Hi All. I am currently running Cubase 12 Pro with 2 x 2K UltraWide monitors (29").
I am running using the built in Graphics. However I would like to add a third.
I only use the PC for Cubase (not a gamer) so don’t particularly want to spend a fortune on a card.
Any suggestions, below is my current Hardware.
Also If anyone out there has a similar setup, Motherboard, CPU and 32GB I would love to know how it runs for you as I tried the Benchmark Test that Dom Sigalas did Feb 2021 . I believe my result was significantly worse than Doms.
Intel i9 11900K
Asus Rog Strix Z590-F
32GB CorVeng3000
1TB WD Black SN850 NVM M2
500GB WD Black SN850 NVM M2
BeQuiet PPower 600W 11CM
BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro4 Cooler
2 x LG 29UM58 Monitors
Don’t be fooled , Cubase requires more graphical use than you think .
I finally settled on an Msi Rtx 3060 Ventex Oc 1 for my 4 monitor setup .
Here’s my findings with 4 different graphic cards :
HD7900 out of date and worked like a dream with every version of Cubase up to C12 ,
GT 730 with 4 Hdmi ports , a big pile of poo and caused the Asio to spike due to interupts so badly that i could only manage 30 tracks in C12
GTx 1650 (msi Ventus Oc v1 (2020) 4 gb , worked really well with Cubase and i managed to get the ASIO to sit totally and utterly stable which meant the track count increased majorly BUT then Spectralayers 10 introduced GUI accel so i went for …
MSI RTX 3060 ventus 12gb oc and i have to say ,with 4 monitors it’s brilliant , taken a bit to get settled , like only installing the basic driver with no bloatware but the Asio Meter and track count has inhcreased drastically .
Graphics cards do play a big part with bottlenecking the Asio and even thou the GT730 was a supported Cubase Graphics card it really was only any use for one monitor .
If you go cheap with the graphics you will pay the price with a bottleneck .
This is my real life experience and not an of the internet bench mark .
My system is :
17 9700k
z390 master motherboard
Corsair 3200mhz 32gb ram
2 x M2 drives
MSI RTX 3060 ventus 12gb Oc
What you need to think about is the round trip interrupts with graphics , if the graphic cards holds on to the processes then you will be causing a bottleneck and potentially loads of ASio spikes so IMO it’s better to go straight for a reasonable card otherwise you could spend a year fighting a plague like myself
The Rtx series are monsters
I think you got that backwards. Cubase runs perfectly fine on plenty of on-board GFX. The issues you’re describing is not due to under powered graphics card but rather that the GFX drivers are either sub optimal or that they simply require more system resources. This is how a high performing card can fare much worse in a DAW than a budget or even on-board one.
I don’t have anything backwards , what i have posted is tried and tested via ME .
Of course drivers play apart . We are talking 3/4 monitors not a couple of monitors . I stand by what ive posted .
I run Cubase 12 on Windows 11 with three 4K monitors using only the built-in GPU of the Intel 12th generation processor, and the GPU is barely breaking a sweat.
No need to deal with the expense and compatibility issues/complications of adding a 3rd party graphics card/driver (just search this forum to get a sense of the headaches that people seem to have with 3rd party drivers).
I also use the onboard GPU for 3 monitors setup, 1 tv running in 4k via hdmi and two touchscreens in 1080p using a dvi and a vga port.
Graphics run smooth , task manager reports close to zero on performance resources.
That’s with a 10 years old motherboard and cpu.
Working with 100-ish tracks at 96khz/32bit, with multiple plugins on every track and bus without problems. Of course that’s with full asio guard and buffer size and performance meter is around 70-80%
There is that option or you could buy a dual GPU and use both your Internal and add on gpu IF your motherboard supports it . This was recommended to me by Scan computers UK
It’s all about offering options
Well some conflicting information. I didnt really want to be forking out £300+ for a card as could spend that on Trillian or hopefully Spectrasonics will finally update their Stylus.
Think I will try the USB C to HDMI route with onboard graphics first (makes sense). I’m only running 2K monitors which are perfectly fine for me.
There’s no conflicting information at all , since when did i state onboard cards are rubbish ? It’s the fact that someone picked bones in my post .
If you are using something like Spectralayers 10 full version which now has Gpu acceleration which makes rendering 4 x faster with an RTX3060 than an onboard GPU then it’s worth it , I merely pointed out the mistakes I personally made and if i had my time again i would of stuck with AMD Radeon .
If you think spending money on decent hardware isn’t for you then thats your choice ,as i said i offered options .
I hope it works for you
As far as graphics go, Cubase doesn’t profit much from a dedicated GPU.
From my observations it looks like Cubase uses the GPU for video export, and that Spectralayers (and other extensions or plugins that can access it) use the GPU.
Well good and bad news. I tried the USB-C 3.2 g2 2x2 with two different usb to HDMI ports and could get an output. So will stick with the two monitor setup for now. The good news is that I turned on over clocking at a fixed rate (rather than auto and having the system fluctuate). Ran the 3XS Dom Sigalas benchmark and ended up with a solid 88 tracks at a buffer of 128 . Left this running for 20 mins without any issue including raised temperatures. I had tried over clocking in the past but always set it to auto as I don’t really have much knowledge here. It didn’t work well on auto as by the time the system had increased the speeds I had already had drop outs. I’m unsure if I will leave it over locked as I don’t think I’ve ever approached 80+ tracks. I know I can freeze tracks and render them but it’s good to know what it can do. I’m sure I will probs get a lot of advice suggesting I don’t overclock? If I do then I will probs revert back to standard.
