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Video Cards for After Effects CS6 and After Effects CC

How to Unlock Adobe After Effects CS6 to use almost any
NVIDIA graphics card for using the new ray-traced 3D rendering engine.

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Article Updated on 2/12/2013
Software Updated on 05/13/13

Copyright 2013, Studio 1 Productions
Written by David Knarr of Studio 1 Productions
FAQ section is near the end of the article.

Starting with Adobe After Effects CS 6, now offers a new ray-traced 3D rendering engine.

After Effects CS6 will render ray-traced 3D images using your computer’s CPU or with a NVidia video card's GPU, thus offering much faster render over the CPU.

Adobe has only “certified” a few video cards using the NVIDIA chip set. (See Note 1, About Adobe's Certified Video Cards). If you don't have a certified card, there is no problem. You can just edit a file and add your video card to a list of video cards. Once you do that, Adobe After Effects CS6 will use your NVidia video card's GPU with the ray-traced 3D rendering engine.

Some people call this a "hack", "mod", patch or unlocking the video card. Whatever you want to call it, this will not make it a "certified" video card in the eyes of Adobe. But, it will let you use the GPU with the ray traced 3D render engine.

In this article I will show you two ways to add your video card to the list. One, is with a small program I wrote. The other way is by manually editing the file.

If you are running Adobe Premiere CS5, CS5,5 or CS6, you can also enable the Mercury Playback Engine to use the NVIdia GPU by adding the video card to a different list of video cards. For more information, click here for that article.

This article covers a lot of information, not just how to unlock the video. Please read the article in it's entirety.

PLEASE NOTE: Studio 1 Productions does not sell video cards, Adobe products or other products mentioned in this article. We are simply users of Adobe Premiere CS6, CS5,5 and CS5. So we are not trying to sell you anything by providing this article or the unlock software.

We invite you to take a look at the products we do offer, simply place your mouse over the products link at the top of the page or click on the products link at the top of the page.

Please Update to the Latest Version
The latest version of After Effects CS6 is 11.0.2. Please check to make sure you are running the latest updated version. There are a ton of bug fixes, along with a new memory handling preference and improved compatibility with 3rd partly plug-ins. If you are running the first version of After Effects CS6, which was version 11.0.0, you will need to update to 11.0.2 if you are using any of the GT6xx or GTX6xx series of video cards.

Note: With the GT6xx or GTX6xx series video cards, there will be a delay (approx. one minute) that will occur the first time that you start After Effects with a GT6xxx or GTX6xxx video card as the ray-traced 3D library is initialized. When you update your video drivers this initialization step may happen again.

When ever you Update After Effects
When ever there is an update to Adobe After Effects CS6, you will need to unlock the video card again, as they tend over write the raytracer_supported_cards.txt file, which is the file that holds the name of your video card.

Video Card Drivers

Important - DO NOT use the video card drivers from the video card manufacturer or from Windows, they are almost never current.

Important - DO NOT use auto-updates for the video card drivers, they don't always have access to the latest version.

It is very important that you are using the latest drivers from NVIDIA. Please go to www.nvidia.com and download the latest drivers.

NOTE: There is a problem with the 306.97 version of NVidia drivers. For more information on the problem and for information on how to obtain the 301.42 driver, read our blog entry by clicking here. Or make sure you have the latest version.

Before you install your new NVIDIA video card, you should remove the old video drivers that you were using. On Windows 7 go into the Control Panel and select Programs and Features. Scroll down the list of programs and remove the video driver that you are currently running.

Then power down the computer and install the new NVIDIA video card. Once that is done, power up the computer and install the driver you downloaded. Then Reboot your computer.

DO NOT down load any Beta drivers. They may not be stable. Only download the WHQL drivers.

If you lose the on board sound in your computer, then read the FAQ article on how to fix it. Note: This FAQ article is for Adobe Premiere, but the on board sound fix will be the same.

OpenGL
After Effects CS6 will use OpenGL to provide a faster and more responsive working environment when drawing images on the screen. Thus, giving you real-time draft renderings.

Adobe recommends OpenGL 2.0 or higher and Shader Model 4.0 or higher.

To see if you existing video meets this requirement, simply follow these steps:

1. Start After Effects CS6
2. Select EDIT at the top of the screen and a drop down menu will appear.
3. Choose Preferences at the bottom of the menu.
4. Select Preview
5. Then click on GPU Information.

A window will open up showing you information on the GPU. Look under the section for OpenGL and it will show you the following information: (Your information may be different than mine)

Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Device: GeForce GTX 570/PCI/SSE2
Version: 3.0.0
Total Memory: 2.46GB
Shader Model: 4.0 or later

There are two lines above I have highlighted in red. The version line shows you the OpenGL version and the Shader Model is the version of the Shader Model you are running.

Version should be 2.0 or higher and Shader Model should be 3.0 or higher. If they are not, update the video card driver, reboot the computer and check again. If they are still not what is recommended, it is time for a new video card.

CUDA Cores
Each NVIDIA GPU has a certain number of CUDA cores, which is the computing engine in the NVIDIA GPU.

Above, under OpenGL, I showed you how to get information on you GPU. Follow those steps again and this time look at the bottom section marked - CUDA.

Look at the driver version, it has to be 4.0 or higher. If is is not, then update your video card driver with newer video card drivers from the NVidia website. Then reboot the computer and check again. If is is not 4.0 or higher, then it's time for a newer video card.

Video Card Memory
Your video card will need a minimum of 1 Gig of video memory, preferably DDR5 memory.

Video cards come with different types of memory, such as DDR2, DDR3, and DDR5 type of memory.

Video cards with DDR2 memory can be too slow for the Ray Traced 3D Render Engine. If you have a older video card with DDR2 memory, replace it, plain and simple.

