suggest making sure you have return privileges in case GCN 1.0 GPUs turn out not to be compatible with 5K for some reason. I wouldn't go with anything lower than Tahiti (R9 280/R9 280X) because you'll want at least 3GB of video RAM on a monitor this large.

 

[hawtdawg]

As far as a calibration device, I'd go with an i1 Display Pro. They run 225-250 and are considered to be quite a bit better than anything spyder makes. They also are supposed to keep their accuracy longer than other colorimeters. I have one, as well as a colormunki spectro to keep it accurate, and after 2 years it hasn't drifted very much.

 

[metalliax]

I don't speak German, so I have no idea what you just linked, but there are zero 290x or 285 (Tonga) cards available in the United States with more than one Display Port, whether full-sized, or miniature, except for the FirePro versions of Tonga, already alluded to in previous posts.

edit: I did not see Osjur's post about the 280-series having 2x mDP ports. Weird that the older series would have it, but not the new, but I stand corrected!

Does this one have dual DP?

Sapphire Radeon R9 285 2GB GDDR5 HDMI/DVI-I/Dual Mini DP ITX Compact
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Compact-PCI-Express-Graphics-11235-06-20G/dp/B00N2ROP36

Edit: updated link

 

[nvsravank]

Thanks for all the replies folks. I want to use a PCIe 3.0 card for future upgradeability. I checked and my asus p8z77v supports PCIe 3. So I don't want to use a very old card. So either gtx 970/980 or quadro 2200 or R9 285/x

I found one 970 that supports multiple dp ports.

I understand that I won't get 10 bit colors with 970/980

I am going to figure out if maxwell 2 is being released in quadro at a price I can afford. Obviously quadro 6000 is way out of my range!

If I need to run my Samsung as a second monitor I don't know which of these cards can support it. Some more research to do.

My current card is Radeon 6870. Would it be easier to stay with ati to allow multiple monitor support with the new monitor run from the new card and the current monitor from the current card? Can I even do that?

Appreciate any direction as to the research to do. I do hope HP comes out with a compatibility list to help as well but I doubt as the choices are much more now.

I read somewhere that I need windows 8.1. Is that really necessary? I was hoping to get the free upgrade to 10 and just skip 8 altogether. Currently on windows 7.