Need advice for a budget upgrade.

[zhopudey]

I'm finally going to bring my aging dual-core rig into the modern age. Here is what I'm looking at -

 

1) i5 2500K

2) P67 or Z68 board

3) 2x4gb ram

4) Budget graphics card.

 

I use Max + VRay, along with PS, lightroom and the occasional after effects. I'll be running these off a VX450 and fitting them in an Antec SLB. Budget for the m/b + GPU is around INR 18K (that equates to around $280 by newegg prices). I'll certainly be overclocking, but I think the stock hsf is good enough for moderate speed bumps.

 

For the m/b, I'm looking at asus, to try out the uefi. The p8z68-v LE and the p8p67 b3 fit in my budget. Does this z68 board compromise on any major features?

 

For the gpu, 5770 or 6770, or maybe a gtx550 TI. The 6850 will be slightly stretching my budget. Is cuda of any use to me? Will the nvidia card run the mercury engine in after effects?

[AJLynn]

The MBs are fine. For CUDA - that 550 is not really powerful enough to be useful in Vray RT-GPU or iray, and After Effects does not support CUDA for the playback engine (at least as of version CS5) so I wouldn't worry about CUDA and just get whatever video card you want.

[zhopudey]

So is there any nvidia card around $150-160 that is better than the 550 TI? And I was reading about this - http://blog.krama.tv/hacking-adobe-premiere-cs5-to-enable-more-nvidia-cuda-cards/

[AJLynn]

Premiere supports CUDA for playback acceleration. AFAIK, After Effects does not.

 

For your budget I'd look at the Radeon 6790 or 6850, or Geforce 460