NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX GPUs are now even better for creative types
You can edit in 10-bit color on Adobe's Premiere and Photoshop CC.
On top of announcing 10 new RTX Studio laptops, NVIDIA has some news that will make GeForce RTX creators happy. The latest Studio driver, due to be released shortly, will support 10-bit color for all GPUs in Adobe Photoshop CC, Premier CC and other OpenGL-powered apps. That's a pretty big deal, because up until now, you needed to buy a costly Quadro RTX card to get the most out of your fancy 10-bit HDR monitor for photo or video editing. Now, you get the same feature with GeForce RTX, too.
This confirms that GeForce RTX cards have always had 10-bit OpenGL capability that just needed to be software-unlocked. It brings GeForce RTX more on parity with Quadro RTX -- which can cost double the price -- though the latter still come with more memory that's ECC-enabled for mission-critical applications. NVIDIA is likely offering the option now because Studio RTX laptops use both GeForce and Quadro graphics. It wouldn't make sense if they didn't have the same capabilities -- especially considering the premium prices.
NVIDIA made an interesting comparison, saying the latest RTX Studio laptops offer "peformance up to seven times faster than that of the MacBook Pro," as some MacBook Pro models are AMD-equipped. The new Studio laptops come with GPUs across NVIDIA's range from GeForce RTX 2060 to Quadro RTX 5000. According to NVIDIA, they include:
Lenovo Legion Y740 Laptop Studio Edition features up to GeForce RTX 2080 GPUs within 17- and 15-inch laptops, available later this fall.
Lenovo ThinkPad P53 and P73 mobile workstations support up to Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs within 17- and 15-inch systems. The ThinkPad P53 is available now and the ThinkPad P73 will be available starting August.
Dell Precision 7540 and Dell Precision 7740 mobile workstations, available today, are configurable with up to Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs.
HP ZBook 15 and 17 mobile workstations feature Quadro RTX GPUs, with the 17-inch model configurable with up to a Quadro RTX 5000.
BOXX GoBOXX SLM mobile workstations are available with a Quadro RTX 3000 GPU in the 15- inch system and either Quadro RTX 4000 or 3000 in the 17-inch system.
Some of these laptops, like Lenovo's Legion Y740 Laptop Studio Edition, will likely pack NVIDIA's Studio driver (instead of the game-ready drivers) but otherwise, be similar or identical to the gaming versions.
NVIDIA said that all the models "meet the hardware and software requirements needed to receive the new RTX Studio badge, allowing creators to easily identify the right systems to power their creative workflows." To take advantage of the new feature, you'll need both the latest Studio driver (found here) and recent versions of Photoshop and Premiere Pro CC.
Update 7/29/2019 1:20 PM: I've installed the latest drivers on my own machine with an RTX 2080 Ti and using this image, confirmed that 10-bit graphics are displaying correctly on my 10-bit monitor. Hint: there should be no lines on the image.