If you have a video card with DDR3 memory you will be fine with that.

If you are buying a new video card, the newer video cards come with either DDR3 or DDR5 memory:

The lower end cards generally come with DDR3 memory
The mid-level cards can come with either DDR3 or DDR5. In this case, go for the DDR5 version
The higher end cards come with DDR5 memory.

DDR5 memory is faster than DDR3 memory, when all things are equal.

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Chart of NVidia graphics Cards
As we said earlier, each NVIDIA GPU has a certain number of CUDA cores, which is the computing engine in the NVIDIA GPU. Below is a list of NVIDIA video cards and the number of CUDA cores that each video card offers. (Note: the more CUDA cores the larger the power supply will have to be, we will cover that next).

In the chart below, the video cards that are in red are OEM cards. An OEM video card is one available through large computer manufacturers such as HP, Dell, etc. These card are not normally available through a computer store. If you want an OEM version of a video card, you can order it as a replacement part through places like HP and Dell.

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
9400 GT	16	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	12.8 GB/s	550 Mhz	1400 Mhz	Not Recommend
9500 GT	32	350 watt	DDR2	128 Bit	16 GB/s	550 Mhz	1400 Mhz	Not Recommend
9500 GT	32	350 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	25.6 GB/s	550 Mhz	1400 Mhz	Not Recommend
9600 GT	64	400 watt	DDR3	256 Bit	57.6 GB/s	600 Mhz	1500 Mhz	Not Recommend - Only has 512 Megs
9800 GT	112	400 watt	DDR3	256 Bit	57.6 GB/s	600 Mhz	1500 Mhz
9800 GTX	128	450 watt	DDR3	256 Bit	70.4 GB/s		1688 Mhz
9800 GX2	256	580 watt	DDR3	512 Bit	128 GB/s	600 Mhz	1500 Mhz	(128 per GPU) Premiere only supports 1 GPU

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
GeForce G100	8	300 watt	DDR2	64 Bit	8 GB/s	567 Mhz	1400 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GT 120	32	350 watt	DDR2	128 Bit	16 GB/s	500 Mhz	1400 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GT 130	48	350 watt	DDR2	192 Bit	24 GB/s	500 Mhz	1250 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GTS 150	128	450 watt	DDR3	256 Bit	64 GB/s	738 Mhz	1836 Mhz	OEM Video Card

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
GeForce 205	8	300 watt	DDR2	64 Bit	8 GB/s	589 Mhz	1402 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GeForce 210	16	300 watt	DDR2	64 Bit	8 GB/s	589 Mhz	1402 Mhz	Not Recommended
GT 220	48	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	25.3 GB/s	625 Mhz	1360 Mhz
GT 240	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	22.4 GB/s	550 Mhz	1340 Mhz
GT 240	96	300 watt	DDR5	128 Bit	54.4 GB/s	550 Mhz	1340 Mhz
GTS 240	112	450 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	70.4 GB/s	675 Mhz	1620 Mhz	OEM Video Card
GTS 250	128	450 watt	DDR3	256 Bit	70.4 GB/s	738 Mhz	1836 Mhz
GTX 260	192	500 watt	DDR3	448 Bit	111.9 GB/s	576 Mhz	1242 Mhz
GTX 275	240	550 watt	DDR3	448 Bit	127 GB/s	633 Mhz	1404 Mhz
GTX 280	240	550 watt	DDR3	512 Bit	141.7 GB/s	602 Mhz	1296 Mhz
GTX 285	240	550 watt	DDR3	512 Bit	159 GB/s	648 Mhz	1476 Mhz
GTX 295	480	680 watt	DDR3	896 Bit	223.8 GB/s	576 Mhz	1242 Mhz	(240 per GPU) Premiere only supports 1 GPU

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
GeForce 310	16	300 watt	DDR2	64 Bit	8 GB/s	589 Mhz	1402 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GeForce 315	48	300 watt	DDR2	64 Bit	12.6 GB/s	475 Mhz	1100 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GT 320	72	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	25.3 GB/s	540 Mhz	1302 Mhz	OEM Video Card
GT 330	96	300 watt	DDR2	128 Bit	24 GB/s			OEM Video Card
GT 330	112	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	32 GB/s			OEM Video Card
GT 340	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	54.4 GB/s	550 Mhz	1340 Mhz	OEM Video Card

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
GeForce 405	16	300 watt	DDR3	64 bit	12.6 GB/s	580 Mhz	1402 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GT 420 OEM	48	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit		700 Mhz	1400 Mhz	OEM Video Card - Not Recommended
GT 430	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	28.8 GB/s	700 Mhz	1400 Mhz	Only available with DDR3 memory at this time.
GT 440	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	28.8 GB/s	810 Mhz	1620 Mhz	Better to get the DDR5 version.
GT 440	96	300 watt	DDR5	192 Bit	51.2 GB/s	810 Mhz	1620 Mhz
GTS 450	192	400 watt	DDR5	128 Bit	57.7 GB/s	783 Mhz	1566 Mhz
GTX 460	336	450 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	115.2 GB/s	675 Mhz	1350 Mhz	Specs are for 1GB DDR5 version of this card.
GTX 460 SE	228	450 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	108.8 GB/s	650 Mhz	1300 Mhz
GTX 465	352	550 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	102.6 GB/s	607 Mhz	1215 Mhz
GTX 470	448	550 watt	DDR5	320 Bit	133.9 GB/s	607 Mhz	1215 Mhz
GTX 480	480	600 watt	DDR5	384 Bit	177.4 GB/s	700 Mhz	1401 Mhz

