Which video card?

Paul Clark · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:17 pm Post subject: Which video card?

I am building a new system and want to get a card that lends itself well to Photoshop. I know that there are certain cards that are toughted as being a workstation type card like the Matrox Parhelia. Just wondering if anyone has any input on what they would buy if they were building a new system. If it better to throw my extra money into RAM and get a basic card is another thought that came to mind. Thanks for any input you might have.

Paul

Paul Clark

What card do you currently have and are you happy with it? What are you doing with photoshop on that specific card etc.....

Thanks....

BryanDowning · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:33 pm Post subject:

The realm of video cards is a vast one. Is hard to say which card is best for Photoshop, because you always have to balance cost and effectiveness. I would probably get an Nvidia or ATI Radeon if I were getting a new machine, but the higher end cards on those brands are geared towards gaming and you'll never see your money out of it by just using Photoshop. I would probably get a mid range card from one of those manufacturers.

In my experience the quality of the video card doesn't matter nearly as much as the RAM, processor, or hard drive(s). If you were working with video or playing games, the video card would be much higher up on the totem pole.

webguy · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:54 am Post subject:

I don't know, but if I were building a PS system I would go for a vid card with atleast 126Mb of onboard RAM.
Then I would get a 2800+ CPU and at least 512Mb of memory, but preferrably 1 Gig or more.

If you're using WinXP you could then disable the paging file and keep everything running in memory, getting a speed boost.

Brad · Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:20 pm Post subject:

It really depends on your budget. If you're building a new system, i would shoot for a PCI-E x800, gf6600 or something along those lines. If you're upgrading, the agp ati radeon 9800 pro is about the best bang for the buck. If you're upgrading and willing to drop some cash, the Radeon x800 Pro or the Nvidia 6800GT are both fine products.

If building a new system, its probably also better to go with 1gb of pc-3200 ram. If you're on a budget, go with the 9800 or a pci-e card with the extra ram, imho. good luck with it.

Brad · Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 10:42 am Post subject:

i should also probably add to steer clear of the geforce 5XXX series. Ive read bad things, and had friends with bad experiences with them.

Their older generation GF4's were good, and the newer 6800's are good though. If you go with that middle generation, ATI has better products, being the 9600's and such.

jdrumstik · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 3:49 pm Post subject:

I have a 5800 and it works perfectly, but don't try buying one, nvidia pulled them off the market after 2 1/2 months. Anyways, most of the cards come in 128mb sizes, not 126mb.

Also, don't be fooled buy 256mb cards, like a 5700 128 vs a 5700 256. The card's proccessors and bus speeds are to slow to feed 256mb of ram. So 128mb is fine in lower uned cards (sub $150).

ATI cards are fine, but if you ever decide to opt for dual monitor support they can't handle it without third party software, where as nvidias are great for dual monitoring.

A 5700 can be had for $70, and a 5200 (slighlty slower) can be had for $50. a 5700 Ultra can be bought for about $160 and will prefrom closly (even in games) with a 6800GT, a $400 card. But shop at Newegg.com

Copyright © 2003-2016. PhotoshopForums.com, iFroggy Network. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group. phpBB SEO. Privacy Policy. We are in no way affiliated with Adobe. Photoshop, Adobe and related marks are registered trademarks of Adobe.