Graphics card question - DPChallenge Forums

11/29/2006 04:15:27 AM · #1

I'm looking at new 'puter parts - any recos for a good graphics card if all I do is PS? (I don't game.)

Dell offers the following - NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU, 256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache, 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro - listed in order of cost. Would the basic GeForce card suffice if I have enough memory? Thanks for inputs!

Patmania

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1

11/29/2006 04:27:32 AM · #2

PS wont utilize any of them. Thus it will not matter.
Picasa does though. And so will Vista.
All of those cards are very entry level.

crayon

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1

11/29/2006 04:36:48 AM · #3

she mentioned she dont game - in that case, any of those cards will do just fine, unless you do 3D graphics. In any case, if you could afford it, get the best since Windows Vista will utilize it for all the eye-candy.

mist

Canon EOS-60D

11/29/2006 04:40:42 AM · #4

As you say, the integrated graphics would do if you don't use the computer for anything other than PS. A fancy 3D accelerated card isn't going to imrove 2D stuff an awful lot, 2D performance has been pretty static for a while.

However, the integrated card will have to use your system RAM, and may stuggle if you challenge it. Personally I'd throw in some cash for a stand-alone card just to avoid the RAM contention.

11/29/2006 05:23:12 AM · #5

Thanks - I'm guessing my best bet it to go the route I went last time - build my own. At this point I think all I really need is another gig of memory and maybe a duo-core motherboard, just so I don't have those long pauses once I've been using PS for awhile. It's such a memory hog. Besides, the prefab'd boxes don't have room for my hard drives, I don't think. And the cases are just too small to play in.

OK - that all said - if I change out the motherboard, what does that do to my OS install? Issue I have is I don't have a floppy installed in this case. If I have to reinstall the drivers for anything... argh. I suppose I should just order a floppy and install the durn thing, huh?

Message edited by author 2006-11-29 05:36:56.

mist

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/29/2006 05:49:40 AM · #6

Well, you /can/ swop a motherboard without reinstalling Windows, but I wouldn't recommend it. Very hit-or-miss as to whether it will work, or work well.

So yeah, you'd be best with a reinstall. However, the lack of a floppy shouldn't prevent you from reinstalling windows. I've reinstalled a few times and can't remember the last time I used a floppy disk. Although I guess some SATA drivers might be a tad inconvienient.

Makka

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

11/29/2006 06:04:01 AM · #7

You can install straight from the CD. Just make sure it's set in your BIOS to try and read from the drive.

Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD

11/29/2006 06:34:50 AM · #8

I do have SATA drives - therein lies the difficulty. I borrowed a floppy drive from work to install them last time. I suppose if I order a new mobo I'll just get a floppy while I'm at it. Surely BIOS in the future will allow installs from another type of drive, right?

MadMan2k

Sony Alpha a6400

11/29/2006 07:07:57 PM · #9

Current boards with current chipsets support installing from SATA fine, they have for like 3 years.
edit - without extra drivers, and with an XP disc with SP2

Message edited by author 2006-11-29 19:08:19.

LindaLee

Canon EOS-40D

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

11/29/2006 07:52:56 PM · #10

My system blew a video card last week, so we rebuilt with an Nvidia nforce 680i SLI Core 2 Duo mainboard and 2GB RAM, and the Nvidia GeForce FX 7950GT XFX video card, along with 3 HD's (both SATA and IDE).

The card was recommended for my system, and the guy recommended it based on knowing that I do heavy photo editing. He said I would be very happy with this card.

This is easily the most incredible system setup I've ever had. It is FAST, FAST, FAST, and I love it. With some extremely heaving editing in PS done over the past few days, I can tell you that there is no "lag time" AT ALL even under conditions of huge files with lots of layers. With the old system, I would sometimes have to wait for the machine to catch up with what I was doing, but not with this - it's all "real time".

My husband builds my systems, so he knows more about the "tech" stuff, but I know what I like, and I LIKE this, and would easily recommend this equipment.

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

11/30/2006 12:15:59 AM · #11

That's close to the components I have, sorta, so I may look into those two boards, Linda. What processor are you using? If I do rebuild mine, I'll be asking you (and your hubby) for hints before I start!

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

11/30/2006 12:20:06 AM · #12

How about this beast? I'm sure it would be able to handle PS and anything else you can throw at it. I can only dream of having such a card...

Patmania

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1

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

11/30/2006 12:48:35 AM · #13

You can spend as much as you want on a graphics card but it will NOT make photoshop run better. Photoshop is 2d to the core, everything depends on CPU and RAM. Adobe should accelerate it using the 3d card but have not. Picasa is much faster than photoshop for features they both support because Picasa uses your Graphics card.
I have built and sold computers for years and now work as a software developer in the area of 3D Visualization.
Vista and Picasa render all images onto quads on an orthographic perspective. Thus the display is still appearing 2D but is fully accelerated by 3d Hardware.

Note though, Vista has a legacy mode with will render in 2d for those with cards that do not support DX9. Thus none of the cool eye candy and slower performance.

Bobster

Canon EOS-20D

11/30/2006 10:08:31 PM · #14

FYI rumour has it CS3 will use 3D cards

just picked up a BFG7600GT OC for $109 after rebate (well ok i got my brother to buy it and ship it to me)

i do 3D work as well as 2D so modding a 7600GT to a Quadro card is a good route for me to take :D

mist

Canon EOS-60D

12/01/2006 03:10:14 AM · #15

Originally posted by lhall:

I'm sure it is fast. Though I expect that the fastness is coming from your core 2 duo and the new drives, rather than the video card. Though I'd expect that to be good, too, there's only about 5 better cards on the market at the moment. Recommending the card based on graphical editing is a bit cheeky though, it's a gamer's card.

Patmania

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

12/01/2006 06:01:26 AM · #16

A gamer card indeed :D

David.C

12/01/2006 06:19:16 AM · #17

Originally posted by Melethia:

... Issue I have is I don't have a floppy installed in this case. If I have to reinstall the drivers for anything... argh. I suppose I should just order a floppy and install the durn thing, huh?

Copy all the drivers to a CD. Better yet, download new drivers as needed and copy those to a CD (or extra hard drive).

Then go to BootDisk.com and download one of their bootable CD images. They will allow you to do anything you would be able to do do if you had booted from a floppy -- including flash the BIOS.

David