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
GT 520	48	300 watt	DDR3	64 Bit	14.4 GB/s	810 Mhz	1620 Mhz	OEM Card
GT 520	48	300 watt	DDR3	64 Bit	14.4 GB/s	900 Mhz	1024 Mhz
GT 530	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	28.8 GB/s	700 Mhz	1400 Mhz	OEM Card
GT 545	144	350 watt	DDR3	192 Bit	43 GB/s	720 Mhz	1440 Mhz
GT 545	144	400 watt	DDR5	128 Bit	64 GB/s	870 Mhz	1740 Mhz	OEM Card
GTX 550 Ti	192	400 watt	DDR5	192 Bit	98.4 GB/s	900 Mhz	1800 Mhz
GTX 555	288	450 watt	DDR5	192 Bit	92 GB/s	776 Mhz	1553 Mhz	OEM Card
GTX 560	384	450 watt	DDR5	320 Bit	128.2 GB/s	552 Mhz	1104 Mhz	OEM Card
GTX 560	336	450 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	128 GB/s	810-950 Mhz	1620-1900 Mhz
GTX 560 Ti	384	500 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	128 GB/s	822 Mhz	1645 Mhz
GTX 560 TI	352	500 watt	DDR5	320 Bit	152 GB/s	732 Mhz	1464 Mhz	OEM Card
GTX 570	480	550 watt	DDR5	320 Bit	152 GB/s	732 Mhz	1464 Mhz
GTX 580	512	600 watt	DDR5	384 Bit	192 GB/s	772 Mhz	1544 Mhz
GTX 590	1024	700 watt	DDR5	384 Bit Per GPU	327.7	607 Mhz	1215 Mhz	Dual GPU - Premiere only supports 1 GPU.

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
GT 605	48	300 watt	DDR3	64 bit	14.4 GB/s	523 Mhz	1046 Mhz	OEM Card
GT 610	48	300 watt	DDR3	64 bit	14.4 GB/s	810 Mhz	900 Mhz
GT 620	48	300 watt	DDR3	64 bit	14.4 GB/s	810 Mhz	1620 Mhz	OEM Card
GT 620	96	300 watt	DDR3	64 bit	14.4 GB/s	700 Mhz	1400 Mhz
GT 630	192	300 watt	DDR3	128 bit	28.5 GB/s	875 Mhz	875 Mhz	OEM Card
GT 630	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 bit	28.5 GB/s	810 Mhz	1620 Mhz
GT 630	96	300 watt	DDR5	128 bit	51.2 GB/s	810 Mhz	1620 Mhz
GT 640	384	350 watt	DDR3	128 bit	28.5 GB/s	900 Mhz	900 Mhz
GT 640	384	300 watt	DDR3	128 bit	28.5 GB/s	797 Mhz	797 Mhz	Version 1 - OEM Card
GT 640	144	350 watt	DDR3	192 bit	43 GB/s	720 Mhz	1440 Mhz	Version 2 - OEM Card
GT 640	384	350 watt	DDR5	128 bit	80 GB/s	950 Mhz	950 Mhz	Version 3 - OEM Card
GT 645	288	450 watt	DDR5	192 bit	91.9 GB/s	776 Mhz	1552 Mhz	OEM Card
GTX 650	384	400 watt	DDR5	128 bit	80 GB/s	1058 Mhz	1058 Mhz
GTX 650 Ti	768	400 watt	DDR5	128 bit	86.4 GB/s	928 Mhz	928 Mhz
GTX 650 TI Boost	768	450 watt	DDR4	192 bit	144.2 GB/s	980/1033 MHz	980/1033 MHz	980 Mhz standard clock speed with boost to 1033 Mhz - 2GB Standard Memory Size
GTX 660	960	450 watt	DDR5	192 bit	144.2 GB/s	980 Mhz	980 Mhz	2GB Standard Memory Size
GTX 660	1152	450 watt	DDR5	192 bit	134 GB/s	823 Mhz	823 Mhz	OEM Card
GTX 660 Ti	1344	450 watt	DDR5	192 bit	144.2 GB/s	915 Mhz	980 Mhz	2GB Standard Memory Size
GTX 670	1344	500 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	192.2 GB/s	915 Mhz	980 Mhz
GTX 680	1536	550 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	192.2 GB/s	1006 Mhz	1006 Mhz	Base Clock Speed 1006 Mhz
GTX 690	3072	650 watt	DDR5	512-bit (256-bit per GPU)	384 GB/s	915 Mhz	915 Mhz	Dual GPU - Premiere only supports 1 GPU.
GTX Titan	2688	600 Watt	DDR5	384 bit	288.5 GB/s		837 Mhz	GPU Boost 876 Mhz, 6GB Memory

