~PLEASE NOTE~
This post has been extensively updated based on further development work and feedback from users. Please check all the content again to obtain optimum performance with DVDFab.
Last verified: 9 December 2014
Last verified: 9 December 2014
The following information was supplied by DVDFab developers and the QA Team to clarify the situation regarding recent problems with nvidia drivers.
Background
Recent evolution of nvidia hardware (Kepler based devices) has also brought changes to the drivers that nvidia supplies. Unfortunately, nvidia has chosen with recent drivers not to support the CUDA video encoding function on their GPUs with CUDA capability below 3.0 (see this for a list) Nvidia drivers now support only their new NVENC technology, which much hardware does not support. This makes the situation apply to many DVDFab users. To regain some of the CUDA advantage, DVDFab now (v9.1.6.3 and later) supports CUDA for decoding and the new NVENC for encoding using the latest nvidia driver (340.52 as this is written) on devices with CUDA capability of 3.0 or higher. Whether this is the optimum solution for you depends on how you use DVDFab, as explained below.
Other Aspects
The instability issues with the 337.88 and 340.52 drivers have been overcome for DVDFab versions of 9.1.6.3 and later, so if your nvidia device has a CUDA capability of 3.0 or better (see list linked below), you can use these drivers now, but should choose between them carefully depending on usage pattern: for Full Disc with compression in Blu-ray Copy, you will get better performance in most cases using the 337.88 or earlier driver with CUDA decode and encode. For Main Movie compression or tasks using the Ripper or Converter modules, use the newer 340.52 driver and CUDA decode with NVENC encoding, which is now fully supported by DVDFab for these (3.0-5.0 CUDA cap) devices. It is a shortcoming in the driver itself (a weakness in handling the many small m2ts files common in Full Disc mode) not in DVDFab that is the basis for this recommendation.
Earlier nvidia Devices
What about the legacy (non-Kepler) devices that many of us still have? DVDFab has not forgotten. If your device has CUDA capability below 3.0, the 340.52 driver does not support encoding on your device and you must choose to use the new (340.52) driver with decoding only (will be slower) or the older (337.88 or prior) driver to continue using CUDA for decode and encode.
Alternatives/Workarounds
You may wish to consider using Intel QuickSync (IQS) if your CPU and motherboard chipset support it. See the link below for more information.
Summary of Recommendations
- If you primarily use your GPU for compressing Full Disc BD content, use a pre-Kepler driver (337.88 or prior) to continue using CUDA for decoding and encoding.
- DVDFab v9.1.6.3 or later and a CUDA 3.0 or higher rated GPU required.
- If you primarily use your GPU for Main Movie or with the Ripper or Converter modules, install the latest (340.52) driver and use CUDA decoding and NVENC for encoding.
- DVDFab v9.1.6.3 or later and CUDA 3.0 or higher rated GPU required.
- If your GPU is rated below 3.0, you should not update to any of the Kepler drivers (340.52 or later) if you wish to continue using the GPU for encoding.
- Consider using the GPU for only one task and using the Software setting for the other, especially if you have an i7 CPU and a GPU with a CUDA cap rating of 2.1 or below. Intel QuickSync (IQS) is another possible alternative if your PC supports it.
Thanks for the feedback provided so far.
Resources
Nvidia driver downloads
Enable IQS in DVDFab
Check CUDA GPU Capability
Recommendations are based on the use of nvidia GeForce GPUs, 3rd party OEM devices have not been tested.
Please post the DVDFab internal log and FabCheck log files if you have any problem when converting with CUDA.
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- Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
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