Best Video Card / Processor? - DPChallenge Forums

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

05/28/2005 11:39:50 PM · #1

Alright guys and gals,
I am planning on building a new PC.
I need to hear some experience with Processor / Videocard results.

Here is what I am thinking:
PC Idea #1:
* AMD 64-FX 55
* 2GB RAM
* 2x 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard drives
* 1x 250GB 7,200 SATA Hard Drive
* 2x PCI-E 6800 Geforce Ultra 256MB Video Cards in SLI config

PC Idea #2
* Intel P4 3.73
* 2GB RAM
* 2x 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard drives
* 1x 250GB 7,200 SATA Hard Drive
* 1x PCI-E ATI X850 XT 256MB Video Card

Other Video Cards I am Considering
* 1x PCI-E ATI FireGL V7100 256MB
* 1x PCI-E 6800 Geforce Ultra 512MB Video Card

Last note:
I am using Photoshop CS with Nikon D100 RAW NEF's

Message edited by author 2005-05-28 23:45:11.

INFOCUSPHOTO

05/29/2005 12:07:42 AM · #2

BY AN APPLE G5, THE IMAC G5 IS VERY AFFORDABLE AND IT WILL OUT PERFORM ANY PC YOU BUILD,
AND THERE ARE LESS COLOR ISSUES WITH A MAC BY FAR. I MADE THE CHANGE IN THE LAST 4 MONTHS AND I WILL NEVER GO BACK. I HAD A CUSTOM BUILT PC BEFORE MY MAC, AND IT WAS A VERY NICE PC, BUT THE MAC DOES EVERYTHING EAISER AND BETTER- AND ITS 64BIT AS WELL. YOU WIULL GET A LOADED IMAC G5 FOR LIKE $1750. THE OPERATING SYSTEM TIGER 10.4 IS VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND MOVE AROUND IN.

JUST A OPINION, FROM ONE WHO MADE THE CHANGE RECENTLY,

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR COMPUTER ADVENTURE!

craig@infocusphoto.net is my email incase you need any more input.

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

05/29/2005 12:23:19 AM · #3

I didn't see anything posted about what motherboards you plan on using.

I'm currently choosing the components to build a PC as well as my AMD K6-2 400 MHz is ancient by today's standards and in order to learn and process RAW files I need to upgrade. However, I am not considering the the state of the art hardware, as you are. I"m looking to build a budget machine and will most likely choose a motherboard with a G-Force2 chipset and onboard video. The board I'm strongly considering shares 128 MB of system RAM with the video chip and is considered adequate for 2D image processing. I'm not a gamer and don't need high processing power of 3D. I will install 2 GB of DDR RAM and this board also has dual channel memory architecture, which I think is important in processing video images. I recommend this for you as well. If I find this setup inadequate for my needs I can always upgrade to an AGP card later on. I don't want to spend a lot for this muffler, as George Forman says on those Midas commercials. I want to have money left over to get me photographic equipment.

Message edited by author 2005-05-29 00:24:43.

05/29/2005 12:38:38 AM · #4

What the heck you building? Your going to outrun Farcry with a rig like that. You gonna water cool this rig? #1 has some sweet parts in it...trying to figure out the (2) 74Gigers, is that going to be a mirror for precious data?

You can't go wrong with the nVid 6800, and SLI config I can only hope to see that some time soon.

You'd drop some coin but that sure is a wicked ride.

ED: Forgot the most important part. Go with PC#1 and when you find it is too fast...go get the mac and give the PC to me, I will take good card of it...I promise.

Message edited by author 2005-05-29 00:39:59.

Rando D300

05/29/2005 01:11:50 AM · #5

I have been looking at this video card //shopmatrox.com/canada/products/datasheet.asp?ID=289

Message edited by author 2005-05-29 01:39:45.

Sonda

Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Macro

05/29/2005 04:21:57 AM · #6

The X850 XT beats the 6800 Ultra in almost every test, but it is a very close race.

They both have 16 GPU Rendering Pipelines & Heatsink w Blower. The Memory Clock Speed is very close too (ATI- 590Mhz compared to Gforce 600Mhz), but the GPU Clock Speed is where ATI wins with 540MHz compared to Nvidia's 425.

Can you ever go wrong with the X850 XT ? I doubt it :p

Edit

Ah.. I just read the 2x part.. hmm.. you're crazy.. lol. (The only problem with SLI is that if you're a gamer like me, some games does not support it... and you might be better off with a single card.)

