Lucas Than you for your feedback. I understand the need to embrace new technology particularly when it helps solve or actually solves a specific problem.
In addition DxO is in competition with other manufacturers of editing software and the “arms” race dictates using every means at your disposal to elevate the position of your product with respect to speed and quality, particularly with respect to areas such as noise reduction.
Unfortunately such an “arms” race can leave some of us “out in the cold”. Graphics cards are a particular area where this has happened big time, partly because the use of the technology they contain for AI and partly because the cryptocurrency boom has caused a huge price hike.
I programmed my first computer in 1964 (an ICT 1301) at the start of my degree in ‘Computing and Data Processing’, went on to do some research then teaching before joining Burroughs Machines (later Unisys) where I worked for 36 years before retiring in 2009. I have first hand experience of the changes that computing has undergone. but retiring means mostly careful husbanding of resources and, hence, I am typically behind the curve with respect to the hardware at my disposal…
I have never been a fan of Apple for various reasons (that should generate a load of comments), although my youngest son uses Macs in his freelance videography business and recently bought an M1 laptop while my other son built a heavyweight Ryzen at the beginning of 2020, fully armed with a heavyweight graphics card, so that he could do architectural modelling and rendering at home as well as at work (came in handy given the lock downs we experienced)!!
I have only ever bought 1 manufactured machine in my lifetime (excluding laptops, Ataris and an Alan Sugar CPC or two) all the rest have been home (own) builds and that effectively precludes using the Apple operating system (I have no desire to try to build a Hackingtosh). Currently my systems consist of 2 x I7-4790K, 1 x I7-3770 and 1 x I7-2700K all running Windows 10 with 12TB of storage on all but the I7-3770 which is effectively in retirement. I am now looking to build a new AMD system of some description and retire the I7-2700K but that won’t happen for some months yet and buying a manufactured system may be the only way of getting a new graphics card included without paying all of the current premium.
So my gripe is affordability, the only reason I currently have for any graphics card at all is for DeepPrime. In your response you indicate that to use some of the older graphics cards more effectively the algorithms would have to change and might harm the rendering quality. From a DxO standpoint such a (sub) project may not be acceptable, from a users perspective I might well be amenable to paying a bit more for an additional license if it means not spending £500 - £1,000 just to buy a better card which still won’t be the pinnacle of excellence and will be “yesterday’s” technology even before I buy it!!
If you made it this far, thank you, if you didn’t I fully understand but of course you won’t get to read that bit!!