Photolab has had an irritating problem for some time that they blame (and perhaps rightly so) on AMDs code. The problem is that I get a lot of processing error failures when exporting images to disk. Even if PL reports that the processing was successful, a number of images will have a pattern or horizontal lines in one corner:
What video card are you using with PL? Do you get processing errors? A lot? A few? Do you get any images with the garbage shown in the image above? Do you have any other kinds of problems or does your card work well?
I have a Nvidia GTX 960 with 4 GB Ram under Windows 10x64 (64 GB Ram). I have no problems with it and it’s not too slow. But meanwhile it’s a little older. If I had the money I would buy for example a Nvidia RTX 3060, 3070 or 3090 with minimum 8 GB or 12 or 24 GB Ram. Just to be faster.
I have just upgraded my GPU from GTX 1660 Super to RTX 3060 12GB. I’ve got no processing errors and after replacement my system [Ryzen 7 5700X | 32 GB] runs DeepPrime 2.5x faster…
Thanks, everyone. I didn’t realize I didn’t have system set up to email me when someone replied occurred, so I didn’t notice the responses till now.
All video cards are just alphabet soup to me. So a 2070 is more expensive than a 3060? I found a page listing Nvidia cards by performance to help sort it out. Of course, then I have to think about whether it will work with my motherboard, whether it will fit in my case, and whether it provides connectors compatible with my monitors. New video cards are such fun.
People generally didn’t state the video card type, but it looks like all the suggestions were for Nvidia cards. I’m glad to hear that Photolab runs without errors. Does anyone besides me use video cards from AMD?
Likely this was due to switching to a more powerful card, although it’s hard to say. The RX 550 is in the same class as a GTX 465, whereas the GTX 1650 is in the same class as the RX 570, so theoretically, not much of a performance gain. But perhaps the performance difference, while low for a benchmark likely geared for games, might be better for Photolab.
The Nvidia RTX 3070, a much faster card, is comparable to a Radeon RX 6800, so I’d really expect to see an increase regardless of which card I switched to. What I don’t know is whether the Photolab problems are specific to the RX 580 (and certain driver versions) or if it affects all AMD cards.
Yes, being a more powerful GPU certainly helped … All the same, recent versions of NVIDIA drivers have been specifically tuned for DxO software (according to release notes).
… It definitely pays to be on the latest versions of drivers.
Hmm… It looks like AMD also claims to work well with DxO Photolab. See https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/radeon-pro-w6000-dxo-photolab.pdf. Of course, the Radeon PRO WX6800 with 32 GB had better be good at around US$1,600. Also, they mention DxO only for their workstation video cards; their gaming cards (RX series) don’t make the same mention, but it looks like at least one person uses an RX 6800 with no problems.
nVidia drivers have also been more stable historically, more so than ATI/AMD. Like Ryzen CPU’s, AMD cards have raw sheer power, but Intel processors are better at floating point calculations and nVidia cards are super reliable. In the end, I just wanted a PC than ran fast and stable without spending time trying to extract every single ounce of performance from a processor or card. Gigahertz and framerates aren’t everything. I don’t game anymore either so they became less important as my focus shifted to photo / video productivity.
“They [AMD] have historically had driver stability problems (though these were mostly resolved in 2020, and AMD’s drivers since then have been no worse than Nvidia’s in any meaningful way, at least for those GPUs that are still supported)”
I don’t like to go on people’s impressions, which is my question was focused on one’s actual experience with a specific graphic card.
I’m still interested in hearing about which video cards one uses and whether it runs without problems–at least, for the moment (my card used to work fine and still does if I load an ancient AMD driver, so it’s not the card).
Desktop computer running Windows 11 Pro: 32 GB RAM; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super using the latest Studio Driver 528.24 and optimised for Photolab 6 using the GeForce Experience application. In my experience the GTX 1660 Super is not prone to processing errors using Photolab 6. Whilst nowhere near as fast as the more expensive NVIDIA graphics cards: the device exports raw files from a 36MP Nikon D800 using DeepPRIME XD in an average of 43 seconds.
You actually hit it right on the head. AMD driver issues “Mostly resolved by 2020”. I’m not quite an old fart yet, but getting close guess, so I spent many of those formative years compromising with my Radeon Cards, and tweaking my BIOS so my underdog AMD CPU would OC and run faster than its Intel counterpart. I owned at least 8 different ATI GPU’s. I was not a fan of intel’s slot technology (cira 1999 ) CPU’s but they came and went, and once they went back to socket tech (370) I was done with AMD and ATI. I don’t follow the tech as closely any longer. I am do for a motherboard, CPU and memory upgrade and will do so eventually. My experiences are my experiences. You should make your own decisions.
Please use whatever you like and works best for you.
I started PhotoLab with a Gigabyte Radeon RX580 card. I never had any problems with PL5, but when I tried using PureRaw2, I would get random failures. This is a desktop computer with an Intel i7 9700KF (no GPU on the CPU) and 64GB of RAM. Apparently the RX580 did not meet DXO’s minimum specs for GPUs.
Fortunately, prices on GPUs have come down and I replaced the card with an ASUS Radeon RX6600. After that, no problems.
There are tables published online that show performance specs for various GPUs. You can compare them with DXO minimum requirements.
As you asked for: Actual experience with actual GPUs, including the one you had trouble with.
I found a page listing Nvidia cards by performance to help sort it out. Of course, then I have to think about whether it will work with my motherboard, whether it will fit in my case, and whether it provides connectors compatible with my monitors. New video cards are such fun.
… It definitely pays to be on the latest versions of drivers.