NVIDIA Card	Number of CUDA Cores	Size of Power Supply **	Memory Type	Memory Interface Width	Memory Bandwidth GB/sec	Graphic Clock Speed	Processor Clock Speed	NOTES
Quadro FX 370 LP	8	350 watt	DDR2	64 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 256 Megs
Quadro FX 370	16	450 watt	DDR2	64 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 256 Megs
Quadro FX 380 LP	16	350 watt	DDR3	64 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 256 Megs
Quadro FX 380	16	450 watt	DDR3	128 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 256 Megs
Quadro FX 570	16	450 watt	DDR2	128 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 512 Megs
Quadro FX 580	32	50 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	25.6 GB/s			Not Recommended - Only has 512 Megs
Quadro FX 1700	32	450 watt	DDR2	128 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 512 Megs
Quadro FX 1800	64	450 watt	DDR3	192 Bit	38.4 GB/s			Not Recommended - Only has 768 Megs
Quadro FX 3700	112	450 watt	DDR3	256 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 512 Megs
Quadro FX 3800	192	550 watt	DDR3	256 Bit	51.2 GB/s			Has 1 Gig Memory
Quadro FX 4600	112	750 watt	DDR3	384 Bit				Not Recommended - Only has 768 Megs
Quadro FX 4800	192	750 watt	DDR3	384 Bit	76.8 GB/s			Has 1.5 Gigs Memory
Quadro FX 5600	128	750 watt	DDR3	384 Bit				Has 1.5 Gigs Memory
Quadro FX 5800	240	750 watt	DDR3	512 Bit	102 GB/s			Has 4 Gigs Memory
Quadro CX	192	750 watt	DDR3	384 Bit				Has 1.5 Gigs Memory
Quadro 600	96	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	25.6 GB/s			Only available with DDR3 memory at this time. You are better off with the GT240 card with DDR5 memory
Quadro 2000	192	500 watt	DDR5	128 Bit	41.6 GB/s			Has 1 Gig of DDR5 Memory - Can vary by manufacturer
Quadro 2000D	192	500 watt	DDR5	128 Bit	41.6 GB/s			Has 1 Gig of DDR5 Memory - Can vary by manufacturer
Quadro 4000	256	500 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	89.6 GB/s			Has 2 Gigs of DDR5 Memory - Can vary by manufacturer
Quadro 5000	352	550 watt	DDR5	320 Bit	120 GB/s			Has 2.5 Gigs of DDR5 Memory - Can vary by manufacturer
Quadro 6000	448	750 watt	DDR5	384 Bit	144 GB/s			Has 6 Gigs of DDR5 Memory - Can vary by manufacturer
Quadro K600	192	300 watt	DDR3	128 Bit	29 GB/s
Quadro K2000 & Quadro K2000D	387	350 watt	DDR5	128 Bit	64 GB/s			3 Gigs of memory
Quadro K4000	768	450 watt	DDR5	192 Bit	134 GB/s			3 Gigs of memory
Quadro K5000	1536	500 watt	DDR5	256 Bit	173 GB/s			4 Gigs of memory

**NOTE: The specs and power supply requirements listed above are based on NVidia's web site. PLEASE check with the manufacturer of the video card you plan on purchasing to see what their power supply requirements are.

Quadro or GeForce Video Cards

The only reason to use a Quadro video card with Adobe Premiere is if you are using 10 bit source material and a 10 bit monitor like the HP Dreamcolor or similar. Otherwise, the Quadro’s are under powered and over priced.

Let’s take a look at some of the Quadro cards.

The Quadro 2000 - This video card only has 192 CUDA cores and a 128bit memory interface. Basically, it is just an GTS 450 with a slower clock speed. In other words, the GTS450 would be slightly fast. Also, the GTX 550 Ti, with it’s 192 CUDA cores and 192 bit memory interface would be faster than the Quadro 2000, due to the wider memory interface and slightly faster clock speed.

The Quadro FX 3800. This card is now 3 generations old and is based on the GTX 260, but with only a 256 bit memory interface. The GTX260 has a wider memory interface at 448 bit and would produce faster results than the FX 3800.

The Quadro 4000 - This video card is based on the same GPU that was used on the GTX 470. However, it performs much slower than the GTX470. In fact, the performance level is like the GTX 460 SE. Even a regular GTX 460 (not the GTX 460 SE version) would give you better performance due to the Quadro 4000 have only 256 CUDA cores, while the GTX 460 has 336 CUDA cores.

Quadro 5000 - This is based on a GTX 465, with a wider memory interface 320-bit memory bus giving it an edge over the GTX 465. However, it would be slower than a GTX 470 or GTX 570..

Quadro 6000 - This video card is on par with the GTX470, although the Quadro 6000 is much more expensive.

I do not recommend a Quadro video card, unless you have a specific program that requires a Quadro video card or you have the HP Dreamcolor monitor. You will get better performance for a lot less money with the GeForce cards.

Power Supplies
The Power Supply - Before you run out and buy an NVIDIA video card, you need to know how big your power supply is in watts. Different video cards will require that you have a minimum number of watts power supply. So open your computer, if you are comfortable doing that, otherwise, find someone who is.

Look on the label on the power supply for the number of watts it is rated. It may say something like 300 watts, 450 watts or higher. Once you know the watts, then you can select a video card that will work with your power supply.

For example, the NVIDIA GeForce GT440 will work fine with a 300 watt power supply. But, the GeForce GT580 will require a minimum of a 600 watt power supply.

This is why you need to know your computer’s power supply size before you run out and buy a video card. You don’t want to use a video card that your power supply can’t handle. For example, if you decide you really want a GeForce GT580 video card and you only have a 300 watt power supply, then you will need to upgrade your computer’s power supply.

If you don’t want to bother upgrading your power supply, then make sure you stick with a video card that will work with what every the size of your power supply is.

In the chart above, we list a minimum power supply size needed for the each video card. This list above are based on NVidia's web site recommendations.

We have received email about what the video card box states as the minimum power supply requirement. For example, the MSI N240GT (GT 240) video card with 1 GB of DDR5 memory, the MSI box says it requires a 350 watt power supply. So why does our chart list a 300 watt power supply?

Okay, if you look at the MSI box for the GT240 with DDR5 memory, it does say they recommend a minimum of 350 watt power supply. But, when you open up the installation guide it says the minimum power supply is 500 watts based on a PC configured with an Intel Core2Extreme Qx9650 processor. Wait a minute, the list above says 300 watts. Okay so what is going on here?

According to MSI, the main group of people who buy higher performance video cards are people who use the computer to play games. The GT 240 card falls into this category and the GT 240 card with 1GB of DDR5 memory is capable of being overclocked. (See Note 2 on Overclocking). MSI recommends a 350 watts if you are a gamer and are going to overclock the video card. If you won't be overclocking the card and you really don't need to for video editing, MSI said you will be fine with a 300 watt power supply.

