Pinnacle Studio 16 advice

[wingfan]

Anyone here use Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 16? Need some advice on hardware... Got a new rig :

i7 4770K
Asus z87-K
8 GB GSkill Ripjaws 1600Mhz
Samsung SSD 120 GB (OS and apps)
WD Black 1TB (media and render)
750W Corsair PSU
Pioneer BRW

Im using the intergrated GPU HD4600 from the i7.. and the system runs Pinnacle fine, if not great? Using any format from mp4/mov 1440x1080 or 1920x1080 .. renders fast too. No hiccups on the timeline projects I see or find. My question is should I spend $ on a GPU? Pinnacle says that it does take CUDA cards now.. but I'm not getting a straight answer from their board on if it has any benefits and if it does where would I see it? Adding effects/rendering etc.. What should I do, stick with what I have? I know Pinnacle is not Vegas/Premiere/AE etc.. so a Quadro card is definitely not needed.

[Hoser Rob]

GPU encoding is not considered particularly effective with any software. I wouldn't bother with a graphics card for that reason, but there are of course other benefits ...

[wingfan]

what you referring to, gaming for i.e? Won't be doing anything but pinnacle and office / surfing on this machine. So anyone else tested pinnacle 16 with a gpu vs intel i7?

[jagabo]

Use the 4770K's QuickSync encoder. It's much faster than CUDA, no matter what Nvidia card you use. And equally bad quality.

[wingfan]

How do I know if intel quick sync is enabled or better yet used by pinnacle? BIOS setting? pinnacle setting? Is it on automatically in BIOS if you have no discrete GPU? I have the asus z87-k and DVI cable from monitor to mb.

On a side note does using an HDMI cable make any difference on display over DVI? Resolution shows up 1920x1080.

[Brainiac]

Wingfan, did you ever get an answer to whether quick sync was enabled?

Brainiac