Message edited by author 2005-05-29 04:32:39.

skylen

Nikon D200

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

05/29/2005 04:27:58 AM · #7

Originally posted by INFOCUSPHOTO:

Too bad the G5 doesn't have a way to turn off CAPS LOCK.

Sonda

Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Macro

05/29/2005 04:34:55 AM · #8

Originally posted by skylen:

Originally posted by INFOCUSPHOTO:
BY AN APPLE G5, WITH EXELLENT CAPS LOCK FEATURE!

Too bad the G5 doesn't have a way to turn off CAPS LOCK.

lol

DanSig

05/29/2005 05:12:35 AM · #9

I would also reccomend looking at the powermac G5, dual 2.3 or 2.7GHz, you can go up to 8GB DDR and it's soo silent, I somtimes have to put my ear to the G5 to hear if it's running (if the monitor is turned off)

but if you are going for a PC then get a dual AMD64, and if you really need the graphics power then get the 3Dlabs Wildcat Realizm 800, link here

it's the most powerful graphicscard available for PC :)

and I like the idea of 2x 74GB 10k rpm disks raided as systemdisk/scratch, makes photoshop run great :)

but with a big PC get more RAM, 4GB..since that's the max for a PC, windows is a memory eater and will devour haf of your RAM, no matter how much you have, 2GB is very nice for photoshop.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Nikon

05/29/2005 10:01:33 AM · #10

Thanks all for the input!
As as FYI, I plan to use the 2x 74GB hard drives in a Raid 0 setup.
Motherboard for the AMD would have the Nforce4 architecture. Motherboard for the Intel would have a 800 or 1600 Frontside Bus.

I'm kind of nervous about going to the Mac.
15 years ago, I was a Mac only person. My last one was a Quadra 610.
But due to College and a Computer Science degree, PC became the only option. And re-buying Photoshop isn't all that appealing.

Anyway, I am still thinking....

Apple iPhone

05/29/2005 10:08:30 AM · #11

Amazing when you ask a pc question how many the apple boys come out of the walls...

I have a matrox parahelia 128 and love it!!

General

Kodak Z7590

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

05/29/2005 12:39:22 PM · #12

I just wanted one clarification

If i also make a PC with above mentioned configuration and my only interest is using PS for imaging work, won't a 3d graphics card be an overkill

05/29/2005 01:19:18 PM · #13

Originally posted by General:

I just wanted one clarification

If i also make a PC with above mentioned configuration and my only interest is using PS for imaging work, won't a 3d graphics card be an overkill

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...Sorry, had to say it...

Do you need the cards listed below to do imaging no, but why limit yourself by seeking out a 2D card to avoid over kill.

Do/Are you going to watch DVD's on this system?

You can pick up an nVidia 5200 Ultra with 128M ram for less than fifty bucks and if you decide you want to try Tiger Woods golf later you won't be poopooed because of the video card. I just got a PNY GeForce FX 5500 w/128M ram and Multiheaded (2xdb15 (svga for the old monitors)) for 99 bucks for my work pc. ATI has some really nice Radeon series that are going quite cheap as well. 2D/3D it won't be very long and you will need some sort of half way decent 3DFX card to fully enjoy the Internet. It is happening already and some just don't realize it...those with lessor grade video adapters don't realize that they are asking the software to perform some of the accelarations the pewters are doing today.

(My first big Video jump) I went from a 3DFX Voodoo 3 with 16M of ram to an BFG GeForce FX 5200 with 128M of RAM and a bazillion times faster core clock...and I immediately noticed that my CD performed faster on reads. The more you can do on any piece of hardware all pieces benefit and in the end happy faces all around.

You may even pay more for an "Industry Approved" 2D card for imaging because that is what marketing folks like to do...prey on the genre specific crowds...

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

05/29/2005 07:55:25 PM · #14

bump

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

05/29/2005 10:41:57 PM · #15

Are there vid cards that are made better for 2D at the expense of 3D performance? I have never seen them. I thought as far as 2D goes, all cards are created equally.

General

Kodak Z7590

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

05/29/2005 11:13:25 PM · #16

Originally posted by awpollard:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...Sorry, had to say it...

Do you need the cards listed below to do imaging no, but why limit yourself by seeking out a 2D card to avoid over kill.