If you are running a quad core system, such as one with the Core2Extreme Qx9650 processor, you will generally have a larger power supply than 300 watts any way and most likely it will be 450 to 500 watts or larger. This is why their installation guide recommends a 500 watt power supply. The more powerful the CPU, the larger power supply your computer will have, since the CPU pulls quite a bit of power in watts. For example, the quad core Qx9650 processor pulls around 65 watts and the I7-930 processor pulls 130 watts.

Also, I was informed by several other video card manufacturers that they put a higher minimum power supply requirement on their video cards, since they don't know what other devices or the number of hard drives you have in your computer. This way, they will be on the safe side.

Video Card Cooling
Video cards generate a lot of heat, especially when the GPU is in high use, such as when rendering.

In order to get the best performance from your video card, you need to make sure it is not over heating. Otherwise you will have performance problems.

If you don't have any way to monitor you CPU and GPU temperatures, click here for an article I wrote on monitoring your computer's temperatures and a source for free temperature monitoring software.

Even if you already have a video card, please keep reading. There are things you are going to want to know about your video card and options for cooling it. In addition, we will show you how to keep your existing video card cooler, thus performing better.

If you haven't bought a NVIDIA video card yet, we are going to show you what you should look for for the best cooling options for a video card.

Please note, there are several manufacturer's of video cards that use the NVIDIA chipset and these manufacturer's may make several models of the video card using the same chipset. Below you will see photos of video cards from MSI, these are simply the video cards we use here at Studio 1 Productions.

Video Cards for Adobe Premiere CS5

Let's take a look at the video cards above.

The two video cards on the left are standard video cards. They both have standard size cooling fans and the bottom video card is completely enclosed with only one fan to keep the video card cool. With the enclosed video card, the air will have to vented out the back.

Now, the two video cards on the right are designed for overclocking. They have larger fans and the bottom card has dual fans with heat pipes. Both of these video cards offer better cooling than the standard video cards. They are also open in design allowing air to circulate around the components on the video card, which helps with the cooling.

While most standard video cards will work fine, they will run a little warmer than a video card designed for overclocking.

So if you haven't purchased a video card yet, you may want to look at purchasing a video card that is like the ones on the right side since they will run cooler.

Cooling your Existing Video Card

If you have an existing video card that is a standard (non-overclocked version), like the video cards shown above on the LEFT side, you can add a slot fan to your computer to help keep the video card cooler. Below is the one we use here at Studio 1 Productions.

video card for Adobe Premiere CS5

This slot fan has a 70mm fan and a 70mm exhaust blower. The way it works is, you blow air onto the video card and the exhaust blower will suck the warm air from the card out the back of the computer. When I first saw this I was skeptical that it would really work. So I bought one and ran some tests.

With the system sitting idle for about 2 hours the video card temps would be around 40c. With the AzenX Blitztorm cooler (shown above) installed the temps dropped to 28c to 31c. While editing with Premiere CS5 for about 2 hours, the temps would be around 48 to 54c. Once we put in the AzenX Blitztorm cooler, after editing for about 2 hours, the temps were now around 36c to 40c. So it does work.

Another type of slot cooler is the exhaust blower. We tried the exhaust blower, like shown below:

video cards for adobe premiere CS5

They do move some air out of the computers case, but they didn't do much for cooling down the video card temps and they tend to get noisy after time. So I can't recommend them.

I recommend the AzenX Blitztorm BT-SC70BBL PCI Slot Case Cooler since it has the fan and blower combination. They are not expensive, the are in the $20 to $25 price range. One nice thing about the AzenX Blitztorm cooler is, you can also adjust the speeds of the fans. We have ours turned up about 1/2 way and this gives us good cooling while keeping the fan noise down to where you can't hear the fans. The fan on the AzenX Blitztorm can be tilted so you can position the direction you want the air to blow. When you first get one, the fan is set to blow away from the video card. Simply swing the fan around until it is blowing towards the video card. We have tried ours where it is blowing straight up at the card and where it was blowing more towards the back of the computer where the exhaust blower is. We didn't notice any difference in the temps of the video card with it blowing the air towards the exhaust blower. So we left it just blowing straight up on to the video card.

If you choose the AzenX Blitztorm or a slot cooler with 2 fans, when you put it in the computer, keep at least 1 slot open between the video card and the slot cooler. This will allow for better air flow and better cooling.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Studio 1 Productions does not sell video cards, Adobe products or other products mentioned in this article. We are simply users of Adobe products. So we are not trying to sell you anything by providing this article or the unlock software. If you would like to see the products we do offer, simply place your mouse over the products link at the top of the page or click on the products link at the top of the page.

What Video Card to Buy
Some people think they should run out and buy a video card with the most cuda cores (for example a GTX-680). However, that may not be the best idea, especially with programs that use OpenGL, such as After Effects.

The more CUDA cores, the wider memory interface width and the faster memory bandwidth, the better performance the video card has to offer. Remember, just because the video card has more to offer, doesn't mean the rest of the computer system will take advantage of it. Most of the time the video card's GPU will be waiting on the rest of the computer to feed it the data to process. When the GPU gets a hold of the data, the more CUDA cores the faster it will process the data. Then it hands this data back to the CPU. The wider the memory interface width and the faster the memory bandwidth, the faster the data will move back and forth to the CPU.

