Video Cards for Ditigal Dark Room?

[philip]

I'm thinking about making an upgrade, and I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on video cards for Photoshop work.

Recently I’ve been working with really large Photoshop files, sometime as large as 1.2 GB, and I’m thinking it might be time to get a more powerful video card for my computer. Seems like most of the card out there are designed for 3d video games, and I can't seem to find any information about cards for photography.

Don't know if anyone knows anything about that kind of stuff, but I would really like any input you might have. Types of cards, people’s experiences, or anything else useful.

Thanks.

[JamesB]

I have not been watching the changes in video cards for the last 2 years or so, but a quick look around I would recommend getting one with 256mb memory and one that can do 3d as well as 2d graphics.

Find out what your mother board will support. Some of the AGP cards are up to 8x now.

I like the ATI radeon cards, but not a big fan of their all-in-wonder cards.

James

[Ross]

Hi Philip - welcome to the forum!

If you are doing non-3d graphics, such as photography, the graphics card is less important than the RAM, CPU speed, and Hard Drive speed. In fact, the graphics card is sparingly utilized at all. What are the specs of your computer? Please include cpu type/speed, ram type/amount, hard drive info, motherboard slots available for graphics (do you run AGP 8x or PCI Express)?

Off the bad though -- Speed problems with 2d graphics in photoshop and the like come from RAM/CPU/Hard Drive speeds. Increasing those will increase your performance. I suggest at least 1 GB of FAST ram. 2.8 ghz and up, and a Serial ATA hard drive.

Let me know!

Hope this helps slightly,
Ross

[Bartman01]

Originally Posted by philip

Recently I’ve been working with really large Photoshop files, sometime as large as 1.2 GB, and I’m thinking it might be time to get a more powerful video card for my computer.

Not sure how a "more powerful" card will help you with digital photography. Those state of the art $600 256MB cards will give you great 3d performance, but won't really add anything for static images. All that extra memory is for storing texture patterns to make the 3d graphics look better. Unless your card has a problem, upgrading your system memory to 2GB or so would make a lot more difference than a new video card. In fact, a new video card probably wouldn't add ANY performace for your stated application. The only thing that I know video memory impacts for 2d images is what max resolution/clock frequency the card can output.

The first thing you need to consider is what type of MB you have. Does it have AGP or PCI Express (NOT normal PCI)? If the former, what speeds/voltages of AGP does it support? If the latter, how many PCI Express cards can it handle? This will let you know what to even shop for (confused yet?). If your MB can't handle your chosen card, you will need to upgrade that too. If you got a package system from a vendor, it may be a little difficult finding these answers. FYI - PCI Express is a brand new slot technology, so older machines will not support this.

Next - what kind of monitor(s) will you be using and at what resolution? This will determine how many/what kind of ports you need on the card and how much memory the card will need to push that resolution. You want to get a card that can exceeds your monitors needs if possible.

Are you going to color profile one or both monitors (if you have two)? Most cards will apply the same color profile to both monitors. Usually you need a separate video card for each monitor to run dual profiles. If the second monitor is just for toolbars, then it isn't usually critical for it to be accurate.

[Ross]

hmmm.. well i basically said the same thing as person after me said -- but on a funny note... here.. get this (with the 2gb ram option, as well as the already 4800 dollars with of options):

http://www.alienware.com/Configurato...de=SKU-DEFAULT

:D :lol:

Sorry, just had to.

-Ross

[bburton]

Originally Posted by Ross

hmmm.. well i basically said the same thing as person after me said -- but on a funny note... here.. get this (with the 2gb ram option, as well as the already 4800 dollars with of options):

Sorry, just had to. -Ross

Yes, I think that system should take care of the poster's photo processing needs very nicely

And, on the side, for extra income, he could manage the entire electric grid for the state of Texas :!: :!: :lol:

[Bartman01]

An additional thought on RAM: Check to see if your motherboard supports dual channel memory access (will usually have a blue pair of RAM slots and a black pair). If so, you can get better ram performance by using 2 identical RAM sticks (not just same size, but identical) instead of one - you get two active pipelines from the CPU to the RAM instead of just one. If you do have dual channel memory access, make sure you always run an even number of RAM sticks in matched pairs or the system will go back to single channel mode.

[ndsimm]

Originally Posted by Bartman01

An additional thought on RAM: Check to see if your motherboard supports dual channel memory access (will usually have a blue pair of RAM slots and a black pair). If so, you can get better ram performance by using 2 identical RAM sticks (not just same size, but identical) instead of one - you get two active pipelines from the CPU to the RAM instead of just one. If you do have dual channel memory access, make sure you always run an even number of RAM sticks in matched pairs or the system will go back to single channel mode.

So THAT'S what I have!! I was wonder why the different colors....I found out the hard way that it is DDR2 so I now have just 1GB instead of the 2GB that I wanted because I had extra DDR