I do agree with your logic. My problem is that i dont have much knowledge about PC hardware hence i normally buy a branded PC, say IBM as it is easier just choose say a model than assembling one , where you need to select each component.

Since last 2 years i have been doing lots of imaging using PS and i feel branded Pc do not suit my need as they were assembled without aiming at any specfic need.

So i have decided to assemble a PC for the first time.
Anyone who can direct me on how to go about selecting components or say any resouces on net from where i can understand asslembling Pc better.
I aim at making a Pc exclusively for Imaginging and have a my current Pc as my second PC for doing other works.

Message edited by author 2005-05-29 23:17:46.

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

05/30/2005 12:18:46 AM · #17

Cheap but good video card

05/30/2005 12:30:11 AM · #18

Originally posted by Olyuzi:

Cheap but good video card

Actually an awesome video card for that price...it's an OEM'd BFG Tech card...Similar to the one I just got for work.

05/30/2005 12:30:39 AM · #19

General,
Building from a barebones or have a box made for you by picking components?

There are many very good places out there like Monarch Computers and the link is to a very good AMD64 3000+ 1G RAM USB/Firewire with an ATI Radeon 9600XT video card (Excellent Card - about a year old technology but still a big seller) $789 and you add your keyboard, mouse and monitor and you have an excellent rig.

Build your own systems are where you shop around and when you have all your parts put it together. Pricewatch.com is your friend when shopping parts, Newegg is a reliable place to get parts.

One of the easiest with the best assemble directions was a Shuttle desktop that I built for my pop-in-law...you start with a kit like the link which has audio, lan, usb/firewire integrated then get the processor, memory, hard disk and video card. In the end we had a nice machine in a cute box for him...been about two years and he hasn't put in a service call at my house yet.

Anyways just ask there are plenty of us around here that dabble in pewters...

ED: Oh yeah and the weekly bargain hunter place (Coupons and Sales at all the big guys) to look for anything from camera to computer (sheesh they even have omaha steak deals there) is Techbargains

Message edited by author 2005-05-30 00:34:26.

Bobster

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

05/30/2005 06:04:05 PM · #20

dang the G5 only goes up2 8GB? @ 4GB/S

have to take this dual Opteron with 16GB @ 12GB/S back to the store ;)

Opterons/AMD64 rip through Photoshop :)

do you want to run 3D apps? or games? if its games go ATI if its 3D apps go 3Dlabs Realizm ;)

if you want to run 2D go Matrox :)

Canon EF-S 15-85mm IS USM

05/31/2005 10:41:22 AM · #21

final bump for the people back to work...

superdave_909

Canon EOS-60D

05/31/2005 10:49:04 AM · #22

#1 AMD 64's are second to none!

theSaj

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

05/31/2005 11:34:27 AM · #23

Originally posted by DanSig:

4GB..since that's the max for a PC

Not quite true, actually a bit of typical Mac-addict mis-information. There are WinTel PCs out there that are running 32GBs of RAM. However, when you approach said levels of RAM and multi-processors you enter the "server" territory.

The 4gb data address is the max per 32bit processor memory bus.

As for good 2D performance. Matrox makes some of the best cards for 2D work. A lot of graphic designers still prefer Matrox over all else. (And yes, they were the ones to first really push the dual-head systems). They often rate better for color precision, etc on the 2D level. They just couldn't keep up with the gaming end of things.

(oops just saw Bobster mention Matrox)

Furthermore, if you really want a stable machine you might want to consider taking a step back in "performance" and buying a out of cycle server. (Last cycle's servers go for much less. However, what a lot of people do not realize is that servers go thru much more testing, configuration and use higher quality parts. Better power supplies, sometimes dual power-supplies. Better memory. Just overall better quality. They have to be, data is $$$.

Few people realize the server option but most people who go that route find themselves with a much more stable computer system.

cghubbell

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

05/31/2005 11:43:18 AM · #24

Originally posted by Bobster:

AMD 64s are very nice, but it's important to look at the big picture. Windows and Mac have two very different paradigms. For some, Windows is just not an option that works in the way that they do.

Given the investment a new system often requires, it would probably be good advice to visit a Mac shopp as well as one of the legions of places that has Windows machines and see if you have a preference.

Raw power isn't everything. I currently use an AMD Athlon 2000xp (~1800mhz) on an older MB and it does a nice job of processing my raw images. Sure, that AMD64 would rip through my images in the same way a Porsche would get me to work faster. But either one get the job done nicely.