For example, the GTX 570 video card has 480 CUDA cores, while the GTX680 has 1,536 CUDA cores. Since the GTX680 has more than 3X the number of CUDA cores over the GTX570, you might expect the GTX680 to be 3X faster than the GTX570. But, they are not. They are only few seconds difference. The reason is, the memory interface width is smaller on the GTX6XX series of video cards, even though they have more cuda cores. Where the GTX5XX series of video cards have a much wider memory interface width, which makes up for them having fewer cuda cores.

On some tests I have done with After Effects using OpenGL plugins, the GTX570 card with it's wider memory interface performed about the same as the GTX680. In this case, OpenGL doesn't care about the number of cuda cores.

However, when using the Ray Trace 3D Render Engine, the GTX 680 was faster than the GTX 570.

Then GT 600 and GTX 600 series of video cards have a new design and chipset over the older 200, 400 and 500 series of video cards, that allow them to be slightly faster, especially when using the Ray Trace 3D Render Engine since it uses the Cuda cores.

In addition, the 600 series of video cards run cooler and require less power than the older video cards.

If you have an older computer, such as a quad core running at 2.5 Ghz with only 4 gigs of memory, then buying the GTX-680 would be over kill. On this system, you are better off adding more memory to the computer and use a video card with 192 cuda cores to about 300 cuda cores.

Since everyone has a different level of acceptable editing performance. Some people are fine with a working on a slower system, while other people need a high end, super fast system. A lot depends on whether they are a hobbyist, semi-pro or a professional editor, as to what their needs are.

With After Effects there are a lot of things that make up the system performance. Having a fast CPU, with 4, 6 or 8 cores, lot's of memory 8 gigs bare minimum, with 16+ gigs being better.

I have run some tests with the Ray Trace 3D Render Engine, on several different computer systems using a GT240, GTX 650 TI, GTX 660 and a GTX 680 video cards. I found the GTX 660 giving me the best performance for the money.

With the test I ran, the GTX 680 was only a few seconds faster than the GTX 660. The GTX 650 TI wasn't bad either, it was only a couple of seconds slower than the GTX 660.

As expected the GT 240 was the slowest video card, being about 20 seconds slower than the GTX 650 Ti.

As far as what video card you should buy, that is really up to you and your budget. If it was me, I would go with the GTX 660. I will be doing more tests as I have time in 2013.

Making Your Computer Run Better and Faster for After Effects

There are two things you can do to keep your computer performing well. First, use a good program for defragmenting the disk, not the disk defrag program that comes with Windows. By keep your hard disk defragmented, file and programs will load faster. Second, run a Registry Cleaner at least once a month.

There are two programs that I use and recommend and they are from Auslogics.com and they are FREE. For more information about them and how to set them up for your computer, just watch the video on our blog. Click here to go to that page.

Turning on OpenGL in After Effects CS6
While the ray trace 3D render engine use Cuda acceleration, After Effects CS6 also offers GPU acceleration with OpenGL. The OpenGL acceleration is available to AMD (ATI), Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset and NVidia graphics cards.

The OpenGL acceleration is used for render previews, screen displays of the Composite, Layer and Footage panels to the screen and for some effects. With the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset, After Effects will use the GPU for Fast Draft, Hardware BlitPipe, and the Cartoon effect) on a Windows or Mac OS system.

To use OpenGL for fast previews, click on the Fast Preview button, as shown below:

After Effects CS6 OpenGL

The choose Fast Draft. This will use OpenGL to render previews.

Also, you can turn on Hardware Accelerate Composition.
Select Edit
Then Preference
Then Display
Check the box next to Hardware Accelerate Composition.
Then click OK

As for certain effects using the GPU via OpenGL, please check with you After Effects CS6 documentation.

Special Notes for Laptop Owners.

If you laptop has Optimus Technology or a built-in graphics card with an additional NVidia graphics card, then you will need to do some special setup with the NVidia Control Panel in order for the Ray Trace 3D Render Engine to run in GPU mode.

Finish reading this article and follow the procedure below for unlocking your video card first.

If you can not get it to work, then read this article:

Note: If the video does not show up in the Preview and/or Program monitor windows in After Effects CS6, then the NVidia Optimus is enabled.

Video Card Drivers

This needs to be repeated as a lot of people seem to think this isn't that important, but it really is.

Important - DO NOT use the video card drivers from the video card manufacturer or from Windows, they are almost never current.

Important - DO NOT use auto-updates for the video card drivers, they don't always have access to the latest version.

It is very important that you are using the latest drivers from NVIDIA. Please go to www.nvidia.com and download the latest drivers.

NOTE: There is a problem with the 306.97 version of NVidia drivers. Either stay with the 301.42 version driver or the 310.70 or highter driver.

If you are running Elements 3D from VideoCopilot.net, I have had several people report of strange problems with drivers higher than 301.42 WHQL. If you are having problems with Elements 3D, then roll your video driver back to 301.42. You can read our blog on how to find the 301.42 driver and how to roll by your driver by clicking here.

Before you install your new NVIDIA video card, you should remove the old video drivers that you were using. On Windows 7 go into the Control Panel and select Programs and Features. Scroll down the list of programs and remove the video driver that you are currently running.

Then power down the computer and install the new NVIDIA video card. Once that is done, power up the computer and install the driver you downloaded. Then Reboot your computer.

DO NOT down load any Beta drivers. They may not be stable. Only download the WHQL drivers.

If you lose the on board sound in your computer, then read the FAQ article on how to fix it. Note: This FAQ article is for Adobe Premiere, but the on board sound fix will be the same.

Now how to Unlock your NVIDIA Card for After Effects CS6
For Windows Users

NOTE: If you download and install any updates to After Effects CS6 you will have to go back and unlock the card again using either the Automatic Method or the Manual Method.

Automatic Method

Manual Method

To make it easier to unlock your video card, I wrote a small program
that will do all of the steps automatically. This program is for:

Adobe After Effects CS6
Plus, it is for
Adobe Premiere CS6
Adobe Premiere CS5.5
Adobe Premiere CS5

and runs under Windows Vista 64bit and Windows 7.

This Program will work for those of you who have the following video cards:

Desktop Video Cards
Your video card MUST have at least 1 Gig of video ram.

Laptop GPUs
Your laptop MUST have at least 1 gig of video ram.

GeForce 9400 GT
GeForce 9500 GT
GeForce 9600 GSO
GeForce 9600 GT
GeForce 9800 GT
GeForce 9800 GTX+
GeForce 9800 GX2
GeForce GT 120
GeForce GT 130
GeForce GTS 150
GeForce GT 220
GeForce GT 230
GeForce GT 240
GeForce GTS 240
GeForce GTS 250
GeForce GTX 260
GeForce GTX 275
GeForce GTX 280
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GTX 295
GeForce GT 320
GeForce GT 330
GeForce GT 340
GeForce GT 420
GeForce GT 430
GeForce GT 440
GeForce GTS 450
GeForce GTX 460
GeForce GTX 460 SE
GeForce GTX 465
GeForce GTX 470
GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GT 520
GeForce GT 530
GeForce GT 545
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTX 550
GeForce GTX 555
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
GeForce GTX 560
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 580
GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GT 605
GeForce GT 610
GeForce GT 620
GeForce GT 630
GeForce GT 640
GeForce GT 645
GeForce GTX 650
GeForce GTX 650 Ti
GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost
GeForce GTX 660
GeForce GTX 660 Ti
GeForce GTX 670
GeForce GTX 680
GeForce GTX 690
GeForce GTX TITAN
Quadro 600
Quadro 2000
Quadro 4000
Quadro 5000
Quadro 6000
Quadro CX
Quadro FX 3700
Quadro FX 3800
Quadro FX 4800
Quadro FX 5600
Quadro FX 5800
Quadro K600
Quadro K2000
Quadro K2000D
Quadro K4000
Quadro K5000

GeForce G110M
GeForce GT 130M
GeForce GTS 150M
GeForce GTS 160M
GeForce G210M
GeForce GT 230M
GeForce GT 240M
GeForce GTS 250M
GeForce GTS 260M
GeForce GTX 280M
GeForce GTX 285M
GeForce 310M
GeForce GT 325M
GeForce GT 330M
GeForce GT 335M
GeForce GTS 350M
GeForce GTS 360M
GeForce GT 415M
GeForce GT 420M
GeForce GT 425M
GeForce GT 435M
GeForce GT 445M
GeForce GTX 460M
GeForce GTX 470M
GeForce GTX 480M
GeForce GTX 485M
GeForce GT 520M
GeForce GT 520MX
GeForce GT 525M
GeForce GT 540M
GeForce GT 550M
GeForce GT 555M
GeForce GTX 560M
GeForce GTX 570M
GeForce GTX 580M
GeForce GT 610M
GeForce GT 620M
GeForce GT 630M
GeForce GT 635M
GeForce GT 640M
GeForce GT 640M LE
GeForce GTX 650M
GeForce GTX 660M
GeForce GTX 670M
GeForce GTX 670MX
GeForce GTX 675M
GeForce GTX 675MX
GeForce GTX 680M
GeForce GTX 680MX
GeForce GT 720M
GeForce GT 730M
GeForce GT 735M
GeForce GT 740M
GeForce GT 745M
GeForce GT 750M
Quadro 1000M
Quadro 2000M
Quadro 3000M
Quadro 4000M
Quadro 5000M
Quadro 5010M
Quadro FX 880M
Quadro FX 1800M
Quadro FX 2800M
Quadro FX 3700M
Quadro FX 3800M
Quadro K500M
Quadro K1000M
Quadro K2000M
Quadro K3000M
Quadro K4000M
Quadro K5000M

Note: Do not host this program on other sites as we will be making updates to it as nVidia releases new cards. Thanks.

Program Updated: 05/13/2013
Latest Version: 5.1.1
For Adobe Premiere CS5, CS5.5, CS6 and After Effects CS6 when it installed on the C: drive.

Program Instructions

Please read the instructions below before you download the program.

1. Follow these steps exactly. Remember After Effects must be installed on the C: drive.

2. Download the Cuda.zip file and save it to the C: on your computer. The programs are below, but you need to read the following steps first.

3. When you download the program, please pay attention to where you are saving it to. You MUST save the program to your C: hard drive.

4. Find the program on your hard driver and unzip it.
Windows users, just Right Click on the Cuda.zip file and select "Extract All" to unzip it OR use what ever other program you have for unzipping files .

5. There is a Cuda Install Intruction file (or just read these instructions) and the cuda.bat file.

Right Click on the cuda.bat file and select Run as Administrator.
(This is the most important step.)

6. The program program brings up a menu giving you the option for

Adobe Premiere CS5
Adobe Premiere CS5.5
Adobe Premiere CS6
Adobe After Effects CS6

Make your selection. Then you will get a message that says "The CUDA Supported Card file has been updated.

6. That's it. Simple wasn't it? But, your not done yet.

7. Now startup After Effects CS6 and open or create a Project.

8. Select Edit at the top of the screen.

9. Click on Preferences, then Preview.

10. Click on GPU Information.

Now at the top part of that window, there is an option for Ray Tracing.
Select GPU and you are all set.

Okay, now download the updated program.

Cuda.zip Click Here, Download and Save it.

Save the program, because if Adobe comes out with a new update for After Effects or Premiere you will need to run the unlock software again.

Having a Problem with the Software: If Adobe After Effects CS6 does not allow you to change to the Mercury Playback Engine GPU Hardware setting, then one of the following 4 things happened.

1. You didn't follow the instructions exactly as stated above. Such as right
clicking on the program and running it as Administrator.

2. Your video card does not have at least 1 gig of memory.

3. You need to go to section 3 and 4 above where I showed you how to
check your video drivers and make sure they meet the requirements.

4. Your video card is not in the list above.

These are the only four things that will cause the program not to work.

Here are the steps, PLEASE follow them exactly as they are written:

1. Go to All Programs, then Accessories.

2. RIGHT click on Command Prompt and
    select Run as Administrator

3. Type cd \ it will give you a C:\> Prompt.

4. Then type in
    cd \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\
    Support Files\

    It will give you a C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\Support Files

5. Type in GPUSniffer.exe Press enter and wait a few seconds

You should see something like this: (Note the lines I have
highlighted in red)

Device: 00000000001D4208 has video RAM(MB): 896
Device: 00000000001D4208 has video RAM(MB): 896
Vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
Renderer string: GeForce GTX 295/PCI/SSE2 < The card type
Version string: 3.0.0

OpenGL version as determined by Extensionator...
OpenGL Version 2.0
Supports shaders!
Supports BGRA -> BGRA Shader
Supports VUYA Shader -> BGRA
Supports UYVY/YUYV ->BGRA Shader
Supports YUV 4:2:0 -> BGRA Shader
Testing for CUDA support...
Found 2 devices supporting CUDA.
CUDA Device # 0 properties -
CUDA device details:
Name: GeForce GTX 295 Compute capability: 1.3
Total Video Memory: 877MB
CUDA Device # 1 properties -
CUDA device details:
Name: GeForce GTX 295   Compute capability: 1.3 < The Video Card Name I have shown in red
Total Video Memory: 877MB < ---- Total video memory
CUDA Device # 0 not chosen because it did not match the named list of cards <---See Below
Completed shader test!
Internal return value: 7

If you look at the 3 rd from the bottom it says the CUDA device is not chosen because it's not in the named list of card. That's fine. Let's add it.

6. Next, click on the Start icon in the bottom left corner of
    Windows 7.

7. Then click on All Programs and then click on the
    Accessories folder.

8. Look in the Accessories folder for Notepad and
    RIGHT click Notepad

9. The left click on Run as Administrator

10. Once Notepad opens up, click on File and then Open

11. Navigate to the
     C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\Support
     Files\ folder

12. Find the file: raytracer_supported_cards.txt then click on it to
      select the file, then click Open

13. You will see a list of cards

14. Go to the end of the list and add your video card.
      For Example, above it listed the video card as:

      GeForce GTX 295

15. Now just add the name of the card between the
      “Renderer string:” and the forward slash “/” to the
      raytracer_supported_cards.txt file.

     Using the example above, you would add only the
     GeForce GTX 295 part to the file. Make sure you enter your
     video card correctly. It is case sensitive.

16. Click on File and click Save. Then exit Notepad.

17. In the window that has the GPUSniffer program, type in
     GPUSniffer.exe again and press enter and wait a few
     seconds.

18. Look to see your video card is listed and how much memory
      it is showing.

19. If everything is correct, type in Exit at the command prompt.
      Otherwise, go back to step 6 and make sure you have the
      name of the card entered correctly.

Now startup Adobe After Effects CS and open or create a Project.

A). Now startup After Effects CS6 and open or create a Project.

B). Select Edit at the top of the screen.

C). Click on Preferences, then Preview.

D). Click on GPU Information.

Now at the top part of that window, there is an option for Ray Tracing.
Select GPU and you are all set.

NOTE: If you can not change to the GPU mode, chances are you did not follow steps 6 to 9 or you didn't type in the name of the video card correctly.

Note: Save this page, because if Adobe comes out with a new update for Premiere, you will need to do the unlock again.

Link

Note 1

Unlocking the NVIDIA video card will not make it "certified" in the eyes of Adobe. Adobe would like you to use a "certified" NVIDIA video card, because these are the ones they have put through rigorous testing with After Effects CS6.

With Adobe After Effects CS6 version 11.0.2, Adobe has certified the following video cards:

GeForce GTX 285 (Windows and Mac OS)
GeForce GTX 470 (Windows)
GeForce GTX 570 (Windows)
GeForce GTX 580 (Windows)
GeForce GT650M (Windows)
GeForce GTX 670 (Windows)
GeForce GTX 680 (Windows)
GeForce GTX 690 (Windows)
Quadro FX 3700M (Windows)
Quadro FX 3800 (Windows)
Quadro FX 3800M (Windows)
Quadro FX 4800 (Windows and Mac OS)
Quadro FX 5800 (Windows)
Quadro 2000 (Windows)
Quadro 2000D (Windows)
Quadro 2000M (Windows)
Quadro 3000M (Windows)
Quadro 4000 (Windows and Mac OS)
Quadro 4000M (Windows)
Quadro 5000 (Windows)
Quadro 5000M (Windows)
Quadro 5010M (Windows)
Quadro 6000 (Windows)
Quadro CX (Windows)

Prices and Availability are subject to change without notice. We are not responsible for typographical errors. All photos or products mentioned are copyrighted / registered trademarks of their respective companies. Studio 1 and Studio 1 Productions are trademarks of Studio 1 Productions Inc.
This page is Copyright © 2013 Studio 1 Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Video Cards for After Effects CS6 and After Effects CC

How to Unlock Adobe After Effects CS6 to use almost any NVIDIA graphics card for using the new ray-traced 3D rendering engine.

How to Unlock Adobe After Effects CS6 to use almost any
NVIDIA graphics card for using the new ray-traced 3D rendering engine.